– You don’t have to be radical about climate to care about the future

It is entirely possible to care about the future nonetheless.

Leah Låstad Bjerkvoll tells Bergens Tidende that she has never met peers who genuinely care about the climate. Something I wonder about, as I regularly meet people who are very concerned about the climate.

She also writes that it has become a trend to laugh at those who care about the climate, and that it must be cool to care about the future.

With this, Bjerkvoll seems to think that one has to have as radical an opinion as Greta Thunberg on climate, in order to care about the future. Something I strongly disagree with.

For example, I want us to continue looking for oil and gas, precisely because I am concerned with the future and the opportunities that oil and gas give us.

Young people with opinions other than Thunberg and Bjerkvoll are not necessarily looking to make fun of them. I believe, on the other hand, that the increased verbal opposition to radical climate policy recently is an expression of a wider social acceptance of diversity of opinion in this field. Which indicates that freedom of expression is still intact. It is good.

Words and expressions such as “climate denier”, on the other hand, are an effective ruling technique that Bjerkvoll uses to cast doubt on the credibility of his opponents. The climate debate has long been characterized by this type of rhetoric.

If Bjerkvoll really wants a more open and honest debate about the climate at parties and otherwise, as she writes, then I recommend her to stop using this type of ruling techniques.

I want to finish by saying I disagree with Bjerkvoll’s main message, which is that it has become trendy to make fun of people who care about the climate. However, I believe that it has become more trendy to be honest with yourself and others about what you actually think about the climate.

Something that not only comes to light at parties and through public rhetoric, but also by looking at other obvious signs, such as the Progress Party’s Youth’s good school election result in 2023 and the rise of the Industry and Business Party.