(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
When I was a kid, I was digging Edward S. Ellis's books about the Indian Deer Foot. He was a true pathfinder and a proud son of the great forests. He interpreted reality and sought to contribute to a better everyday life for all. Today, Hjortefot and his kinsmen are called indigenous peoples, without changing their situation significantly. Ellis' books were hardly of great literary quality, but the stories nevertheless gave the wings wings and stimulated my curiosity about "the others."
Today, Hjortefot and what his people once lived are, for the most part, just a tragic story. The American Indian was literally cut down, by an unstoppable expansive growth machine. This happens again and again. Also in our time, in its own way. People are moved on, the forest cover disappears, lakes, rivers and our atmosphere are polluted. We therefore constantly need new impulses and interpretations that can help us to see and understand, and perhaps help to get us on a better track. Sociologist Svein Hammer is such a modern pathfinder. He is filled with sorrow when he thinks of old trees and jungles cut by an unstoppable growth machine. “What do we think when we openly allow our living conditions to be destroyed? Should we not soon be able to lead ourselves towards a significantly more green social development? ”
A confrontation
In his new book The future of Norway. On the trail of a greener society Hammer shares his thoughts on a better future with us. In his previous book, From everlasting growth to green politics (Vidarforlaget 2016), he gave us a balanced presentation of both the current growth policy and the growth and variations of the green policy.
Hammer will confront our way of life. He acknowledges that the crisis we are facing is culturally as much as material and technological. "What we need is a more holistic understanding of life, rooted in ecological sustainability, the moral extension of our responsibilities, increased solidarity and the willingness to put quality of life ahead of material growth," he writes.
Hammer is a sociologist, and that means he is discourse man. He is the teacher who discusses openly with us. He does not force us to take a stand, he discusses positions, he weighs and measures, and he shows us that reality is complex. I like that. Then I can live well with Hammer constantly referring to his previous book, and that he sometimes seems quite cumbersome.
Ambitious project
Hammer is ambitious. There is not one topic he does not discuss in his analysis. He discusses nature, man, state, economy, politics, solidarity, knowledge, technology, ethics, culture, civil society, way of life and our own self-understanding. The first part of the book is devoted to the interaction between people, nature and politics. Here, Hammer touches on the most important aspects of natural philosophy, and on the basis of all these themes describes the emergence of a Norwegian environmental policy. This descriptive section is useful for anyone interested in history and society.
The second part looks at possible development paths ahead. We are in the culture of quality of life, environmental policy management, cyclical economy, solidarity and the relationship between the local, the national and the global. In a final chapter, Hammer tries to look into the future, and reflects on how both Norway and the world may look around 2050.
Nature's intrinsic value
For me, culture, language and sensation are the most important aspect Hammer discusses. Hammer wants to get past the technical and instrumental language, and we think we need better concepts about the relationship between man and nature. We must learn to appreciate to a greater extent aries. Maybe that's when we manage to lift our eyes and see ourselves as part of what we might call creation, or the whole, or the universe. This line of thinking has much in common with Pope Frans' second encyclical of 2015, known as Laudato si ', with the subtitle About caring for our common home. This concise writing mainly deals with environmental and climate perspectives, and is well worth a few hours of reading.
It may seem like a banal curiosity that the papal church, with its many pigs in the woods, now opens up for a far more deep ecological attitude to nature. But it is important. Hammer also mentions when we write that we need a language that contains beauty and a sense of commitment to more than ourselves: "Only then can we be able to see man as something other than a conqueror, ruler and consumer. , and perhaps find a will in ourselves to seek values other than greed. " Then it will no longer be the case that those who want to protect nature must justify it. Step by step, the burden of proof is reversed, Hammer writes. He therefore believes that we must free ourselves from the unrest and dissatisfaction that the consumer culture has inflicted on us.
Restructuring processes
But how is this to be turned into a hard political day-to-day? Hammer is a conditional optimist, as I read him. A number of restructuring processes are already underway in Norwegian society, and more will happen in the years to come. The critical question, of course, is whether this happens quickly enough. Hammer is open to not doing so, "but what else can we do other than fight for more awareness and more discussion?"
Hammer is in many ways a modern fusion of Erik Dammann and Arne Næs.
Hammer points out that, after all, there is a lot of positive happening when it comes to more environmentally friendly and organic production of goods, services and food. He argues well that we must make the Ministry of Finance a sustainability ministry, where sustainability is the basis for all decisions.
In the meantime, Hammer is advocating that we need more voices in a public conversation that requires more traction and increased boldness. Hammer believes it is in the radical center of Norwegian politics that we can most easily make real changes. The sociologist is not afraid to take such a "boring" stance: "To those who think such a thought becomes too pragmatic and boring, I would say: The most important thing is not to have perfect opinions, but to make a difference in the processes there society's political-economic future is shaped. "
Pathfinder with temper
The past few years have given us several good and committed books on ecology, nature and the environment. Eivind Hoff-Elimaris Gold or green forests? Politics for the good life (Res Publica 2016) has many practical examples and suggestions. Anne Karin Sæthers The best intentions. The oil country in the climate battle (Cappelen Damm 2017) chooses a specific theme area: oil and gas, while Sigurd Hvervens natural Philosophy (Dreyer 2018) systematically works in philosophy and the deep caves of the history of ideas.
Hammer is in many ways a synthesis of all of these, a modern fusion of Erik Dammann and Arne Næs, and with a burning desire to reach out with his thoughts, analyzes and reflections. They can also be read on hammer blog. His gentle form can contribute to what he wants, "more people are invited into the green room of thought".
That does not mean, however, that the man is without temper. AS Norway appears to be a capitalist, growth-seeking player without sufficient conscience, he writes. "It is too much accepted that the Norwegian Oil Fund or state-dominated companies such as Hydro and Equinor invest in environmentally harmful activities around the world, or that the growing aquaculture industry is still too dependent on feed imports from a soy industry built through the systematic destruction of valuable rainforests."
And Hammer is aware that in other parts of the world, climate change will cost so much more than here in Norway, through droughts, floods and refugees. In the knowledge that the world is moving in the wrong direction, Hammer writes, it is hard not to get angry at anyone who pretends that everything can just go on just as before.
Hammer is a pathfinder that uses the pen as a method. Hopefully, he can contribute to better results for his tribe, his nation and the world than Hjortefot managed in his day.
