tingfull, fluistadfjelet | -I would like to ask to share a room with a windmill enthusiast

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I wasn't always against windmills. When I paddled the length of Norway in a kayak nearly 25 years ago, it was funny to see a windmill appear. In Smola, navigating the relatively small mills was great. But something changed. During my last Norge på langs trip five years ago, this was easy to see. The Norwegian coast is now severely affected by natural transgressions.

More energy

Half of the Norwegian coast, namely the southern coast of Rorvik, is relatively built up with cabins or windmills. Windmills now cover areas as large as the total number of cabins in Norway. If developers succeed in achieving this, there will be more windmills. And many others, for example in Fløystadfjellet. Twice its height and twice its “wingspan” as the mills at Smola.

Everyone has an equal right to power in Norway. No matter whether you run a bio-based food production, built a data center to mine cryptocurrencies, or store Tik Tok videos. This means that technocrats and economists are able to point to an artificially great need for power in the coming years. Mining cryptocurrency and storing videos requires energy. Lots of energy. The Israeli-owned data center in Hamar consumes about 1% of Norway's energy production to store TikTok videos.

New projects apply to more energy. Energy amounts equivalent to half of Norway's current energy production. But does this energy use contribute to greater welfare in society for people other than Chinese TikTok billionaires and cryptocurrency speculators? To a very small extent. As nature disappears little by little…

Give me hope

The development of the windmill in Fløystadfjellet will entail a significant loss of natural diversity in the form of windmills, large plant beds and areas with solar cells. According to the United Nations, loss of natural diversity is as great a threat to life on Earth as climate change. You can't solve the climate crisis by taking more from nature.

The ongoing windmill discussion in Tingful will lead to conflicts among us who live here. On a recent rafting trip “Norge på langs” I shared a tent for three months with a windmill enthusiast. Mills left their mark on the trip, both the ones we saw and the many extensive discussions on the subject. Fortunately, we are still good friends. It gives me hope that we in Tingful Municipality, who have avoided sharing a cramped tent, will be able to get through the windmill debate as friends.

Sharing rooms

Will there be less economic growth in the municipal economy of Tingful if the wind turbines are brought down? We'll have to put up with that, I guess. Our generation has destroyed more nature than all the generations before us. If we want to leave future generations a land worth living on, we must stop now. Fløystadfjellet should be left untouched.

If limited municipal finances mean I have to share a room with others when one day I have to go to a nursing home, I will do so. I would like to ask to share a room with a windmill enthusiast. With three months' experience in a tent with someone, I think the discussions we'll have can keep me alive for a long time.

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