an hour ago by anonporridge
This reminds me of a Norwegian series called Occupied. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupied
The premise is Norway suspends oil extraction completely, intensifying an energy crisis in Europe. In response, Russia invades and occupies Norway to force them to keep extracting oil, with the implicit support of the EU.
34 minutes ago by tpmx
In reality Norway is the Saudi Arabia of the north, but with fantastic PR. Really, the best PR money can buy. Bill Gates level PR.
They're going all out on going green in every part of society.. except for not stopping pumping oil from the sea bed and then selling it to people for the purpose of combusting it and releasing the co2 into the atmosphere.
The sad thing is that it seems to work really well for them.
Giant kudos to Greenland for resisting this way and showing the norwegians another path.
20 minutes ago by lastofthemojito
In a sense then, Norway is a microcosm of all human civilization. Since the early days of humanity we've burned trees, peat, whale oil, petroleum, whatever we could, side effects be damned. And for most of that time, there's been no sustainable plan to move away from such consumption. At least Norway is now using their oil wealth to try to plot an alternative course forward. We're not there yet, but at least they're not pumping oil today AND acting like pumping oil is the future as well.
19 minutes ago by tpmx
This is how good their PR is!
Maybe kidding.
an hour ago by gtt
But there is plenty of oil in Russia! Why invade?
7 minutes ago by pengaru
All your competitors need oil to be competitive, control of such valuable resources otherwise up for grabs is of high strategic priority.
35 minutes ago by anonporridge
There's plenty of oil in the US. Why invade Iraq?
23 minutes ago by skywal_l
If I remember the plot correctly, the EU needed the oil. The russians just took advantage of the situation to move in.
an hour ago by thaumasiotes
For the sake of the plot. A lot of what happens in stories is basically unmotivated.
40 minutes ago by skeeter2020
I won't wade into the entire "suspend oil expoloration" issue but find it lacks a bit of credibility when a territory of 57,000 people that receives an annual subsidy of $540 million promotes this under the guise of renewability and sustainability. The entire existance is essentially a non-renewable consumption.
31 minutes ago by emptysongglass
I don't think you understand how significant the move is to them in sacrifice.
The untapped reserves are likely worth factors of ten more than their yearly aid from Denmark. They could have used whatever they found to force the issue of independence they've insisted, year by year, they want from the Kingdom. Imagine using that wealth to build out a Norway-in-miniature.
28 minutes ago by lastofthemojito
Interestingly, not all denizens of the Arctic (or near-Arctic) feel the same way. I (accidentally, by acquisition) found myself working for the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, a company owned by the Iñupiat people of the northernmost part of Alaska. They're the ones pushing to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and nearby areas. They're the ones who pulled out of the Alaska Federation of Natives when the AFN declared a climate emergency.
I ended up leaving the company, in no small part because I disagreed with their oil exploration policy, but it is interesting to see how some of the Alaska Natives, despite seeing their surroundings warming faster than the worldwide averages, despite (or maybe due to) infrastructure crumbling due to permafrost thawing, they're saying "yep, we need money, so we need to drill for more oil for the world to burn".
an hour ago by chmaynard
Obviously this decision is not guaranteed to remain in place forever. Nevertheless, it could be tremendously beneficial for future generations.
13 minutes ago by bpodgursky
There are ton of hypotheticals being thrown around here, but'll point out it's easy to suspend oil exploration when
> No oil has been found yet around Greenland
The people of Greenland would probably _not_ be so thrilled if there was a number on this like "$1mm per Greenlander is being turned down". But because there's no actual oil on the table yet, and no dollar signs on it, it's relatively easy to stick to principles.
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