I am no angel, believe me. Every year I commute, as it were, across Europe, not once, but twice: Four trips in all, by plane. Moreover, I have four computers, bought within the last six years, and three mobile phones, the most recent of which I bought just last week. So my carbon footprint is no better than that of my compatriots, which is worse than that of citizens in any other European country.

Why am I confessing my sins to you? I am not a Catholic and you are probably not a priest. The answer is simple: I know that I am no better than most. We Norwegians buy too many clothes, too many new cars and we refurbish our houses too often. However we look at it, most of us Norwegians throw away too much and buy far too much. Period.

Perhaps you did not know this, but “Nordic countries have among the highest consumption-based CO2 emissions in the world, worse than the rest of Europe…. Gains in domestic renewable energy are wiped out by consumption-based emissions”.

My country is virtually self-sufficient in terms of clean electricity, yet … Well, to be brief, I suggest you listen to this zoom presentation by Jason Hickel.

In much of Europe, the indigenous population is plummeting because young people cannot afford to buy a flat where they can procreate and rear children. So the European countries need to import desperate immigrants who, incidentally, are willing to work for next to nothing. Even in Norway, that is increasingly the case. Why? Why are the prices of ordinary flats prohibitive for hard-working young couples?

Is it a coincidence that while the price of a place to live is exorbitant, outdoor temperatures are starting to kill us? “A searing heatwave that swept across parts of Europe in late June 2025 has been linked to nearly 2,300 excess deaths, …”

The heat wave referred to by the journalist lasted only “ten days”. But for much of Europe, the heat continued to kill people for four months. The murderous temperatures are no longer a “heat wave”; they are the new “normal”.

I ask again: Is it a coincidence that more and more young people have nowhere to live, that much of this continent is becoming uninhabitable from June to September, while deliberate total destruction (AKA war) is being perpetrated all over the planet. Most ongoing wars could have been avoided! I put to you that the reason they are not avoided is that for a handful of powerful people with seriously warped mindsets, war – per se – is a source of enrichment and/or power and therefore a blessing.

Even Forbes admits that

[r]ecent research has found that global militaries are responsible for nearly 5.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions—a staggering figure that puts military emissions on par with the global cement industry. If it were a country, it would be the fourth biggest emitter in the world.

But the real cost is much greater, cf. Covering Climate Now

because a loophole the US inserted into the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 exempts all militaries from disclosing their emissions – meaning the world’s total emissions are significantly higher than officially recognized.

Now why would the US insert such a loophole, I wonder? Is it a coincidence?