news’s innovative journalism about the destruction of Norwegian nature makes an impression, but the debate about solutions gets stuck in old tracks. Nature conservation is promoted as the answer to most things, despite the fact that history shows that conservation only matters as long as the politicians think it is most important. They rarely do that when they have to choose between nature conservation and business development. If nature is to receive lasting protection from eager builders, we have to reduce the need to build new ones. It requires us to tackle the core of the problem: Every year we extract more than twice as many resources from nature than it is capable of reproducing. 50–80 per cent of the world’s total land, material and water consumption comes from households, and household consumption has doubled in Norway since 1990. At the same time, we reuse only 2 per cent of the materials in the economy. The rest ends up in the incinerator or on the rubbish heap after the first use. As overconsumption increases, there is less nature left. This further weakens nature’s ability to reproduce, access to raw materials decreases and we are in a downward spiral that puts nature under ever greater pressure. So far has it gone that the World Economic Forum recently placed natural resource scarcity fourth on its list of global risks for the next ten years. As long as the engine of the global economy is consumption growth, nature has a thin line. If we are to manage to take care of it, we must replace the economic driving force. It’s demanding, but luckily we know a lot about what it takes to build a circular economy that doesn’t waste 98 percent of material resources on the first try. The cottage market is a relevant example. There are approximately 450,000 cabins in Norway. They are empty 300 days a year and have a free accommodation capacity of 1.4 million days. Nevertheless, we continue to reduce 7 million m² of nature to build over 5,000 new cabins every year. When our cabins are empty 83 percent of the time, it is too stupid to build even more. Instead, we should take action to get more out of the cabin capacity that already exists. We do that best by encouraging people to share their cabins, because we are not good at that today. According to the Prognosesenteret, only 6–7 percent rent out the cabin on a regular basis. In order to establish new habits, we need better solutions that make renting out the cabin easier and more attractive. Today, you have to take interior photos, create advertisements, answer questions, clean, wash and get everything ready until the tenants arrive – and after they have left. It is simply a lot of management to rent out the cabin – and management is the worst thing we know. Therefore, we leave the cabins empty, even though we could have made money from others using them. Fortunately, making it easy to rent out the cabin is not that difficult. A simple solution could be a hosting service that handles dialogue with tenants, practical preparations and cleaning on arrival and departure. In addition, they can provide additional services such as filling up the fridge with local delicacies or activity offers with experts who know everything about the best nature experiences and also bring with them all the equipment you need to have an eventful trip. Developing attractive rental solutions is therefore quite simple. The challenge lies in the fact that today’s tax and levy systems make it more profitable to build for sale – than to get people to share the cabins that already exist. To speed up the will to share, we therefore need a political whip and carrot. By cutting tax on the rental of cabins, it becomes more profitable to rent out to individuals. If it is to have full effect, the politicians must also swing the tax whip and introduce a nature tax that makes it expensive to build new, so that the companies in the cottage market will profit from changing their business models in the direction of nature-friendly and shareable solutions. Such a tax measure will both speed up the development of better rental solutions, but also ensure that we get cabins that look different. It would make economic sense to facilitate physical sharing and common functions that make it easy to get more out of both existing and new cabins – because construction is unlikely to come to a complete halt any time soon, anyway. Divisible equipment sheds and systems that make it easy to book the neighboring cabin when you have visitors – rather than building a separate annex as many do today – are some simple examples. Physical integration of local offers will also make it easier for local companies to deliver value-added services to those who use the cabins, while at the same time increasing value creation for both cabin companies and local communities. Instead of 300 days of cold beds and abandoned cottage villages, an increased focus on sharing and renting will provide predictable income for a local business community all year round. At the same time, it removes the need to build down nature. Thus, the circular cabin future combines both business development and nature policy in a way that is easy for everyone to like. MORE FROM STATEMENT:
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Fill up the cabin – Expression
