In a chronicle by Hans Fjære Øvrum, it emerges that he understands little of why artists take a stand against oil exploration. I am the leader of the Unge Kunstneres Samfund and like to make him a little wiser about both art and the climate. Øvrum has every reason to be proud of the knowledge and expertise he and his colleagues possess. When more and more trade unions and organizations are now advocating a halt to oil exploration, it is not an attack on skilled workers. It is a recognition that the transformation of the oil industry concerns the whole of society. We are facing drastic changes in the coming decades. Whether it happens through a fair green shift or due to catastrophic climate change – or something somewhere in between – all professional groups must take part in the debate about the direction we choose. Unge Kunstneres Samfund is one of 13 Norwegian artist organizations that have taken a stand against oil exploration. Organizational democracy involves processes that are far more slow and thorough than the “emotional outburst” Øvrum tries to stick on us. Nor are we seeking any moral superiority by demanding a halt to oil exploration. We simply want to secure the prerequisites for art and artists in the Norway of the future, in the same way that other trade unions seek to protect their members against the worst consequences of a runaway climate crisis. Those who are eager for further investment in oil exploration and development are happy to say, like Øvrum, that it is all or nothing: without oil, Norway will collapse. The Norwegian welfare state naturally existed before the oil discoveries. It was a prerequisite for the distribution policy success that Norwegian oil extraction has, after all, been. Public support for artists in Norway goes back even further, and artist grants were part of nation-building in the 19th century. In this perspective, it is naive to claim that the oil industry only has an effect on the Norwegian welfare state – it obviously also affects the climate. The fossil industry has undoubtedly contributed to value creation and has knowledge and capacity that can contribute to the transition. But we have to look past myths about “the world’s cleanest oil production” and realize that infrastructure that is profitable today represents both costs and environmental risks when it has to be removed. Even the IEA recognizes that there is no room for oil exploration if we are to follow the Paris Agreement. The climate crisis is going to cost more the longer we wait. Therefore, the oil industry needs to be restructured so that the knowledge and expertise it is seizing on today can be used where it is really needed. Both for the sake of those who work in industry today, those who are on the front line of the climate crisis in other countries and our own welfare in the years to come. Large trade unions such as Trade and Office, NTL and the Trade Union have already taken a position against further oil development, and justify it as follows: To ensure the survival of humanity in the future. In this context, artists are no more distant from life than shop workers and government employees. We simply see that we, and Norway, cannot afford to believe that the oil age will grow into eternity. FOLLOW THE DEBATE:
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We have our feet on the ground – Ytring
