New deaths from COVID-19 per day, normalized by population, for Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. Data: Johns Hopkins University CSSE. Graphic: 91-Divoc

Graph of the Day: Covid-19 daily deaths in Sweden, compared with neighboring countries

29 November 2020 (Desdemona Despair) – Much has been made of Sweden’s tacit “herd immunity” policy, and people have argued both for and against its effectiveness. Now the data are in, and we can safely make a judgment about it, and the similar policies used in various other countries, like the UK, the US, and […]

Surface air temperature anomaly for January 2020 relative to the January average for the period 1981-2010. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Copernicus Climate Change Service / ECMWF

January 2020 warmest on record in Europe – Earth matched its warmest January on record – “The lack of snow and the warmth is really unheard of. Monthly records were not just broken, they were shattered with large margins.”

By Matthew Cappucci 4 February 2020 (The Washington Post) – Europe just concluded its warmest January on record, coming on the heels of a toasty December and making the 2019-2020 winter season a contender for the warmest Europe has observed. Although the calendar has flipped to a new decade, there has been no slowing in […]

Extinction Rebellion demonstrators protest in front of Norway’s embassy during the launch of a new wave of civil disobedience in Berlin, Germany, 11 October 2019. Photo: Christian Mang / Reuters

The dark side of the Nordic model: Scandinavian countries top every ranking on human development, but they are a disaster for the environment

By Jason Hickel 6 December 2019 (Al Jazeera) – Scandinavians have it all. Universal public healthcare and education that is the envy of the world. Reasonable working hours with plenty of paid vacation. They have some of the highest levels of happiness on the planet, and top virtually every ranking of human development. The Nordic […]

Repparfjord is near the northernmost point of Norway. On 30 November 2019, Norway greenlit a copper mine that will dump two million tons of tailings in Arctic fjord each year. Photo: Thomas Nilsen / The Barents Observer

Norway greenlights copper mine that will dump two million tons of tailings in Arctic fjord each year – “Dumping of mining waste will kill every living thing on the ocean floor in the immediate area and disturb spawning grounds over a much greater distance”

ByThomas Nilsen 30 November 2019 (The Barents Observer) – “Allowing this to happen with a protected national salmon fjord doesn’t make sense at all,” said Silje Lundberg, head of Naturvernforbundet. The organisation is the Norwegian branch of Friends of the Earth. Lundberg said the planned dumping of tailings from the copper mine to the fjord […]

Eni Norge’s “Goliat” FPSO arrives in Hammerfest, Norway, on 17 April 2015, from South Korea after a 63-day voyage covering 15,608 nautical miles. When the “Goliat” came on stream later in 2016, it was the world’s northernmost producing offshore oil field. Photo: Fredrik Refvem / Stavanger Aftenblad

Cowboy Nation: Norway’s Wild West fantasy – “It’s your misfortune and none of my own”

By Henrik Olav Mathiesen 11 September 2019 (The Dark Mountain Project) – Equinor is the publicly owned Norwegian company firmly intent upon wreaking havoc on the world for as long as possible. Off our own shores – and far beyond. In 2017, the company won the bid for two licences to drill offshore in the […]

Daily sea ice conventration analysis for 27 July 2019. Graphic: NWS Alaska Sea Ice Program

Record-breaking European heat wave heads north, massive melting likely in Arctic – “This actually primes things for more sea ice loss later, on the order of weeks”

By Bob Henson 29 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – Over the next few days, meltwater will cascade across the Greenland Ice Sheet, and sea ice will dissolve into the Arctic Ocean in amounts that could be unprecedented for late July and early August. The same air mass that led to the sharpest, hottest heat wave ever […]

Forecast high-temperature departures from average for the European heat wave through Saturday, 27 July 2019. Areas in darker red and pink contours are expected to see temperatures the most above average each day. Graphic: The Weather Channel

Another Europe heat wave shatters all-time records in Belgium and the Netherlands with more records possible

By Jonathan Erdman 24 July 2019 (The Weather Channel) – Another Europe heat wave is building that may shatter the all-time record in Paris and set national records in at least three countries as it spreads into Scandinavia. On Wednesday, all-time record highs were broken in Belgium and the Netherlands when temperatures reached 102.3 degrees and 101.8 […]

Hurtigruten’s cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen is seen in the sea near Ulsteinvik, Norway, on 1 July 2019. The Roald Amundsen is the world’s first cruise ship propelled partially by battery power and is set to head out from northern Norway on its maiden voyage, cruise operator Hurtigruten said on Monday. The hybrid expedition cruise ship can take 500 passengers and is designed to sail in harsh climate waters. Named after the Norwegian explorer who navigated the Northwest Passage in 1903-1906 and was first to reach the South Pole in 1911, the ship heads for the Arctic from Tromsø this week and will sail the Northwest Passage to Alaska before heading south, reaching Antarctica in October 2019. Photo: Hurtigruten / Reuters

First hybrid electric cruise ship sails for the Arctic

By Victoria Klesty 1 July 2019 OSLO (Reuters) – The world’s first cruise ship propelled partially by battery power is set to head out from northern Norway on its maiden voyage, cruise operator Hurtigruten said on Monday. The hybrid expedition cruise ship, the Roald Amundsen, can take 500 passengers and is designed to sail in […]

A motorist drives on top of the Kariba Dam wall in Kariba, Zimbabwe, 19 February 2016. Photo: Philimon Bulawayo / REUTERS

Too much water or too little: Hydropower fights wild weather as climate changes rapidly

By Gerald Porter Jr. and Jeremy Hodges 22 June 2019 (Bloomberg) – The Kariba Dam has towered over one of Africa’s mightiest rivers for 60 years, forming the world’s largest reservoir and providing reliable electricity to Zambia and Zimbabwe. But as drought grips the region, flow on the Zambezi river has dwindled to a third of what […]

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