Nobel Peace Prize

Norway’s most prominent international moment is perhaps the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize. It makes headlines all over the world each year. I remember particular excitement surrounding the prize in 2004 when it was awarded to Wangari Maathai for her work in Kenya with the Greenbelt Movement. It was the first time that the Peace Prize had been linked to an environmental movement, and it stirred great controversy. Many claimed such awards would water down the Peace Prize, and that a distinction should be maintained between a prize focused on peace and one focused on the environment. But there were many others, myself included, who believed the choice was of revolutionary importance. If shortages of and dramatic changes in the stuff upon which our survival is based - of land, food, water and clean air - are not at the root of conflict, then what is?

Being in Norway with the Fulbright program, I was lucky to get a ticket to this year’s Peace Prize ceremony on December 10th, 2007. It was a fortuitous year to be here, as this year’s prize also elicited a similar debate. The Prize was shared between the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore for their work on global climate change issues. There have been many this Fall, as in the case of the 2004 selection, who have decried the Nobel Committee’s choice to single out an environmental issue for the Peace Prize. The introductory speech of Ole Danbolt Mjøs, the Chair of the Nobel Committee, responded to these criticisms and described the relationship between environment and peace, addressing the committee’s reasons for selecting global climate change as the peace issue of the day.

The ceremony contained the appropriate pomp and circumstance, with the King and other royalty in attendance at Oslo’s Town Hall. There were musical performances, including Pakistani pop-rock and Italian opera sung by famous Norwegian and Latvian opera singers. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, accepted the prize on behalf of the organization. He spoke about the IPCC’s truly multi-national efforts to quantify the current global impacts of climate chance and predicted future impacts, providing essential background for policymaking.

Al Gore echoed many of his rallying cries from his movie and many speeches, among other things calling upon world leaders to meet early next year to review decisions that are made at the Bali Climate talks this week, and to meet with regularity until a treaty is achieved. He reminding us that “political will a renewable resource,” and called for a people’s movement. It is a great speech. Here is an excerpt:

"As the American poet Robert Frost wrote, 'Some say the world will end in fire; some say in ice.' Either, he notes, 'would suffice.' But neither need be our fate. It is time to make peace with the planet. We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war. These prior struggles for survival were won when leaders found words at the 11th hour that released a mighty surge of courage, hope and readiness to sacrifice for a protracted and mortal challenge."

You can find the text of all of the above speeches at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/

As I left Town Hall, I heard some elegantly clad Norwegian ladies joking uncomfortably about the airplane flights they would be taking on their way home, and I headed off to find my own carbon emitting mode of transportation back to Bergen. I know many of us are asking ourselves the same questions about how we can continue to live what we feel to be full, rich lives while putting the necessary changes into practice on the individual level and pushing for institutional change. I know one person (my father, Kurt Hoelting) who is about to start an exploratory ‘local year’ without leaving his home region, and without using a car, as an attempt to think deeper into this great dilemma we all share. His blog is http://insidepassages.blogspot.com/, and you can read more background about the project at: http://www.resurgence.org/2007/hoetling244.htm

Lena and Ole

I realized that the blog has been lacking in Lena and Ole jokes lately. Here's one from an unidentified family member of mine:

Ole and Lena had just come to America where Ole had a job promised to him. They were newlyweds and deeply in love. During the workday Ole would sneak home and they would have passionate love. Soon, Arne Ole's forman spotted Ole's absence and admonished him he would be fired if he kept on with this practice. But after two weeks Ole could stand it no longer and snuck toward their house. Coming around the bedroom window he saw Arne in bed with Lena. Oh my gosh, he ran back to the plant where he gasped to his best friend, Ralph. Boy, that was a close one. I just about got fired.

And if you like these jokes, here's a jackpot... pages and pages of 'em.
http://www.norskarv.com/jokes1.htm

Snow and Sailing

Bergen is rainy, and like Seattle snow is not all that common - at least snow that sticks. But the Arctic Winds visited us last weekend, bringing a snow storm to all of Northern Europe, and even in the lowlands we had a taste of winter. I hiked up Løvstakken with some friends on Saturday (one of the seven mountains that surround Bergen), and went sailing with the university sailing team in crazy weather on Sunday with sun, snow, rain, hail, and a full range of calm to storming wind conditions. We were practicing putting up the spinnaker with sun and calm winds, and when we felt menacing dark clouds turning day into night and the first sprinkling of snow mixed with rain, we learned how to take it down even more quickly!

North Sea and Shetland

This week I am a mere student in Bergen, but last week I was a researcher aboard the R/V Håkon Mosby, tossed in the North Sea, bound for Shetland Islands. We left Bergen on a blue-sky morning and saw the coast in brilliant light. On the second morning we found ourselves in a field of oil rigs, flaming in time with the sunrise. We made it to the North Sea Plateau, and we trawled, using both bottom and pelagic (mid-water) trawl gear. We students sorted, measured and weighed the catches. I finally feel somewhat acquainted with species of the Atlantic, which helps me to feel more at home here.

We had a few days in Lerwick, the largest town on the Shetland Islands. We were working during the day, but had the chance to experience local color in the evenings and take a short hike through the treeless sheep pastured hills and rain. The streets of Lerwick themselves have a Harry Potter magic to them. Winding rows of stone houses with a British flare.

I tried to get the Norwegian crew of the Håkon Mosby to teach me Norwegian Sea Shanties, but was unsuccessful. However, I can now say that I have shared the life of the North Sea, and harvested a few herring, and have always loved the Shanty below. They are beautiful, the Atlantic herring. I think much bigger than the ones we have in Alaska, with beautiful blue scales.

On the North Sea We’re Farin’ (Shoals of Herring)
By Ewan MacColl, with adapted first verse

On the North Sea we’re farin’
On that wild and wasteful ocean
Casting our nets, reaping the harvest of the deep
While we hunt the silver shoals of herring

O, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring

O, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring

O, we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was a cook and I'd a quarter-sharing
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring

O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring

Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring

In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're daring
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're following the shoals of herring

O, I earned me keep and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
Sailed a million miles, caught ten-million fishes
We were sailing after shoals of herring

Melody can be found at: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSHOALHER;ttSHOALHER.html

Ode to Brunost

By Kristin Hoelting

By name you are cheese
Although some disagree
And say that this cannot be

They say that your flavor
To them is a stranger
And needs a new category

Cheese should be white
Or yellow by sight
And brown is never the way

But those who are wise
Know these are all lies
And eat you three meals a day

I admit I am smitten
And I fear for my kitchen
At home when you aren’t on the shelf

For your taste it is sweet,
For me always a treat
Now an integral part of myself!

The Fulbright

According to the U.S. Ambassador to Norway, I am a ‘strategic foreign policy asset’!

During the orientation for Norway Fulbright grantees in Oslo last week, we had the opportunity to visit the Nobel Institute, where meetings are held to determine each year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner. We were addressed by the U.S. Ambassador, as well as the Chair of the Nobel Committee. Afterward each of us was called up to the stage to talk briefly about our research projects. It was humbling and thrilling to speak to a room full of people at the Nobel Institute, and I came away feeling very proud to be in the Fulbright Program.

The Ambassador jokingly called us foreign policy assets because of the origin and central goal of the Fulbright Program. After the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan, Senator J. William Fulbright wanted to do something to reduce the potential for future nuclear conflict. He came up with an idea that was simple and visionary: to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus war property to fund an exchange program to promote cultural understanding between countries. He believed that, after spending a full year in another country – long enough to truly come to understand a foreign culture – that an individual will cease to see the rest of world as nations on a map; instead, he/she will come to see the people that make up a nation. Those who have such an experience will therefore be less willing to choose war, and will choose diplomacy instead. As Fulbrighters, we are ‘strategic’ in the sense that we are ambassadors of U.S. culture, and hopefully we made the U.S. look good! (And we will bring cultural understanding and sensitivity home with us.)

It was wonderful to finally meet the other Fulbright grantees in person and share about our diverse research projects, from climate change research on Spitsbergen, far north in the Arctic Ocean, to the cultural impacts of tourism in the north of Norway, to the potential of using networks of robots to serve in dangerous rescue scenarios or Mars explorations, etc. Since we are located in almost all of the major cities in Norway, another excellent resource is the network of tour guides and floors on which to crash when we travel!

Lena and Ole... and sunshine!

Another Lena and Ole submissions, straight from Ballard, WA:

After Ole died, Lina paid $50 for his obituary. She told them it should say "Ole died." They told her it was 5 words for $50, and she could have three more at no extra cost. "Okay -- Ole died. Boat for sale."

Also, I am happy to report that it was sunny today! I went for a hike in the mountains right next to the city, and then rock climbing out at the coast. A beautiful day.

Rainy Bergen

I ran into Eoin (pronounced Owen) the other day, a friend from Ireland who lives in the International Student Dorms with me. As we stood in the pouring rain, he said, "Can you believe it? It rains here more than in Ireland!" I replied that I think it might actually rain more here than in Southeast Alaska, too! And when people from two of the most notoriously rainy places on earth both think it's raining too much, you know it's bad.

My Norwegian cousin, Marta Kristin, sent me a text message yesterday on my new phone. It was a story/joke in Norwegian, but I'll translate for you all.

When God was done creating Bergen he looked down and said, "Perfect, I will wash this city at least two times a day!" -and so it is.

Norwegian: Da gud var ferdig med å lage Bergen så han ned og sa: "Perfekt, denne byen skal jeg vaske minst to ganger døgnet!" -og slik ble det.

It's really amazing - it's the kind of rain that keeps coming from all directions and soaks you completely, no matter how many layers of raingear you are wearing. I've heard a rumor that it rains more in the fall than any other time of year, so hopefully the winter and spring will let up a bit.

Lena and Ole...

A friend submitted the following Lena and Ole joke via email. If you have any, you can email me or reply to this posting:

Ole was talking with his brother Sven, who lived next door, when Sven said,"Ya know Ole, you and Lena should really get some new curtains.""Vy's dat?" Ole asked."Vel last night I saw you and Lena, vel you know..."Ole thought for awhile, then said, "Ha-ha Sven, da yokes on you! I vasn'teven home last night!"

Family in Norway, and the Places We are From

Family:

One of my reasons for coming to Norway is already a success. My family in Bergen and surrounding areas has welcomed me entirely. I am just another cousin visiting for the summer, along with the aunts and uncles and cousins that are coming and going this week to Varaldsøy to visit Grandma Marta. And I fit right in with my language skills, too; because there is a 2 year old, the adults are used to teaching small children with great patience! After almost one week, my speaking abilities have improved, as I fill in important words in my nascent vocabulary. While biking around the island today, I stopped and had a 10 minute conversation with a stranger (who knows my family of course).

It is quite amazing to be staying in the house of my great-great-grandfather and grandmother, Severt and Anna Øye. There are photographs of them in my bedroom. There are also photos of all of their children, many of whom emigrated to the United States, among them my great-grandmother Mala. Here it feels commonplace to be connected back through that many generations, and this family knows more about many of my second cousins in the United States than I could have imagined. There are people in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and even in Seattle, who I have never heard of that are all connected back to this place on Varaldsøy.

Perhaps it is the Øye family’s role to keep track of all of the American relatives because they are still tied to the original family land? Or maybe it’s a cultural difference between America and the old world to keep ties to distant relatives alive? All I know is that I feel very fortunate to fit in this place, as the granddaughter of Marta’s cousin Oscar, and to be greeted by my 3rd cousins as someone worthy to be included in the life of the family.

This Place:

I wondered how it would feel to spend time in the place where my great-grandmother grew up. I never knew her, but I believe that our ancestors are directly linked to who we are, and through this experience I hope to understand her and myself better. Being here I do feel a sense of return to a place and part of myself left behind, but that is not the same as feeling at home. A visit is perfect, but it will feel good to return home when the time comes.

But aside from my distant ties to this island, it is fascinating to be in this temperate forest and these fjords, and compare them to Alaska, Washington and what I saw in Chile. I have learned to say “wild salmon” in Norwegian, and whenever I tell someone what I plan to research this year, they say, “Oh!” with a knowing nod, and they begin to tell me what they think of the problems with farmed salmon hurting wild stocks, and what local fish farmer I should go talk to, etc. (And I haven’t even started officially pursuing my studies, yet!)

To finish this posting, here are a few sentences from my journal about the place:
August 4, 2007: Today I went for a walk, and it is beautiful here. Raspberries grow wild! Along with blueberries. Old houses with hand-hewn stone foundations and shingles are nestled among green hills with mossy creeks running through. At dusk, when the clouds cleared for a moment, I could see the high point of the island in the distance, with the last of the evening sun on houses, sheep pastures and wooden fences rolling up to meet it.

Why I like fish

Points to anyone who can create a Lena and Ole joke out of this one...

Why I like fish. Well, I grew up in Petersburg, Alaska and Puget Sound, WA. My Dad, my Grandfather, my Brother, all my Uncles, my Mom, my Step-mother, most have commercial fished or worked in something related to fishing, and everybody really likes to eat fish. Especially halibut, blackcod and salmon.

It's not just about the fish, though. I like anything that has to do with life on the water; I like foods that I can harvest myself; and I am interested in how and why people feel connected to a particular place. In the Northwest and Alaska, salmon combine all of these things, and the decline of salmon leads to an unraveling of how people live.

As an aside, I'll report that I am very excited that raspberries grow wild here in Norway, and I have arrived at the peak of the raspberry season. Blueberries are also in full swing, and blackberries are on their way. I am visiting family on the island of Varaldsøy before the semester starts at the University of Bergen, so I have time to pick berries and bake. Yesterday I made raspberry pie, and today blueberry buckle...

Back to fish... I just finished commercial fishing in Bristol Bay this summer, and although it's not Norway, I thought I'd start the Blog off with a fish photo.

Why I am in Norway

There are two reasons why I am in Norway this year (August 2007 - June 2008):

I received a Fulbright grant to research what Norwegians are doing to restore wild runs of Atlantic Salmon. Understanding international perspectives, strategies and obstacles to salmon recovery will be useful when I come back to the Northwest to work in fisheries.

I am also in Norway to get to know my family here. My great-grandmother, Mala Øye, came from an island in the Hardangerfjord, south of Bergen, called Varaldsøy. My great-grandfather, Nils Sandvik, came from Ålesund. Living in Bergen, I am lucky to be close to many relatives on my great-grandmother's side, and I look forward to getting to know them. I hope also to take some trips to Ålesund to meet the Sandvik side of the family.