It’s quite strange. The footage shows people fleeing. With their suitcases and children, people look anxiously behind them and see black smoke, and possibly yellow fire, licking skyward. It’s like a recent Rembrandt painting. There are people – including Norwegians – fleeing the Greek islands. It’s our time, it’s now. But the images are as if they came from another era, from the end of time, if you will.

Pictures don’t lie. Yet the numbers show something quite different from what the pictures show. Figures show that one in four Norwegians does not accept that the climate change we are seeing and experiencing is man-made. Of the countries we like to compare ourselves to, Norway is in a class of its own. We are the worst in the class. A surprising number of Norwegians are climate deniers.

An EU-funded project A survey carried out last year on European citizens’ trust in climate science shows that Norwegians are in a class of their own. Only 61 percent believe climate change is primarily man-made, while 24 percent believe it is not. Countries where trust in climate science is between 70 and 80 percent include Germany, Britain and Poland. And countries where trust in climate science is above 80 percent are, for example, Italy and Ireland. And then, again, the figure for Norway is 61 percent.

This week – while Southern Europe burns – also came out a report that concludes that the Gulf Stream is about to turn. This could happen in two years, or in 60 to 70 years, but most likely in 25 to 30 years, say the researchers behind the report. And suddenly it will be several degrees colder in the kingdom. Arctic cold at home and hellfire in the seaside resorts of southern Europe. In a few years, the choice could be between plague and cholera.

However, a big a minority of Norwegians choose to wear blinkers as they face the future. And although blinkers are unevenly distributed in Norwegian politics, they are abundantly present in both existing government alternatives. The Progress Party is, as expected, the worst. 57 percent of those who say they vote for the Progress Party believe that climate change is happening, but believe that we humans are not the main culprits. The figure of those who say they vote for the Center Party is also disappointing: 37 percent.

Norwegians have never We were better educated, and we are probably better educated than European countries where confidence in knowledge of Kilmak is significantly higher than here. However, we are on the train. Bean in the bucket. It’s what we say. Dagbladet banned the well-meaning Norwegian church.