The Flying Dutchman

Surprisingly enough, I have never in my life flown with KLM. But, I have definitely roamed the world in the past, drifting between continents, as if doomed to keep travelling. As such, after working out at USM, I stopped by the library to pick up Frederick Marryat’s adaptation of The Flying Dutchman to read with the kids.

Weather-wise, the last days have been utterly awful with ridiculous amounts of ice and hail. Sadly, the forecast for the coming week seems to offer more of the same. While many people in Sweden may even have appreciated the “Thailando”-style summer of 2018, this kind of winter weather should be enough to remind people that something is fundamentally wrong with the climate, especially here in the Arctic. Whereas Biden is busy appointing former BlackRock people to his National Economic Council who are likely to keep pushing renewables and fossil fuels, Poland has in a very bold policy move announced that it will phase out its coal power and replace it with nuclear energy. If Poland follows through on this, despite all the bullying that can be expected from Germany and others, it may be the most promising piece of climate news of the decade.

Down in Kalmar, the local newspaper Barometern is having two full pages about my former teacher Peter Hultsberg who has just published a new book. While the specific details may be a bit off, I had to smile when he brought up renewable energy as an example of a topic that closes down conversations and replaces them with highly predictable friend-and-enemy distinctions.