Bjørnar Sandberg

What I'm left with is not a diploma but a new way of looking at everything

This profile was first published in the April 2011 edition of United World

Bjørnar Sandberg has dedicated his time since graduating from UWC in Mostar in May 2010 to campaigning with Natur og Ungdom – Nature and Youth, the Young Friends of the Earth movement in Norway. With 7000 members ranging from age 14 to 25, it is a big voice in Norway’s environmental debates.

He was elected to the steering group last July and is responsible for developing the organisation's politics on environmental matters and working on the environmental causes that members agree the organisation should focus on. Bjørnar spent the first six months working on campaigns on biodiversity and public transport. Since January, his focus has been on the oil campaign which is a cause very close to his heart.

Upon graduating from UWC, Bjørnar felt it was right for him to put further studies on hold to concentrate on the environmental cause. “I am eternally grateful of getting to spend two years at UWC in Mostar, and feel now the necessity to commit to something greater than myself. I have chosen to do things important to me right now,” he explains.

“My motivation and interest for environmental work comes from the understanding of nature as the basis of our development. Having later learnt that much of what we do as humans leave traces and is done at the expense of biodiversity and a stable climate, I figured that I should join the environmental movement to influence decisions towards a sustainable direction. As it’s the largest environmental NGO for youth in Norway, Nature and Youth was the natural movement for me to join.”

“I grew up in the Lofoten Islands and in that matter lived great parts of my life close to nature and with a family eager to get out and experience it. The fight against potential oil drilling outside Lofoten is the organisation's top priority, as this year the Norwegian government will decide whether or not to start an opening process for oil activity in this area. The seas around Lofoten contain the world's largest cold water coral reef as well as huge populations of close-to-endangered sea birds and the world's largest remaining population of cod. An oil spill here would be a catastrophe.”

Having felt unchallenged by his schooling in Norway, for Bjørnar, the appeal of UWC was the international dimension and he found the perspectives gained from studying in an international environment the most intriguing aspect of his education there. “The interpretation of what we studied in English, history, economics and especially ToK varied vastly from person to person and also from nationality to nationality. With the mash of angles each topic was looked at, everyone ended up much more open and considerate of all possible perspectives there might be – on all issues.” He also believes this is the way in which his UWC experience has shaped his outlook the most. “I understand and notice more sides in every conflict and look critically at news reports containing only one perspective,” he reflects. In the end, looking back, what I'm left with is not a diploma but a new way of looking at everything and memories which will follow me a lifetime. “

Bjørnar valued the community service aspect of the education enormously, especially as it was not a part of his education before. At UWC Mostar he worked for two years on a project called Roma Neretva, assisting Roma children in Mostar with maths and reading and also organising play activities. “It was a remarkable and I learnt a lot from both teaching them and just spending time with them,” he recalls.

Bjørnar considers his biggest achievement so far to be arranging a youth forum for civil society on the energy situation in the Barents region which he worked on also for Youth and Nature. “It was a very rewarding experience having the opportunity to co-organise such a forum. It was for youth NGO's from Russia, Norway, Finland and Belarus and it was very interesting to learn about working for youth NGOs in other countries. The forum had about 150 participants and focused on civil society and the energy situation of the Barents region (the conflict between fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewable energy)

The outcome of the Lofoton campaign is still unknown and although the campaign has a lot of support, Bjørnar is acutely aware of the power of the oil lobby in his country.

The fight involves a great bunch of activism combined with some lobbyism. We demonstrate, arrange events and in general try to show the great resistance there is against oil activity outside Lofoten. For the entire month of March, we demonstrated outside the house of the Norwegian PM every morning. We also lobby quite a lot - attend meetings with politicians to show that we know enough to say no to oil, try to convince the businesses of Lofoten that the development should be based on renewable resources, not fossil fuels.
What the decision will be in the end, we do not know. What we know is that we are making it very hard to open for oil drilling.”