Natur og Ungdom (NU) which translates Nature and Youth, also known in English as Young Friends of the Earth Norway, is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

youth environment protecting organisation. It is the only

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

youth organisation The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. ...

in Norway. 7,000 members, in 80 local groups, work on environmental issues all throughout the country. Officially, NU is the youth branch of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature. The organisation is led by Gina Gylver. The main issues the organisation works with include

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

, and nature conservation. In addition to local groups, there is a central board with 14 members that works on national issues and an administration; both are located in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. Natur og Ungdom is a member of

Friends of the Earth International Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split wit ...

, and publishes the magazine Putsj.

History

In 1967, the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature (NNV) had announced that they wanted a youth organization, and the two organisations, Norsk Feltbiologisk Ungdomsforening (NFU) and Oslo Katedralskoles Naturvernforening, decided to merge on November 18, 1967. The organisation had a difficult start with few members and a complicated organization, but in the 1970s, NU got better organised with more local groups. Focus in this period was

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. But in the 1970s,

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

became a hot issue in Norway and NU gained organizational strength as it opposed the plans, and won a victory when it was decided to not build nuclear power in Norway. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the organization worked with many issues, including the

Alta controversy The Alta conflict or Alta controversy refers to a series of massive protests in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta River in Finnmark, Northern Norway. Timeline *Inhabitan ...

, and also to prevent environmental contamination, especially from

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

. In 1984 members from NU and Greenpeace chained themselves to the factory Titania in

Sokndal Sokndal is the southernmost municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Dalane. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hauge. Other villages in Sokndal include Li, Rekefjor ...

in a civil disobedience action to prohibit the dumping of 2.2 million tonnes

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and rockdust mixed with

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

s in Dyngadjupet in

Jøssingfjord Jøssingfjorden is a fjord in Sokndal municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The long fjord is narrow and deep and is surrounded by mountains. It sits about southeast of the municipal centre of Hauge. There is some settlement on the south ...

. This was the first civil disobedience direct action taken on by NU. In 1990, Titania was required to deposit the waste on land, like the environmentalists had demanded. During the end of the 1980s, environmentalism grew among the general population, further strengthening the organization with more members and local groups. In 1991, NU was the prime contributor to the

Rotvoll controversy The Rotvoll controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in 1991 concerning the construction of a research and development (R&D) facility for Statoil at Rotvoll outside Trondheim. Key events The background for the controversy was that ...

, a fight to preserve a rich cultural area on the fringe of the city of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. In the EU referendum in 1994, NU worked actively against EU membership. During the late 1990s, the main focus was on trying to prevent the building of

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...

s in Norway and in the 2000s (decade), stopping the opening of the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

for petroleum production.

Chairs

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Natur Og Ungdom Friends of the Earth Environmental organisations based in Norway Youth organisations based in Norway Barents Sea

History

Chairs

See also

External links