Denmark
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MERRI OK
https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/why-denmark-dominates-the-world-happiness-report-rankings-year-after-year/
AN 1 14 26 Denmark military told to shoot back if the US fires on Greenland as Sweden send troops
Trump sends NATO an early morning warning
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an 12 25
President Donald Trump's Sunday night decision to name Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) as his administration's new special envoy to Greenland is already making waves around the world.
Trump posted late Sunday to his Truth Social account that Landry "will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World," and that the Louisiana governor "understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security." Landry appears to accept the role, though he posted on his official X account that his new "volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S." would not intrude on his ongoing responsibilities in Baton Rouge.
Simon Marks, who is a contributor to the United Kingdom-based iPaper, quipped that Landry's role advancing U.S. efforts in Greenland's capital city of Nuuk "won’t be easy, since so far there is limited appetite for non-stop flights between the two cities." He also observed that Trump's announcement has caused a significant amount of consternation for Denmark, which has dominion over Denmark and controls its military and foreign policy (though Greenland has its own parliament).
"Land borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Parilament chairman Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement. "You cannot annex other countries. Not even with an argument about international security. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders … We expect respect for our territorial integrity."
Marks went on to note that Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called Landry's appointment "unacceptable" and that he was "deeply angered" upon learning of Trump's announcement. Ken Howery, who is the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (and a co-founder of PayPal) has reportedly been summoned to Copenhagen to discuss Landry's appointment.
Trump's announcement that he was putting Landry in charge of the United States' diplomatic efforts in Greenland comes as his administration continues to threaten Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, which Trump recently admitted was about "getting land" and "oil rights." Marks wrote that "Trump is indicating that his expansionist tendencies are back in vogue, especially with regard to worldwide locations that are rich in natural resources."
The iPaper columnist hypothesized that if Venezuela is about oil, Trump's efforts in Greenland may be about mineral resources. He reminded readers that Greenland was rich in 25 of 34 minerals classified as "critical raw minerals" by the European Commission.
Click here to read Marks' full column in iPaper.
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AN 11 25
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for the U.S. to acquire Greenland as a new American territory. In response to this renewed pressure, Denmark, which currently controls Greenland as an autonomous territory, has set up a new "night watch" program to keep tabs on Trump's public comments.
News of this program first emerged in the Danish newspaper, Politiken. The outlet reported that Denmark's foreign ministry now has a team working a 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. night shift monitoring any public statements Trump might make about Greenland, designed to account for the time difference between the country and the U.S. Any time that Trump makes a statement containing the word "Greenland," it is added to a report presented to officials in the morning.
This night watch program has reportedly been in operation since the spring. Speaking with Newsweek about the program, Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that Danish officials remain extremely concerned about Trump's overtures concerning Greenland, and may be looking to stall in hopes of a Democratic win in the 2026 midterms.
“Denmark is currently trying to play for time, hoping that this will fizzle out and that maybe a democratic win in the US midterms might stifle Trump's ambitions to take Greenland," Søndergaard explained.
Greenland is a snowy island territory situated in the Arctic Ocean northeast of Canada. Experts have suggested that Greenland's rich supply of important minerals, including rare-earth minerals that Trump has been fixated on securing during his second term.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has warned U.S. officials against Trump's Greenland posturing, and Danish officials have repeatedly insisted the territory is "not for sale." Trump has previously attempted to claim that Greenland residents want to join the U.S., despite an overwhelming 85 percent of Greenlanders opposing the idea. The president has also stated that he does not rule out the use of military action or economic pressure to coerce Denmark into ceding control of Greenland, which put Danish officials on even higher alert.
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https://www.ecowatch.com/shipping-arctic-ice-melting-2598089199.html
World's Largest Shipping Company to Send First Ship Through Melting Arctic
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Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's largest shipping company, will soon be the first to send a container vessel through Russia's Northern Sea Route, as the melting Arctic opens up new trade possibilities.
The Northern Sea Route has been historically impossible or prohibitively expensive to cross due to frozen sea ice. But the Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the globe due to climate change and has significantly thawed the region's ice.
The Venta Maersk, which has a capacity to carry 3,600 shipping containers, will take off on its maiden voyage in the coming days through the polar waters north of Russia. The vessel will carry a load of frozen fish from Vladivostok in Russia's far east to St. Petersburg in the west, avoiding the traditional southerly Asia to Europe route through Egypt's Suez Canal, NPR reported.
Experts say the Northern Sea Route could reduce the east-west journey by two weeks.
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https://www.alternet.org/world/why-denmark-dominates-world-happiness-rankings-year-after-year
new World Happiness Report again ranks Denmark among the top three happiest of 155 countries surveyed – a distinction that the country has earned for seven consecutive years.
The U.S., on the other hand, ranked 18th in this year’s World Happiness Report, a four-spot drop from last year’s report.
Denmark’s place among the world’s happiest countries is consistent with many other national surveys of happiness (or, as psychologists call it, “subjective well-being”).
Scientists like to study and argue about how to measure things. But when it comes to happiness, a general consensus seems to have emerged.
Depending on the scope and purpose of the research, happiness is often measured using objective indicators (data on crime, income, civic engagement and health) and subjective methods, such as asking people how frequently they experience positive and negative emotions.
Why might Danes evaluate their lives more positively? As a psychologist and native of Denmark, I’ve looked into this question.
Yes, Danes have a stable government, low levels of public corruption, and access to high-quality education and health care. Thecountry does have the the highest taxes in the world, but the vast majority of Danes happily pay: They believe higher taxes can create a better society.
Perhaps most importantly, however, they value a cultural construct called “hygge” (pronounced hʊɡə).
The Oxford dictionary added the word in June 2017, and it refers to high-quality social interactions. Hygge can be used as a noun, adjective or verb (to hygge oneself), and events and places can also be hyggelige (hygge-like).
Hygge is sometimes translated as “cozy,” but a better definition of hygge is “intentional intimacy,” which can happen when you have safe, balanced and harmonious shared experiences. A cup of coffee with a friend in front of a fireplace might qualify, as could a summer picnic in the park.
A family might have a hygge evening that entails board games and treats, or friends might get together for a casual dinner with dimmed lighting, good food and easygoing fun. Spaces can also be described as hyggelige (“Your new house is so hyggeligt”) and a common way of telling a host thank you after a dinner is to say that it was hyggeligt (meaning, we had a good time). Most Danish social events are expected to be hyggelige, so it would be a harsh critique to say that a party or dinner wasn’t hyggelige.
Research on hygge has found that in Denmark, it’s integral to people’s sense of well-being. It acts as abuffer against stress, while also creating a space to build camaraderie. In a highly individualized country like Denmark, hygge can promote egalitarianism and strengthen trust.
It would be fair to say that hygge is fully integrated into the Danish cultural psyche and culture. But it has also become a bit of a global phenomenon – Amazon now sells more than 900 books on hygge, and Instagram has over 3 million posts with the hashtag #hygge. Google trends data show a big jump in searches for hygge beginning in October 2016.
Nor is Denmark the only country that has a word for a concept similar to hygge – the Norwegians have koselig, the Swedes mysig, the Dutch gezenlligheid and the Germans gemütlichkeit.
In the U.S. – which also places a high value on individualism – there’s no real cultural equivalent of hygge. Income is generally associated with happiness; yet even though the country’s GDP has been rising and its unemployment rates have been declining, levels of happiness in the U.S. have been steadily decreasing.
What’s going on?
Income inequality continues to be an issue. But there’s also been a marked decrease in interpersonal trust and trust toward institutions like the government as well as the media. In the end, more disposable income doesn’t hold a candle to having someone to rely on in a time of need (something that 95 percent of Danes believe they have).
At its core, hygge is about building intimacy and trust with others.
Americans could probably use a little more of it in their lives.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Marie Helweg-Larsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment
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http://www.ecowatch.com/offshore-wind-denmark-no-subsidies-2364911834.html
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http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/04/offshore-wind-farm-hornsea denmark 1 gig
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http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Europe#Scandanavia
Norway first country to divest 2/15.
Denmark Is the Happiest Country on Earth! You'll Never Guess Why 10/13. powerplant doubles as ski slope, how Ecotopian.
Can You Guess the 10 Best Countries For Women? Hint: the U.S. Isn't One of Them 10/13.
Swedish co-op creates a stake for women in wind industry. Qvinnovindar members individually invested anywhere from 500 to 300,000 Krona ($77-46,000) each, giving them an equal vote in how the company is run, regardless of the amount they put in.
Denmark’s Samso Island, in 1998, population 4,000, won a national contest with a bold plan to completely switch to renewable energy. In just ten short years, the island has achieved its goal of becoming carbon-neutral. Residents use wind, sun — and even rapeseed oil — to power their homes and cars.
Bjork's on a quest to see Iceland take back its geothermal resources. see also here.
PBS Global Focus special segment on Denmark, which bought wind energy industry the US abandoned and is now the world leader. Includes segment on Samso Island, which is now carbon neutral after ten year effort. More.
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http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/29/copenhagen-divest-fossil-fuels/
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Denmark Is the Happiest Country on Earth! You'll Never Guess Why
October 23, 2013 |
Last month, Denmark was crowned the happiest country [2] in the world.
“The top countries generally rank higher in all six of the key factors identified in the World Happiness Report,” wrote University of British Columbia economics professor John Helliwell, one of the report's contributing authors. “Together, these six factors explain three quarters of differences in life evaluations across hundreds of countries and over the years.”
The six factors for a happy nation split evenly between concerns on a government- and on a human-scale. The happiest countries have in common a large GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy at birth and a lack of corruption in leadership. But also essential were three things over which individual citizens have a bit more control over: A sense of social support, freedom to make life choices and a culture of generosity.
"There is now a rising worldwide demand that policy be more closely aligned with what really matters to people as they themselves characterize their well-being," economist Jeffrey Sachs said in a statement at the time of the report's release [3].
But why Denmark over any of the other wealthy, democratic countries with small, educated populations? And can the qualities that make this Nordic country the happiest around apply to other cultures across the globe? Here are a few things Danes do well that any of us can lobby for:
Denmark supports parents
While American women scrape by with an average maternal leave [4] of 10.3 weeks, Danish families receive a total of 52 weeks of parental leave [5]. Mothers are able to take 18 weeks and fathers receive their own dedicated 2 weeks at up to 100 percent salary. The rest of the paid time off is up to the family to use as they see fit.
But the support doesn't stop at the end of this time. Danish children have access tofree or low-cost child care [6]. And early childhood education is associated with health and well-being throughout life [7] for its recipients -- as well as for mothers [8]. What's more, this frees up young mothers to return to the work force if they'd like to. The result? In Denmark, 79 percent of mothers [9] return to their previous level of employment, compared to 59 percent of American women. These resources mean that women contribute 34 to 38 percent of income in Danish households [10] with children, compared to American women, who contribute 28 percent of income.
Health care is a civil right -- and a source of social support
Danish citizens expect and receive health care as a basic right. But what's more, they know how to effectively use their health systems. Danish people are in touch with their primary care physician an average of nearly seven times per year, according to a 2012 survey of family medicine in the country [11]. And that means they have a single advocate who helps them navigate more complicated care.
"This gatekeeping system essentially is designed to support the principle that treatment ought to take place at the lowest effective care level along with the idea of continuity of care provided by a family doctor," wrote the authors of the family medicine survey [12].
By contrast, Americans seek medical care an average of fewer than four times per year and they don't just visit their general practitioner -- this figure includes emergency room visits, where many uninsured Americans must access doctors. This diversity of resources means that many Americans don't have continuity of care -- not a single medical professional advocating for them and putting together a comprehensive medical history.
Gender equality is prioritized
It isn't just parents who can expect balanced gender norms. Denmark regularly ranks [13]among the top 10 countries in a World Economic Forum's yearly report that measures gender equality. While no country in the world has yet achieved gender parity, Denmark and other Nordic countries are coming close. That is in no small part because of the strong presence of women in leadership positions. Reported the World Economic Forum:
The Nordic countries were also early starters in providing women with the right to vote (Sweden in 1919, Norway in 1913, Iceland and Denmark in 1915, Finland in 1906). In Denmark, Sweden and Norway, political parties introduced voluntary gender quotas in the 1970s, resulting in high numbers of female political representatives over the years. In Denmark, in fact, this quota has since been abandoned as no further stimulus is required.
Indeed, the country currently has its first female prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt (although she has been leader of the Social Democrat party since 2005). Its blockbuster hit television show, Borgen, features a female prime minister (pictured above) as well -- a complicated, strong female character that stands in contrast to America's enduring obsession with male anti-heroes [14].
But government leadership merely exemplifies greater gender balance throughout the culture. As Katie J.M. Baker puts it in her exploration of gender politics [10] in the Scandinavian country: "Unlike in America, where bestsellers goad already overworked and underpaid women to Lean In even further, the assumption in Denmark is that feminism is a collective goal, not an individual pursuit."
Biking is the norm
In Denmark's most populated and largest city, Copenhagen, bikes account for 50 percent of its residents' trips to school or work. Half. Half of commuting happens on a bike in Copenhagen and that doesn't just improve fitness levels and reduce carbon emissions, it also contributes to the wealth of the city [15], reported Forbes:
Researchers found that for every kilometer traveled by bike instead of by car, taxpayers saved 7.8 cents (DKK 0.45) in avoided air pollution, accidents, congestion, noise and wear and tear on infrastructure. Cyclists in Copenhagen cover an estimated 1.2 million kilometers each day –- saving the city a little over $34 million each year.
What's more, just 30 minutes of daily biking adds an average of one to two years to the life expectancy of Copenhagen's cyclists.
Danish culture puts a positive spin on its harsh environment
Here's how Danish people turn lemons into spiced mulled wine: Ever heard of the concept of hygge? While some would define it as cultivated coziness, hygge is often considered the major weapon in combatting the dreary darkness that befalls the Nordic country over the winter. In a place where the sun shines fewer than seven hours during the height of the winter solstice -- a level of darkness that can (and does) stir depression and sad feelings -- the concept of a cozy scene, full of love and indulgence, can help to mitigate some of the season's worst psychological effects.
After all, both strong social connections and many of the indulgent foods associated with hygge -- such as chocolate, coffee and wine -- are mood boosters.
Danes feel a responsibility to one another
Danes don't prioritize social security and safety simply so they can receive benefits; there's a real sense of collective responsibility and belonging. And this civic duty -- combined with the economic security and work-life balance to support it -- results in a high rate of volunteerism. According to a government exploration [16] of Danish "responsibility":
Denmark is a society where citizens participate and contribute to making society work. More than 40 percent of all Danes do voluntary work in cultural and sports associations, NGOs, social organisations, political organisations, etc. There is a wealth of associations: in 2006, there were 101,000 Danish organisations -- worth noting in a population of just 5.5 million.
The economic value of this unpaid work is DKK 35.3 billion. Combined with the value growth from the non-profit sector, public subsidies and membership fees, the total economic impact of the sector represents 9.6 percent of the Danish GDP.
But that sense of stewardship isn't just extra-governmental: Danes also take pride in their involvement with the democratic process. During the last election in September 2011, for example, 87.7 percent of the country voted. It's not surprising, given these statistics, that the University of Zurich and the Social Science Research Center Berlin have given Denmark the very highest rating for democracy [17] among 30 established democracies.
See more stories tagged with:
denmark [18],
health care [19],
gender equality [20],
happiness index [21]
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Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/denmark-happiest-country-earth-youll-never-guess-why
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Danish journalists have confirmed thatThe Institute for Energy Researchcommissioned and paid for the anti-wind energy studyreleased last year by a Danish think tank thatclaimed Denmark exaggerates the amount of wind energy it produces (it doesn’t), questioned whether wind energy reduces carbon emissions (it does), and asserted that theU.S.should choose coal over wind because it’s cheaper (it’s not when you count thetrue costs of coal).
“A controversial report critical of the wind energy industry from conservative think tankCEPOSwas commissioned and paid for by an American think tank with close ties to the coal and oil industries.”
That American think tank is theInstitute for Energy Research, which has received$307,000 from ExxonMobilsince 1998 and unknown additional sums fromother oil and coal industry sources. The Guardian reported last year that the Institute for Energy Research has received recent funding fromKBR and trusts set up by Koch Industries, which has multiple ties toIER and its sister organizationAmerican Energy Alliance.
IER’s PresidentThomas J. Pylepreviously worked as a lobbyist for Koch Industries, whileIER’sCEORobert L. Bradleywas formerly Director of Public Relations Policy at Enron, where he served as speechwriter for EnronCEOKenneth Lay.
Pyle, Bradley and IERhave direct and indirect ties to a laundry list of dirty energy industry front groups, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute,TASSC, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Bradley and theIER have argued that supplies of fossil fuels are virtually limitless, and that American dependence on oil imports from Middle Eastern dictatorships“pose no threat to national security.”
IER has railed against green jobs, arguing that oil and gas are better job creators, despite the fact that investment in clean energy technology createsfour times as many jobs as investment in oil and gas. IERcontinues its campaign against wind energy as well,asserting recentlythat the Obama administration had been “caught red-handed working with Big Wind energy lobbyists.”
Yes, those scary “Big Wind energy lobbyists” pose a real threat to America. You can’t make this stuff up folks. Unless, of course, you work at the oil-and-coal-funded Institute for Energy Research