Rasmus Hansson


Rasmus Johan Michael Hansson is a Norwegian biologist, civil servant, environmental activist and a former national spokesperson for the Green Party. He led the Norwegian chapter of World Wide Fund for Nature from 2000 to 2012. In 2013, he was elected to the Parliament of Norway as the first representative for the Green Party.
Hansson was born in Bærum, and grew up in Oslo. His father was the actor Knut Mørch Hansson of the Trondheim family Hansson which includes several businessmen and lawyers.

Early life

In October 1976 he and two other built a dam over the creek in front of the entrance of present-day Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.

Activism resulting in imprisonment

As a student he was among the environmental activists that protested the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark during the Alta controversy. He and a fellow student were convicted of sitting down on a road meant for "construction traffic". In court he was sentenced for civil disobedience, and he spent 30 days in Oslo kretsfengsel. In 2014 Aftenposten said that "The fines, in the order of kroner ten thousand were too high for the students so they both chose the option of having themselves imprisoned for a few weeks. It felt okay. Because they regretted nothing."

Career

Hansson has a Cand. real degree in biology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He wrote a master's thesis on polar bears.
He has worked as an adviser in the Norwegian and been a researcher for Norwegian Polar Institute and Norad. He led the Norwegian chapter of World Wide Fund for Nature from 2000 to 2012. Since 2012 he has been leading the Oslo Centre for Interdisciplinary Environmental and Social Research.

Parliamentary election

In the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election Hansson candidated for the first spot on the party's Oslo ballot against the party's national spokesperson Hanna Marcussen and narrowly won. The party got 5.6% of the votes in Oslo in the election 9 September 2013 and Hansson was the only person from the Green Party who got a seat in the parliament as the national result was 2.8% and below the 4% threshold for levelling seats. It was the first time that the Greens got a representative in the parliament.

Political priorities

Hansson argues that consumption in Norway needs to be reduced in order to cope with the environmental challenges. During the 2013 campaign for the Greens he suggested that it would be a good idea if the economic welfare was brought back to the level it was in the 1980s, about half of the current level. Among his political priorities are more focus on wind power and saving the polar bear.

Family

He resides in Bærumsmarka.
He is married and has three children.