Rasmus Hansson

Rasmus Johan Michael Hansson (born 4 September 1954) is a Norwegian biologist, civil servant, environmental activist and 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.

In October 1976 he and two other (Harald Hjort and Knut Are Tvedt) built a dam over the creek in front of the entrance of present-day Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate. (This resulted in their ironic press release being printed by Aftenposten, under the title "Vandalism on power facilities at Middelthunsfallene": "Upon inspection of the facilities on October 23, partial destruction due to vandalism, was confirmed. The dam has been removed and the water is now running its original course - of no use to society.")

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 (Jørn Thomassen) 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 [Norwegian] 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."

Hansson has a Cand. real degree in biology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He wrote a master's thesis (hovedfag) on polar bears.

...
Wikipedia