US President Donald Trump's "ignorance" on climate change is "very scary", renowned Norwegian author Maja Lunde has said, warning that world leaders need to work together to avoid an environmental catastrophe.
Noting that the threat of climate change is "really grave", she said the world leaders needed to put their act together to avoid an environmental catastrophe.
"We have 11 years to limit a climate change catastrophe and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, warns the UN. Even half a degree more will worsen the risk of floods, extreme heat, drought and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. Yes, this (threat) is really grave," the author of "Blue" -- the second novel in a planned climate quartet -- told PTI.
Asked about the people, including Trump, who dismiss the climate change threat as a "hoax", Lunde said such a stance from the US president was "completely irresponsible".
"Luckily less and less people ignore the facts. When it comes to Trump, I don't know what to answer, his ignorance is very scary and completely irresponsible," she said.
President Trump in June 2017 pulled the US out of the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, arguing that the deal agreed by more than 190 nations unfairly benefited countries like India and China and hit American economy and jobs.
He had accused scientists who say hurricanes are getting more frequent and intense because of climate change of having "a very big political agenda".
"Green energy is the key to saving the world. We need to change our focus from coal and oil to the sun, the wind and the waves. And we need to think both on a small and big scale," Lunde said in response to the question on how to combat the pressing problem of climate change.
"What can we do with our houses, can we make our own solar or wind electricity, can we use our roof, our garden? And how can the leaders facilitate and support the change, and even more important, work together for a green revolution?" she said.
Her first adult novel "The History of Bees" was a huge success and won the 43-year-old author the prestigious Norwegian Booksellers' Prize in 2015. It was the best selling book in any genre in Germany in 2017.
"I first thought of the History of Bees as a stand-alone novel. But as I was writing it, several other stories kept buzzing around in my head. All of them about people living close to nature, many of them affected by environmental change," Lunde said.
"Suddenly I realised they were all part of the same story, I realised that even though 'The History of Bees' was almost done, I was not done, and it soon became clear I had material for a quartet of novels," she said.
Lunde, who is also a screenwriter and a media personality will speak at this year's Jaipur Literature Festival which begins on Thursday.
"I hope the mainstream media can keep setting the agenda, we really need the media we can trust these days," she said.
Sharing her views on how to address the issue of fake news, Lunde said it was important to keep telling the truth and insist on the values of science, research and objective reporting and working even harder.
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