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Monthly archives: July 2009

Saved by the freedom to roam

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paddling-kayak
View from a kayak.

Working when most others are having their holidays can be hard. We still have a lot left to do with the first issue of the climate magazine Effekt that I am involved in. Starting a magazine is enormously interesting work and a lot of fun, but in the middle of last week I got to the point when a break was desperately needed.
The best way to relax is normally to change environment. So I left all my to-do lists, the books that should be read and my hairbrush at home and went to the islands in the archipelago of Stockholm with a couple of friends. After renting kayaks we simply paddled out among the small islands to look for a place to stay – and found an almost ridiculously beautiful rock where we could set up our camp.

Right of public access

Being able to just settle down for the night (almost) where you want to is one of the things that I appreciate the most when I go out in the nature. The right of public access (“Allemansrätten”) or the freedom to roam, which it is sometimes called, is the most important base for recreation in Sweden. It gives everyone the possibility to visit somebody else´s land, take a bath in and travel by boat on somebody else’s water and to pick berries, mushrooms and wild flowers.

Of course this right does not allow you to do just anything you like – there are also some rules to follow, such as not camping too close to somebody’s house, breaching branches and twigs from growing bushes and trees or lighting a fire on bare rocks that can crack from the heat.

Making it easier to visit

In the archipelago of Stockholm many of the islands are owned and maintained by the Archipelago Foundation whose main task is to make it possible for everyone to be able to experience and enjoy the area. For example the foundation provides drinking water pumps, toilets and rubbish disposals, which is both making it easier for tourists and benefitting the local environment.

After having exchanged stressful thoughts for the lapping of the waves, the scent of salt and seaweed and the feeling of warm rocks underneath bare feet I feel ready to go back to work. Wouldn’t you, after waking up with a view as the one below?

view-from-the-tent

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 20, 2009

Hey, you dropped something!

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campaign-pictures

When I recently walked through one of Stockholm’s parks one warm evening with a visitor from Canada, he was dismayed over the amount of litter laying around on the grass. With Sweden’s reputation of being an environmentally conscious country he didn’t expect Swedes to throw their litter everywhere, he said. Well, maybe there isn’t  necessarily a connection between realizing that the environment as a whole is threatened by emissions and pollutions, and caring for the nature most physically close to us. Every year the city spends around 100 million swedish crowns (more than 12,7 million dollars).

New campaign

The park was actually a sad sight, full of litter, disposable grills left on the grass and loads of paper and plastic bags.
Now the city council does its best to remind people to bring their waste after a nice picnic, by the campaign showed above, filling billboards with pictures of left pizza boxes and paper drinking cups. The texts say “Hey, you dropped something!” and “Hello, you forgot something!” At the end of the summer we will see if it has the desired effect…

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 17, 2009

Camping — so much greener than you might think

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camping
Photo: Anna Hult.

Camping might seem as one of the less environmental friendly ways of spending the holidays. But in fact it’s far from it.
Josefin Olevik is one of the journalists writing for the climate magazine Effekt that I am working with. She spent a whole summer at different camp grounds around Sweden. The outcome was a whole book about camping life.

In a column for Effekt (in Swedish) she writes about her fears before heading out on the roads; heavy cars driving mile after mile and camp sites without any organic food. But after a while she started to realize that campers are actually living a rather environmental friendly life. Camping means you rarely go further away than you can roll your caravan. A family of four flying to Thailand from Sweden would release about 5 600 kilos of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, whereas the same family taking their car and a caravan on a 2 000 kilometer long journey only would emit 500 kilos. No matter how many organic carrots you buy, you cannot really level that.
Furthermore, many campers don’t even move that far. One third of campsite holidaymakers in Sweden stay at the same spot from may to September, not too far away from home to be able to combine work and relaxation.

Camping is a very popular way of spending your free time in Sweden. Every year Swedish camp sites have about 17 million guest nights. Placing a second hand caravan at a beautiful lake slope and relaxing there with a good book doesn’t mean a big environmental impact. A simple way of being environmental friendly, Josefin Olevik points out.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 15, 2009

Putting a price tag on climate-related illness

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One could expect that human suffering and depletion of biodiversity would be reasons enough to take climate change seriously and do something about it. But, as in many cases, economic arguments seem to be the ones that work best. The British Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which in 2006 made world leaders start thinking of climate change as an economic and political issue instead of just a scientific phenomenon, is a good example of that. Now the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research has made a study on the economic costs of climate-related effects on health.

Climate change will have far more severe health consequences in other parts of the world, but effects will also affect Sweden. For example long heath waves, water and diseases transmitted by mosquitos and other insects will be a growing problem.

By calculating value of less mortality and sickness as a consequence of rising temperatures, the report wants to make it clear to decision makers that considerable amounts of money can be saved by taking action to prevent what we can and adapt to what we cannot prevent. The conclusion is that 24 hours of climate-related illness can be valued to between 8 000 and 10 000 Swedish kronor, about 1 000–1 260  dollars.

The research is conducted by the institute’s environmental economic research division.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 13, 2009

Horse-powered lawn mowers

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horse-driven-lawn-mower
Horses and cylinder mower in action. Photo: Juha Nyberg.

Summer means that things are growing. Grass is no exception, even if holidaymakers might have wished otherwise. This is a time when the rattling sound from motor driven lawn mowers reverberates in many residential areas, many of them burning petrol.
Even more fossil fuels are needed to tend the grass in public areas. The island of Djurgården in Stockholm is a place where a lot of people go to relax, enjoy free theatre or visit one of the museums. The island is green and the lawns are numerous. But this summer there is no noise coming from lawn mowers disturbing the peace. The machines have been exchanged for horse-driven cylinder mowers.
The cylinders mowers work in the same way as the smaller hand-driven ones, an idea that originally comes from the Amish people in the USA.

– Apart from being the most environmental friendly way of cutting grass, the horses will also bring other values. Town-dwellers who have never seen a horse working will get a special experience. Hopefully this can create an understanding of what horses can contribute to in society and more people can experience the social intimacy that exists between horses and humans, says Anders Eriksson, who is one of the persons working along with the lawn-mowing horses this summer.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 10, 2009