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Monthly archives: February 2010

Swopping instead of shopping

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Freecycle-Göteborg
Freecycling Gothenburg, one of the Swedish freecycling networks. 

I think we all have a desire for new things. Not necessarily new in the “coming directly from the factory”-sense, but things that are new to us. Walking through a city centre on a Saturday afternoon, seeing people crowding with millions of plastic bags in their hands it is obvious that people don’t shop solely out of pure needs. We are looking for confirmation, maybe hoping to make up for some of our own failings through another personal belonging. Or – we are just looking for some renewal.

Environmental consequences

This urge has, as we all know, severe consequences for the environment, though. On a global scale, we are already using the natural resources much faster than they can be reproduced.
One way to alleviate this is to turn from shopping to swopping. Lately several varieties of swap markets have emerged. One of them is the phenomenon freecycling, which has been around for some years but seems to have an upswing with the sustainability debate.

Givning and receiving

Within the freecycle networks people give away things they don’t need anymore and can receive other things that they do need.
In Sweden there are freecycle networks in around eight cities. The Gothenburg network for example has about a thousand members. On their web pages people put up adverts for what they want to give away or what they are looking for, and once in a while get-togethers are arranged to exchange clothes and other things that could be difficult to give away over the Internet. That is also an excellent opportunity for people to meet and discuss how our consumption affects the environment.

No more regrets 

Where I live we have our very own version of freecycling. In the space where we leave our bulky refuse, an area is dedicated to a “swap table”. There people can leave things that they do not use anymore, but that someone else might find useful. Here you can find everything from books to chandeliers, chairs or bookshelves.
And the best of all – if you change your mind you can just replace the things at the “swap table”. No more regrets after impulse purchases.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 11, 2010

Uranium mining — threat or opportunity?

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Ringhals
One of Sweden’s nuclear power plants, Ringhals. In order to work it needs uranium, but from where should it be taken? Photo: Vattenfall.

During the last five years several companies have test-drilled, looking for uranium in different parts of Sweden. Now one of them has found deposits large enough, which has once again sparked the debate about uranium mining.

Fear pollution

In Jämtland, where the deposits are found, the opinions about this project are dividing the local society. Some say to the environmental radio show Klotet (“the Globe”) that they are afraid of pollution and worrying about what would happen to the residues. They also fear that it could threaten tourism, forestry and agriculture. Others mean that the technology is advanced enough to run a safe and clean mine, and hope it could give a reason to stay for the area’s young inhabitants, who are now leaving for jobs in other parts of the country.

Local veto right 

The way from finding uranium deposits to actually start mining is quite long, though. Several courts have to decide if mining is possible and on what environmental terms it could be performed. After that the municipality still has a right to veto, and could say no to uranium mining. This is what happened in Ranstad LÄNK in the west of Sweden over 30 years ago. That stopped further mining in Sweden’s up until now only uranium mine.
Nuclear power plants produce almost half of Sweden’s electricity. We import around 1 500 tons of uranium every year, mostly from Canada and Namibia, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia. As I have written here before, the nuclear power itself has been a matter of discussion in Sweden ever since the 1980 referendum.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 8, 2010

Climate change is not an environmental issue

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winter-evening
Not my actual view, but very much like it. Photo: Per Ola Wiberg/Flickr.

The train between Uddevalla and Stockholm is very late due to heavy snowfalls, but those who still have a bit of patience can see that the landscape outside offers a stunning view, trees weighed down under the white crystals as night falls.

Climate and media

I am on my way back to Stockholm after talking about climate change and media at a regional energy conference. Asked to share a few views on this topic, I have spent the last days thinking about this, and have come to the conclusion that climate change should not be up to environment reporters to cover. This might sound a little provocative, but what I mean is that labelling climate change as “environment” in a way frees all the other sections of a newspaper from the responsibility to write about it. I would say climate change – and sustainability as a whole – is very much a social, economic, cultural, psychological and philosophical issue, as well as environmental. Imagining a society without fossil fuels, and a society in which we stay inside the planetary boundaries, involves much more than natural science.

Many questions

How will we transport ourselves? Will people be able to commute as much as today? What will happen to all those who have loved ones far away? Will we eat the same food as we do now? How will we even have food enough for everyone? Will status be a different thing than big cars in a world without oil? Being bombarded with alarming reports, how do we keep our spirits up? Even if natural science can teach us how climate change works and give us the emission curves we ought to be following, I don’t think natural science can answer all those other questions for us.

Meaningful waiting

Around me at the train lots of other passengers are waiting to come home, but actually there is much less frustration than I would have expected. Instead people talk to each other, something which does not always happen on a Swedish train. People have been asking me where I have been, and when I tell them they take a great interest in discussing climate change and society. Without glorifying train delays – maybe we’d need a few “empty” moments like this that could be filled with meaningful and spontaneous conversations about how to live our lives? 

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 4, 2010

Saving the world over a cup of coffee

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napkin
Photo: Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan.

Many problems have taken the first steps towards a solution in the presence of a cup of coffee or tea. Big challenges or small – chit-chatting shouldn’t be underestimated.
This is probably what the Nordic Association for Adult Education has realised. To stimulate the public discussion about climate change after the December meeting in Copenhagen they have printed 150 000 paper-napkins which will be placed at coffee tables in their halls in four Nordic countries. The napkins will bear three questions about climate change: “Have you experienced the effects of climate change?”, “Do you take any action regarding climate change yourself?” and “Who has the responsibility for climate change?”

Study circles

Sweden has a long tradition of adults learning together in study circles, from cooking or analyzing politics to studying a topic together. And during these study circles there are breaks, where people sit down for a cup and a chat. Voilá, time for a napkin. 
After discussing climate change around the coffee tables people can submit their thoughts and ideas on a web page until the beginning of March. The results will be presented during a new climate conference arranged by the same association in the end of March, one hundred days after the UN climate meeting.

Invitation to the minister

Monica Stolpe-Nordin from the association says that there is a pressure to continue climate talks, where focus is not on the leaders of the world but on what you and I can do. She invites Sweden’s environment minister Andreas Carlgren to come to one of the coffee talks. It will be interesting to see if he joins.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 1, 2010