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Monthly archives: April 2010

A changing landscape

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deserted-papermill
The ruins of a deserted papermill in Deje. Photo: Jan Jörnmark.

Not long ago I watched an excellent documentary film, “Requiem for Detroit” by Julien Temple. It shows how the former car manufacturing centre Detroit has been transformed after the  closing-down of big industries and wealthier inhabitants fleeing the city centre for the suburbs.

Not so unreal after all

To me it was almost chocking to see just how deserted the city is, trees growing through buildings that not long ago constituted the core of the American economy. It all seemed unreal to me.
Then I happened to visit the National Museum of Science and Technology here in Stockholm, and ended up at the photo exhibition Deserted places by Jan Jörnmark. That made me realise that we have places that are just as abandoned here in Sweden.

Portraying decay

Jörnmark is a senior lecturer in economic history who has portrayed places that are no longer in use in several fantastic photo books. He visits small cities where papermills and other industries have closed down, leaving empty buildings behind. But with a main employer disappearing from a small city, other changes come along. Jan Jörnmark visits abandoned people’s amusement parks, where the workers once used to go to enjoy themselves during the weekends. He takes us to echoing residential blocks, built for economic growth, but left to decay and kids with paintball guns.

A reminder

Jan Jörnmark’s work makes me think a lot about what traces our society will leave behind. What institutions and technologies that we take for granted today will feel just as outdated in the future as the abandoned machines and the people’s amusement parks on Jan Jörnmark’s photos?
Those trees, drilling their roots through bricks and concrete, is a reminder that very little of what humanity accomplishes is actually as permanent as we might like to believe.
Watch more of Jan Jörnmark’s photos here.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 12, 2010

Making energy fun

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carbonopoly-presentation
Patrik Larsson explains the idea behind Carbonopoly at the launching of the game.

Some time ago I wrote about how playing can encourage small children to learn more about the environment and sustainability. In the energy game Carbonopoly the idea is similar.
Patrik Larsson, who studies at  the Royal Institute of Technology KTH has developed the game , wanted to supplement the existing teaching media when he came up with Carbonopoly. Through playing,  pupils can learn about different types of energy production.

Constructing the energy system

Carbonopoly works much like a traditional Monopoly game. But instead of buying streets, you build up power stations, and around them city districts, where you can sell your energy and develop transport systems.
But it’s not all about making the most money and winning the game. Along the way the pupils also get familiar with terms like emission quotas, emission permits, wind power, sea-wave power and climate investments – terms that they later will recognize in the flow of daily news and be able to understand better.

Already in use

Carbonopoly is already used in several upper secondary schools, and according to Patrik Larsson the the game has been well received by both pupils and teachers. He now hopes for more schools to start using it, and considers making an English version too.
- The game does not say that one kind of energy production is better than another, it brings the discussion up and  and brings forward strengths and weaknesses of different types of energy, Patrik Larsson told me at the launching of the game.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 9, 2010

Spring’s leaps, and backlashes

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cafe-in-ice
Just waiting to open…

The first tentative steps of spring is a very special time in Sweden. At the arrival of the first sunny days, when birds start singing in the trees and melted snow flows along the streets, most people let everything else wait and get out of their houses to turn their faces towards the sun.
I don’t know if this is a proof of our very special relationship with nature, as many Swedens like to think, or if it is simply because novelty always has a strong attraction. If you have lived through a winter here, I can assure you that the day when the sun’s beams finally starts creating a sensation of warmth when they reach your skin, it feels like something entirely new.

Different ideas about the forest

What is true, anyway, is that for a lot of Swedes taking a walk in the forest once in a while is an important thing. Some time ago I read an interview with the environment inspector Yusra Moshtat. When she moved from Bagdad in Irak to Gothenburg, Sweden, she couldn’t understand why people talked about how wonderful it is to go out in the forest or that it’s “good for the soul” to spend time in nature. In Irak somebody who goes out in the woods to think his or her problems over would be seen as a madman, she said.
But when Yusra Moshtat’s son tragically passed away, it was the long forest walks, the trees and the singing birds that actually helped her get through the grieving process.

Nature as a way to integrate

A couple of years ago Yusra Moshtat wrote a report for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency about how immigrants in Sweden can be easier integrated into society through nature, and how nature can also be made more accessible to people who haven’t got the habit of spending time outside built-up areas.

Backlash

This Easter the weather has been wonderful, and after spending Saturday afternoon lying on the sunny rocks by lake Mälaren listening to the gulls with a friend, I almost went to my cellar store room to pick up my summer clothes.
But as with all passionate love stories, there is also a risk of big disappointments. Yesterday when I woke up and removed the blinds, I was met by – snowfall.
So I guess those summer clothes have to wait for a bit longer…

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 6, 2010

Playing for awareness

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gro-puzzle
Tyra Engström playing with the “A better world” jigsaw puzzle. Photo: Stina Engström.

How do you talk about environmental issues and sustainability with a child? Many parents do their best to buy environmentally aware products for their children, but to awaken their own interest for these things isn’t quite as easily done.
Patricia Rawecka thought of playing as a good way and therefore started making ”environmentally educating toys”. Her idea is that toys shouldn’t only be produced in a way which is as environmentally friendly as possible, but that their content should also reflect these ideas.She describes these toys as tools for parents, so that they can speak to their children about complex environmental problems at the children’s own level.

Understanding piece by piece

“A better world” is a locally produced and jigsaw puzzle where the original picture is one of an environmentally degraded world, which is thereafter replaced with something better, piece by piece as the puzzle is done.
On the back of every piece a short rhyme is written, making the game a challenge also for children who are learning to read.

Winning entrepreneurship

Patricia Rawecka’s trademark Gro (which would be something like the verb “sprout” in English) was one of the winning ideas in the contest Playing for change, where social entrepreneurs who got the chance to present their ideas that could improve the world “through play, playfulness, or by removing barriers to play”. Earlier this week a jury picked eight winners out of the 1 900 contributions. The winners will get the opportunity to develop their ideas during up to three years, with salary funding and professional support.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

April 1, 2010