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Monthly archives: June 2010

Going for a Swecation

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Lake-Abisko

Lake Abisko. Photo: Alexandre Buisse/Sweden.se

July means holidays in Sweden. Things might have changed a bit since the time when all the industries closed down all summer, but you can still notice a remarkable drop in activity. Newspapers become thinner and write features from the beach, public authorities change their opening hours and asking for the way in central Stockholm becomes a difficult task since most of those who walk the streets are visitors.

Both the financial crisis and the idea that flying around the world isn’t the best thing to do for the climate seem to have led to a trend of what some newspapers wittily call “Svemester” (as a mix of Sverige – Sweden – and semester – holidays). Recently I read an article claiming that every third Swede had dropped their plans to go abroad on holidays and instead stayed within the country.

And why go away when we – at last! –have a bit of sun and warmth? Last year camping was the fastest growing branch of the tourism sector in Sweden. One can also spend a few days at one of the hundreds of youth hostels that are scattered in beautiful places that no one has ever heard of. Another way of getting to know a new place is staying on a farm.

The new challenge of the climate pilots that I have written about before is to find exciting things and good ways to relax close to home. And I myself am also going for Swecation this summer – although with such a long-shaped country as Sweden you can go very far without crossing its borders. Right now I am packing my bags and getting ready for the 15 hours long train trip to Kiruna, where I will go trecking in the mountains. But sitting here, in a summer dress and sweating in 25 degrees, trying to prepare while the weather forecast tells me that the night temperature yesterday was minus 2 degrees Celsius in Nikkaloukta, it’s almost as if I were going to a new country…

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 30, 2010

Thriving in the concrete

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Elderflowers outside my window.

Elderflowers outside my window.

Midsummer has passed and everywhere I look Nature is exploding into cascades of flowers and greenery. Yesterday evening I picked elder flowers from the bush outside my house. They will make excellent lemonade.

I have written before about the increasing interest for growing food in urban spaces and I myself am no exception. In a study circel, that I will tell you more about on this blog soon, I am learning how to grow vegetables together with other beginners. The idea is that with the knowledge we get there we can later start growing food in our own neighbourhoods.

But gardening can get even more urban than that. A few weeks ago the British guerilla gardener Richard Reynolds visited Stockholm to lead a workshop for eager city gardeners. Watch his film about how they made Stockholm’s main square Sergels torg glow in yellow and green:

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 28, 2010

Images of overconsumption

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Shanghai-containers

Pudong International Container Terminals, Shanghai, Kina. Photo: Jens Assur.

Every day we are bombarded with millions of images with different messages. But once in a while some of these images break through the protective shield that most of us carry. The photographer Jens Assurs photos and texts in the exhibition “Hunger” that I saw at Kulturhuset in Stockholm the other day belong to that cathegory.

Jens Assur has travelled around the world, visiting world cities and watching how large groups of humanity never seem to get enough – while others cannot even get what they need to survive.
– I would like to turn the concept of hunger around. Hunger isn’t necessarily people that starve. Hunger can also be the desire for more: eating more, consuming more, says Jens Assur.

During the spring Jens Assur has published five photo books called “Hunger”. These books have been sent to Sweden’s top thousand debators, politicians and other creators of public opinion. His goal is to start a discussion about how to create a society which is sustainable in the long perspective.

The texts he has written to accompany the photos in the exhibitions are straight to the point:

The clock is ticking. Time is getting scarce. There is a lot to be done. We’re living on a narrow neck of land, and could get washed away any time soon. How narrow? Two degrees centigrade is the appreciation of most experts. Two trifling points on the thermometer.

We know what’s needed to be done immediately:

The dependence on fossil fuels – oil and coal – must be broken.

Alternative energy sources must be made economically competitive.

Private motoring must be barred from the cities.

Collective transport has to be extended and developed, made comfortable and cheap.

An economically sound and fairly apportioned global system for rationing carbon dioxide emissions must be created.

The airway industry must carry a substantially larger part of its own climate costs. This will have restructuring consequences for the tourist industry. A Swede travelling to Thailand forth and back statistically causes approximately as much carbon dioxide emissions as a Chinese does during a whole year.

Natural seasons must be reintroduced. Less Southern fruits flown north. Strawberries only in season.

A new system for distributing and marketing foodstuffs, raised locally, in energy efficient ways. Quality instead of quantity.

A new kind of consumption culture must be established. Good and environmentally sound merchandise is preferable to throw-away and price-pressed products.

A renaissance for re-utilization, reparations and handicraft.

A focus shift from gadgets to services and experiences.

The list could be extended forever. It’s everyone’s task to make it longer and turn it into reality.

According to an extensive BBC poll, nine Europeans out of ten are willing to change their lives in order to save the climate. I’d like to take for granted that you’re one of them, and that you mean what you’re saying. I take for granted that you don’t delude yourself into thinking it’s enough to substitute your bottled water with tap water.

Rodeo-drive

Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles, USA. Photo: Jens Assur.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 24, 2010

Extention of the nuclear parenthesis

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greenpeace-protest

Activists dressed up as sun power, hydropower and wind power talk to a member of the Swedish parliament before the votation. Photo: Greenpeace.

Last week much of the spotlights in Sweden were directed towards the royal wedding here in Stockholm. But competing for the attention of people strolling around in town were also activists colourfully dressed up as renewable energies, protesting against the decision to allow the construction of new nuclear reactors.

As I have written here earlier, nuclear power has been a well-debated matter in Sweden ever since the 1980 referendum, which after enormous debates decided to phase out Sweden’s 12 nuclear reactors before 2010. This target was later abandoned, but two reactors have been closed.

The 10 remaining reactors stand for about half of Sweden’s electricity production. In the face of climate change the discussion about nuclear power once again surged.

Last week the decision was taken to permit new reactors to be built in Sweden. The total number of reactors cannot exceed 10 though, so they would be replacing old ones.

The parliament also decided that the construction of nuclear power plants should not be subsidised by the Swedish state and that the owners of reactors will be fully responsible to pay for the damages in case of an accident.

The parliament debate about this took a whole day, eight hours, and the divisions between opposers and advocates were sharp.
– This could mean that Sweden makes itself dependent on nuclear power for 100 more years and there will be 100,000 years of consequences for future generations who will have to take care of the waste, said Maria Wettergren from the green opposition party.

Environment minister Andreas Carlgren admitted that he was once upon a time himself among the protestors against nuclear power. But with climate change reality has changed, he said.
– Vi prolong the nuclear parenthesis, but it’s still a parenthesis.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 21, 2010

Responsible fashion with funny names

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Righteous Fasion.

Righteous Fashion.

“Sustainability” can mean a lot of things. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time, but social sustainability is another important aspect of it. If humans are treated badly, exploited or suppressed, it doesn’t really help if the products they are working with are 100 percent organic – the totality still wouldn’t be sustainable in the sense that it has the capacity to endure.

This is an important aspect for those fashion designers included in an exhibition at the Scandinavia House in New York this summer. In Eco Chic – Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion a whole bunch of designers who try to take care of both labour and natural resources participate.

The name of the exhibition is honest, I would say, because reaching full sustainability is quite a difficult thing. Knowing exactly how the material has been produced isn’t easy.

And no matter how much work the designer has put into making production as fair, safe and environmentally aware as possible, it’s still up to the consumer not to overconsume it. Buying ten fair trade, green skirts doesn’t make the world better than buying one and actually using it until it’s worn out…

But when New York Times wrote about this exhibition earlier this spring, what seemed to fascinate the reporter most was the funny names of the Swedish fashion labels:

“Among those included are Zion Clothing, Righteous Fashion, Nudie Jeans and Julian Red, named for the art-loving character in the Bret Easton Ellis novel Less Than Zero. The cutest has to be DEM Collective, a label that stands for Don’t Eat Macaroni. Karin Stenmar, a partner in the company, said it was founded to show that eco-clothing could be made inexpensively, not to scare people off of a delicious comfort food.
– Macaroni is a symbol for fast-food culture, she said, comparing its perils to those of fast fashion.”

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

June 17, 2010