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Monthly archives: September 2010

Pension fund says no to oil

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tar-sands

Extraction of tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Photo: Jiri Rezac/Greenpeace.

A debate that comes up now and then in Sweden is where our pension money should be invested, since a part of Sweden’s retirement capital is invested in funds.
After the oil disaster in the Mexican Gulf, deep sea oil drilling and tar sands exploitation have been in focus.

Now the bank Swedbank’s Robur funds have decided that their ethically profiled fund shall refrain from all investments in companies that extract oil from tar sands. Last week they sold their posessions in BP and Shell.

The reasons given by the fund is that extraction of oil from tar sands is linked to great impacts on environment and climate, and that there are risks of violating indigenous peoples’ human rights.

– The main reason for selling our assets in BP and Shell is partly their connection to tar sands, but also these companies’ repeated security problems, says Anna Nilsson, who is head of the responsible investments department at Swedbank Robur Fonder, to the environment news letter MiljöRapporten Direkt.

The reactions on this has mainly been positive. But, argue some, not investing in tar sands is just a part of the bigger picture. As long as we keep consuming oil, there will still be an interest in continuing to extract tar sands.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 30, 2010

Thanks for cycling!

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thanks-for-cyclingI love cycling. Being able to get on the bike and pedal off whenever I want to instead of waiting for a bus or standing in a car queue is a freedom I value highly. Rolling along the train bridge in Årsta in Stockholm, watching the morning mist lift from the water and passing under the dewy trees of the Tanto park is my best way of waking up.
Those mornings when I’ve had to take the metro instead are not the same: actually I never really wake up, but rather feel like I had spent the night sleeping under my desk at work…

So I don’t see cycling as any kind of effort or sacrifice. But, nevertheless, it’s always nice to get some appreciation. So last Friday, when I was on my way to work, it was a nice surprise to be met by people from the city of Stockholm, handing out bags with cycle maps, reflector ribbons and snacks, thanking me for taking the bike.

The city of Stockholm has even made a cycle song, which does sound a little bit like something from the 1950:s, explaining how good cycling is for the environment and people’s wellbeing. (Go to this side and click the text “Tack för att du cyklar!” at the right to hear the song)

But Sweden does still have some work to do on the cycling front to catch up with our neighbours. The national radio news recently made a piece about the fact that Sweden invests less money in cycling-promoting measures, such as building new cycle paths, than both Norway and Denmark. Counting per capita, Sweden invests 38 SEK (almost 4 Euro), while Norway spend 64 and Denmark 45.

Nevertheless more and more people choose the bike. Now there are about 150 000 cycle commuters in Stockholm. And I’m quite happy to get more company on my morning routes.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 27, 2010

Farmers on the move

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farmers-shop-lorry

The farmer's shop lorry at its stop in the city of Askersund. Photo: Satish Jeswani.

Counting food miles and starting to question the weaknesses in the global food production has made the demand for locally produced food rise. Wwith that, people also seem to take a bigger interest in seeing with their own eyes where their food come from.

According to the Federation of Swedish Farmers the number of farm shops selling home-grown produce among their member farms has increased with almost 25 percent between 2007 and 2009.

Seeing with you own eyes where the food that you eat come from and how it’s produce certainly has a pedadogical point. Today we are often extremely alienated from all types of food production. But if everyone takes their own car to go there, some of the environmental gains do go to waste…

To rectify this, a group of local ecological producers in the area of Örebro have joined and started their own ambulating country shop. Their brightly coloured painted lorry tour around the area, stopping at crossroads and local squares – a bit like the ice cream vans.

So if you can’t come to the farmer, let the farmer come to you ;-)

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 23, 2010

Biologist on duty

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Duty-BiologistLars-Åke Janzon is Sweden’s biologist on duty. Photo: Hans Bister.

Today Sweden is recovering from election day, trying to find out what the results will bring us. Worth noting, though, is that the Green party has made their best election ever, becoming Sweden’s third biggest party according to preliminar counts. But since the coalition they belong to did not win, it remains to be seen if this gives green issues a bigger importance in politics.

But from this to something entirely different:
Have you ever found yourself wondering why cats purr or if mooses see in colour or black and white? At the Swedish Museum of Natural History all the answers can be found, through the “biologist on duty”, ready to answer any question that comes in.

The museum has had this service for almost four decades now, although it used to be a task that rotated between the biologists. Ten years ago Lars-Åke Janzon took on the role himself and now he answers about 20 questions a day coming from all kinds of people.

In an interview in Situation Sthlm (a street magazine sold by homeless in Stockholm), he says that Sweden’s most dangerous animals are the wasp and the bee. Every year about ten persons die after being stung by these beasts, compared to on average only one death every ten years by being bitten by a viper (which is Sweden’s only poisonous snake).

Being a professor in zoology Lars-Åke Janzon has a lot of knowledge in store, but he also has the 150 other researchers working at the museum, and the museum’s large collections to help him with tricky inquiries.

He has also written a book with some of all the questions that he has got during these years. The book is called “Hur mycket blåst klarar en fluga?”, which means How strong a wind can a fly cope with? (The answer to this question is 70 kilometers per hour.)

Other questions answered in the book are: If a mosquito is hit by a drop of water, will it die? Are ducks faithful to a partner all their lives? Which animals are biggest or fastest? And how many acorns does a squirrel actually have time to peel in one day?

Sounds like a pretty fun job to me.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 20, 2010

The world in Sweden

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thai-pavillion

A typical day in Thail... Or, wait, look at the birch trees in the background, it's Jämtland! Photo: Tage Levin.

As I have written here earlier many Swedes chose a ”Swecation” this summer. And for a while I was impressed with the environmentally conscious Swedish holidaymakers. Until I happened to read an article in the Swedish travel magazine Vagabond with the obvious (although not very modest) explanation: There’s no reason to leave Sweden since everything that exists abroad exists here too!

To mention a few examples:

  1. Russia has the trans-Siberian railway. Sweden has the Lapland train, going from Malmö in the very South of Sweden and all the way up to Narvik in Norway.
  2. gotska-sandon

    Gotska Sandön. Photo: Vino Rosso/Flickr.

    No real need to go to beautiful beaches far away either, since Sweden has Gotska Sandön, an island in the Baltic sea with miles of sandy beaches. Gotska Sandön is a national park, which also has an interesting flora.

  3. Going on a lion safari in Kenya can be a powerful experience, but Sweden also has its wilderness, populated by exotic animals. In Västmanland you can go on moose safaris and sleep in the huts that charcoal-burners used to live in.
  4. You might not believe it, but even Thailand can be found up north. In Ragunda in the province of Jämtland a Thai pavillion was constructed in the late 1990:s, to commemorate a visit made by the king Chulalongkorn in the beginning of last century. In Fredrika in the province of Västerbotten a Buddharama temple is also being built.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 16, 2010