Swedish Sojourn: Field Trippin' Fun

There is a general theory in geograp

hy that states something very obvious, namely that things which are located in greater proximity to one another will tend to be more interrelated than things which are further apart. It's clear that this is true in the case of relationships between people as well, even in this electronic age in which we can instantly communicate from nearly anywhere in the world. “Out of sight, out of mind” still seems to be the rule, and it doesn't take long for one who is absent to drop off of the radar.

I mention this because I am somewhat perplexed and amused by all of those who have asked if I still

have the same email address. Did they think my email address would somehow fail to work from Sweden and that I would need to get a new one? Rest assured, my email has not changed and I typically check it several times a day.

I have heard from a couple of you that you are caught up with reading this blog and ready for more. If any of you have any feedback to give please feel free to post a comment or to send an email. It's nice to know it's being read and it would be great to get a bit of a conversation going. Keep in mind that

a long post like the last one with pictures takes three or four hours on my end to produce.

This past weekend we took our class field trip, leaving Karlskrona on Friday morning and returning Sunday evening. We visited Växjö (pronounced something like 'vek-wha'), which has been called “the greenest city in Europe” for it's success in reducing CO2 emissions. We then spent two nights and had some leadership workshops at a place called Bildingshelm, and then on Sunday we visited a car cemetery in the forest and also a modern art park known as Wanås center.

The first thing I noticed about Växjö were how many bicycles there were parked outside of shops and in the median between the two lanes of the main street. I have become accustomed to seeing a lot of bikes in Karlskrona and when I first arrived in Sweden I even mistakenly thought a couple of businesses were bike shops because of the number of cycles parked outside. In the U.S. it's uncommon to see more than a few bikes parked on the street, whereas in Karlskrona there are often dozens. Växjö had literally hundreds of bicycles parked throughout the town and it was obvious that they are one of the main means of transportation there.

Other than that, the city does not look particularly “green”. It is attractive and nicely laid out, with wide streets and plenty of common spaces. There is an amazing church and many other beautiful historic buildings, but also a lot of more modern construction of concrete and steel. It is interesting that in Sweden there seems to be no particular desire to separate newer and older areas, so that a very modern design often stands right next to a centuries-old building. There are still plenty of cars on the streets as well, and the level of auto-related noise and air pollution seems to be about the same as in any similarly sized town.

At the city hall in Växjö we were given a talk about the town's efforts towards sustainability by the city's environmental manager. What she had to say was very impressive. Beginning with a successful lake cleanup in the 1960's, Växjö began a series of ambitious environmental projects. Since 1993, CO2 emissions per capita have already been reduced by 35%, with goals of a 50% reduction by 2010 and a 70% reduction by 2025. It is especially impressive to see a graph of the town's carbon reductions next to one which shows economic growth in the same period, since the latter has climbed as fast as the former has declined.

Eventually the town plans to become completely carbon neutral, or even to have negative carbon emissions. These measures have the unanimous support of the regions politicians and continue despite the fact that the conservative “right-wing” party currently has the majority (can we please get some of these Swedish conservatives to move to the U.S.?)

The United States currently emits around 20 tons of CO2 per person annually. Sweden as a whole emits about 6 tons per capita, but Växjö only

emits 3 tons per person. Most of the buildings in the town are connected to a district heating system that circulates hot water from a biomass burning power plant. The plant also produces electricity and over 90% of the town's heat and power are from renewable sources. Bicycles and public transport have been so successfully promoted that 46% of the population does not own a car. This is especially impressive given that people are riding bicycles through the Swedish winters!

Public schools have solar photovoltaic systems with live displays that show the production and consumption of energy, so that children learn the importance of conservation from an early age.
Other measures include a plan to run city buses on biogas generated from sewage, and an strategy of sequestering carbon by using mainly wood for construction of new buildings.

After lunch and another talk by one of the city's urban planners, we visited Limnologen, a modern block of high

rise apartments built using prefabricated wooden construction. These were probably the largest wooden buildings I have ever seen. The design and materials were of high quality and the buildings are designed for maximum efficiency. The tenants have displays which show their daily use of heat and power, encouraging conservation. All of the flats feature balconies and large windows which overlook a lake, with the biomass generation plant visible on the far shore.

Afterward, we visited another of Växjö's communities, a very nice neighborhood built as urban infill on the site of the former sewage treatment facility. Swedish neighborhoods are designed to build community by clustering homes around common spaces where children can play and are more conducive to walking than to driving cars. There is a different sense of personal space than we have in the U.S. and hedges and fences are almost unknown. As you walk around the neighborhoods it is possible

to peer right into most of the houses, but this doesn't seem to concern anyone. Perhaps rather than an invasion of their privacy Swedes see this as an opportunity to invite their neighbors in for a chat.

We spent some more time in Växjö visiting the historic church, exploring the downtown, and having dinner (in my case, Thai food more memorable for it's exorbitant price than for any other reason). We then went to Blidingsholm, which is a sort of estate in the countryside that has become a resort and conference center. We were all tired when we arrived so we didn't do much until the following morning. When I woke up there was a lovely mist rising from the ground and the river nearby and I got some nice pictures. We had a traditional Swedish breakfast with such delicacies as smoked eel, which was good but a very fishy way to start the day. Then we had a full day of workshops related to the leadership component of the course. In the afternoon there was time for a brief mushroom hunt and I found quite a few species although I didn't collect any for eating.

We had an outdoor dinner / cookout which lasted on into the night with music, wine and conversation. I didn't play any but really enjoyed talking to some of my classmates throughout the evening.

On Sunday we visited the car cemetery first thing after breakfast and leaving Blidingsholm. This was a junkyard started by an old man in the 1990's. After he passed away it became something of a tourist attraction. The cars rusting in piles and slowly becoming part of the forest were a mute testament to societies impact on the natural world. I took a lot of photos here, and really enjoyed being out in the Swedish countryside. It was hard to get back on the bus because I would have liked to have spent the entire day just hiking and exploring the area.

After the car cemetery we went to Wanås, an estate with a historic castle which has become an exhibition center for modern art. The theme of the current exhibition had to do with man's relationship to the environment. Most of the pieces were large modern art installations rather than paintings or sculptures. I won't say too much about the artworks here other than that they were provocative and that it was a very interesting counterpoint to the “left-brained' way we have been thinking about and discussing sustainability over the last few weeks.