Step by Natural Step...

Wow... what an amazing week this has been. Classes started on Monday with a lecture by Göran Broman, an engineer who founded the MSLS program in 2002. It was very interesting to hear about his personal career, early efforts to promote sustainability at other universities, and how our program came to be. I didn't realize that the MSLS program was so young... it makes me feel that we are really on the cutting edge! BTH (Blekinge Tekniska Högskala, our university) itself is only 20 years old and celebrating the anniversary this year. In fact, it was because it was a new university willing to be innovative that the MSLS program found a home here.

Monday afternoon and Tuesday were occupied by a sort of a workshop called “Open Space”. The way an open space session happens is that you start with a central question, in this case 'What do we want to create?'. There are a few very flexible ground rules, but the basic premise is that participants can propose any topic they wish to talk about and lead a discussion at a time and place of their choosing. When not leading their own discussion, they attend those hosted by others.

As soon as the session was opened people began to put up terrific discussion ideas. I probably participated in 8 or 9 discussions over the two days on a variety of topics. Some of the ones I remember were 'Buildings as Living Organisms', 'Product Design for the other 90%', and the one I hosted, which was on how to communicate sustainability messages to those who are not initially receptive to them. I got a lot of great ideas from the sessions and they were also a great way to get to meet everyone and learn about their personalities, backgrounds, and areas of expertise. The great thing is that I'm sure most of these terrific conversations will continue informally throughout the year.

Wednesday was pretty light academically so my flatmates and I went out to Vedeby on the bus to do a bit of shopping. It was a gruelling afternoon slogging around the big box stores in a characterless, pedestrian-unfriendly “landscape of consumption”, but we did have some successes. Maurita found a used bike for a reasonable price, which is like finding a needle in a haystack around here. We also bought a large gazebo / tent to set up in our living room. It is going to be Laura's bedroom, once we make some sides for it. I will have to post some pictures soon... the place is really coming together with the tent and all the furniture we got at today's garage sale. We now have a kitchen table, many more chairs, lots of kitchen stuff, rugs, curtains, you name it. Amazingly this huge apartment doesn't look so empty anymore!

On Thursday and Friday we had full days of lectures by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, the founder of The Natural Step. He is a powerful speaker and I found his lectures to be incredibly inspirational. They also made me feel that this program is a perfect fit for me, because of its interdisciplinary nature and emphasis on systems thinking rather than the reductionist model so frequently pursued in academia. I spoke with a number of my classmates who felt the same way. It is really an amazing experience to be part of a community of so many like-minded individuals. Everyone I'm going to school with is extremely intelligent, dedicated, and concerned with the environment and sustainability. The huge diversity of the class, drawn from literally all over the world and from many different disciplines and careers, just makes it that much more stimulating.

In addition to classes, there have been a lot of social events going on, from a huge, international potluck last weekend to Elsa's birthday party the other night, to the garage sale today. I have been playing music at some of these events with Hickory Strongheart from New Mexico, who is an excellent guitarist and singer. We have been doing a mix of swing tunes, Dylan songs, country music and fiddle tunes, with even some Buena Vista social club stuff thrown into the mix. All of the different style are stretching my musical abilities but we have already had some great jams and started to develop a little bit of a repertoire.

The pictures this week are from a trip that we took last Saturday to Aspö island on the free ferry. There is a 'Kastel' there, called Drottningskär, which was part of the original military defenses of the archipelago. Aside from the historical importance of the building, it is an amazing structure, with very large and heavy stones in the outer walls and solid walls in excess of four feet thick. It is constructed with stone arches and vaults and the masonry work is really something. It was a beautiful day when we went there, and it was really fun to walk around and explore the island. All of the gallery's we open so we were able to see some nice art work on the way, and we ended up having tea at an impromptu cafe in someone's back yard. There were also plenty of apples, pears and blackberries growing on the island, so we were able to pick some of each to eat and bring home.