Thursday Again??

• How is it already Thursday?!  Time is really flying and sometimes I feel like I only do half of what I want to get done.  On the other hand I'm not the kind of person who gets stressed.  It will all be fine in the end.  No use worrying.  That's my mantra.
• Isolde is well again except for a persistent cough, and has been at preschool all week, but Harald has been very miserable, poor thing.  He doesn't have any fever anymore, or very little, but his nose is still very clogged up and he coughs a lot, so he will probably need another few days to get well.  None of us have been sleeping very well since last weekend, and this week I have only slept 4-5 hours per night *yawn*.  Can't wait for the weekend to come so that I at least don't have to get up at 7am and go to work.  I have also started coughing a little bit, and my throat is a bit sore, but hopefully I won't get it bad, fingers crossed.
• Tomorrow we're hoping to meet up with one of my cousins who's in town on business, depending on his schedule.  We plan to have fika in the afternoon somewhere in town, and afterwards, when he has to head to the airport, we will go to the Swedish church's annual Christmas market.  Looking forward to it!  A bit of a start to the holiday season!
• Almost every day on my way to one of the lunch places I pass two beggars.  At least one of them is Roma, a woman who sometimes has her baby with her, and the other one is an old man, maybe also Roma?  I never give them any money, as I'd rather help in some other way through an organisation (or if I would give them something directly, perhaps some clothes or items for the baby), but I feel sorry for them and I feel bad every time I pass by without doing anything.  I really hope that the Belgian authorities could do more for them.  In Sweden they are not allowed to beg accompanied by their children; if so the authorities steps in and remove the children, which perhaps helps, at least the children and hopefully also the parents (but I'm not at all an expert on this issue). 
• I'm very disappointed in the level of recycling here in Belgium.  For some reason I thought it was one of the more advanced countries, and as all is relative perhaps they really are, but compared to Sweden they are well behind (and apparently Belgium didn't even have a functioning waste water system until the mid-2000s...).  In Sweden we can recycle most plastic (and in soft/light plastic bags and covering where my parents live) but here it is only plastic bottles or other drink containers.  So plastic boxes/hard packaging for minced meat for example is a no but I assume a schampoo bottle is a yes, even though it is not a drinkable fluid.  Also, there is so much packaging still in this country!  Toothpaste comes in a paper carton.  Same with a tube with tomato paste.  Teabags are always individually wrapped, and often in plastic, not paper.  All bisquits and cookies come with several layers of packaging (but we have noticed that it has benefits - the humidity in this country makes cookies go soft very quickly otherwise.  I could go on but I think you get the gist of it.  At least most paper and metal can be recycled.
• We are starting to plan our two weeks in Sweden at Christmas!  So far we have New Year's Eve planned, and a brunch with my group of girlfriends (childhood friends) and their families on the agenda, and an appointment with the Swedish children's health centre (BVC) booked (3-year-old check-up for Isolde and regular check-up for Harald).  I also need to book a hair salon appointment and I also want to use some gift vouchers at a beauty salon near our Stockholm flat.  Peter and I are also planning to have either set of grandparents babysit for a day so we can go to Raison d'Etre spa (at Grand hotel, best spa in town!) and to a restaurant for dinner.  We may also take Isolde for her 3-year-old dentist check-up (first ever dentist appointment!), but it could also wait until our next home visit in March or April.  And then there is Christmas and hanging out with family of course.  And see more friends.  Can't wait!
• But before then I'm looking forward to my dear friend H. visiting this weekend!  She's coming on Saturday and in the evening we're going out for dinner, something I haven't done since we moved here!  The rest of the weekend is not planned yet, but suffice to say it will contain eating and drinking, talking, seeing some other friends, maybe doing some shopping (I need to start my Christmas shopping soon).

Reuse Reduce Recycle

The other day Isolde and I met up with another mother (with two kids only 11 months apart - don't know how she does it!) and exchanged a few items - I got two child development/rearing books and she some children's clothes. We "hooked up" through a Facebook group I've joined, Bortskänkes/bytes/mottages i 08-området, where people can swap things. No sales allowed, though people sometimes swap with lottery tickets and gift cards. Great stuff (compared to lots of other useless FB pages/groups)!

One of the admin people has set out rules and guidelines and created photo categories, so now the group is much more organised, a necessity with 20,000 members. But as always there are always someone who doesn't like something, complaining about admin "dictatorship" and the like. Sigh.


Via Anna's iPhone

New Car!

Today's highlight: we picked up our new car, a Passat TDI 140. The BMW 5 Touring we inherited when Peter's parents bought a new one has been great - engine power, comfort and security - but in the last one-two years we had to replace the generator and the engine and fix a few other things and by the time we sold it the battery was acting up too, so good riddance really!

I have also wanted a much more environmentally friendly car (and wouldn't have bought a BMW myself). The Passat has a pretty strong engine and runs on diesel - satisfying Peter's driving experience wants - but emits under 120 mg (on average, not always in city traffic though), and so falls under the green car definition.

We chose between Passat and Volvo V50 but realised the bigger Passat was much better for a growing family with car seats and prams and all other stuff children "need". I will miss the space for the handbag that the V50 has though (I know that such a girly thing to say but usually car designers don't think about these things so it's worth pointing out!)!




Via Anna's iPhone

Show & Tell: If I Could Decide, I Would...

...make sure everyone had access to clean water.*

Last week I attended the Junior Water Prize Award Ceremony, which is part of Stockholm Water Week. The Junior Water Prize competition brings together the world's brightest young (15-20 years old) scientists to encourage their continued interest in the environment and climate change, and water issues especially. This year's winner was a Canadian team of three who received their prize from Crown Princess Victoria for their research on biodegradation of the plastic Polystyrene. This could help break down all the plastic and chemical debris in the world's waters - you have probably heard of the rubbish and waste patch in the Pacific Ocean (due to streams and flows it tends to all end up in the same place). A Chinese team was awarded an excellence diploma for their technique for improving soil fertility.



The ceremony was such an inspiring evening! These kids are so smart and have so many creative ideas! There's hope for the future!

Someone who was also very inspiring is ITT (Junior Water Prize sponsor) Senior Vice President and President of ITT Fluid & Motion Control Gretchen McClain. She gave an amazing speech encouraging the youngsters to continue the fight against environmental destruction and climate change and never to give up. She also painted a very illuminating picture of how much clean water is wasted in the world every day due to inadequate water management systems; the equivalent of the water falling down Niagara Falls over 24 hours. And this includes facilities in the developed world, which have all the technology and money to prevent such waste of water.

* There are lots of other things I could have written about considering the Swedish general election is less than five days away but I decided to go for something that would improve the lives of all citizens of the world instead.

Rain and Shine

Emma, a Swede living in Scotland, writes about the lack of appropriate wear for children in her adopted home when the weather is not sunny and dry but rainy, windy and cold, as is often the case in Scotland. She reflects upon the Swedish expression det finns inget dåliga väder, bara dåliga kläder ("there is no bad weather, only bad clothes" - sounds better in Swedish rhyme) and wonders how come two very similar countries (especially Scotland where there is also snow parts of the year), weather-wise, can be so different when it comes to the outdoors and weather conditions.

Her post reminded me of an article I read today about the Swedish Ur och skur ("rain and shine") pre-schools being awarded the Nordic Council's Nature and Environment Prize.

The motivation was "Rain or Shine by Friluftsfrämjandet ("Outdoor Life") is a prime example of an organisation that has contributed to children's wellbeing and understanding of nature in an era where people spend more and more of their lives online. Rain or Shine concentrates almost exclusively on outdoor schooling, so the proximity of the individual child, not to mention the institutions, to nature is absolutely central to its activities."

Rain or Shine was founded by Friluftsfrämjandet in 1985. 30,000 children attend the organisation's 200 schools, mainly pre-schools. The philosophy behind Rain and Shine is a belief that children's senses can be developed by smelling, observing and listening to nature, and that outdoor activities can promote learning. Studies also show that Rain or Shine children are considerably more healthy than kids in traditional schools.

And I bet 1 million Swedish kronor that Rain and Shine kids wear proper water-proofs and wellingtons!

Are You a Hamster?*

In case you've missed it, regular lightbulbs will soon be banned in the whole of the EU. It's not an immediate ban though but a gradual phasing out. The first step is to ban the manufacturing and import of lightbulbs. Shops are still allowed to sell their stock though.

Following the decision, sales in Sweden dropped ten per cent in the first six months of 2009 and halogen and low-energy bulbs are rising fast in popularity.

That hasn't stopped people from hoarding bulbs though. Big time hoarding.

So who are you? A hoarder, grieving the disappearance of the bulb that "gives such clear light" or someone who embraces the idea of a greener, cleaner and simply better future?! Okay, I guess the question is a bit biased... So sue me!


* Hamster refers to Swedish slang (perhaps in other countries as well) for hoarding. You know, hamsters keep stuff in their cheeks.

Healthy Smoke - UPDATED

Today the European Parliament decided on carbon emission levels for new cars from 2012. Even if the share of "green cars" has increased substantially over the last couple of years (partly due to a 10,000 SEK grant towards purchase), Sweden still has the oldest car fleet in Europe and desperately needs tough requirements to get rid of old, fuel-consuming cars. This means that when it comes to actual emissions, Sweden is worst in all of the EU.

Today's decision is important but unfortunately the Swedish government was successful in getting their particular demands through, namely to easen restrictions on flexi-fuel cars. Sure, flexi-fuel cars are "greener" than regular petrol run cars, but that is provided their owners actually fill them up with the greener fuel option. But since these cars can actually run on both biofuel, mainly ethanol, and traditional fuel, owners can easily get away with fuelling the old, regular way, and producers can keep on making cars that run on petrol (especially at the moment with ethanol prices competing with petrol for the most expensive position). And even if they do run on ethanol, ethanol isn't perfect either - it still emits carbon and then of course we have the issues of where it comes from but I won't go into that debate now.*

Greenpeace has made a very interesting and important point - I hadn't really thought of it that way before. The car producers and the politicians, including Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren talk about "green fuels" when these fuels are still far from "green". But car producers make it sound like these fuels are in fact good for the environment and healthy, i.e. not just a bit less bad but actual on the plus side so-to speak.

Last year the Swedish Consumer Agency reacted and stopped Kia Motors from using terms such as "in harmony with nature" and "environmentally friendly" in its commercials. The Agency said that "words like environmentally friendly in principle can never be used in the marketing of cars, since cars normally are a major stress on the environment".

But one year has passed and such slogans are now every day stuff. Words like "environmental engine", "environmental family diesel", "environmental champion" and "environmentaly nice" are common. Greenpeace also questions the car producers' choice of images in their marketing - they often use their slogans together with sun flowers, butterflies, forest, greenhouses and fields.

Greenpeace is consequently reporting 25 international car producers to the Consumer Agency for misleading marketing. Instead producers should be telling the truth, that cars have a more or less negative effect on the climate or are more or less energy efficient. Greenpeace argues that if the marketing doesn't change we will have "an impossible discussion - that about the environmental cars and the green fuels' environmental problem".

In case you haven't really seen the problem with this yet, Greenpeace illustrates it well:

"If a cigarette manufacturer would market cigarettes with less nicotine as health cigarettes many would react. But not when car producers market less emissions as environmentally friendly."

UPDATED
Just to give you a few details from the decision. New cars will be able to emit a maximum of 130g/km of CO2 by 2012 and 95g/km of CO2 by 2020. This can be compared with the present average of 158g/km of CO2. Should carmakers fail to meet these limits they will have to pay a penalty of 20 euro for every extra gram emitted. Larger cars will be allowed to emit slightly over 130g/km but for Volvo and Saab, both of which currently produce cars that emit an average of 190g/km of CO2, much needs to be done.

The lighter restrictions on ethanol cars that I mentioned is in effect an exception designed in a way so that it currently applies to Sweden only: the prerequisite is that the country must offer ethanol (E85) at more than 30% of its petrol stations. Then ethanol cars sold in that country get a 20% "discount" on CO2 emissions - as long as it's not more than 25 grams/km.

* Also, for me it's difficult to see a huge SUV as a green car just because it runs on ethanol. We need to look at the actual emissions rather than the kind of fuel, i.e. output rather than input.

Global Talk with Miliband

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was in Sweden yesterday, a visit that I helped to set up. The Minister of course met with his Swedish opposite number, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, and the Leader of the Opposition, Social Democrat Mona Sahlin, but he also took part in two interactive sessions, one at a local upper secondary school specialising in globalisation and sustainable development and one at Fryshuset, a social project centre.

At the upper secondary school he discussed globalisation and climate change with pupils in year 2 (17-year-olds). The whole event was webcasted and you can hear both Miliband's short introductory speech and the Q&A session between him and the students. (If you look carefully you might spot me at the back of the room towards the door!)

In his speech Miliband said that globalisation has benefited - especially countries such as Sweden and the UK - substantially. Trade has made us richer, cultural exchange has given us a much more dynamic society, and co-operation with other states makes our countries stronger and more influential.

But it has also brought a new type of uncertainty within both the economy and politics that forces states to act in a new way. Issues that belonged to domestic politics have now become "foreign policy". Environmental issues reflects this phenomenon very well. Earlier the problems were local, e.g. the smog in London caused by industrialisation. Today there are global problems that must be solved with global solutions. The environment is a very important issue also on the agenda of foreign ministers.

Miliband said - and this is one of the most interesting points - that climate change is not just or mainly an environmental problem. Environmental problems is a symptom while the problems are those of conflicts (over resources) and forced migration. These are issues that have consequences for other countries since large groups are forced to migrate. In that way climate change is strongly linked to both economic issues and foreign policy.

Another interesting point Miliband made is that it is important to see that the solutions (i.e. reducing carbon emissions) are not strictly technical. It is about ethics and values. The technology exists but the problem is who should pay, who should bear the burden.

Also, if you take it down to the individual level, Miliband said that we all have an individual responsibility to reduce our personal carbon footprint. But governments have to make it easy for people to raise their awareness and change their behaviour, for example by regulating against fossil-high cars and low-efficient lightbulbs.

I will post the link to the Fryshuset event once it is up.

Your Carbon Footprint and How to Offset It

Wondering how you can save energy - and limit your carbon emission - in your home? These are the most energy thirsty machines in your home:

* Laser printer
* Plasma TV
* Projector
* LCD TV
* Playstation 3
* XBox 360
* Amplifier
* Ink writer
* PC
* Media PC

Turn them off - don't leave them on stand-by - and use them sparingly if you can!

And how you can offset not just your energy use in your home but also car journeys, air flight, etc? Here's a list of companies and organisations that offer reduction units, i.e. ways to climate compensate, that the Swedish Energy Agency recommends (NB! The list will be updated regularly):

Tricorona
Uwab (only companies)
Klimatneutral (only companies)
Atmosfair
Klimat Statoil
Miljobörsen
Svenska naturskyddsförening (Swedish Nature Conservation Society)
Utsläppsrätt (starting later this year

The organisations are recommended by either/both the UN and the EU.

I can tell you that I compensated the carbon emissions caused by my trip to London this past week! Although I didn't use of these sites but did it directly through British Airways. Hopefully the money goes to a useful project!

Green Driving

Environmental theme today. Five steps to greener driving behaviour:

1) Plan, plan, plan. It's essential for economical driving. Don't stop and start when it isn't necessary.
2) Drive in as high gear as possible. Change directly from second to fourth gear. Or from third to fifth. Today you can drive most cars in highest gear already at 50 km/h.
3) Keep the speed limit and don't overtake when you don't need to.
4) Motor break instead of breaking with the pedals.
5) Roll downhill - and keep level gas uphill.

Other tips
* Keep the right tyre pressure. Higher pressure reduces both wear to tyres and fuel consumption.
* De-assemble the roof box. Reduced air resistance gives lower fuel consumption.
* Use motor heaters. Cold starts consume a lot.
* Don't let the motor idle.
* Service the car regularly.
* Turn off the AC when you're not using it.
* Half of all car journeys are shorter than 5 minutes. Park the car and walk instead.

Source: Swedish Road Administration / Svenska Dagbladet newspaper

I live in the Greatest City in the World!

Not just by me, but also according to Reader's Digest, which has ranked Stockholm the world's No 1 in eco-friendliness and environmental thinking and calls it "the world's greenest, most livable city". At the other end of the 72 place-long list is Beijing. The magazine is basing its ranking on a range of criteria such as public transport, air and water quality, local environmental laws, energy prices, waste management and green areas. The governor of Stockholm, Per Unckel, thinks the city's green thinking in its housing development is a key factor and markets the area of Hammarby Sjöstad. And he's probably right, because many governments - the British being one of them - have visited Sjöstaden to learn about sustainable housing. (Almost as many have visited Stockholm to study the congestion charge scheme.)

Stockholm can do at least one thing better though. It did not - and I can't understand why - participate in the European Car Free Day last week. If Rome can manage to ban cars in the city centre for a day, Stockholm definitely could!

The World Is a Sick, Sick Place

I read in Financial Times the other day that the World Food Programme, the UN's organ to fight starvation in the world, has difficulty to balance its budget. One reason is that the price of grains is increasing, as a result of increased demand for bio-fuels in the developed world. Crops that earlier have gone to starving people in countries such as Chad and Etiophia now go to changeover the western world's transport to environmentally friendly.

I.e. the West is now going to burn what others want to eat.

The changeover from oil dependance to other fuels is of course important, but are we going to do it at the expense of efforts to alleviate starvation? There must be some way to reconcile the work to reduce poverty and starvation and the work for a better environment!

The Ecological Clock

Three days ago, on 9 October, it was the Day of the Ecological Debt. For 20 years, the British organisation New Economics Foundation has kept count of our consumption of natural resources and every year they select an "overshoot day", on which we start overdrawing our natural supplies. What is scary is that this day enter earlier and earlier every year. In 1987 it was on 19 December; in 1995 21 November; but today, 2006, it was 9 October.

The ecological debt keeps on ticking, year after year. From 9 October we are living beyond the earth's means. Humanity has already consumed its quota of resources that can be renewed during this year, and we're draining on the ecological capital, and on the future of our children and children's children. To put it differently, it takes a year and three months to re-create what we have already consumed during the year. What's worse is that it is those who are least responsible for the consumption who suffer the most.