Students See Sustainability First Hand in Swedish Course

Last Monday, Steve Whitman gave a presentation in Hyde about the course he held in Sweden over the summer. The course, called Sustainable Sweden, focused on The Natural Step, a four-step process businesses follow to ensure they are working while making the least impact possible on the environment. The Natural Step guidelines ensure that, in a sustainable society, nature shouldn’t be subject to increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust, degradation by physical means, or increasing concentrations of substances produced by society. During the last two weeks of May of 2005, 17 students from Plymouth State and UNH had the opportunity to see The Natural Step plan in action in three different sized Swedish cities- Kungsor, Eskilstuna, and Stockholm. Class met for breakfast between 7 and 8 a.m., and was then followed by field studies which lasted until 5 p.m. each evening. The first place visited was Eskilstuna, a city of about 57,000. Here, students had the opportunity to meet Torbjörn Lahti, the Swedish author of The Natural Step. Students also visited Eskilstuna town hall, where a variety of speakers discussed what was being done in the municipality to insure they were moving towards complete freedom from fossil fuels other resource extraction and pollution. Tegelviken is a completely nontoxic school, hosting about 250 students between the ages of 1 and 16. The school processed their grey water (from sinks and showers) and black water (from toilets) on site in a man-made wetlands which emptied into the Malarden River. Another impressive feature of the school was its lack of a power run ventilation system. Air is carried though the school by means of natural air ducts, fuelled mostly by gravity. Large, deliberately placed windows allow for maximum natural light, reducing the need for artificial light. Also in Eskilstuna is the Eckby Wetland, a 13 acre man-made wetland which processes about 80 percent of Eskilstuna’s human waste. Solid waste, known as “sludge” is pressed, and the methane extracted is used to run city buses, in the form of biodiesel. A few homes are also heated from this methane. Grey and black water are filtered through a series of 8 wetlands. By the time this water leaves the wetland 7 days later, it is cleaner than it may have been before it arrived in residents houses. The water is then filtered into the Malarden River, the only river in Sweden that flows north. Second, students visited Kungsor, a town of 8,200, which was at one time economically devastated when many industries left the area. Kungsor decided to market their easy access to nature, and now thrive on the tourism industry, mainly members of cities eager to escape their hectic daily lives. Here, students saw an incredible machine which processed an alternative fuel. In the process, gravity filters rapeseeds into a machine (ironically made in the US). These seeds are squeezed, pressing out 38 percent of their oil. This oil can be used to heat homes. Only 38 percent of the oil is extracted because this allows the seeds to be sold for other uses, completely eliminating any seed waste. Last on the itinerary, students visited Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, a city of 1,705,000. Here, students visited a community built over a parking lot. Grey and black water are processed on site, most food is locally grown, and buildings are constructed from natural materials, like non-treated wood and egg based paints. Houses are accessible by car, but are generally left on the outskirts of the community. One would never know this site was once a parking lot-there is incredible vegetation, water, pathways, and wildlife. The transportation of Sweden is unlike anything in the US. Thousands of people bike year-round-there is hardly any consideration for personal vehicles in many areas. The buses and trains are fast, accurate, and fairly cheap to ride. It is also easy to switch from one mode of public transit to another. This trip demonstrated how dedicated many communities are to sustainability. They generally eat, think, work, and travel with the environment in mind. Sweden is decades ahead of the United States in many ways. They are demonstrating that opting for the more expensive, yet sustainable, choice pays off big in both the immediate and distant future.