Morning Reflection

I have a tendency to sound like a Polly-Anna. Perhaps what I wrote last night sounds a bit like "happy talk." When I read this quote this morning, however, I was reminded by my intent, i.e. my idea of the individual finding a personal connection as a starting point for considering the "global nature"...

More and more, as members of global postindustrial economies, we are in close ethical proximity with people, communities, nonhuman species and ecosystems that are very distant from us, geographically, affectively and epistemically. Our lives are so emeshed with the lives of distant people, place, plants and animals that it is ridiculous to even pretend that we have an emotional or epistemic connection with our mortal worlds. We are members of economic and environmental communities too large, too diverse to even imagine.
What might it mean to promote the good of a community you cannot even hold in your imagination? (Cuomo, 2003, p. 97)

So perhaps we start with the connections we can hold in our imaginations?

Waxing Moon

This afternoon I attended a presentation by the United States Ambassador to Sweden, Matthew Barzun, at Chalmers Technical College here in Göteborg. The talk was billed as a presentation of what the United States is doing, both domestically and in cooperation with Sweden, to combat global climate change. Chalmers is a fitting site for such a talk, as sustainable development and questions of energy and environmental application are very much a part of the focus at Chalmers and Göteborg University.

The audience seemed to enjoy Ambassador Barzun’s humor and earnestness. While the talk was light on specific policy examples, it was engaging from a philosophic or metaphoric standpoint. What I appreciated was the Ambassador’s geographical reference to the importance of right here and now (Göteborg) in light of the two other global Scandinavian events…Both the upcoming Nobel Peace Prize Award in Olso (not far to our North), and the United Nations Global Climate Change Conference upcoming in Copenhagen (not far to our South). The Ambassador noted the importance of these events but stressed the greater importance of Göteborg! He appealed for us to consider what we are doing, individually and collectively, to address issues of world peace and global climate change. He stressed the power of positive engagement for change, music to the ears of this environmental educator. One big reason I am in Sweden is my interest in considering how the individual relationship with nature may relate to one’s environmental behavior. What is the essential human relationship with the natural world? Can our everyday interactions with the natural world help us to consider nature as something we a part of vs. simply commodity? (Aldo Leopold reference there.) Can we translate a walk in the park, a ski in the woods, pulling weeds in the garden...to an understanding of our connection to nature? I do not mean to imply that I do not see the connection to power. We need to be asking what our governments and corporate powers are doing and demand action, yet considering our own role in the face of these challenges is of great value.

It was a good talk, I got a chance to chat a bit further with Mr. Barzun afterward and was impressed with his friendly and approachable demeanor; this year's experience has me knocking on doors and seeking contacts with people that do not know me fairly regularly —it is a by-product of being here and trying hard to make connections, seek information, etc. thus, it is so refreshing when you feel the energy back at you. One of the Ambassador's skills is his outreach.

Anyhow, I have thought about these things the whole way back through the dark city…Waxing moon is up, sky is clear, feels like a frosty night ahead. It is amazing how this "big city" has such dark back roads.

I don’t have any pictures of the Ambassador nor Chalmers…better than that! I will post a picture of Skåne’s most charming little girl (Astrid) and her papa, chef, ornithologist extraordinaire, and all around sweet man (Johan). I visited Johan, Astrid and the rest of the friendly Elmberg clan (Karin, Björn and Arvid) in the far South of Sweden this past weekend. The area (Skåne) is so far South it was once a part of Denmark…Danish churches, Danish architecture and Danish-inspired dialect (i.e. hard to understand!). In one short drive I saw migrating geese, fields of sugar beets, the sea, pine forest….Along with the charming town of Åhus (home of the three sins of cigars, vodka and eels); I saw a sign with that message, however, the only sin that I saw evidence of was the very impressive factory where Absolut Vodka is distilled and bottled.

Can you see the glint of mischief in her eyes?

A castle, Skåne-style.

I had a realization this morning while reading the book, Topophilia by Yi-fu Tuan...not an insightful nor original realization, but simply the reminder of how time and experience change one's perception of place. I'm getting away from the superficial and beginning to really appreciate Göteborg. It's home for now and this sense of place has me connected in a way I wasn't one month ago. While I can pine for places further North and less urban (more Nordic?), I think I ended up here for a few important reasons...partly the experience of a place that challenges my romantic notions of Sweden. Not that Göteborg is not romantic!!

I am no longer a tourist. I'm here and know that I will remain here for a while. I'm seeing this place in new and interesting ways and feeling place too: I feel an affintiy with my neighborhood of Haga, I have "favorite" places, I am feeling comforting repetition...

For any of you reading this with a sense of topo-curiosity, go to the following website, pick "Göteborg" and tour around..it is a great visual tour of this place! Really--it will take you on a visual trek through this fine town.

http://www.hitta.se/gatubild/

Maybe I am finding comfort in Göteborg given its similarity with Duluth...old, water-based, post industrial, working class cities...hills, water and rock. I'll take some pictures of the waterfront to share.

Here is where I work--Handelshögskola på Göteborgs Universitet!

Svamp!

Finally, I got out mushroom picking! I have this stereotype of Sweden that includes a romantic notion of friluftsliv; one of the notions I have is that everyone gets out into the woods to pick berries and mushrooms (svamp!)…and the fact is, many people do! I have now joined the ranks of the mushroom pickers. Quick lesson, the brown mushrooms in the photo above are Trattkantarell (Cantharellus tubaeformis) and the yellow mushrooms are Yellow Kantarell (Cantharellus cibarius).

I had the good luck of meeting Acke and Mary at the previously described Crayfish party and they took me out for an adventure in the woods North of Angered. We picked, we hiked, we drank coffee and ate sandwiches (fika)…it was friluftsliv at its finest! One sets out into the forest to find mushrooms, but we found a lot of other interesting things as well—thus, the element of an adventure. One of things we found were ghostscapes of past farming and human settlement in the forest. I like the definition of landscape as nature and culture bound together…it is interesting to wander through a forest noting birds, moose droppings, hummocks of soft moss, mushrooms (of course) and then stumble upon an old wall, an old property corner marked with stones, a foundation…stories of another time in this place.

While worried that the mushroom season was too far gone, we actually did quite well. Our success meant that we had a lot of cleaning to do! So, while I cleaned, Acke and Mary cooked a 5-course mushroom dinner!! It was mushroom tapas! Mushrooms sauted, mushrooms in a sauce on bread, mushroom soup, etc…all of it was delicious! While cooking and cleaning we listened to the radio—listened to Sweden lose to Denmark in a crucial fotboll match…it is on to the World Cup for Denmark, but alas, not for Sweden!

Acke and Mary live in an outlying suburb of Göteborg (25 minutes by tram from my place in the center of town). It is a part of town known for the large immigrant population; Once a nation of emigration, Sweden is now a nation of immigration (given the sport event of the weekend, I should note that the star player of the Swedish fotboll team is Zlatan Ibrahimović, born in Sweden of Bosnian/Croatian parents). It is interesting to think how American cities typically have had have ethic ghettos in the middle/city center, while European cities seem to have these communities on the fringe (Kerry noted that Prague and Paris have a similar arrangement as Göteborg and Stockholm). What is additionally interesting to me about Angered, North of Göteborg, is despite the large public housing units concentrating thousands of residents, these complexes are surrounded by forest and lakes; I don’t know if the residents of Angered access this beautiful wild space, but they are surrounded by it…An interesting question of the Friluftsliv i Förändring project is how do you welcome immigrant groups into the woods and wilds of Sweden?

Mmm, more thoughts about access to nature...

A great weekend! Friday night was billed as Kultur Natta in Göteborg (Culture Night). All over town one could find music, dance, film…I went to a play, “Three Bears and an Otter.” A gay themed event exploring the “solidarity” of gay community in Sweden…Whoa! It was a long way from gay theater (complete with giant dancing penis, sorry no picture) to mushroom picking on Saturday…an interesting slice of Swedish culture.

Note the brush in the photo above, one end is a knife for cutting the mushroom, the other a brush for cleaning it--no water for cleaning, just makes the mushroom slimy.

Geek World

I had my first real post-comprehensive exams academic challenge this past week. I presented a couple of scholarly articles behind my proposed research to a seminar of the environmental geography group in the Institute for Cultural Geography…a small group of scholars and doctoral students. While billed as discussion, I soon realized (that sinking sort of realization) that it was to be more presentation and defense than actual discussion…meaning that I found myself in the position of explaining my exploration of the concept friluftsliv to a group of native Swedes and then faced questions about the research methodology used by Mayers and Frantz (2004) in their Connectedness to Nature studies. Whoa, it went from interesting discussion to intense self-doubt real fast. Good practice for the next stage, i.e. being able to articulate the ideas, theories and research behind my interest in the intersection of friluftsliv and environmental connectedness for my oral exams in January.

Anyhow, as I reflect on the Seminar, I feel that despite my surprise, I got a lot out of the exchange. I know made one woman uncomfortable in my pressing the question of just what is friluftsliv?—I think she interpreted my questioning as being relativist about it all, i.e. redefining to fit any context I choose—not at all what I wanted to project (I’d like to blame the Swenglish, but not sure that was the problem). Further, the challenges to research methodology helped me identify questions of quantitative methodology and analysis. Perhaps most importantly, one of the faculty provided me with access to a leading Swedish environmental psychologist, i.e. an intro. email asking his colleague to meet with me to discuss concepts and methodology. YES! Contact, conversation, discussion...much needed, I have been in a bit of a Tom Beery bubble and need access to others.

Ok, the pictures are a bit dull. In the first one you have the literature review line-up (some of you would be almost impressed with my organization); the second photo is of my office and "view"...while I am getting to feel quite connected to Göteborg (yes, it's true), I get a bit claustrophobic now and then; you don't have to work too hard for the open and expansive sense of the world in Duluth--here you can get a bit trapped. Sometimes I climb the hill near my apartment just to get a view and a breath of open air (friluftsliv?). Anyhow, way better pictures coming in the next post...mushroom picking!

Don't drive on Wednesday!

Thanks for not driving every Wednesday. That is a translation of this brochure that was put on the windshields of all the cars in a nearby parking lot (i.e. the cars not being used this past Wednesday). The slogan for this campaign is "not the car if under 10 km" (sounds better in Swedish: inte bilen under milen...rhymes.) The backside has a bit more information that I am going to translate for you as I am so impressed
with Swedish public efforts regarding sustainability. The back reads: Choose a more active way to get to work, school or shopping. Short car trips cost our environment, your private economy and not least our health. Perhaps you belong to those who think that their efforts won't make a difference? It is precisely the opposite! If we all began with taking one day week without the car, the effect would be quickly noticeable. Bike, walk or take the bus where you need to go, We promise, every soul (or spruce cone) will thank you!

OK, I was doing well with the translation until that last line...something is not quite right. HA!...kotte is a word I don't know and the lexicon says "soul" or "fir cone." (Maggan, if you are you out there, help me out.)

Anyhow, I appreciate thinking about how social marketing may be a positive force in getting people to think about environmental decisions. I know it is fashionable to question whether the individual matters, but given my current work considering the individual human relationship with the natural world, I AM INTERESTED in how our relationships translate into behavior...

I feel quite lucky to be living without a car. Kerry noted in a recent email seeing a huge RV pulling a Hummer in Duluth. I do not miss such imagery. I fear that our assault on landscape and our over-consumption (myself included) creates visual mindsets of norms that are so whacked. It is not perfect here and I am not about to launch into America-bashing; really, it is the opposite, I spend a lot of time thinking about all the great people and places back home and how much I love my home...that is precisely why I get worked up.

Here is a final thought that may or may not pull all of this rambling together. All of my train time this year has me dreaming of the Northstar train between Duluth and Mlps/StP, I think there is great potential to start to change mindsets regarding the use of our cars if we have quality alternatives...I so hope to return to find that project in high gear!

Trainscape and Spanish friends waiting for trains...