Wastewater is Serious Business in Sweden

On February 29, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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From left to right: Käppala Managing Director Per Manhem, Lidingö Mayor Paul Lindquist, Ambassador Mark Brzezinski

Northern Stockholm, or the island of Lidingö to be more specific, hosts Käppala water treatment plant which is one of the world’s cleanest facilities of its kind. On Monday morning Lidingö Mayor Paul Lindquist and Käppala Manager Director Per Manhem offered me a tour of this facility.  This facility serves approximately 600,000 people in eleven municipalities in the Stockholm area.

The purpose of the visit was to learn more about Käppala’s active role in providing not just clean water, but the city buses with biogas, local farmers with fertilizer and adjacent households with district heating. The plant was inaugurated in the 1950s but as a result of the rapid growth of Stockholm the plant underwent an expansion in the late 1990s.

At Käppala, sludge is considered valuable stuff and serious business. It is one of few waste water plants in the world that actually generates annual revenue of several million dollars a year alone for the biogas. This is hardly surprising since it has the capacity to provide 100 buses with biogas and 30,000-40,000 houses with district heating. Käppala also generates approximately 20,000 tons of sludge annually which it gives away for free to farmers who use it as fertilizer.
Before sending the fertilizer to farmers, the plant removes 98 percent of the phosphorus in the sludge to make sure it does not end up in surrounding lakes and rivers causing eutrophication. People often talk about the danger of reaching peak oil — the point at which the production of oil begins an irreversible decline — but very few ever speak of peak phosphorus!

Phosphorus is crucial to a plant’s root, flower, fruit or vegetable and seed
development – and we are slowly running out of it. The work at Käppala is therefore important in order to avoid wasting this precious mineral. The plant does not only remove phosphorus but also traces of pharmaceuticals, some of which affects the reproduction of fish.

From left to right: U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski, Käppala Managing Director Per Manhem

Käppala clearly serves the people of Stockholm in a number of ways which is probably why it has become such an integrated part of society. I was excited to see how much the United States can learn about how not to waste our waste.

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Collaborating on a Cleaner Climate

On February 24, 2012, in Mark, by Sweden
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Environment Minister Lena Ek and other members of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Initiative (State Department photo)

Last week, as yet another testimony to the close collaboration between the United States and Sweden on environmental sustainability, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sweden’s Environment Minister Lena Ek met in Washington, D.C. – together with government representatives from Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana and Mexico – to announce a new agreement that will reduce emissions from soot, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Together these pollutants account for approximately one-third of global warming, seriously impairing public health and damaging world food productivity.

This new agreement will be critical in the fight against climate change. But we need to do more – by taking responsibility locally.

The United States Embassy in Sweden works closely with the Government of Sweden, students, universities, NGOs, cities, businesses to foster partnerships and to exchange best practices on clean energy under an initiative dubbed the Swedish American Green Alliance (SAGA). Last week marked a special occasion for SAGA as we celebrated its two year anniversary.

This spring I am particularly looking forward to a new program that we recently launched under SAGA named REACT U.S. Through REACT U.S. we will be sending Swedish university students to five different U.S. cities to study their sustainable solutions. I am also excited about greeting a new delegation of U.S. mayors and city representatives that will be arriving in Sweden in mid-April to exchange sustainable success stories with Swedish counterparts.

That means that as Earth Day arrives (April 22nd) we will have plenty to celebrate.

Follow the Swedish American Green Alliance here and here.

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“Lagom” In Action

On February 15, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Courtesy of Koobsgodutch blog.

I’ve attended three events in the past few days—a cutting-edge art exhibit utilizing digital mixed media by American artists Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch, another socially progressive art opening of Chinese human rights activist and contemporary artist Ai Wei Wei, and a panel discussion on the 2012 U.S. election given by University of Maryland Baltimore (UMBC) Professor Thomas Schaller at a dynamic local think tank. All three events had one thing in common: babies.

 
Whether it was a scarlet-cheeked infant squealing throughout a speech on electoral politics or parents parking their baby strollers alongside artsy types with champagne flutes, children are a part of the daily fabric of life in Sweden. Parents do not halt their social life or cultural stimulation just because they are parents. There is no shame in a child crying out in public.

 
I’ll never forget when my husband and I brought our colicky 6-month-old to a political fundraiser in Northern Virginia. After demolishing the cupcake display and crawling through the legs of city councilman and political consultants, she began hollering throughout the Senator’s keynote speech. We frenetically ran out of the event and spent the next few weeks mortified, in self-inflicted social exile.

 
There is a comfort level with family life here that stems from the culturally-ingrained concept of “lagom”, the Swedish concept of balance. Women do not feel the pressure of having to choose between having a family or having a career because they can have both. In Sweden, both parents get generous family leave and have total job security when they return. The mother often takes the first 9 to 15 months, while the father “mans” the second shift until the child is about 18 months old. At that point, children are eligible for “dagis”, or comprehensive  daycare that in many cases can be comparable to a private Montessori school in the United States. Many of the fathers I’ve spoken to cherish the time they had with their newborns and found that they enjoyed paternity leave more than they thought they would. Stockholm is filled with professional men on “pappaledigt”, armed with sleek diaper bags and pushing strollers all over town. Some fathers even choose to take their wife’s last name because either they like it better, or because their wife uses it professionally.

 
At the same time, there is a bubbling frustration amongst Swedish women that despite all these resources they are still not breaking through to the highest levels of the corporate world. One place where Swedes have expressed concern is the lack of women on corporate boards. Many Swedish women have actually told me they admire American women because they seem to have truly broken the corporate glass ceiling and become captains of industry.  Women like Sheryl Sandberg, Ursula Burns and Indra Nooyi are leading some of America’s largest companies and most powerful brands. Ms. Sandberg, COO of Facebook and a mother of two young children, is outspoken on the issue of work-life balance, and promoting women in leadership positions.

Ultimately, there is no norm for how women can be successful and achieve balance. Every woman makes her own way and has a personal definition of success. The question is how we can help embolden women to demand the balance they deserve at work and at home.

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Jokkmokk!

On February 13, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Amb. Brzezinski and Governor Eriksson give the thumbs up to cooperation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trip to the sub-Arctic I took last week with several Embassy colleagues advanced a number of priorities of my mission here in Sweden:  Working to advance the dialogue between America and Sweden to protect biodiversity and the interests of indigenous populations; connecting with young people on their priorities; and commercial diplomacy.

I was delighted to meet the leadership of the Parliament of the Sami people in the northern city of Kiruna, Sweden.  The Sami are the indigenous people who inhabit a landmass covering parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.  Our conversation quickly zeroed in on the practical challenges they face in protecting their way of life.  Reindeer herding – from summer to winter feeding and breeding grounds – is increasingly under threat as traditional migratory routes are faced with development and transport corridor building, and as climate change affects the overall biodiversity of the region. Striking a balance between the Sami people and industry will be difficult, but not impossible, and what is needed, and what I hope is genuinely underway, is open and constructive dialogue between interests that are not irreconcilable.

 
It was at the Jokkmokk Winter Conference where I felt I had an incredibly thoughtful and honest discussion with a large group of young people.  In the morning of that day, Embassy Economic and Environment Counselor Laura Kirkconnell and I went dog sledding, a truly memorable Arctic experience, in sunny weather but incredibly cold temperatures.  The thermometer was minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 C), and after an hour of dog sledding the pain from the cold was palpable.  It was telling that my guide Stina asked to look at my face to see if she could see white spots – evidence of frostbite.  Thankfully there were none – and all I was left with were incredible memories.

 
Over 200 young people signed up for the Jokkmokk Winter Conference, and I welcome the passion, creativity, public mindedness and energy that was brought to the table by participants.  It is meeting with groups of young people like this when you can’t help but have hope for the future.   I sat on a panel with the Russian Ambassador and the Canadian Chargé d’Affairs.  The questions were direct and spirited.  I welcome more such frank discussions.  I was especially proud that there were two American Fulbright scholars present, studying topics pertaining to socio-political questions the societies of the North will have to address.  The Fulbright program is one of America’s best exports: It gives rising stars a year to ask and try to answer really tough questions.

 
The last day of our trip we went to the Northern City of Luleå, where we had lunch with the Governor of Norrbotten province and the Mayor of Luleå.  The pride that these two leaders take in both the traditions of the region, but also the region’s future, was clear.  We visited the site where Facebook’s data center is under construction.  This will be Facebook’s first data center outside the USA, and I jumped at the chance to travel there. I can tell you the cool Arctic air that attracted Facebook to choose this site was very much apparent, as it was about minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-26 C).  I am deeply impressed that the data center will be powered primarily by renewable energy, and is being built not far from the 17,000 student Luleå University, with clear benefits derived from being close to a strong research institution and new ideas. The regional incubator – geared to bringing more creative industries – is incredibly sophisticated and globally oriented at a time when we are all connected.

 
My trip up north exposed me to great traditions, but also hopefully the bright future, of the sub-Arctic region.  Protecting biodiversity, indigenous people traditions and economic cooperation are by no means mutually exclusive goals.  Through dialogue, openness, transparency in decision-making, these goals are absolutely reconcilable.  I will remember the beauty of the landscape, the ruggedness of the people, and the strong Arctic sun which every day sheds light on the hopefully bright future of the sub-Arctic region.

See more photos from the trip on the Embassy’s Flickr photostream:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembsweden

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Kiruna: In the air, on land and below the Earth

On February 3, 2012, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
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Ambassador and Mrs. Brzezinski outside Esrange near Kiruna, Sweden

In the past 36 hours, I’ve observed the enormous capacity of man thousands of miles into space, and been plunged thousands of feet below the earth surrounded by molten rock and impenetrable darkness. From the Esrange Space Center to the vast LKAB iron ore mines, the impressive level of dynamism and symbiosis with nature that Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden with a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants, encapsulates is undeniable. Its strategic location makes it suitable for cutting-edge experimentation and it’s an example of a region not limited but buoyed by environmental awareness.

 
As I prepared for my trip north of the Arctic Circle (Kiruna is 145 kilometers (90 mi) north of the Arctic Circle), I was inundated with descriptions of untarnished forests, biting temperatures, and roaming reindeer. But instead of the soporific quality I expected, Kiruna is bustling with industry and linking the world from air, space and land in an amazing breadth of connectivity and information.

 
We began our trip by touring the Esrange Space Center. Started in 1964, it has become a leading research center for launching experimental sounding rockets, balloons and satellites. The center boasts more than 23 different nationalities working together on aeronautic experiments that attempt to answer the questions of the moment on ozone depletion, gravity and sustainability. As space becomes busier, more competitive and more cluttered, centers like Esrange are on the cusp of facilitating cooperation in this unregulated frontier.

 
Our first day in Kiruna turned out to be not only intellectually but also visually illuminating: the evening was capped off by an incredible display of the Aurora Borealis shining above our hotel room, with three pale green, luminescent lines like paint strokes splashed across the heavens.

 
The next morning, we toured the LKAB iron ore mines closer to the center of Kiruna. This mine alone provides 90 percent of the iron ore for the European Union, and is one of the largest iron ore mines in the world. In a true feat of modern engineering, we drove through a network of paved two-lane highways zigzagging through the rock as we spent nearly two hours viewing the facilities. The mine boasts a large conference center, multiple loading docks and layers upon layers of tunnels where massive, remote-controlled machines break rock and collect ore in record time. But for me, one of the most impressive features was that nearly fifteen percent of the employees manning the control stations were women. In one of the most traditionally and symbolically male-dominated occupations, that is a feat of engineering in itself!

 
One challenge for the city is managing the expansion of the mine and maintaining the sacred balance between man and nature that is so critical to the identity of Kiruna. This challenge will be tested this year, as the entire city must be moved to accommodate the natural growth of the mine. People, cultural landmarks and homes will be literally lifted and moved to a more stable setting, or completely razed and rebuilt. Despite the overwhelming nature of this task, there seems to be a level of trust and communication between the public and industry that will hopefully ease this transition.

 

In many ways, the Arctic region both asks the tough questions and holds the complicated answers to the future of our environment. This trip made me focus more on the potential for cooperation between man and land, and how we can create harmony through respect and awareness.

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