Tag Archives: Sustainable cities

Plastic diet – for a toxin-free life – No026

2016-07-06 admin Leave a comment

There is a rising awareness of the effects of toxic chemicals in our lives and it is making people act. Tellus Think Tank speaks with Madeleine Norman, one of the pioneers in the growing “Plastic diet” movement. Members of the plastic diet movement want to rid their lives of toxic chemicals and perform “plastic diets” in their homes. Read more…
Text: Domi, Tellus Think Tank Photo: Madeleine Norman & AnnVixen

Plastic diet – rid your life from toxins

In Tellus Think Tank’s last article we met Åsa Arrhenius, PhD in Ecotoxicologi at the University of Gothenburg. We learnt about the hundreds of thousands of chemicals in our lives and we are getting exposed to them through what we buy and bring home; food, clothing, furniture, body products and household chemicals. Chemical substances like PVC, Phthalates, Bisphenol A are either carcinogenic, affect human fertility or cause allergies.

Ecotoxicology - Åsa Arrhenius Photo: AnnVixen — Read the Tellus Think Tank article about the toxins in our lives.

Public awareness is still low, or latent, and most people still lack awareness of the effects of the chemicals overflowing their lives and homes.

A new movement is slowly dawning and some of the pioneers can be found in the Facebook group “Plastic diet” (the actual Swedish name on Facebook is “Plastbanta”) where members share ideas on how to reduce the amount of plastic in their homes. For English readers the equivalent groups are the “No Waste groups”.

Madeleine Norman is one of the active plastic dieters in the group and has soon plastic dieted her entire home. For Madeleine it all started with a lecture in Environmental Sciences at Linköping University, five years ago.

Pregnant and toxic living

Madeleine was pregnant during her studies in Environmental Science and attended a lecture on biology, chemistry and climate change. After the lecture, she broke down in sobs under the weight of her newly found knowledge about the toxins in

Madeleine is one of the pioneers in "Plastic Dieting". — Madeleine is one of the pioneers in “Plastic Dieting”.

her everyday life. She was struck by an overwhelming worry of how the chemicals could be effecting her yet unborn child.

The lecture Madeleine attended had covered the subject of Bisphenol A’s effects on male fetuses. The chemical increases risk for male children to be born with damaged genital organs and can seriously affect men’s sperm production.

The realisation that this chemical and other harmful chemicals like PVC and Polyethylene Phthalates are to be found everywhere in our everyday lives became too much to bear and Madeleine began researching how she could adjust her life to contain less toxins.

Toxins everywhere

Madeleine’s quest started by finding out where the harmful chemicals, such as Polyethylene Phthalates, could be found. One unexpected place was in textile rainwear. The plastic in rain clothes has been hardened and normally doesn’t release plastic particles. However, when heated in a washing machine, the toxins are released into the water.

Modern water and waste treatment plants are not able to distinguish micro plastic particals from the water. In the first step the micro plastics are rinsed out into our lakes and seas. In the following steps of the ecosystem they are eaten by plankton, then fish, birds and humans. Madeleine says her University studies in Environmental Sciences taught the students about the increased amount of cancer found in fish.

The start of the Plastic diet

Toys are not made of plastic in Madeleines home. Photo: Madeleine Norman

Madeleine began with her plastic diet and says that she originally wanted to throw out all the plastic in her life. She and her man where just in the beginning of creating a home so they replaced all the plastic things that they could afford.

– “We googled everything. The bedroom was most difficult with the foam mattress and polyester quilts. Down comforters are a good alternative. We bought an organic mattress filled with a mixture of coconut and cotton from Green Interior. Jysk has pillows with cotton filling”, says Madeleine and continues, “for toddlers one can find mattresses stuffed with buckwheat shells. Friends of mine ordered Japanese futons stuffed with cotton. All options are relatively expensive compared with IKEA. ”

Madeleine shares insights from a survey performed by the Swedish Emergency Services which showed that IKEA furniture, during a fire, emits both formaldehyde and water toxins. She continues to tell me that she thinks IKEA does mostly good things in sustainability and highlights a good example where IKEA is offering a whole collection made of cork.

-It is good when large companies are motivated to increase sustainability, she says, because it affects so many!

Toxins in body care products

Homemade shampoo Photo: AnnVixen TellusThinkTank.com — Catch Madeleines recipes on homemade shampoo…

Another hurdle that Madeleine found was difficult to overcome were toxins found in various body care products. Nowadays she only uses “No’poo” products.
(“No’Poo” is a non-toxic movement, the name shows the combined struggle of “Not using shampoo” and reducing chemical crap in one’s life.) She often washes her hair in home-made mixtures of eggs, honey and baking soda (see Madeleines recipes). Madeleine also mentions organic shampoo cakes from LUSH. More on Madeleines homemade shampoo here…

Toxins in food and food packaging

Glass and metal dominates in Madeleines kitchen. Photo: Madeleine Norman

Grocery shopping often means bringing home an array of toxic plastic. Supermarkets often pack their foods in plastics containing Bisphenol A and almost all vegetables are placed in thin plastic bags to ease weighing and transportation. Paper bags are seldom available as an alternative.

Madeleine washes her fruits and vegetables as soon as she arrives home and keeps them in glass or metal containers. The downside with this practise is that the food doesn’t last as long as in plastic but that is a trade-off that she is willing to make. Madeleine prolongs the life of her cucumbers by storing them in a stainless steel container with a lid. In the summer she grows her own cucumber on the balcony, to avoid the plastic packed cucumber from the supermarkets.

Madeleine’s home and advice for people who want do their own “plastic diet”

Madeleine shares some advice to those who are interested in doing their own plastic diet. She recommends to start ones plastic diet the kitchen. She especially recommends changing out plastic wear that is heated – as this is when plastics emit particles and toxins. The first thing she recommends to remove are the pans with Teflon, plastic spatulas and the like.

-Buy Cast iron boilers or boilers in stainless steel or carbon steel. Ikea has sustainable alternatives. Replace your plastic water kettle with one made in stainless steel, says Madeleine.

She shares advice on cooking in the microwave oven. Many people heat their food in plastic containers. It is better to put the food on a china plate and to stop using the plastic splash guard all together.

In Madeleine’s home there are no plastic toys to be found. They use a lot of porcelain and glass. Food is stored in steel, glass and porcelain. We learn that her linoleum floors don’t contain plastic when looking this up in the book “Rumsrent”. According to this book linoleum contains linseed oil, rosin, wood flour or cork flour.

Much of Madeleines furniture is made of solid wood and has been purchased at flea markets. She guesses that the wood might have been lacquered with epoxy varnish, often containing Bisphenol. If a piece of furniture has been varnished Madeleine won’t remove it as the dry coat of varnish doesn’t release particles. However if she needs to treat a piece of furniture, she would rather use linseed oil than paint or varnish.

Plastics difficult to replace?

Vegetables are washed and placed in glass, porcelin or metal containers. Photo: Madeleine Norman — Vegetables are washed and placed in glass, porcelain or metal containers. Photo: Madeleine Norman

Madeleine says that it has been difficult for her to replace the foam mattress of her bed and they have still not been able to afford to do so.

It is certainly difficult to live without plastic altogether and Madeleine takes up the world of health care. Plastic tubes containing Bisphenol A are used for feeding premature infants, as the chemical soften the plastic probe. So far there are no alternatives to the Bisphenol softened plastic probes but Madeleine finds their use preferable as they make it possible to save the lives of infant children.

Madeleine reveals that she underwent surgery at age seven and was given a plastic implant. She reasons that if the plastic implant gives her cancer at the age of 50, it has nonetheless given her 40 years extra to live. Sometimes it is very easy to choose the plastic option.

Innovative plastic dieters impress

Socially Madeleine moves in circles where knowledge of the effect of plastic is high and several persons have done the plastic diet treatment on their homes. She guesses that the general public is less knowledgeable about the over-exposure to toxic substances from plastics and other stuff in our lives.

We discuss the “Plastic Diet”- and Zero Waste groups – on Facebook and Madeleine says that she is impressed and fascinated by how innovative people are. Some avoid paper handkerchiefs if in plastic packaging. Others buy their food in bulk to avoid plastic wrapped food (this is hardly possible in Sweden). There are also individuals that crochet their own cloths in linen to avoid micro fiber cloths.

How do you think Sweden should adapt its legislation on plastic?

-Sweden has a well developed system for waste collection, says Madeleine.

She still has a couple of improvements to suggest, such as that the public waste collection stations also should be open to more plastics than just plastic packaging. She is sure that this would give some quick improvements.

Most countries could stop plastic at its source by banning disposable plastic items like bags and packaging. (See article on Rwanda’s plastic ban)

Photo: AnnVixen — Read article about the admirable plastic ban in Rwanda…

A plastic ban of this kind would bring significant savings to municipalities. It would save costs from having to gather plastic garbage from streets. The large amount of plastics having to be handled in waste plants would be reduced. A plastic ban would also bring better public health.

What advice, in addition to the above, you want to give to people just starting off with their plastic diet?

-Don’t panic. I tried that when starting out with my plastic diet and it made me feel pretty bad. My advice is to use the plastic stuff that you have at home until it’s not fit for its purpose anymore. Make the better, plastic free choice next time. Change takes time! Smiles Madeleine Norman.

In Tellus Think Tank’s next article we meet Fäviken that has been awarded two Guide Michelin stars. The Fäviken food policy strives to serve locally produced food. Tellus Think Tank will sort out if that works when being located in the Northern wilderness of Sweden get notified when the article is available!

For a Sustainable Future Tellus Think Tank TellusThinkTank.com — © Tellus Think Tank

Challenges, Featured article, Inspiration

Australia and its sustainable population No021

2016-04-11 admin 2 Comments

A sustainable population. At the beginning of 2016 Australia reached a population of 24 million and worries where cabled over the Internet on how to handle the large population. It intrigued the team at Tellus Think Tank because the Australian continent, in size, is equal to the USA, Europe and China (with populations of 320 Million, 740 Million and 1,3 Billion). Why worries about the meagre 24 million? Text: Domi. Featuring photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg. Photo’s in article: Annika Hals Molnar & Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

We where lucky to get in contact with Sandra Kanck, President of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) for an on-line interview that turned out to be very interesting and enlightening. Tellus Think Tank normally strives to share inspiration on sustainable happenings around our globe, to be able to help people and societies chose a more sustainable path.

Our interview with Sandra showed challenges, some still without solutions – which can be inspiring to problem solvers. So let’s hope this interview shares some enlightenment and helps enhance problem solving in that force of friendly individuals that we know exists around the world!

Read more: The Growing Population of Earth.

Sandra Kanck, President of Sustainable Population Australia, March 2016.

Sandra, where were you brought up and what brought you to where you are today?

I grew up in Broken Hill, a rural city in outback Australia, and was the oldest of seven children. I learnt early on that my school friends who all came from smaller families had more money to go round. In my early 20’s I became involved in the anti-nuclear movement, and from that progressed to the peace movement and wider environment movement. From there it was a matter of joining the dots and finding the right group to join.

Australia has a arid and hot climate. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

How was your connection to nature in an early age? Do you have any specific memory that sticks out?

Broken Hill was a town of 30,000 people surrounded by arid lands, where kangaroos and emus were common outside the city limits. The dry climate meant I occasionally experienced fierce dust storms, and I was brought up to understand the importance of conserving water.

You are the national president of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).
What kind of an organisation is SPA and what does SPA stand for / aim for?

SPA was formed almost 30 years ago. We are not a political party, although a significant number of our members belong to at least seven different political parties to my knowledge. We are registered with the Australian Federal Government as a Registered Environment Organisation, which allows people who donate to us to claim tax deductibility for their donations. Our specific aims are set out in our constitution as follows:

SPA visions a relationship between humans and the natural environment which ensures the integrity and sustainability of the Earth’s life support systems, the on-going evolution of natural living systems and the well-being of every person in a sustainable population.

One of SPA's objectives is to promote urban and rural life-styles and practices that are in harmony with the realities of the Australian environment, its resource base and its biodiversity. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar — One of SPA’s objectives is to promote urban and rural life-styles and practices that are in harmony with the realities of the Australian environment, its resource base and its biodiversity. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar

The mission of SPA is to establish Australia as a global model of, and to assist other nations toward, a sustainable ecological life-support system, retention of species diversity and human wellbeing, by influencing public debate and policy with particular emphasis on population size.

How did you get engaged in SPA?

Sandra tellus us: Senator John Coulter employed me. We had worked together in the Conservation Council of South Australia prior to his being elected to parliament. He gave me a membership application form.

The country of Australia is equally as big as the USA (population 320 Million) and China (population 1.3 Billion) and Europe (population 740 million). The population of Australia has just reached a population of 24 Million. SPA and others in Australia are wording worries about the 24 million population of the Australia being to big.
Why is the, in comparison to demographics of other regions on Earth, small population of Australia something to be concerned about? Australia is still very sparsely populated in comparison?

Kangarou in Walpole with Artur Kurancinski 12662678_10153497494344220_5775926924040925267_n — The human footprint wreaks havoc on the natural Australian wildlife. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Sandra Kanck:
While Australia’s land mass is relatively large, so too are the environmental constraints:

Only six per cent of Australia’s land mass is capable of producing food, and that small amount is being trespassed on by urban sprawl as a consequence of population growth.
The climate is overall arid to semi-arid and impending climate change will exacerbate that.
The average altitude for the whole country is 330 metres, meaning that there are only a few areas where snow falls with subsequent spring melts.
Deserts predominate in central Australia where drought is the norm
Drought is the norm in many parts of Australia. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar

with no potable water sources.
Geologically, there has been no major uplifting, land building or glaciation for millennia, and the consequence is highly infertile soils with a very low soil profile of no more than 7cm in arid areas.
The poor soil has been extensively over-grazed. Introduced species such as cats, rabbits, foxes and cane-toads wreak havoc on the natural wildlife.

So Australia is a very arid country, has it not always been dry?

Yes, and to give an idea of the water problems facing Australia, it’s important

Lake Menindee in 2016, the grey-brown areas used to be the lake. Photo: Sandra Kanck

to understand that drought is the norm in most of the country. Droughts used to occur once in twenty years, but they now occur in six out of ten years. Major flooding used to occur once every 5-7 years, but now occur every 14 years.

Australia’s major river is actually a cluster of 23 rivers in what is known as the Murray-Darling Basin. By European standards it is little more than a stream. Although the basin and its tributaries spread over one-seventh of the continent, the annual flow is equivalent to less than a day’s flow of the Amazon. Of the rain falling on the basin 94% evaporates. The basin still produces 40% of Australia’s agricultural produce.

But while Australians are so very dependent on that river system, a 2014 study from Australia’s major science organisation, the CSIRO, predicted a worsening of this situation with a reduction of rainfall in this region of up to 70% by 2070 because of climate change.

Meanwhile, at the present time in Australia, a 400 km stretch of the Murray River has been subject to an algal bloom due to slow-moving water and high temperatures, making that water toxic for human and animal consumption. The algal bloom normally resolves with cooler weather but each year the algal bloom outbreaks are more frequent, more extensive and last longer.

At the same time the southern-most state of Tasmania, which has long prided itself on being energy self-sufficient by using hydro-electricity, has found itself in a crisis situation where the dams that feed the water to produce electricity are at less than 17% of their capacity.

What is the root cause of the sustainability problems in Australia – is it only the growing population?

Melbourne 12321246_10153613879719220_6622038748227765337_n — Australia has a fragile environement…. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Sandra gives us some facts: Basically the problem is a fragile environment, which can sustain no more than 23 million people according to The Australian Academy of Science. Some estimates set the sustainable level at a much lower figure of 7 million. Whichever of the two figures is correct, at a population of 24 million we have gone beyond Australia’s environmental limits.

What is the main reason for growth of the population?

Over more than a century, successive Australian governments have actively campaigned to increase Australia’s population, and particularly to increase immigration. Until very recently, 60% of the population growth has come from immigration and 40% from natural increase. In the last two years that has altered to a 55%/45% ratio, due in part to a pro-natalist policy introduced a decade ago called the ‘Baby Bonus’.

What would happen if the population of Australia grows, according to some forecasts, to 33 million by 2050? What problems would be directly visible due to the population growth? And indirectly?

Sandra tells it as she sees it:
Directly attributable to population growth:

If global warming continues saline waters might make its way into estuaries and fresh water rivers of Australia. Photo: Hanna Sjöberg.

Increased demands for water. Lowering of water tables. Reduced water flow in major rivers including an increase in algal blooms. Increased demands for food production. Declining fish stocks. An increase in the infrastructure deficit. Shortage of affordable housing. Enormous waste management problems. Ingress of saline waters into estuaries and rivers. Increased urban traffic congestion with associated reduction in air quality and an increased demand for fuel. Loss of open space and biodiversity habitat. Urban pressures on agricultural land.

Indirectly: the backlog of infrastructure maintenance will further increase; social dysfunction and political instability related to economic inequalities; possible racial tensions

How will Australia have to do cope with problems arising from a growing population…

The business lobby has convinced the two major political parties that growth

is good, and so they do not see problems arising, and therefore have no solutions.

What would SPA prefer to be the current (year 2016) action?

Acknowledgement from government that there will be big problems in the future has to be first step. Until that happens a conversation about what we need to do is all but impossible.

According to some people – SPA is a racist organisation – what would be your response to this?

I would tell them they are speaking nonsense. SPA has consistently called for a significant increase in our humanitarian (refugee) intake, cutting our immigration intake to allow this to happen. The source of refugees is generally from politically unstable areas in the Middle East and Africa. If we were racist we would set out to exclude them rather than encourage an increase in their numbers.

If the global warming continues it has been predicted that large movement of people over the globe would become a reality, as many will be in search of better living conditions with fresh water etc. If the climate warming continues would people be moving to or from Australia do you think?

Sandra shares insights from the region:
Leaders of some Pacific nations have already indicated that they will want to

The Pacific Nations of Micronesia according to truepacificdotcom. Hold about 40 million inhabitants incl Australia and NZ and Papua New Guinea. — The Pacific Nations of Micronesia according to truepacificdotcom. Hold about 40 million inhabitants incl Australia and New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

move to Australia. The Australian Government announced at the COP-21 climate change talks that is has allocated $1bn to Pacific nations for adaptive purposes. I believe they think by doing this it will stop them from emigrating. One other choice, in the region, would be New Zealand, as I do not expect they would want to move to another developing nation such as Papua-New Guinea.

Examples of Pacific Nations in trouble because of Global Warming are the Pacific Nation of Tuvalu, with a shrinking population. Inhabitants are emigrating to avoid effects such rising sea-levels, cyclones and high waves. The highest ground on the islands is 4 meters (12 feet) above sea level.

Do you have a view on how the world in general should be handling
The Global increase in population and the increase in migration between regions on earth – due to Global Warming making living regions useless to live in due to the climate change?

In the BBC documentary How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? Sir

Read more about vertical greenhouses... — Read more about vertical greenhouses…a technology for a sustainable future.

David Attenborough commented: “humanity needs to reduce its impact on planet Earth urgently. And there are three ways to achieve this. We can stop consuming so many resources and we can change our technology. We can also reduce the growth of our population. We probably need to do all three.”

I think that says it all, the question is how to make governments recognise this and act accordingly.

3 Articles on tech and lifestyles that can enhance sustainable living:
Greenhouse Skyscrapers Cars and traffic of the Future About alternative ways of living.

SPA is lobbying the Australian Government to redirect more funds to family

planning and contraception in its foreign aid budget. We believe there is nothing more crucial than directly intervening to provide this particular form of assistance to the millions of women in developing nations who seek it.

While we agree with aid organisations giving priority to the education of women and girls, we keep working to get these groups to understand that this method will take a generation to bring about the necessary changes, whereas contraception and family planning almost immediately empower women.

Environmental refugees are not recognised in the Refugee Convention, and the UN should be looking at this. Without that recognition, no signatory countries would have any obligation to take in environmental refugees.

Do you see any light in the tunnel?

Is there hope in the tunnel? Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg — Is there light in the tunnel? Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

What hope do you see for the world? What can globally be done to increase the possibility of living in better harmony with nature?

SPA members are very pessimistic about what the future holds. We see a

A Malthusian future ahead... Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg — A Malthusian future ahead… Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Malthusian future ahead of us given that so many indicators of collapse are coming together at the same time such as population increase, climate change, peak oil (and other resources) and economic instability and with no forward planning by governments.

US environmentalist Ernest Callenbach’s four laws of ecology state: “All things are interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Nature bats last.”

Nature will assert itself, we will be given little say, and it will not be kind.

Tellus Think Tank thanks Sandra Kanck for helping us understand

Help Tellus Think Tank share sustainable ways to the future. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

the challenges of Australia and how they are interconnected with the challenges of the Pacific Nations and the rest of the world. Tellus Think Tank, being for a sustainable future, is hoping solutions will be found that will help handle the growing population on Earth. Do you have any ideas or sustainable happenings that you would like to share, send us a message!

Next article: We meet a Swedish animal breeder and farmer – with 50 years experience of building an “eco-dynamic” practise. Click here to be notified…

Picture 100 autonomous self driving volvo cars on streets soon No020

2016-03-23 admin Leave a comment

Autonomous cars. You might be wondering why Tellus Think Tank, wannabe world saver, is caring so much about the future of vehicles? Currently cars pollute our air, cause huge carbon dioxide emittances, are loud and limiting to lively outdoor urban communities. The Tellus Think Tank team looks towards the future of vehicles to find a better more people friendly way of conducting our daily traffic. We are visiting Gothenburg – a city soon equipped with 100 self driving autonomous cars! Text: Domi, Tellus Think Tank. Photo: AnnVixen

More inspiration on moving lives and communities of our planet into sustainable boundaries!

What is the big deal with autonomous cars?

Self driving autonomous cars may seem weird or scary to some and inspiring and exciting to others.

Imagine some of these scenarios of what could be possible for the future of transportation – when only self driving autonomous cars are in traffic:

It’s 08.00 and you are getting ready to leave home to go to work. You ask your mobile wrist phone to send a car, tell it how many people will be travelling and where you are going…you are going to work, on your own and want the fast, cheaper and comfortable commuter train to take you the largest part of the way.
The central traffic system sends you a message that an autonomous taxi for one person will arrive at your doorstep within 2 minutes to take you to the commuter station. This is exactly what happens. You arrive at the station with two minutes margin and easily catch the quiet commuter train to the city and arrive at work on time.The cost of travelling is deducted from your account. When you left the car at the station drop-off zone the central traffic system sent the car directly to a new assignment. There are no visible parking spaces around the commuter station but you feel at ease with that as you will have an autonomous taxi pick you and your spouse up at the commuter station on your way home.
Your 12 year old twins and four neighbourhood children have football practice this
Future scenario: No cars in streets – more room for children. Foto: AnnVixen

evening and at their request an autonomous electrical minibus picks them up to take them to the field together.
You and your family of 5 are visiting your parents, about 1.5 hour drive from your home. The autonomous taxi gets you there safely, cleaner and faster to your destination by joining a car convoy on the autonomous-only highway. You and your family are using the travel time to engage in the game of monopoly that you brought with you for the ride.
Road signs were taken down years ago, as autonomous traffic relies on online data
Future scenario: Traffic signs have been taken down… Photo: AnnVixen

from the central traffic system. There are no cars parked in the streets. Your community is discussing if the overcapacity of the local streets could be turned into a community urban farm, make room for a new sportsfield or more houses. Or would all three options be possible?
It is even cheaper to use the autonomous self driving local buses, they run silently, fast and safe. Even though it is raining you don’t mind walking 5 minutes to the indoor bus station where the buses come in with a high frequency, and you enjoy the ride down to the supermarket or to the gym down the road.
You dare send your 5 year old across the street to ask for a cup of sugar, it is safe as the autonomous cars that might be passing will be aware of your child’s presence. Before dinner your children will be biking in the street for an hour, playing with their friends.
Traffic is quiet. You stand on your toes and peek over the high fence at the back of
Peeking onto the quiet self-driving motorway of the future. Photo: VincentVixen

your garden to look out over the peak hour traffic of the motorway – hundreds of cars are passing and you didn’t hear them once – forgot they were there, did you?
You normally sleep with your windows open and are woken only by the song of the birds.

I hope that these scenarios give an insight as to how important electrical and self driving cars are – and what all the fuss is about – they will shape our future way of living.

So what is being done to move society towards the traffic of the future?

Is the car industry on track to making the future happen?

The ascent of the autonomous car might be the descent of the larger car industry and the car producers are keen to be in the first line of the autonomous car development as the earliest marketed autonomous cars might be the market winners of the future.

Many of us have heard or read about the Google Car trials in fair weathered Mountain View in California. In my online research I find that Google is also performing trials both in the hotter climate of Austin in Texas and in Kirkland, a suburb to the rainy and snowy city of Seattle in Washington state – all three trial areas are found in the USA.

You might also have read that the United Kingdom is requesting that Google Cars are introduced to trials in the streets of London.

Exactly how Google is planning to commercialise their car trials is not clear yet however John Krafcik, former CEO of Hyundai and TrueCar and by some called a “car guy”, was recently recruited to the role as CEO of Google Cars.

Marcus Rothoff is the Autonomous Driving Program Director and head of implementation of Volvos self driving cars. Photo: Volvo Cars

I turn to Swedish run Volvo Cars as they are planning the largest real customer trials with 100 autonomous cars running on real streets in the urban area of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Taking the seven scenarios of self driving cars into consideration Marcus Rothoff must currently have one of the coolest jobs in the world – Autonomous Driving Program Director and head of implementation of Volvos self driving cars. He smiles and nods in agreement and humbly says it is very inspiring to be able to work in an area that might just change the way we live in the future.

According to Marcus all major car manufacturers are currently looking at the autonomous car development, to mention some: Audi, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mercedes, BMW, Tesla, Nissan, Toyota, Renault, Ford, GM.

Online rumours say that Apple are doing something too, as they are hiring one thousand engineers in the area of autonomous cars, but nobody seems to know exactly what they are up to.

The eight scenarios above of fully autonomous traffic is still far away. How far down the autonomous track will the first cars on the market reach?

DriveMe is an autonomous car project run in cooperation between Volvo Cars, Gothenburg City, Swedish government agencies and Chalmers University of Technology

Lars-Bertil Ekman, CEO of the City of Gothenburg. Photo: City of Gothenburg

The Swedish DriveMe trial is a project built on a unique collaboration between parties that CEO of Gothenburg City, Lars-Bertil Ekman, calls academia, industry and community.

The parties are Gothenburg City, the Swedish Transport Administration (vägverket), Chalmers University of Technology, Autoliv and Volvo Cars.

Marcus Rothoff is also Götethe project manager of the DriveMe project and plans to be placing 100 self driving cars on trial on the streets of Gothenburg in 2017.

-The city of Gothenburg is participating in the DriveMe-project as we want to remove the overpowering amount of cars from the city core, says Lars-Bertil Ekman.

We want to find better parking solutions for the city and clear public spaces such as streets and squares from cars and make them available to bicycles and pedestrians which will make streets more lively. Read more about this urban trend: Stockholm turns traffic pyramid upside down.

The quay's of Gothenburg are filled with parked cars. Photo: AnnVixen — The quay’s of Gothenburg are filled with parked cars. Photo: AnnVixen

Lars-Bertil talks about keeping cars in the city center but adjusting parking to the pre-requisites of the autonomous self driving cars. Autonomous cars could be packed tighter than today in buildings with lower ceilings, less lighting and wouldn’t need to be located in the very centre or even above ground as humans would very seldom would be entering the parking building.

Lars-Bertil’s parking vision for the city is still far away though, especially as the DriveMe-project will initially not be running cars in self driving mode in the city but rather on the motorways.

Volvo Cars asked drivers what part of the driving they liked the least and would wish to be rid of. The almost unanimous answer was commuter driving in queues to and from work. The DriveMe-project is therefo

Drivers like commuter traffic the least. Photo: AnnVixen — Drivers of Volvo cars like commuter traffic the least. Photo: AnnVixen

re focusing their first autonomous trials on motorways so that drivers can do other things when travelling.

Marcus and I engage in what happens when the human driver hands over the control to the car. Marcus says it has to be very clear who is in control and that there should be no unclarity here, either it is the driver or it is the car. The biggest risks are when handing the control back and forward it seems. Marcus gives me a morning scenario:

“You get in your Volvo and tell the navigator your destination and start the drive to work. You manoeuvre the car up on to the motorway where you ask the car to take over. It considers circumstances like weather, reported traffic incidents and checks that the road is equipped with a barrier between you and meeting traffic and then takes over. The car informs you that it would like to give the control back to you in eight minutes which gives

Volvo Self-Driving panel. Photo: Volvo Cars

you a two minute margin to take over before you arrive at the motorway exit by your workplace. During these eight minutes you pick up your computer, read, send a few emails and are ready to take back the controls when the car says it is time”.

I ask what happens it the driver doesn’t take over when the car requests to hand back the control and learn that the car then goes into “safety mode”. The car manoeuvres itself to the closest safe parking space so that you can take over the controls again when it suits you.

Autonomous cars, here and autonomous volvo. — Go ahead and read a document, as the self-driving car gets you closer to work. Photo: Volvo Cars

This gives you time to finish sending your emails or your phone call.

Volvos first autonomous self driving cars will be Plug-in Hybrids with an electrical range of 40 kilometers, the fuel part will be petrol fuelled. Marcus says that most people have their workplace within 40 kilometers of their home. It will also be possible to choose when to run the car on the electric drive or petrol. All Volvo Cars are built on fuel efficient 4-cylinder engines since a couple of years back and have even won prizes such as the Volvo SUV that was appointed SUV of the year in US, 2015.

The trial, where Volvo will lend 100 real customers a self driving car, will be running on real streets in the Gothenburg region from 2017. Marcus says it is important that the 100 trial drivers use the cars differently but frequently so that as much data as possible can be gathered during the trial period. Google Cars already communicate having 1 million miles of test data.

The period up until the start of the Volvo DriveMe trial will focus on developing the most

The City of Gothenburg if supporting Multi-disciplinary projects to enhance traffic of the future. Photo: AnnVixen

safe self driving car possible and the trial itself is considered to be a period to gather evidence that the car is really safe.

We hope to have the first self driving Volvo cars on market by 2020! Says Marcus Rothoff. And 2020 is also the year that Volvo has set as a goal for their vision of zero lethal accidents in a Volvo car which I find to be a very inspiring goal, lets hope they make it!

Multi-disciplinary traffic systems

Often when talking about the development of the future we understand that by mixing disciplines we can go much further than if we did not – read about Plantagon – planning Urban Farming of the future.

When introducing self driving cars on roads they will not only be self driving at times but guided by information from a central traffic system.

The City of Gothenburg, Volvo Cars and buses, Autoliv, the Swedish Traffic Autorities are cooperating in different constelations to enhance traffic of the future. Photo: AnnVixen — The City of Gothenburg, Volvo Cars and buses, Autoliv, the Swedish Transport Administration and Chalmers University of Technology are cooperating in different constellations to enhance traffic of the future. In frame, the Gothenburg Bus Rapid Transit test. Photo: AnnVixen

Developing self driving autonomous cars and central traffic systems to guide them will include disciplines like technical development, digital development, human psychology, interaction between humans and machines, artificial intelligence, community development, traffic statistics, incident- and accident statistics, safety, legal systems to mention a few.

The high complexity of multiple disciplines when introducing self driving autonomous cars and developing the traffic systems of the future is a very good reason for this not to be an area solely developed by car manufacturers, or only by men (which is often the case today).

The most challenging period is still ahead. It will be when two traffic systems (manual driving and autonomous driving) have to be run in parallel. The current traffic system is based on humans driving cars with guidance from signs etc. In parallel autonomous cars will be on the street, not needing street sign guidance, but will have to deal with them too. Double systems will mean double costs for a period. Driving might first become more expensive before it gets cheaper. Hopefully society can make a fast transition by phasing out “the old system of manually driven cars”.

Watch film on the coming autonomous self-driving cars by Volvo

The DriveMe project, as Lars-Bertil Ekman told us, is unique. There are many parties cooperating in developing a future traffic system for the Volvo self driving cars. The Swedish Transport Administration, one of the parties, is also involved in both national investigations and an international cooperation with the purpose of laying the foundation for future international traffic guidelines for autonomous self driving cars.

Another party involved in the DriveMe project is Chalmers University of Technology that runs about 20 sub projects with articulately defined deliveries, fitted in size to fit PHD students heading towards a doctor degree.

We have seen that cooperation between community, industry and academia can be very successful – check out the four Tellus Think Tank articles on Newcastle – which makes me believe that the Volvo DriveMe project will be laying some very important parts for the foundation of the traffic systems of the future!

Next week: We start an investigation on organic food, first talk will be with a passionate breeder of pigs, if your are interested in what you are eating you might find this article interesting!
Click here to be notified when Tellus Think Tank’s next article is available – investigating inspiring sustainable happenings around the world!

DIY, Featured article, Inspiration

Compost – the black gold of urban farming No019

2016-03-16 admin Leave a comment

In our world today we have many different opportunities to go green. We can use solar energy to power our homes, drive hybrid cars, re-purpose old things to give them new life and even live in tiny homes. In this article John Morphis, founder of Backyard-eden, sheds light on one of the most over-looked ways to go green! Text by John Morphis. Photos: John Morphis and AnnVixen

One of the most over-looked ways to go green is the practice of composting. It is a simple and easy way to turn waste that would be thrown out into a useful resource. Compost in small amounts can change your life, compost in large amounts can change cities. With this talk about lives being changed, you have to be wondering, what is compost?

What is compost?

Compost simply means decayed organic material used as a plant fertiliser.

Basically, compost is broken down waste that eventually turns into soil and then is used to amend gardens. There is nothing more important to a gardener than compost. As a matter of fact, compost is considered the “black-gold” that fuels the garden by re-charging the soil with the necessary nutrients and micro-organisms needed to produce delicious fruits and vegetables. When a plant grows , it uses up resources found in the soil.

Think about it like this: you work in an office where you make copies throughout the day, you go into the copy room to use the copy machine only to find out there is no copy paper anywhere to be found. The room was out of paper because no one chose to re-stock it for the next person. Plants using up nutrients can be seen the same way. If no one replaces the nutrients the next planting will not have enough to thrive. We can refill the nutrients by adding compost to our soil.

Next week: Why is the development of traffic so important to a greener life? Would you like to be notified when the article is available?

Composting is a natural process of Earth.

The earth naturally does this process itself in forests across the globe. In the fall, the leaves start to change colours and eventually fall to the earth. Layers upon layers of leaves rest on top of the soil and breaks down over the winter making food for the trees. This topsoil compost found in forests is called humus.

This process helps the trees continue to grow, helps retain water in the soil by adding a layer of mulch and provides food for the natural micro-organisms found in the soil. There is a circle of life found in this system, everything working together to thrive. This works so well that we have imitated it in our gardening/ growing techniques.

Layers of leaves rest on top of the soil and break down over the winter making topsoil food for the trees, called humus. Photo: AnnVixen

The Back to Eden and Hugelcultur methods both use a similar concept of building soil by layering organic material that slowly breaks down. The earth has already lined out how to compost by the model that is given by our forests.

Can I start composting?

Can we simulate the natural composting process in our homes and gardens? Yes, absolutely and it is easy too! I believe every home should be composting in order to give back to their piece of earth.

You can use almost any vegetable matter that you would have left over in your kitchen such as tea bags, coffee grounds, bits and pieces of paper. Leaves and grass clippings from your yard also make great compost ingredients.
Their are some things to avoid putting in an open compost such as cooked foods like meats, dairy or any fatty foods.

Kitchen scraps for compost - eggshells, peels and other produce. Photo: Backyard-Eden — Kitchen scraps for compost – eggshells, peels and other produce. Photo: Backyard-Eden

Different types, methods and ingredients of composting

Getting started with composting is easier than it seems because there are several ways to compost and products to help you. The way you choose to compost is up to you but will greatly benefit you and your garden. The method you choose will also depend on the resources you have available; the space you have to devote, how much and what type of waste you produce.

The different types of composting are hot, cold, indoor, outdoor and vermi composting; however no matter what method you choose they all have the same basic principle.

In this article we will look at the “lasagna” method of composting which is a type of hot composting. The idea is to layer the different materials in such a way that the pile will heat up and break down faster.

Examples of nitrogen rich “greens” and carbon rich “browns” .

As we said before compost means decayed organic material so composting is the process by which we allow that material to decay and break down creating that nutrient rich black gold for your garden.

Your compost needs four ingredients:

nitrogen rich “greens”
carbon rich “browns”
water
oxygen in order to properly break down.

These four things are absolutely crucial to making your own compost. The compost pile needs the proper balance of the necessary ingredients and just like in life that balance can be hard to find. Once you get the balance down you will begin to make some of the best compost and it will supercharge your garden. Some of the best ingredients to compost are leaves, grass clippings, household kitchen scraps such as eggshells, peals and other vegetable materials (see Greens and Browns pictures above).

This is my compost, built from plans found online. It is still empty in the picture but ready to fill with layers of the four compost ingredients. Fill one side until full and then start filling the next half. Photo: Backyard-Eden.com

Getting started with the hot lasagna method

The easiest way to start composting is what gardeners call the lasagna method by starting a compost pile by layering nitrogen rich “green” materials follow by a layer of carbon rich “brown” materials. Alternate these layers as well as add water and some soil every couple of layers will put you well on your way to making compost.

Soil from your garden would work or some organic compost from a local garden center would work. The reason you add in some soil is to add in the micro organisms into the compost pile to speed up the process.

The water in addition to the other ingredients will cause your compost pile to heat up starting the decomposition process.

Add some soil to your lasagna compost. Photo: Backyard-Eden.com

You want to make sure to turn it every couple of weeks so that oxygen is introduced into the pile in order to aid in the material break down process. This process can take anywhere from 2-12 months depending on the amount of time you devote to turning it.

When the pile is almost completely broken down the pile will start to cool off some and it will be available to use in your garden or flower beds. That is the beauty of compost, you do not have to grow vegetables to be able to use it. Compost is great to add to flower beds, fruit trees or even indoor plants to add nutrients.

Everyone should be composting not only to feed their plants and gardens but also to help reduce the amount of waste going into local landfills. With the availability of products to make composting easy in addition to the ingredients to make awesome compost even easier to find makes composting something that anyone can do.

Why should we be composting?

Composting is a great way to give back to our little piece of earth. If we are successful with our efforts to reduce our global footprint then we are working toward a future for children and grandchildren to be able to grow their own food as well. Help out by doing your part to make the world a better place for future generations.

We googled for compost containers to be used in apartments or indoor.

If you would like to learn more about composting and other gardening topics, check out Backyard-eden.com!

Tellus Think Tank is happy to have the opportunity to connect with John and the very inspiring home page of Backyard-Eden.com and hope you might have been inspired to start your own compost!

Next week: Tellus Think Tank visits the city of Gothenburg and their unique take on autonomous cars – taking a different stance compared to the Google Car project.
Would you like to be notified when our next article is available, click here!

The green car fleet of Stockholm City is on descent – making the city more sustainable No017

2016-03-02 admin Leave a comment

Stockholm is the largest city in Sweden and its population is estimated to grow by 15% during the next 8 years. The City Council is, in spite of the population growth, decreasing its vehicle fleet and still planning to keep the inhabitants happy! Read more about the plan…

Stockholm city has a population of 900 000, in the 1,8 million Stockholm county. The city employs over 40 000 people to provide the service needed by Stockholmers and companies and owns 800 cars!

ABOUT TELLUS THINK TANK…read

The current traffic situation is already strained and inhabitants of the county are daily squeezing in subways, commuter trains and car queues, the region is undergoing rapid expansion. According to the prognosis Stockholm city will be

Stockholms green car fleet. Photo: AnnVixen

growing by 15% in the next eight years. By 2024 the city will have another 140 000 citizens, also in need of transport, putting further strain the city traffic situation.

Stockholm politicians are aware and cooperating to make a change. The current City Hall majority, a coalition between the Social Democrats, the Green Party, the Left Party and the Feminist Initiative have ambitious plans for a more sustainable city – see last week’s article in Tellus Think Tank.

Johan Seuffert is Fleet Manager for Stockholm City and responsible for the vehicle fleet strategy of the city. Johan says that Stockholm City is positive to growth but that many new residential homes need to be added to an already dense city. He says that it will be an important task to adjust the cityscape to the growing population.

-Car traffic is becoming a question of democracy, he explains, as a car needs at least 6 square meters compared to public transport busses with 40 passengers that only need 40 square meters. Busses are very seldom parked and don’t cram city streets.

Johan Seuffert, Fleet Manager for City of Stockholm. Photo: AnnVixen

Johan Seuffert reasons in similar lines as Stockholm City Traffic commissioner Daniel Helldén, when saying that it could be considered unfair that cars are covering the cityscape at the cost of public transport, cyclists and pedestrians. Read more.

There are several reasons that the City wants to prioritise pedestrian-, cyclist- and public transport traffic:

Cars take a considerable amount of the cityscape, space that could be used to more sustainable traffic such as bicycle lanes, bicycle parking, sidewalks, bus lanes or even more residential homes.
The cost of parking spaces when building new homes are making both streets and new residential quarters more expensive.
The environmental reasons as equally important, fossil fuelled cars emit greenhouse gases and poisonous particles from fumes and tyres. They are the reason behind much of the sound pollution of the city.

Stockholm wants to increase the sustainability of the city. Johan Seuffert, what plans do you have for the 800 cars in the city vehicle fleet?

Stockholms city has several ambitious targets!

100% environmentally classed cars in the fleet

This target is not new and today 98 % of the 800 cars can be sorted under the Swedish national definition of

Park your car on top of the induction charger and be ready to go within three hours! Photo: AnnVixen

environmental vehicles.

There are some exceptions that have had to be made, Johan tells me, and mentions some emergency vehicles as the lake ice-plough used to clear snow for skaters. It has an emergency exit in the roof!

Johan Seuffert tells me that Stockholm, in all other cases try to adjust the fleet to the national environmental definition which the city, undeniably, has succeeded well with!

Tellus Think Tank has in earlier articles written about research that led to the sorting of diesel emissions under carcinogenic substances. Read more in the article about Urban Foresight. The Swedish national environmental definition still includes diesel fuelled cars as it has not been adjusted for a couple of years. However, Stockholm city only keeps a small amount of diesel fuelled vehicles in their fleet of 800.

The Stockholm City environmentally classed car fleet is allocated like this:

Petrol fuelled 2.5%
Diesel fuelled 5.8%
Plug-in hybrids 7.3%
Electrical / fuel hybrids 9.8%
Electrical vehicles 11.2%
Ethanol fuelled 16.9%
Gas fuelled 44.2%

Johan Seuffert show Tellus Think Tank how the induction charging device works like the instruction panel in a car wash "drive forwards". Photo: AnnVixen — Johan Seuffert show Tellus Think Tank how the induction charging device works like the instruction panel in a car wash “drive forwards”. Photo: AnnVixen

Johan, with his vast experience of vehicle procurement, says:

-There is a good supply of electrical vehicles up to medium size, such as a Volkswagen “Golf”.

Cars in a larger category such as electrically fuelled service vans with a longer range are not currently available. Therefore the city has had to find alternatives such as gas fuelled vans until better options are available.

One reason that the amount of electrical vehicles in the present fleet is relatively low is because the city is reducing the amount of cars and choosing to use the them for a longer period. Consequently the city is currently buying less cars which is both economically and sustainably beneficial!

Fuel targets. Stockholm has set fuel targets to encourage employees to tank with renewable fuels such as gas or ethanol. There is a bi-annual follow up on all fleet vehicles.

Increase electrical vehicles. Stockholm has set a goal to increase the portion of electrical vehicles by 2% a year.

Smaller electrical vehicle - drives 210 km's after a three hour charge. Photo: AnnVixen — Smaller electrical vehicle – drives 210 km’s after a three hour charge. Photo: AnnVixen

Not accounted for in the numbers above are the electrically charged “golf club cars” that the city uses for property and park maintenance

Stockholm fossil free 2030. Stockholm city has set an overall target, in accordance with the Swedish national target, to be fossil free by 2030. Johan explains that big changes will have to be made, all vehicles of certain types with a 10 year lifespan will have to be electrical from 2020. He mentions large trucks as an example.

What else is Stockholm doing to make the fleet greener?

Blue Kangoo Service car, one charge gives a range of 170 km's. Photo: AnnVixen — Blue Kangoo Service car, one charge gives a range of 170 km’s. Photo: AnnVixen

Reducing the vehicle fleet. The city is purchasing less new cars and encouraging employees to walk, cycle, use public transport or carpools. Thanks to the initiative the city has been able to reduce the amount of cars in the fleet with 400 vehicles since 2007.

Encouraging increased movement by foot, cycle and public transport. The City is actively encouraging employees to walk, cycle and use public transport in the line of duty.

The City is joining car-pools. Johan says that several city departments have joined a car-pool (Sunfleet). The car-pool owns the cars and civil servants and other customers handle their own reservations, pick-ups or drop-offs through a mobile App.

-The beauty in this system is that city employees use the car-pool vehicles during office hours and private individuals are the main customers at other times. It’s a perfect example of effectively used vehicles as they are seldom unused and serve several people’s needs instead of just one, says Johan.

What other car fleet improvements can we see ahead?

Stockholm City will continue the work of reaching current targets and increase the amount of car-pool usage. Johan foresees that new types of vehicles could come in use and mentions electrical bicycles or smaller electrical vehicles such as Renault Tweezy or Toyota iRoad. These two vehicles are still very new and untested by the city.

With Johan’s vast knowledge I ask him for his view: Are there are any excuses left for a private person, in order to buy a new car, not to choose an electrical car?

-The question is if one should buy a car at all? It would be better if we could all use the alternatives; public transport, car-pools, walking and cycling. If one needs to go on a road-trip then one can rent a car for the specific trip.

I think to myself that what sounds radical today might be normal in everyone’s life in a couple of years. At the end of this interview I am feeling happy as my city, Stockholm, is moving in the right sustainable direction!

Next week: We meet 20 people from around the world to hear what they are doing to save our planet! Let us notify you when the article is available, click here!

Stockholm turns traffic pyramid up side down – No016

2016-02-24 admin Leave a comment

Stockholm, capital of Sweden, is often called “Queen of Lake Malaren” and considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. However, the once lively street life is being intruded upon by the growing amount of cars. To improve the situation Stockholm is turning the traffic pyramid upside down by prioritising pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Join Tellus Think Tank and meet the Stockholm City Commissioner of Traffic, Daniel Helldén! Text: Domi, Tellus Think Tank, 2016-02-25 Photo: AnnVixen

Bathing in on of Stockholms lakes. Photo: AnnVixen

I grew up in Stockholm and love this city for several reasons! It’s not only a beautiful city, close to nature, but it’s the place where I went swimming during the summer, my parents taught me to bicycle and I spent most of my work life. Now I am watching my own children grow up here.

ABOUT TELLUS THINK TANK…read

The city has changed a lot since my friends and I played in the calm streets of our neighborhood, with no cars present. We played tag, jumped with skipping-ropes, played land hockey and climbed trees!

The children of today have little room left to play as the streets are full to the brim with parked cars and aren’t safe with bypassing traffic. Consequently, children play more indoors and often with their computers, a situation shared by children in urban societies all over the globe.

A while back Tellus Think Tank met David Beeton, founder of Urban Foresight. The British company helps cities plan for a more sustainable future traffic situation. After this meeting we wondered about what was being done to improve traffic in our own hometown, Stockholm.

Read about David Beeton and Urban Foresight here!

This week Tellus Think Tank meets with Daniel Helldén, the current City Commissioner of Traffic in Stockholm and elected as a representative of the Green party of Sweden.

Next week: We meet Stockholm City Fleet Manager, Johan Seuffert, would you like us to notify you when the article is available, click here.

City of Stockholm – Queen of Lake Malaren

Stockholm from a Google Earth perspective.

Stockholm was founded on the Island of Gamla Stan over 700 years ago. The island is one of many in a cluster of islands in the eastern part of lake Malaren. The region has since grown and the city is now spread over several islands and onto the mainlands north and south of the lake.

The region has a population of 1.8 million people. Daniel Helldén represents the most central part of the city with 900 000 inhabitants. Stockholm is growing rapidly and estimates show that the central parts will be expanded with another 140 000 inhabitants during the next eight years.

The traffic situation of Stockholm is challenging, a situation shared with many other cities. Cars often

Peak hour traffic in Stockholm. Photo: AnnVixen

dominate the cityscape and the character of the city. At times cars and buses stand still in the daily traffic queues. Peak hour traffic is expanding over a longer period as more people drive their car to work and try to avoid the queues by leaving earlier or later. On Friday afternoons weekend traffic starts as early as 13.00 PM.

Daniel Helldén, City Commissioner of Traffic, is responsible for all roads, pavements and bicycle paths in the city. The regional council, another organisation, is responsible for the public transport vehicles.

Daniel Helldén, thank you for meeting Tellus Think Tank and our readers! You have been Stockholms City Commissioner of Traffic since the elections in the autumn of 2014. What were your initial ambitions for improving sustainability of the traffic situation in Stockholm?

Stockholm is turning the traffic pyramid upside down! Picture: City of Stockholm

My ambition was and still is to improve the sustainability of Stockholm which demands many changes in the infrastructure of the city, so that traffic by foot, bicycle or public transport is prioritized instead of car traffic. There is a common understanding about this that is shared by all parties in Stockholm. I would really like to make a difference in this area, which will include decreasing traffic by car and contributing to the Swedish national climate targets.

What are the biggest challenges in the Stockholm traffic situation, from a sustainability perspective?

The amount of cars is a large problem, from two main perspectives:

Cars emit both poisonous particles and greenhouse gases.
The amount of cars in the city corks traffic, extends commuting time and also claims a lot of living space that could have been used better.

The amount of cars in Stockholm today makes the city unavailable, not just for drivers but also for bicyclists and people on buses. The space that cars claim when driving and parking could be used for bicycle paths, bus lanes to enhance the speed of commuter traffic and for cleaner pedestrian paths.

We would like to improve the living space of the city so that traffic flows better, people can spend time outside and walk or take their bicycle to work.

What progress has been made during your first year as City Commissioner of traffic?

Daniel Helldén looks a bit surprised and I realise that my question comes early in the change process,

The new commuter ferry of Stockholm! Photo: AnnVixen

what changes can be achieved in just a year? Daniel has some early improvements to share, either implemented or in the planning stage. Daniel talks about a general understanding between all political parties in Stockholm, however other people say that “the Greens” are very driving in matters of improving the sustainability of the city.

New boat line. Today, says Daniel proudly, is the opening of our new commuter boat line that runs between two of Stockholm’s central islands. Now pedestrians and bicyclists need not walk miles around the waters of the central city but can instead use the city’s new boat line! The boat line is the result of cooperation between the County Council and Stockholm City.

Bicycle path infrastructure expansion. Stockholm city is focusing investments worth 100 million

Daniel Helldén and Norrmälarstrand - being adjusted for bicycle traffic. Photo: Domi — Daniel Helldén and Norrmälarstrand – being adjusted for bicycle traffic. Photo: Domi

Euros on expanding the bicycle path infrastructure and making it safer. Several roads and parking places are being removed from the city because of bicycle path expansions – Daniel mentions streets such as Norrmälarstrand, Skanstullsbron and other areas under planning.

Increasing the speed of public buses. Because of the amount of traffic and cars parked in the streets the average speed of public buses is currently only 11 km/h! Several steps have been made to increase their speed such as more bus lanes and changing intersection traffic signs and directions so that cars don’t slow down the bus traffic. Some roads have been closed to private cars all together.

Dagisbarn i Vasastan — More room for city dwellers in Stockholm? Photo: AnnVixen

Increasing pedestrian areas. During the summer of 2015 experiments were made to try and increase the street life in the city and two streets were closed off to traffic, Swedenborgsgatan and Skånegatan. The purpose was to increase livability and street life of the areas involved and create more sustainable spaces for city dwellers.

We find the developments that Daniel has spoken of so far are inspiring and interesting and see how they could help lift the quality of living in Stockholm.

What will Stockholm do to improve sustainability of the traffic situation further?

Continued investigations. Several ongoing investigation will lead to a more sustainable traffic situation for the inhabitants in the expanding city and will help Stockholm move towards improved public transport, pedestrian- and bicycle traffic.

Increasing the possibility of street life in the city during the summer of 2016. Being wiser from the experiments during the summer of 2015 Stockholm will close even more streets to traffic during the summer of 2016. Daniel mentions areas that might be affected: Swedenborgsgatan, side streets to Biblioteksgatan, Humlegårdsgatan, Rörstrandsgatan and Skånegatan might be on the list again.

Stockholm is moving towards more lively cityscape! Pic: Stockholm City

Parking strategy. Another thing that Daniel believes will improve sustainability is the city parking

strategy being developed. He hopes the formal decisions will be made during the summer of 2016. The strategy will most probably suggest implementing parking fees in the more central suburbs of Stockholm.

Why are parking fees needed in the suburbs?

-Implementing parking fees will, for one thing, help increase the flow of traffic in the city but there are several positive effects expected, he expands his reasoning:

The current urbanisation process is making Stockholm grow rapidly and the building of new dwellings such as apartment houses needs to continue to house the expanding population. By decreasing the amount of parking in conjunction with new estates costs of building can be lowered and the space can be used for bicycle garages, car pools or even more residential homes.

However, when new estates are built without parking lots the risk is that cars are parked on the streets instead. This leads to a slower traffic pace and less space for pedestrians, bicyclists and public transport. Introducing a fee on street parking promotes use of public transport and bicycles.

It seems like there are many good initiatives going on to improve the sustainability of the Stockholm traffic. Daniel, which three initiatives would you prioritise during this term, 2014- 2018?

We would really like to see big improvements on the bicycle path infrastructure and see broader
Skånegatan in Stockholm was made into a pedestrian area during the summer of 2015. Photo: AnnVixen

bicycle paths be implemented on streets with many bicyclists. We want Stockholms bicycle infrastructure to feel safe, all year around and have a plan to make it happen!
We’d like to see Stockholm street life and cityscape become more lively during the summers as an effect of closing of car traffic in certain areas and implementing a pedestrian plan for the city.

We want to increase the average speed of public buses from 12 to 20 km/h. It doesn’t sound much but is an ambitious project. I would like Stockholmers to trust that public transport will get them to their destination on time.

Tellus Think Tank thanks Daniel Helldén for an inspiring meeting. We hope that Stockholm is able to continue on the path towards more sustainable traffic situation that makes a more lively cityscape possible. The Stockholm approach to the traffic pyramid might change the city in ways we would never have thought off!

Next week: We meet a civil servant of Stockholm, in charge of the city car fleet! What is done to increase the sustainability of the car fleet without having to decrease citizen service – would you like us to notify you when the article is available, click here.