Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sweden: How food is marked

While I believe the intentions are good, there are so many different ways in which foods are labelled that I thought I'd write this post for myself to see if I can figure it out a bit. Trying to sift through all the logos is confusing. I thought I'd list them here not in order of importance, but in order of my own familiarity and those that I look for when food shopping. The first three, nyckelhål, KRAV and fair trade, are the ones I look for regularly. The others I note and they will often influence my purchase.

Nyckelhål (keyhole): Healthy food. Low in fats, sugar and salt, rich in fiber. Natural products such as fruit, fish and vegetables are included.


KRAV: the main ecological mark in Sweden. Protection of waters, no chemical pesticides, no GMO (gene modified food), no artificial fertilizers, good animal care with feed grown by same producer as much as possible. Working conditions must be adequate and there are requirements involving health and social responsibility. Upcoming requirements will include limits on greenhouse gas emissions in production and food transport. Individual controls to ensure that participating producers are actually following the rules.

Fair Trade - Rättvisemärkt: Guarantees producers and workers adequate compensation, especially in third world countries. Products are bought directly from the producer with long term contracts. This is one of my favorite labels that I look for, even if I only see it on a handful of different foods.



Svensk sigill: This one's for food produced in Sweden and involves environment, animal care, safe products and care of Sweden's open landscapes.




Svanen: Ecology and environment. Not just for food, now you can make sure the chairs you buy are also ecological. This mark is for a huge variety of ecological products including cleaning agents, fuels, envelopes, restaurants... it's a very long list.



EU ecological: 95% of the food must be ecologically produced. I don't see this label much. It's apparently less stringent than KRAV.







Bra miljöval: An environmental label regulating such things as household chemicals. I don't see it on foods very often.




I've already presented quite a list and yet I've skipped a bunch. There's a label just for sugar to indicate that it's 100% pure. Also a "Rainforest Alliance" which I've never come across that controls agriculture in rainforest areas. There's a symbol to indicate foods that have been subjected to ionizing radiation. There's a European version of the Swedish bra miljöval (good environmental choice) caled the European flower that I've never seen. There's one for asthma and allergies, another for gluten-free foods.

I found much of the info above in Sweden's National Food Administration's site - http://www.livsmedelssverige.org/markning/symbolguide.htm.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Clearing snow in Uppsala

Last week's snow caused the usual snow clearing problems. It seems that the first heavy snow of the season comes as a surprise and is totally unexpected - this happens every year, of course. Mostly, however, I think Uppsala's snow clearing has been well planned and executed in the past, although I noted with consternation that the glacial roads in my neighboor were inadequately sanded this time despite treacherous walking conditions. The municipality has a snow clearing contract with a private company, Asfab, which does no more and no less than the contract stipulates.

Snow clearing is according to priority: clearing within 4 hours on main roads, bus routes, main bicycle paths, main walkways, schools, steps and squares; clearing within 6-8 hours according to subcategories of lower priority roads, bike paths and walkways. There is a similar prioritizing for slipperiness sanding (sorry for not taking the time to find better English words). Salt is used only for emergencies since it's an environmental contaminant.

In addition, there are a number of places around town for homeowners to pick up sand for free - limit: 100 buckets per homeowner. I have some empty paint buckts that I plan on filling with sand. A bit late, I guess. My driveway is semi-glacial already. But, honestly, I had no idea it was going to snow and then rain on top of it! Really, this was so unexpected!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Bicycling on ice

Since Tuesday we've had crisp cold winter days. At midday under a bright sun temps were -5, one of my favorite temperatures (the other one is 28). A sheet of ice covered sidewalks and roads. For 3 days I was too chicken to bicycle on the ice despite the studded snow tires and chose to go to work by bus, instead. But, finally, on Friday I got the bike out. Once I got out of the neighborhood - that was the tricky part - the bike paths were well sanded and it was quite straightforward. I've resolved not to fall off the bike this winter. I make this resolution every year and every year I've fallen off.

Friday evening we had our usual Friday beer in the kitchen at work at the end of the day. Afterwards we headed into town, all of us on bicycles, of course, to a pub for dinner and another beer. It had started snowing beautifully and a few centimeters had already hidden the ice on the bike paths. But the snow gives the tires something to grip and it usually gets easier. Until hitting a patch of hidden slick ice, that is. 3 beers and one tandoori chicken later it was time to go home. As I applied the brakes to stop at a crossing, sure enough, the bike did a neat sideways skid and I hit the ground. Good thing I was well padded with winter clothes and the snow was nice and soft. I didn't even get a bruise. Considering the lack of evidence, I've decided not to count it as a "real" fall.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Sweden: world's best at recycling

The logo to the left is placed on packaging to indicate that recycling costs have been prepaid. The symbol made its debut in Germany in the early 90's and is now used in 24 European countries (Do you know how many countries there are in Europe? No? Me either...)

When I buy a washing machine, for example, the cost of disposing the packaging is included in the purchase price. To get rid of all the cardboard, plastic and styrofoam etc, I still have to take it to the dump. But no money is ever collected at a dump for disposal. When the washing machine itself has reached the end of its life, the same thing applies: haul it to the dump. The recycling has been prepaid.

Sweden proudly touts the world's highest recycling rates. Here are some recycling statistics for Sweden year 2007 from REPA. REPA is Sweden's register for producer's responsibility and collects producer's fees for recycling packaging.

Amount recycled plastic, 65%. Sweden's goal: 70%
Amount recycled paper packaging, 73%. Sweden's goal: 65%
Amount recycled metal packaging, 67%. Sweden's goal: 70%
Amount recycled glass, 95%. Sweden's goal: 70%
Amount recycled newspaper, 85%. Sweden's goal: 75%

This is what I write about on a dark, rainy November evening in front of the fire. I lit the fire with some wadded up newspaper. I estimate that 85% of the newspapers I get go to recycling and the rest goes up in smoke.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The war in Iraq was all about oil...

...according to Issam al-Chalabi who was Iraq's oil minister under Saddam Hussein from 1987 until the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. While I might speculate on the kind of person who had such close ties to Saddam, I did find today's 2 hour seminar at the Ångström Lab (my place of employment) interesting. The talk was entitled "Past and Future Oil Production in Iraq" and was given to a full lecture hall. It was organized by Kjell Aleklett, president of ASPO, Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, and physics professor down at the other end of the building. al-Chalabi was a great speaker with his London-trained English who also spoke passionately from his heart about Iraq and its future. Iraq's modern history and future go hand in hand with oil. This talk is highly actual because the global rights to Iraqi oil are being decided upon with the major discussions having occurred in the last three weeks.

I have six pages of notes, so it will be hard to try and keep this short. Prof. Aleklett showed numerous graphs on oil reserves and production to give the overview. Essentially, peak production was attained in July of this year due, surprisingly, to Chinese demand in their preparations for the Olympics. This will likely not be repeated again, ever. The giant oil fields are dwindling. While much of Iraq is, surprisingly again, unexplored, the new oil that will be discovered will be more costly to extract. The international oil companies need these reserves if production is to be maintained. The projected stakes: 57 billion barrels of oil produced from now until 2050 with an estimated price of $60/barrel = $3420 billion.

al-Chalabi presented the history of Iraqi oil and indeed a brief history of the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Babylon. Clearly al-Chalabi is extremely proud of his heritage and of being Iraqi. So here's his story as best as I can re-tell it:

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the French and British drew up the maps of the Middle East of which Iraq was the "crown jewel". They didn't bother to take into account the various ethnic groups and their religions. Along with the Dutch, the oil was divided amongst themselves. Then, as now, the oil companies involved were Shell, BP, Chevron/Exxon/Mobil. In 1958 Iraq proclaimed itself a republic. In 1961 land was confiscated from the oil companies. Oil was nationalized in 1972 and the oil companies sued Iraq for "taking their land". The oil boom of 1973 caused the US to start getting involved. The biggest "elephants" (oil term for a giant oil field) had yet to be produced. The country prospered until Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. War with Iran started in 1980 and lasted 8 years. Facilities were destroyed and oil production dropped from 4 million barrels/day to 600,000. By 1990, production returned to 3.5 million a day, but not the hoped for 6. Then Kuwait was invaded and the US placed an embargo on oil that lasted until 2003.

Today, production is at 2 million barrels of which 1.5 is for export. Iraq remains an occupied country with 150,000 troops, almost entirely American. What about the oil? Was it all about the oil? Here al-Chalabi cites statements by various prominent people. Alan Greenspan: "I'm sorry to acknowledge it was all about oil". Colin Powell and General Sanchez also make similar statements. Wolfowitz, the mastermind of the invasion: "Nothing to do with oil. It was all Rumsfeld". But the Pentagon had been studying how to privatize oil before the invasion began. Here al-Chalabi got a bit worked up as he talked about how lies led to murder. The arbitrary division of Iraq by the US along religious sectarian lines promote the current climate of violence necessary for foreign oil to regain its control. 5000 scientists and engineers have either been assassinated or have emigrated. The US is "unable" to solve the murders. The Kurds in the north are now separatists, further undermining Iraq's ability for national oil control.

Back in 1967, Iraq exploited oil under national efforts. Iraqi oil laws were in place and foreign involvement required separate laws. Saddam broke sanctions in 1997 by signing contracts with Russia and China. As of the last few weeks, an attempt to amend the contract with China is underway such that the Iraqi parliament can be bypassed so as to benefit Shell Oil. But any new contracts that don't go through parliament would be illegal. Right now, service contracts for 25+ years are being awarded "illegally" resulting in foreign control of 95 out of 115 oil fields. Today, Iraqis must queue for hours sometimes to get gasoline.

At the end of the talk, al-Chalabi fielded questions. Here are some responses: The era of cheap oil is gone. There will be no more big discoveries, but there will be continued availability of oil, although mostly in the "troubled" Middle East. Iraq's destiny has been and will continue to be decided by oil. In 1973 it was determined that oil reserves would be consumed within 25 years (Prof. Aleklett disagreed, but I myself remember the news around this. Not coincidentally, I became a photovoltaic researcher in 1981.) Iraq's oil should be developed centrally with regional involvement to ensure Iraqi control such that the Iraqi people may also benefit. Obama is naïve to state that the US will become independant of foreign oil. In addition, it is not likely that he can oppose the wishes of global oil companies with regards to Iraq. Oil is priced in US dollars rather than euros because of US influence.

Issam al-Chalabi has been living in Jordan since 1991.

I wanted to write this today before tomorrow's news articles distorted my view. I'm so susceptible to what's written in the media...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Winter tires

Last week temps had sunk below freezing during the nights. There was frost on the grass and ice on the roads in the mornings. I decided to quit bicycling and start going to work by bus. But after a week of this I've become anxious to get back on my bicycle, so this past weekend I removed the summer tires and put on my studded winter ones.

With darkness now arriving at 4pm, I've learned that the only real way to fight Swedish winter depression is to get out into it no matter what kind of weather it is or how grey it might be.

This week warmer weather has returned with lots of rain. Tonight I bicycled home in a relatively balmy 4C under a steady drizzle. I was happy to get home, light the fire and sit here and write this post, of course.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Weather iPhone app

My friend Graham Dawson from Australia has just launched his first iPhone app to provide detailed weather information in Australia. It's got a wonderful layout with timed radar screens and a locator - a fun thing to look at on a rainy day. It instantly became one of iPhone's best selling apps. His brother Ross Dawson wrote about it in his blog and has included a video demo, so I'll say no more here.

It will be interesting to see what Graham does next!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Unusually political thoughts

It's hard not to get caught up in the euphoria of a victory for Obama. I had doubted that he could actually win in present day America. Still fresh for me is Bush's victory four years ago where his deceipt regarding the Twin Towers tragedy and the Irak war were already apparent at the time he was re-elected president. I became ashamed to be American and did everything to conceal this about myself here in Sweden.

It's hard to describe, then, the hope that I now feel. Maybe, just maybe, America is made up of more than just self-righteous power-hungry people steamrolling uncontrolled across the world leaving a path of environmental destruction and displaying a marked disdain for peoples too different from themselves (read Muslims). While the perception of an arrogant America holding the rest of the world in contempt may not fade quickly, the hope for change as promised by Obama is very real.

At the same time, I fear a repeat of Carter's legacy: a man of ideals and integrity who turned out to be hopelessly incapable in the political world, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to vote for him in 1980. I ended up not voting at all that year since I couldn't stomach the idea of voting for Reagan. I hope that Obama will prove to be a faster political learner than Carter was.

Otherwise, I'd have to go back to 1972 to find an election that has moved me as much as this one. Back then I was a teenager too young to vote, but not too young to be an avid McGovern supporter. My dear friend Sue Gochenaur and I would insolently sing "bye, bye miss American Pie" whenever we heard the national anthem in an attempt to distance ourselves from a Nixon-supporting United States. A feeling not unlike the present one for Bush. Past meets present.

And now for a sombering thought. The president of the United States is not actually Obama. It's George W. Bush. And while the celebrations of Obama's victory are going on, Bush is continuing on his path of inflicting as much damage on the environment as possible before making his exit. A set of new regulations is being pushed through to ease restrictions on pollutants among other things as I gleaned from the Washington Post. A better world will just have to wait.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Florence


I finally spent a few days with Alessandro in Florence. Schoolwork took up a fair amount of time even during my visit. He has two large stacks of schoolbooks for his 10 subjects: Latin, philosophy, history, art history, Italian, French, English, math, physics and biology. School at the Liceo (high school) "Leonardo da Vinci" is six days a week and Alessandro studies hard as he tries to learn in a new language and a new culture. Alessandro took me to see his school - at the time, it was "occupied" by students, meaning that they were protesting new governmental changes in public schooling and they were preventing access to the school if the purpose was education.

Otherwise we walked around town a lot. The Duomo is within easy walking distance from Alessandro's home. We ate decent, simple Italian meals in out-of-the-way trattorie and got gelato a couple of times, despite the rain. I had fresh fig ice cream - yum! No museums, though. I'll probably feel more like playing tourist on my next visit. Hopefully it won't rain so much the next time.

Still, I did take a bunch of tourist pictures. I decided to put them in a Picasa album so as not to take up so much space in the blog.

When I came back home to Sweden, the house temperature had dropped to 6C. Much as I enjoy the wood stove, it doesn't heat very well if I'm not there to feed the fire.