Hej everyone!

I want to talk today about sustainability in Sweden. I’ll start this off by mentioning a failed party piñata moment from my birthday earlier this week. In Sweden, plastic is generally avoided. Foods and objects are often wrapped in paper when possible instead of plastic. As I went to fill my birthday piñata, I bought paper boxes of a European chocolate candy. I thought, wow, this will be great for the Earth! It turns out non sealed paper boxes filled with tiny candies are not great for a piñata. After the piñata was hit so many times, the candies came out of their boxes and eventually filled the yard once the piñata broke. I say this as a humorous story to remember that context matters.

Often times people will buy yet another tote bag (I’m guilty of this too) thinking it is better for the environment than a single use paper or plastic bag. In fact, it takes so many uses for a tote bag to actually be better for the Earth than a single use paper bag! Thus again, context matters.

Here is Sweden there is a huge push for sustainably. I notice little things every day that seem like better systems than the US. Dishwashers may display water usage of the different settings, lights may turn off automatically, and paper straws are everywhere! That said, I think that Sweden tries to find a good balance. They belive that if everyone does a little (not is perfect) they can be a sustainable place.

Thus, you see small children on class walks picking up trash, people being sure to clean there areas, and the people making choices every day (like to buy fruit that hasn’t been imported from miles and miles away!

These are good lessons for me, and I hope you. Find moments you can make the greener choice. Work to teach younger generations about the power of taking care of the earth. But also, stay reasonable. An aim of perfection won’t get us very far. Try your best and if many do that, we can have an impact on culture.