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September 2015 Vol 86:07 $4.95
Sweden: a leader in sustainable living
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Energy from Skyscrapers Interview with Gabriel Wikstrรถm ร lagillen
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Swedish Press is the world’s leading magazine on all good things Swedish. An authority on design, business, culture and travel since 1929, Swedish Press delivers insightful news and commentary in a visually striking format. With a nod to the past, and a peek to the future, Swedish Press is your go-to source for updates and inspiration from Sweden. SWEDISH PRESS (ISSN 0839-2323) is published ten times per year (Feb, Mar, Apr, May, June, July/Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan) by Swedish Press Inc, 11616 Papagallo Court, San Diego, CA 92124 for $39 per year. Periodical postage paid at Blaine, WA 98230-9998 (No. USPS 005544). US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Swedish Press, PO Box 420404, San Diego, CA 92142-0404 OFFICE: 9040 Shaughnessy Street, Vancouver, BC V6P 6E5 Canada US MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 420404, San Diego, CA 92142-0404 WEBSITE www.swedishpress.com E-MAIL info@swedishpress.com TEL +1 360 450 5858 TOLL FREE +1 866 882 0088 PUBLISHER Claes Fredriksson Claes@swedishpress.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tatty Maclay Tatty@swedishpress.com ART DIRECTOR Joan Law Fredriksson Joan@swedishpress.com
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CONTENTS ( September 2015 ) 4 Letters to the Editor 5 From the Editor’s Desk 6 7 8
Swedish Headlines Headline News: Ökat stöd för terror oroar News at a Glance Swedes in the News
Lifestyle 18 Top Sju 19 Theatre: Charleys tant på Gunnebo slott
Business 7 Business News 9 Company File: Autoliv Feature 10 Sweden gears up for COP21
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Hemma hos 20 Experimenting with the architecture of wind and water 21 Treats à la Sonja 22 Lär Dig Svenska 23 Comic: Collecting roots In the Loop 24 Landskapsnyheterna 27 Canada, US & Beyond 28 Calendar and Events
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30 Sista Ordet A tribute to Elizabeth Berg Aley
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31 Press Byrån Interview 12 Gabriel Wikström: folkhälso-, sjukvårds- och idrottsminister Heritage 15 Ålagillen, a timeless Scanian tradition Global Swedes 16 Putting Sweden on the map – abroad: Johanna Wikblom
Above: View of SwimCity © belatchew.com Cover photo: RomoloTavani
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Sweden gears up for COP21 By Anton Fredriksson
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n December of this year, 50,000 politicians, public servants, journalists, scientists and activists from around the world will descend on Paris for the COP21 climate change conference. The COP21 is the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is where representatives from the world over will come together in the hope of reaching a binding agreement on greenhouse gas emission reductions. The objective is clear — to prevent global temperatures from rising above the oft-cited critical 2ºC. According to a 1990 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute, any increase in temperature beyond this two degree mark risks irreversible and catastrophic changes to our planet. At the current pace, global emission trajectories are heading towards a rise of a whopping 5ºC.
“For the first time in the history of the world, there is a threat that concerns everyone,” explains Nicolas Hulot, Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet to the French President. Although these meetings take place once a year, the last time a climate conference generated this much anticipation was in 2009 at the COP15 in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the outcome of the COP15 left a lot to be desired with many commentators billing it as a failure. Since then, the lethargic progress of the past few conferences has made the need for an ambitious binding agreement all the more important this year.
There are promising signs however. In November 2014, both China and the US pledged an historic agreement to cap emissions proving to the rest of the world that the two largest polluters are wiling to cooperate. Most recently in early August, Obama unveiled an ambitious plan to cut emissions from power plants in the US by a third, the equivalent of taking 166 million cars off roads.
What is Sweden doing? The stakes are clearly high going into Paris but so too are expectations.
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Sweden is widely considered to be a global leader when it comes to sustainability. Earlier this summer, a
A substantial difference when compared to the US average of 19.1 tons. Strong rail links, well-funded public transportation systems and an emerging biking culture all contribute to Sweden’s sustainability leadership. report by investment firm, RobecoSAM, named Sweden as the “most sustainable country in the world.” And other countries are taking note. In Obama’s speech during his visit to Sweden in 2013, he marvelled at the country’s progress towards sustainability. “Sweden is obviously an extraordinary leader when it comes to tackling climate change and increasing energy efficiency, and developing new technologies,” remarked Obama. “…Sweden I think is far ahead of many other countries.”
There are numerous reasons for Sweden’s relative success in this domain. Even though Sweden has one of the highest electricity usage per capita rates in the world (15,000 kWh per person/year), carbon emissions remain low. This is because 78% of electricity in Sweden is generated by clean nuclear or hydroelectric power with a growing contribution by renewables including wind and solar. The result is that Swedes release 5.1 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
In the lead-up to the COP21 conference, the Swedish government has emphasized its success in fighting climate change and has set out to encourage other countries to follow suit. One example is the Swedish Institute’s “Smart Living Challenge”. Launched in 2014 in collaboration with Swedish embassies around the world, the Challenge involved a series of workshops with local participants to find and promote innovative ideas on how to live more sustainably. 15 winners from 12 countries were invited to Stockholm for an “innovation week” in which they
learned about various Swedish green innovations and pitched their own ideas to eager investors. This year, the Challenge shifts gears from idea generation to implementation. Partnering with Hyper Island, a creative business school founded in Sweden, climate-oriented projects will be developed and implemented in Brazil, Serbia and Zambia. The results of the cumulative work will be put on display in Paris during the COP21. All eyes will be on Paris in December. As a country with a demonstrated track record on reduced emissions and sustainable living, Sweden has a unique opportunity to take on a larger leadership role within the global community.
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‘We can take our environmental initiatives further...’
Global
Johanna Wikblom, European Director of Talent & Operations, Ashoka
Johanna Wikblom joined Ashoka in 2014 as European Director of Talent & Operations with a base in London. Ashoka is a leading global network of social entrepreneurs – pattern changing social innovators who creatively solve some of the world’s biggest social challenges. Ashoka strives to shape a global, entrepreneurial, competitive citizen sector that allows social entrepreneurs to thrive and enables the world’s citizens to think and act as changemakers. Prior to joining Ashoka, Johanna spent more than eight years at McKinsey & Company in Stockholm.
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In which areas do you feel Sweden contributes most globally? For some time, I have felt that Sweden has been contributing strongly to innovation in environmental sustainability. We are on the forefront of both renewable energy and recycling. Most of our public transportation and several taxi companies have already ‘gone green’ and another example of our piloting in this field is Stockholm holding a day-long event on September 19 in which no cars will be allowed to enter the city centre. In fact during that entire week, businesses and organisations will offer people opportunities to try out alternative transportation such as electric bicycles as part of a larger European effort. I believe we are already inspiring other countries with the work we do in this field in Sweden, and I am hoping that we can take our environmental initiatives broader to support other countries in prioritizing and implementing the same. Another area that I feel excited about is our strength in digital innovation and producing successful tech entrepreneurs, both for- and not-for-profits. This has been a developing focal area and one where I believe we will continue to go from strength to strength.
How do you think the image of Sweden is changing and developing internationally and particularly in North America? Sweden has, for a while now, been seen as a country of friendly, health conscious, environmentally aware, conflict neutral, blonde people and perhaps most famously our strong welfare system – national traits which I can proudly cite to those I meet as a travelling Swede. For many years, the Swedish State has been almost solely responsible for education, healthcare, unemployment, integration etc. in our country – and to a varying degree of success. More recently, I have spotted a number of articles discussing the gradual dismantling of our globally recognised Swedish welfare system. We are witnessing innovation from civil society becoming more and more important in order to find new, more efficient solutions in certain areas. That’s where I believe local social entrepreneurs can and should play an important role. We have already seen a few successful examples of this in Sweden – Johan Wendt, founder of Mattecentrum and Sofia Appelgren, founder of Mitt Liv – are two Ashoka entrepreneurs that have recently been cited as leaders in innovation by the Swedish Prime Minister and in the press.
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Putting Sweden on the map abroad
Swedes
‘...to support other countries to do the same.’
How do you think Sweden has achieved the success it has despite being such a small country, population-wise? First and foremost, we have had the luxury to live in peace and democracy for a very long time which has allowed us the space to innovate. I also think that part of our success is that we are generally a fairly liberal, curious and driven people who travel a lot both for holidays and professionally. Some of our most well-known companies, artists and actors also have broad international reach – Spotify, Skype, Tradedoubler, IKEA, H&M, artists like Swedish House Mafia, Max Martin, Timbuktu, Avicii, Robyn and actors like Malin Akerman, Max von Sydow, Peter Stormare, Stellan and Alexander Skarsgard are just a few of many – I think they serve as inspiration for other driven and ambitious Swedes. I hope and think that we will be able to add a few successful social entrepreneurs to this list in the near future! What aspects of Swedish culture and life are you personally most passionate about promoting? I would first and foremost say our gender equality. I think we are good at promoting equal opportunities, equal pay, generous parental leave and supporting female leadership
in general. Prior to joining Ashoka, I was working at McKinsey & Company in Stockholm where I took part in developing a program to promote female leadership amongst University students, young professionals and future leaders. Increasing the possibilities for women to reach and take on leadership positions is something that I personally feel very passionate about and love to create opportunities to discuss wherever I go. We are also a very healthconscious and active people. I love being outdoors, hiking, running, skiing or practicing different team sports. Like many other Swedish women, I played soccer during my school years and these days I go nowhere without my running shoes. I find that running is also a great way to explore and experience new cities when travelling. Are there any other current or upcoming projects or events that you would like to mention? I am very excited about the work we at Ashoka have started doing with “Changemaker Schools” around the world. Ashoka are using the 35 year-old, tried and tested methodology of searching for and selecting over 3000 of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs to now identify, select and connect
a global network of hundreds of innovative schools that prioritise the cultivation of empathy, teamwork, leadership, and Changemaking in their students. It is these skills specifically which we have identified as key and complementary to enable young people to grow up as Changemakers – people who possesses the skills, confidence and resources to actively drive positive social change in their world. Many schools around the world already see these Changemaker Skills as the future, and are leading the way. What we do is to help discover and grow their identity as Changemakers, connect them with each other and our broader network, organise global gatherings, share their strategies and innovations and position their leadership in the field. We recently started this program in Sweden and elected three fantastic Changemaker Schools into the global network – Roselidsskolan, YBC and Fryshuset. In March this year we were also very proud to host the first European gathering of Changemaker Schools at the beautiful island Ekskäret near Stockholm, thanks to support from Tomas Bjorkman and the Ekskäret Foundation. Interviewed by Alisha Fredriksson.
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[Lifestyle]
1 Even though Sweden’s women’s national soccer team didn’t make it all the way in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Swedish soccer fans have something special to celebrate. Sweden’s WU19 soccer team became European champions when they defeated Spain 3-1 in the final in Israel. On top of that, Sweden’s U21 male soccer team took home EM gold when they beat Portugal 4-3 in the Czech Republic. Both teams were celebrated upon their return to Sweden, and their achievements won’t go unnoticed during this fall’s Swedish soccer gala.
2 Stockholm is cold and dark when Bruce Evans (Greg Poehler) and Emma Wiik (Josephine Bornebusch) return in Season 2 of Welcome to Sweden. The couple juggles engagement plans, career options, nosy family members and, of course, a couple of unfamiliar
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Top Sju customs. Season 2 features guest appearances by Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Priestly, Jack Black, Paul Simon and Neve Campbell. Welcome to Sweden is based on events experienced by Greg Poehler during his move to Stockholm with his Swedish girlfriend in 2006.
3 Halfway through this season’s Sommarprat on Radio P1, where interesting people talk about their experiences and play their favorite music, the station presented a list of which hosts have received the most listeners and reactions on social media. 2015’s top 3 included actress, singer and director Marianne Mörck who gave a humorous talk on her 50 year-old career; comedian, actor and author David Batra who spoke of bullying; and professor in Environmental Science, Johan Rockström whose program focused on the importance of taking care of our planet.
20 It’s been 20 years since Peter Jöback, well known for his performance in The Phantom of the Opera, and Helene Sjöholm, known
1900
for her acts in Chess and My Fair Lady, performed together in Kristina från Duvemåla. This fall, fans of the musical stars can look forward to their show I Love Musicals. Joined by the Stockholm Sinfonietta orchestra, Jöback and Sjöholm will perform classical musical numbers. I Love Musicals premieres September 26th in Malmö.
6 Calling all female runners! Tjejmilen, Sweden’s biggest sports event for women, takes place on September 5, 2015 for its 32nd consecutive year. Participants run the beautiful approximately 6 mile route around Gärdet and Djurgården in the heart of Stockholm. Runners may choose to sign up for the “Timed Class” where runners are timed, or the “Fun Run” for those who choose to walk and/ or run at their own pace.
Celebrate fall the old fashioned way! Skansen arranges its annual fall market on September 2627th. At the market you can find honey, jams and marmalade, cheese, root vegetables, bread, buns and candy. There are also textiles, woodwork, household utensils, hand-made ropes and toys – all sold by merchants in traditional 1900s attire. Visitors may also enjoy specialties such as pea soup (ärtsoppa) with warm Swedish arrack liquor (punsch) at one of Skansen´s restaurants.
11 From Sept 25, 2015 to February 7, 2016 visitors can enjoy an exhibition about the future of fashion at Liljevachs Museum in Stockholm called; Utopian Bodies – Fashion looks forward. The exhibition focuses on 11 different themes; sustainability, change, technology, shape, color, solidarity, resistance and society, resistance and beauty, memories, gender identity and love. The exhibition features creations by Swedish designers such as Bea Szenfeld and Gudrun Sjödén.
[Lifestyle] Theatre Charleys tant på Gunnebo slott Av Sthig Jonasson
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komedin “Charleys tant” som under sommaren spelas på Gunnebo slott i Mölndal är en klassiker från 1892, om en man som klär ut sig till kvinna för att låtsas vara präktigt förkläde för att hans kamrater skall få chans att träffa flickorna de är kära i. Egentligen handlar det om hur moralen påverkade livet vid förra sekelskiftet. Då var det – i de finare kretsarna – omöjligt för unga män att träffa unga flickor utan att ha någon äldre som just förkläde. Här är de unga männen Jack och Charley svårt förälskade i flickorna Kitty och Emmy. Nu planerar Jack och Charley för en date med Kitty och Emmy och i planerna ingår Charleys omätligt rika tant Donna Lucia d´Alvadorez, som är på ingång från Brasilien. Hon skall altså vara datens moraliskt alibi. Problemet är att flickornas förmyndare, bryggeridirektören Melker Lyckholm, verkligen inte tänker låta några unga män kurtisera hans skyddslingar och bryggeridirektören är minst sagt misstänksam. När det kommer återbud från tanten får Jack och Charley den inte fullt så briljanta idén att låta en kompis, skådespelaren Malte Larsson, uppträda som tanten. Malte har just fått rollen som hustrun till “Den inbillade sjuke” i Moliérès komedi och har turligt nog scenkläderna med sig. Själva förklädnaden fungerar väl si-så-där och för med sig oväntade förvecklingar. När den äkta tanten dyker upp och intrigen
Faktaruta
Manus: Brandon Thomas Musik: Benny Andersson Regi, bearbetning, koreografi, sångtexter: Anders Aldgård Scenografi: Rof Albin Håkansson Kostym: Ulrika Wassén Musik: Gunebos band på band I rollerna: Claes Malmberg, Jan Malmsjö, Marianne Mörck, Anders Hatlo, Johan Ringström, Henning Ledstam, Cecilia Dovrell, Ellen Lindström, Nina Hammarklev Dansare: Caroline Jörnsved, Terese Ewaldsson Speltid: ca 2 tim. 30 min.
avslöjas har några gubbar hunnit bli förtjusta i den falska tanten(!). I en sidohistoria avslöjas att Jacks onkel, en pensionerad överste, var operettcharmör i sin ungdom och firade triumfer i ”Glada änkan” mot just Donna Lucia som Hanna Glavari, alltså den glada änkan. Charley Holmberg, han vars stenrika tant blivit försenad görs av örebrofödde Henning Ledstam, och hans kompis Jack av Johan Ringström. Båda är bra i sina ganska stereotypa roller. De båda eftertrånade flickorna Kitty och Emmy görs av Cecilia Dovrell och Ellen
Marianne Mörck och Jan Malmsjö. © Lina Ikse
Lindström. Även de gör bra ifrån så uppenbarligen finns det ingen anledning att bekymra sig över återväxten inom musikal- och komedigenren. Det är emellertid Jan Malmsjö, Claes Malmberg och Marianne Mörck som gör resan till Mölndal och Gunnebo slott värd att göra i sommar. Claes Malmberg formligen äger scenen och tar massor av poäng med branta improvisationer som fåfäng skådespelare i rollen som Donna Lucia, tanten med extra allt. Här duggar ordvitsarna tätt, mycket tätt. När den riktiga Donna Lucia d´Alvadorez sedan dyker upp är Marianne Mörck i rollen mist lika imponerande som Malmberg. Den pensionerade översten görs av Jan Malmsjö 83 år(!) som uppenbart trivs i rollen. Mot slutet av första akten levererar han en lång, lång rad av sina svårglömda hits som möttes med all rätt av publikens jubel. Tjejerna Kitty och Emmy som spelas av Cecilia Dovell och Eilen Lindström verkar inte ha några svårigheter att ta vara på sig själva - utan hjälp av något “förkläde” i form av någon bedagad svenskbrasilianska. Regissör Aldgård låter handlingen utspelas på Gunnebo slott år 1900 och han har kryddat med några “komiska” lokala ortsnamn. Aldgård svarar också för koreografi och de nyskrivna sångtexterna. Att spelet också kryddas med referenser till både aktualiteter och litet mindre aktuella företeelser gör att Gunnebos uppsättning av “Charleys tant” är värd en resa.
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