Let your senses become your nature guide
Many people enjoy being outdoors and experiencing nature. But to be honest, we are doing lots of other things when outdoors than just experiencing nature. For example, spending time with friends and family, talking on mobile phones, listening to music, exercizing, solving troubling work or private issues, trying to remember species’ names or identifying birds. Nature then becomes just background that we pay very little attention to.
Next time you are out there, let your senses guide you to new nature experiences. Give one sense at a time attention:
- What sounds do you register close and far away, are they soft or sharp, frequent or rare?
- How does nature feel, what about that tree trunk near by? How does the ground feel under your feet?
- How does your nose experience nature? This time of year the shifts in temperature and the decomposition of leaves and grasses create palettes of scents.
- The eyes are our most used sense and also the easiest to explore. One way to challenge your eyesight is to look for details, for example shades of green in a single tree.
- There are plenty of edible berries, plants and mushrooms to be enjoyed, or why not focus truly on the taste of your picnic food during the break of your nature explorations.
This sensually-guided nature experience was inspired by Hans Landeström in his work on nature-guided therapy.
Enjoy the beauty, taste and smell of Pine needles. image courtesy Sara Borgström
Everyday choices in times of election
Currently there is no room for other issues than those brought up by the politicians struggling for votes in the up-coming Swedish election. The signs along the roads, the commercials, the press-conferences are all about us making a very important choice. At least that is what they want us to believe.
However, everyday you and I make millions of choices that are as important as our political standpoints. We vote by our actions. We decide how to get to work: whether by foot, bike, bus, train or car. We decide what to buy: meat, fish or just vegetables, locally produced or not, free from pesticides or not, the cheapest or the more expensive. All of these minor choices are acts of economic, social and environmental importance at local, regional and global levels. To help us in our decision-making there is a flora of labels, in Sweden KRAV, EU-ecolabel, Fairtrade, Svanen, Bra miljöval, FSC for forest products and MSC for sea products.
On September 19th the Swedes decide on the politics for the next 4 years. Right now we make decisions that have an impact far beyond our national borders and for a long time to come. Start with your next activity and make it a bit more environmentally friendly.
Some Swedish guidance:
Fish for dinner, WWFs guide (in Swedish only)
KRAV – organic food production
Bra miljöval eco-label ” Good environmental choice”
Svanen, eco-label
…and international:
MSC, Marine Stewardship Council (Sustainable seafood)
FSC, Forest Stewardship Council (Sustainable forestry)
Global ecolabelling network, GEN
EU Ecolabel (Former EU flower)
Fairtrade (tackling poverty and empowering producers by trade)
How large is your ecological footprint? image courtesy Sara Borgström
Mushroom day – September 5th
The first Sunday in September, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have devoted to celebrating mushrooms. If you want to know more about these strange creatures that are neither animals nor plants, this is the time of the year to start. There are plenty of seminars and exhibitions to visit in order to learn more about mushrooms, mostly about those that are visible to us. A central activity is of course to share knowledge about how to find and prepare edible mushrooms. Some are delicious, while others are deadly poisonous – no wonder they are surrounded by mysticism, witchcraft and folklore.
Did you know that:
- Mold and yeast are fungi.
- The root system of fungi are essential to many plants’ ability to absorb water and nutrients, therefore you’ll often find certain mushrooms near certain tree species.
- It is nearly impossible to clean air from fungal spores.
- The majority of mushrooms are found below ground and their extensive root systems can become more than 100 years old.
- Lichen are a symbiosis of fungi and algae.
- There are more than 1.5 million species of fungi in the world.
- The study of fungi is called mycology.
More about mushroom day in Sweden!
Not to eat, but a joy for the eye. image courtesy Sara Borgström
The new generation is prospering
It is not silent in nature, but the sounds are different. The birds are not singing to attract each other, they are sounding to scare us away from their nests. There the youngsters are constantly whistling for more food. It is a busy time. Some birds already prepare for migrating southwards. For those who stay, it is all about eating and maybe also storage some for the harsher conditions. The days are long, the chlorophyll is pumping sun energy into the biosphere to feed all the newcomers. The flowers are stretching out their colorful petals to attract pollinators to their cups of sweet nectar. The pollen transportation system is the starting of new seeds and next summers display of flowers. Some seeds fill our baskets on the walk, blueberries, raspberries and wild strawberries. Let your youngsters enjoy together with all kids out there!
Wild strawberries in Norrtälje, Sweden. image courtesy: Kim Koblet
The meadows treasures
It is now they should be enjoyed in all their beauty – the meadows. A richness in biodiversity originating from centuries of human- nature interactions through small-scale farming in Sweden. The shrubs and grasses are kept away by grazing cattle or hay-making by hand or machines. This creates beautiful rolling landscapes with scattered trees and a tremendous richness in flowering herbs. Besides spring flora, July is the time when the flowers explode in colors, yellow, red, purple, white, blue, pink and everything in between. Sometimes as as 60 herbs can be found in one single square meter. Before this fed the cattle during late summers and in wintertime, today these lands are usually managed within nature conservation. August 7th it is the day of the meadows and many volunteers from the Swedish Society of Nature conservation are out hay-making. Until then the flowers are there to be enjoyed by us and their pollinators.
A Swedish meadow i July. image courtesy Sara Borgström
Become a gardener of the wild
Nature has reawoken and uses each second of light to grow after a long, cold and dark winter. If you have a garden why not try a new perspective? Instead of fighting unwanted nature in your plantings, send out invitations.
- Design and put up bird boxes in the trees. From your breakfast table you can follow the everyday life of the European blue tits. Some inspiration!
- Create a smörgåsbord for butterflies by sowing seeds of summer meadow herbs. How to get started!
- Wetlands are a deficit. If you are ambitious and a bit stubborn, why not create a pond where frogs and other amphibians can find a refuge?
- Don’t have a garden? Set up bird boxes or plant herbs in the green area you visit the most. Some people has even formed groups for “guerilla gardening” that aim to increase the diversity in urban green commons. Example from London.
A paradise for butterflies and other insects. image courtesy: Kim Koblet
Year of biodiversity: How many species are there?
During the last three years researchers have found 123 new species in the rain forests of Borneo, according to a report from WWF. It is simply amazing that despite all of the technological advances there are still new things to discover on our planet. In addition, the better the methods, the more fascinating the discoveries seem to become. These new species live in the most hostile environments and have developed amazing adaptations to survive. A rough estimation is that we share living space with approximately 8 million other species even if the scientists debate what a species really is and how many they are. Currently 2 million species have been described. However the discovery of new species has a hard time keeping pace with the extinction of species which to a great extent is related to human activities.
Pictures of some of the new species in Borneo
More on the work to protect biodiversity.
Map lichen, just one of millions. image courtesy: Sara Borgström
Spots of sunshine
One of the first herbs to appear in spring is the Coltsfoot (Tussilago or Hästhov in Swedish, Tussilago farfara in latin). Between the withered leaves and straws small yellow flowers appear as soon as the first snow is gone. The Swedish name translated as horse foot is related to the shape of the large leaves that appear later in the summer. In the past the leaves where used for brewing tea that was thought to mitigate cough. The Coltsfoot is a so-called pioneer species that is found on bare soil on construction sites. Very common, but still a much welcome sign of spring.
Coltsfoot
Light brings life
Currently the hours of daylight are increasing by 6 minutes each day at my latitudes and even if there has been a cold and snowy winter this year, the snow is disappearing at a fast speed. Furthermore, the sunlight is the driver of nature and hence tells all plants and animals that the spring is coming. In every tree branch, seed and hibernation life is coming back into motion. Being exposed to daylight is important for the production of vitamin D of importance for the creation of bone tissue in humans. In the Nordic countries all kids get extra vitamin D to compensate for the winter season when there are just a few, if any, hours of daylight. The Nordic people are now coming out from their winter nests, turning their faces towards the sun and greeting each other.
Spring sun in Stockholm. image courtesy: Sara Borgström
Stockholm – European Green Capital 2010
The European Green Capital is a city that leads the way to environmentally adapted urban life by presenting fulfilled environmental quality targets, continued engagement in environmental improvements and sustainable development. Stockholm is the first city to be appointed as the European Green Capital. Among other things this is because it has achieved a great reduction in CO2 emissions during the last decade and an ambitious integration of environmental issues in all municipality work.
Check out the European Green Capital 2010
Hammarby Sjöstad, the most environmentally friendly neighbourhoods in Stockholm? image courtesy: Sara Borgström