european blogging competition

Daniel Nylin Nilsson's Blog (19)

About DDT and our community

The last days I have been writing furiously. Not for my own blog, but in the comments on Bart Knols review of the book The excellent powder. The powder is DDT - probably the world's most hated pesticide, but also the only one that anyone woud call "excellent" in public.

The discussion was sometimes harsh - and it reminded me a good deal about the endless Th!nk 2 debates about human…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 10, 2010 at 20:37 — 4 Comments

My man?

My man?

I am a European. As such, I have an unreserved and unconditional love for the current American president, mr. Barack Obama. But in the words of my favourite bard, Josh Ritter "I am trying hard to love you, but you don't make it easy babe".

When Obama was elected, he had the support not only of his voters, but from an entire continent that was exhausted and desillusioned from trying to cooperate with his predecessor George Bush II. Do you still remember… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on March 31, 2010 at 11:33 — No Comments

Looking at the Swedish formerly state owned energy company Vattenfall's homepage one might think that we're dealing with a company as climate friendly as Samsö. Vattenfall have even managed to get a …

Looking at the Swedish formerly state owned energy company Vattenfall's homepage one might think that we're dealing with a company as climate friendly as Samsö. Vattenfall have even managed to get a green labelling for it's hydropower. For sure, the installations were ecological catastrophies back in the sixties, and the dealing with staff and locals a school example of a centralised technocratic power trip. But it was 40 years ago, and since then they…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 25, 2009 at 19:28 — 2 Comments

Sweden creates stricter rules for ecological food

Sweden will make the rules for what can be branded "KRAV" (the national branding or ecological food in Sweden, Presseurop reports. "Swedish organic farmers will have to satisfy ultra-stringent requirements to earn the organic label as of 2012. The checklist includes chemicals-free farming, green-fuel tractors, reduced nitrogen emissions in fertilizer spreading, and a steep cut in per… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 17, 2009 at 22:37 — No Comments

Urban gardening

I love seeing this. I see it everytime I walk out of my door and it always puts me in a positive mood, thinking about ways to live responsibly

The only time I have seen this before - small scale farming next to a block of flats, was in Tiraspol, Transnistria. BBC reports that also the Cubans have made an art out of urban farming. The reasons behind might differ -…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 16, 2009 at 22:41 — 3 Comments

Take the high speed train to Stockholm...

Sweden might get high speed rail. :) This is a suggestion that currently awaits political approval. The laying down of new rails would begin as earliest 2015, and eventually connect the major cities with several trains per day, at a speed of 320 km/h. The point is to make travellers use the high speed rails, and teave the current rails for slower freight-trains, that will take capacity from trucks on highways.

What makes high speed… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 14, 2009 at 22:14 — No Comments

Climate taxis, Obama and me in Sweden.

Sweden... coming here after one year in Moldova and one and a half in Bulgaria is quite a climate change. Not only in the metaphorical sense. We have settled down in Lund at the very south, where the definition of winter is +5 degrees, rain and icy winds.I don't look forward to that...

Another difference is that climate change is being talked about everywhere. In the radio and on TV. In debates and in the news. You can even transport yourself within Lund with a "climate taxi" if you… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 10, 2009 at 19:46 — 2 Comments

Is bus-travelling climate smart?

I just came back from a trip to Copenhagen. Since one week back I live in Lund, Sweden, so this is a shot trip of one hour. There is a train, of course, quick and comfortable, but also expensive, and the cost was the only reason we took the bus this time. The Bus company Swebus Express's site very proudly said that bus is cheaper than train, and actually discouraged me, as a reader, to take the train... Not many did, though - we…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on September 6, 2009 at 15:33 — No Comments

El Nino

Man made or not - millions of people living in the Americas and elsewhere will brace for an unwelcome visitor this winter - El Nino. El Nino is a weather phenomenon that heats surface water, rearranges the oceans and brings floods, violent storms etc. when it is intense. There is also an opposite event, following el nino called la…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on August 23, 2009 at 19:52 — No Comments

The easier solution...

Bagging Climate Change from Brighter Planet on Vimeo.

In terms of making videos, Brighter Planet simply rocks! :) I love this… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on August 21, 2009 at 16:30 — No Comments

More frequent hurricanes

Both Swedish and International media have reported that "hurricanes in the Atlantic are more frequent than at any time in the last 1,000 years, according to research just published in the journal Nature. This sounds pretty grim, as the last week was filled with news about savage hurricanes in East Asia. Do we, humans, by our behaviour…

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Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on August 16, 2009 at 18:30 — 4 Comments

th!nk about the co$t

On my way to bed I stumbled over an article from Open Europe, claiming that the cost of meeting EU renewable energy targets will add 15% to electricity and 23% to gas bills by 2020. First of all - on a free market I think the electric companies will charge as much hey can without losing customers, regardless of reforms.They would happily charge me 15% more already today if there was purchasing power enough in the… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on August 6, 2009 at 22:41 — No Comments

Hack the Environment

The Guardians Data blog did a wonderful thing today. :) They published a range of Google docs containing statistics on population, CO2 emissions etc. and urged readers to do what they could with the data. I took a shot at analysing whether the use of nuclear power affected the CO2 emissions in Bulgaria, Sweden and China. After some queeking I gave up... after all I sit on an Asus EEE pc, extremely unfit… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 30, 2009 at 20:36 — 8 Comments

On coffee, twitter, banks and climate change...

Yes!!! After four days without coffee at work the boss has called in a guy to fix our machine. Life will go back to normal.

//UPDATE// In spite of the repair guy's best efforts the coffe machine was not fixed and life is not back to normal. I hope this will not apply to bail out programs in spite of the parallell I see in this blog post //UPDATE//

The company I work for is doing Media Analysis, which means that we read articles published in printed news and stored in giant… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 27, 2009 at 13:30 — No Comments

Bulgarian heat waves...

Today and tomorrow will bring record breaking temperatures in Bulgaria, according to Dnevnik. Of course the entire summer feels record breaking when you come here from Sweden, but still... This seems pretty serious. People are advised to stay inside, wear light white clothes, drink a lot of water and abstain from alcohol this friday night. In the hottest regions movements… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 24, 2009 at 10:52 — 2 Comments

Markets, freedom, responsibilities...

The Guardian followed up yesterdays news about industrial action at Vesta's plant on Isle of Wight with a blog post. The conclusion drawn is that market forces are unable to deal with climate change and other environmental issues.

(Vestas homepage)

Until now market solutions have not proven very successful in… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 23, 2009 at 9:37 — No Comments

Is green tech really that clean?

Green technology is currently suffering from a kind of feel-good consensus that I think we need to break down if we want a vibrant discussion about climate change. Blog posts about green IT, alternative energy or the like are seldom critical. In deed, in this area good news seem as prevalent as bad news on Al jazeera.

Against this backdrop I needed to listen twice to this morninggs daily guardian podcast, saying that a… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 22, 2009 at 10:33 — No Comments

Wouldn't it cost more?

I just commented on a Swedish neo-liberal blog post, claiming that the political measuers against climate change would be expensive, and prevent trade.

Like if a changed climate wouldn't force us to change everything, interrupt trade as harbours flood, and be very, very expensive. Who will pay for this?

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 20, 2009 at 22:30 — No Comments

Apollo11 - 40 years after

Apollo 11: Reentry from SK on Vimeo.

It is today 40 years since man landed on the moon. A day to celebrate technology, I guess... And in deed, the internet is ripe with comments on the event. Slashdot takes the occasion to slightly sarcastically point out that the toilets on NASA's ISS are not working fine. The Economist notes that space… Continue

Added by Daniel Nylin Nilsson on July 20, 2009 at 16:08 — No Comments