See you on the other side!

I'm off.

With my driving licence! Wohoo, I got it just in time!

Take care all of my beloved friends, I will miss you! 

Don't hesitate to come and visit! It's only a 30 hour journey...

Klippt och klart!

Literally. Packing as good as finished and hair as good as gone. No, not really. My hair got a very well-needed trim but there is still a lot left...

 Might have got slightly mad from all of this packing, printing, planning, storing, organising, cleaning, prioritising etc etc. What do you wear when you are leaving -5 to go to +30?

Surprisingly enough I have packed almost everything and I have loads of space left! What has happened to me? I literally do not even need my 10 kg of hand luggage! Strange...

Quick visit to G-burg to say goodbye to my family...
Bye for now my beloved little brother!

Cannot believe I'm leaving tomorrow!!!

Thought provoker of the day....

Going around on FB...

"People buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like."

True? Indeed.

Make sense? Definitely not.

Välfärd utan tillväxt

This will be in swedish out of pure laziness....

Jag har läst ungefär halva av Tim Jackson bok om vårt ohållbara ekonomiska system. Hittills känner jag att han har hemskt många bra poänger som bekräftar mycket av det jag redan "visste". Däremot är det ganska ekonomiskt och vissa saker som relativ och absolut frikoppling behöver nog en eller två extra genomgångar för att verkligen förstå vad det innebär. Vissa begrepp och teorier har gått rakt över huvudet på mig. Det är inte direkt någon kvällsläsning utan kräver koncentration från sin läsare.
       Nu har jag kommit in på kapitlet om konsumtion; effektivitet och resursproduktivitet. Jackson påstår att ökad effektivitet och minskad resursförbrukning inte går hand i hand eftersom företag ofta satsar på mer effektiv teknologi för att minska kostnaderna och sälja mer, vilket betyder att resursförbrukning snarare ökar än minskar.

Citat:

Ekonomi:

Den obekväma sanningen är att vi står inför dessa uppgifter med en ekonomi som i grunden har havererat och är i desperat behov av förnyelse.

 (peak-oil, försämring av luft, vatten och jord, konflikter om markanvändning osv...)

Skulder:

Våra ekologiska ekologiska skulder är lika instabila som våra finansiella. Ingenting tar man vederbörlig hänsyn till i den hänsynslösa jakten på växande konsumtion.

Gordon Brown, 2008:

Det här har varit ett tidevarv av globalt välstånd. Det har också varit ett tidevarv av global turbulens. Och där det har det rått oansvarighet, där måste vi nu säga rent ut att oansvarighetens tidevarv måste få ett slut.

Om frihet:

I en värld av gränser är vissa friheter antingen omöjliga eller omoraliska. Friheten att ändlöst konsumera materiella produkter är en av dem. Friheten att uppnå socialt erkännande på bekostnad av barnarbete i leveranskedjan, att finna meningsfullt arbete på bekostnad av ett sammanbrott i den biologiska mångfalden eller att delta i samhällslivet på bekostnad av framtida generationer kan vara andra.

Det finns så himla många citat jag skulle vilja ta men det här får räcka för tillfället. Jag kan rekommendera att läsa boken hittills!

Watch out

cause now I'm allowed on the roads! ;)

Finally !

This time it went really well. I stayed calm and didn't get any remarks! For a while I thought I was screwed though. I had driven really well, did a left turn without problem but then she wanted me to bck around a corner. But not by a sidewalk but into a very slim road with deep ditches on both sides. I took it slow and easy but suddenly found myself nearly driving into the ditch on the wrong side of the road. Slightly embarrassing. She gave me another chance thankfully and I nailed it!

I'm just glad it's finally over....

Now we're on our way to Gothenburg just for one day. Mum and Sven are attending the MC exhibition and I'm going to see my siblings and some friends. So if you are in G-burg tomorrow give me a shout!

Can you guess?

what this is?

The answer is truly disgusting.

It's chicken. 

It is mechanically separated chicken.

You could be served this at McDonald's...

Process: parts of chicken are put into the machine separating the bones from the meat. Theoretically. What actually happens is that ALL of the chicken, bones, eyes etc etc is crushed into tiny little pieces. Being infested by bacteria the mashed chicken is washed in ammonia, receiving this appealing colour. However, it doesn't taste like chicken anymore, it tastes of ammonia. But that is easily solved by artificial flavours. It also doesn't look like chicken so it is artifically coloured to get that delicious beige chickenly colour again...  If chicken nuggets still sound appealing to you I think you are barking mad!

Read all of it here!!

I was suprised to find that it is not illegal in Sweden. There are several farms that utilise this process called MSM... Check it out here : http://www.slv.se/sv/grupp2/livsmedelsforetag/sa_kontrolleras_din_verksamhet/Livsmedelsanlaggningar/EU-godkanda-anlaggningar/Sektion-5/

Couldn't find which farms McDonald's use unfortunately.

Recommendations

The recommendations from governments and WHO are pointing towards less red and processed meat and more vegetables. According to these recent articles:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12571576
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16561565
we are not eating enough fruit and vegetables. Furthermore, red and processed meat are becoming increasingly linked to different forms of cancer, especially bowel cancer...
Swedish researchers have recently linked processed meat to pancreatic cancer, but this find still needs more research.

Prosperity without growth

by Tim Jackson

Just about to start reading this book by a UK governmental advisor on sustainability. I hope this book lives up to my expectations and finally deals with the big impossibility in our economic system; continual growth in a limited space. We have to change this very outdated system...

Pub quiz

At the Bishop's Arms

Comparing photos of me and mum

 Tried to get a good photo of the two of us but as it seems rather impossible so I ended up with this...

Good enough...

Castles

Today we headed off to Mariefred to see Gripsholms Slott.

Upside down

We decided to take some smaller roads home and pass Stallarholmen. Here, we found this castle (if you can call it that...). Would be cool to restore it and make it into a home and holiday stay.

Mälsåkra Slott

Not a bad view ey?

Listen, watch, do.

Decorating the hall way at a friend's house.

How can one listen and nothing hear?

How can one watch and nothing see?

How can one know and nothing do?

Ånnaboda

Heidi, Anton, Fynn and I. Picked up in Örebro to go a very complicated forest road to Ånnaboda. Took the five km trail and stopped along the way to (try to) make a fire and drink hot chocolate and eat soup.

 Örebro castle

Fynn was misbehaving....

 Thanks for a great day!

Ice skating

Nice cup of home made hot chocolate

Change our culture

Nate Garvis - Change our culture, change our world

It's not all about laws, they are important, but what has created real change is a culture.

Good and funny talk!

Misleading terms

There is no such thing as a rogue shark. Jaws is a film, it is not based on real events and it is certainly not a documentary. So let's leave jaws to Hollywood and stop referring shark bites as attacks. As Steve Cassell writes in his article it is a sensationalist terming.

"Unlike with the ocean, people easily recognise that the African bush is the wild, and it is unwise to wander alone when and where lions feed, he said."

Yeees, that is what I've been saying! We need to educate ourselves better, not try to kill every potentially dangerous creature in the water. It is a losing battle... The article also says that 13% of all shark incidents are caused by wobbegongs (love the name!) that have been frightened or stepped on.

Wobbegong

 The article has a lot of good things to say, especially that sharks kill about one person a year in Australia. Compared to disease and poverty, that is nothing. It is time that we take our responsibility and educate ourselves in this area to prevent incidents. We need to stop fearing sharks and stop killing them. They are vital for the ocean and the earth, ergo, also for us.

Fingers crossed

Time for the last french exam! I've been extremely lazy over christmas, not studied at all much, so let's just hope it works out!

French breakfast with some healthy additions

I rarely put up outfit pictures or clothes anymore, that's mainly because I don't buy a lot of clothes... Which I think is a good thing! I did invest in these brown suede shorts and a little black dress at Beyond Retro G-burg.

If I'm going down I'm going down in style..

Time for the last lunch with the girls... for some time at least!

Sustainability explained

Sustainability 101

Fishy

I keep ging on about the bluefin tuna, but it is because it is immensely important for our oceans.
Thursday saw the most expensive bluefin yet to be sold at a japanese market. $736 000. Not joking. Why? Demand. There is still a demand for the fish, especially in sushi restaurants. I do not for even a second understand how people can be so selfish and give in for a craving at the potential cost of our entire eco system...? You can read the article and see a short video here. 
The man who bought the tuna owns a big sushi chain and he reasoned that due to last years events i.e the tsunami, the Japanese people need something cheerful. Seriously?

So to cut to the chase, don't eat tuna, for the love of * do not eat bluefin tuna, and do check when you eat sushi, it sets a good example and makes restaurants realise that people care. Not even canned tuna is safe, but if you must, look for ecologically sustainable tuna. Will cost you wallet a little more, but will cost your conscience a lot less...

Watch with a critical eye, but I must sadly admit that the video isn't particularly exaggurated... Mackerel is on the list of "ok" fish in Sweden at the moment though...

A Scot in Stockholm

Showing Fynn a little bit of Stockholm, met up with my best friend and visited my cousins!

Very competitive game

♥

My lovely aunt and beautiful cousins!

Fynn and his squint head ;)