29

Moving from northern Sweden to southern Finland 

The end of December in Umeå

"Everything I own"

It is easy to relocate when the amount of objects one lives with is minimal. 

Disclaimers:

• I gave away some items (such as books and bowls) before I moved to Finland. The books I can borrow from the university library. Some of the items I hope to borrow from friends. 
• Before moving, I allowed myself to run out of some things such as soap and shampoo bar. Locally made products such as these can be bought anywhere. 
• I don't own any furniture or appliances. The furniture and appliances I could use in Sweden belonged to the housing company. The apartment where I will spend a few months here in Finland is (unfortunately) furnished. Afterwards I hope to find something which is not furnished. 
• My yoga mat is not in the picture below.
• Most of my documents are digital. 
• There is nothing that I posted to myself when I moved. I travelled with everything that I normally live with.   
• I don't plan to acquire more things in Finland. When I moved from the UK to northern Sweden, I had to invite more objects into my life (such as a scarf and mittens) because the climate is so different. 
• I am relocating solo.
• The most challenging aspect of the move is emotional. Slow travel (by train and ferry) gave me some time to reflect on this relocation. 

Stockholm in the end of December

New home

28

 Saying "Hejdå" to beautiful northern Sweden

Relocating to southern Finland from northern Sweden without flying can unfold in any of these ways: by land, e.g., via Tornio (Torneå) in northern Finland, by sea from Umeå to Vaasa (and then by train to Helsinki) or by sea from Stockholm to Helsinki (there is a direct train from Umeå to Stockholm). I decided to go to Stockholm by train and then take a ferry to Helsinki. This way I don't need any other transport such as a bus or a car, plus it's a familiar route. There is much technology involved. Instead of printing all the tickets, it seems much easier to install apps (such as Swedish railways app and the ferry company's app). 

Overall, saying goodbye to northern Sweden, in my case, entails going for walks and spending time with dreamy northern nature. In terms of voluntary simplicity, it means giving away many of the objects I've lived with here. Some objects will be returned to the Geography department, others to my colleagues and friends, yet others (the ones I bought here) will be or already have been given away to those people who want them. There are not many objects to begin with, but this relocation gives me an opportunity to yet again ask myself what I want to live with. Some of the objects I might need again in Finland, but I hope to borrow them from my friends there. 

27

 Voluntary simplicity

"Voluntary simplicity is not about living in poverty; it is about living with balance. [...] By embracing a lifeway of simplicity - characterized by a compassionate and ecological consciousness, frugal consumption, and inner development - people can change their lives and, in the process, move the world toward sustainable prosperity." (Elgin, 2013, p. 69)

The values of voluntary simplicity: material simplicity, human scale, self-determination, ecological awareness, and personal growth (Elgin and Mitchell, 1977a). 

Or elsewhere (Elgin and Mitchell, 1977b, p. 13; Elgin and Mitchell, 1978):

"the drive toward simplification of the external/material aspects of living, coupled with self sufficiency and the sharing of ideas and goods

insistence on living as naturally as possible with all that implies for pollution, use of raw materials, industrial processes, recycling, and preference for "intermediate" or "appropriate" technology

smallness of scale in the Schumacher sense of "small is beautiful"; associated with this is the inclination toward decentralization of institutions, jobs in which individual contributions are apparent, and the need to participate in the decisions that mold one's life. 

the quest for inner exploration and self-fulfillment with its attendant concern with creativity, openness, the desire for direct experience, and often a sense of the mystic and transcendental."  

References

Elgin, D. (2013) Voluntary simplicity - a path to sustainable prosperity. Social Change Review, 11(1), pp. 69-84.

Elgin, D.S. and Mitchell, A. (1977a) Voluntary simplicity - life-style of the future. The Futurist, 11(4), pp. 200-261. 

Elgin, D.S. and Mitchell, A. (1977b) Voluntary simplicity. Planning Review, 5(6), pp. 13-15. 

Elgin, D. S. and Mitchell, A. (1978) Voluntary simplicity: life-style of the future? Ekistics, 45 (269), pp. 207-212. 

26

 Dwelling in autumnal Sweden

Calm space in Stockholm

Green capitalism

25

 Dwelling in autumnal northern Sweden and being in Stockholm

 Last blueberries 

Lichen

Stockholm at 7am

Umeå to Stockholm: 9 hours by (night) train

Stockholm at 7 am 2

24

Being in Copenhagen

Textures 1

Textures 2

Hops by the waterfront 

'Green' capitalism (hotel)

Roofscape in Copenhagen

23

 (Sense) experiences 

"As a geographer, one feels like a fish on dry land if one does not have the opportunity to experience places and nature with one's senses." (Stig Jaatinen quoted in Buttimer (1993)) 

Sunlight and Högakustenbron:

Forestry industry museum (these days the industry is very much automated):

Artwork in Mannaminne:

Reference: Buttimer, A. (1993) Geography and the Human Spirit. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore & London. 

22

 Walks and staying inside, in early autumn in Northern Sweden

Above and below: local, seasonal food. 

Aronia:

These days, the sun sets noticeably earlier:

Shadows on the wall, fleeting art without any need for any extra human-made medium:

21

 Souvenir

Transactions with nature do not necessarily mean a large-scale interference. It can be as small as displacing something. Recently I brought a stone home with me as a souvenir from a trip to the High Coast (Höga Kusten). 

He came from here:

20

 Train journeys

The university I am affiliated with currently offers their researchers a yearly allowance one can spend on events such as conferences, workshops and data collection. The university also encourages travelling by train (instead of flying). However, train journeys, at least in our case, are always much more expensive than flying, thus one must be very selective in terms of where they decide to go and what they choose to skip. Partly train journeys are more expensive due to our remote location in the North of Sweden. Most still prefer to fly (or cannot afford, in terms of time or energy, to spend days on travelling somewhere). 

19

 Food

The practice of sustainable, deeply ecological food consumption is very challenging to navigate and establish both at home and especially while travelling. Perhaps the most ecological way to get food is foraging, but it is unsustainable and unrealistic on a large scale. Above is a picture of red currants which I recently picked in Northern Sweden. There are also blueberries, wild raspberries, wild strawberries, perhaps also mushrooms and cloudberries as well as edible leaves. It is hardly enough to live off. It is almost impossible to pick (and store/preserve) enough to satisfy one's needs until the following summer. Moreover, foraging requires knowledge. 

Some outlets offer local, Swedish apples (below) as well as other Swedish produce such as potatoes and cucumbers. Often these products are packaged in plastic. Some food (such as lettuce and herbs) can be grown locally using vertical hydroponic agriculture. This requires high technology and consumes a lot of energy. 

Those people who have access to land can produce more of their own food, but not all that is commonly consumed in modern Europe. Access to land is expensive. Vegan food is often imported, highly processed and packaged in plastic. Zero-waste options are not easily accessible in many locations. Often local and organic food is expensive. Some local people hunt, but this is an expensive (and high-tech) activity. Some would be unwilling to engage in this activity for ethical reasons. 

Moreover, it is hard to tell anything about the organisational structure of the companies involved in food production as well as the organisations' social and ecological practices. In my own research I come to conclusion that (apart from the obvious cases of multinational corporations and large companies) the form of an organisation (a cooperative, a firm etc.) itself does not say much about the practices within the organisation. 

In the coming years, I hope to see more research on food production for a deeply ecological, post-growth mode of being, as well as more widely available options for consumers to choose from, i.e., options not limited to supermarkets and occasional "alternative" shops. 

When I buy food, I have to ask myself, for instance, do I buy something unpackaged but imported or local and packaged in plastic? Options which are at once local, unpackaged/minimally packaged, affordable, seasonal, produced by small scale producers with good ecological and social practices are extremely rare. 

18

 More on the necessity to practise deep transformation, not only study it

In my previous autoethnographic entry, I quoted from Max-Neef (1991). There is another quote from him that I would like to offer:

"At this stage of my life, I have reached the conclusion that I lack the power to change the world or any significant part of it. I only have the power to change myself. And the fascinating thing is that if I decide to change myself, there is no police force in the world that can prevent me from doing so. It is just my decision and if I want to do it, I can do it. Now, the point is that if I change myself, something may happen as a consequence that may lead to a change in the world. But we are afraid of changing ourselves. It is always easier to try to change others. The dictum of Socrates was "Know thyself," for he knew how afraid human beings are to know themselves. We know a lot about our neighbors, but we know little about ourselves. So, if we simply manage to change ourselves, something fascinating may happen to the world." (Max-Neef, 1991, p. 113). 

This orientation toward the self and self-transformation (and self-awareness), in my view, is close to Bhaskar's spiritual turn (e.g., Bhaskar, 2000). This is the least popular part of critical realism. Likewise, considering agency (and especially one's own agency, i.e., that of a person in academia) as a source of change is perhaps the least popular strand of post-growth. It is likely that no one who advocates self-transformation would argue against change in systems. This is what all critical scholars want: a change in our systems. However, for those who advocate agency, direct actions, active and personal participation, anarchism etc., change in systems is closely related to (and even arises from) actions and practices. In my view, these actions and practices arise from a change in oneself, one's psyche. Apart from participating in change, it is essential to reveal the constraints one faces and various imperfections of one's own practice: where it works and where it fails. Otherwise, it is challenging to talk about something we have no experience of. In the social sciences we often can have experiences of the situations, policies, structures, practices, worldviews etc. that we talk and write about. 

The imperfect practice of food consumption

At this time of the year (late July), European blueberries (bilberries) can be picked. Here in Northern Sweden they grow everywhere. At a recent conference someone asked me if picking wild berries interferes with food supply of wild animals. Here in Sweden one often hears that only 5% of blueberries are picked (by both humans and animals). I observe that not all blueberries and lingonberries are picked, one can often find lingonberries even in winters under the snow. 

In contrast to consuming fresh, local and free food, here are apples in a supermarket:

These apples may be labelled "zero waste" since they come without any packaging. However, these are industrially grown apples. They are not organic and not local. Note that the size is uniform, the shapes are almost exactly the same. There exist thousands of apple varieties. The German farmer I spoke to recently told me that in his orchards he grows hundreds of apple varieties. In Swedish supermarkets, according to him, there are "yellow apples, red apples, green apples". This is true, see the picture above. At times, supermarkets stock Swedish apples, but they are not diverse, their supply is not regular. To engage in sourcing better produce, as a consumer, I need a lot more time than I currently have. Perhaps supermarkets need to source better produce. This is what the German farmer referred to as "the chicken or the egg" dilemma. Is it the consumer or is it the producer who is responsible?  

References:

Bhaskar, R. (2000) From East to West: Odyssey of a Soul. London: Routledge.

Max-Neef, M. (1991) Human scale development: Conception, application and further reflections. London: The Apex Press. 

17

 Living simply, owning very few items

Max-Neef (1991, p. 112) wrote:

"You can never understand love, unless you fall in love. This is valid for every living system. You can not attempt to understand something of which you are not a part. Hence, how can we understand a society, a world, a planet, a biosphere, detaching ourselves from it?

How many of us actually understand the problems we are trying to solve? Problem solving belongs to the realm of knowledge and requires fragmented thinking. In the realm of understanding problem posing and problem solving do not make sense, because we must deal with transformations that start with, and within, ourselves."

I believe that the same applies to (over)consumption and practising simple living as academics trying to contribute to bringing about a genuinely sustainable society. Yesterday I had a wonderful interview with a German farmer who mentioned that we do not need more people studying sustainable food production, we need more people participating in it. This made me once again reflect on the practice of sustainability in which we should actively participate. I hope that an opportunity will arise for me to participate in sustainable food production, but in the meantime my personal practice is focused on transforming my own consumption, practising simple living and even "extreme" minimalism. 

Within the sustainability discourse, it is too easy to propose some "universal" solutions, such as travelling by train. Train travel has been an important practice for me since approximately 2012 (since then, I travelled by plane only once). It is only via engaging with this practice closely, I began to notice the multiple nuances thereof, such as how unaffordable train journeys can be, how limited one's geographical scope is. Same goes for veganism, slow work, alternative organising and other post-growth solutions and proposals. It could be helpful if each post-growth scholar would engage closely (and publicly) in one or several post-growth practices. 

Below are some of the images from my recent journey to Paris. 

Travelling very lightly:

Difficulty with finding zero-waste food while travelling over several days

Hotel prices are high, travelling over several days requires overnight stays

Difficulty with making better choices while changing trains quickly:

Reference:

Max-Neef, M. (1991) Human scale development: Conception, application and further reflections. London: The Apex Press.

16

 "Shopping" in Paris

When I look around me here in central Paris, I notice that shopping is a (large?) part of tourist experience for many. I maintain a sufficiency list and try to avoid consuming things that are not part of it. Perhaps try is a wrong word though, because it does not require any effort. Consuming minimally has become part of my being in the world which I enjoy. Soon I am leaving Paris, and a 2-day journey across Germany, Denmark and Sweden is upcoming. Travelling with very few things gives me a sense of freedom.

Here in Paris I got a canvas bag (at the conference reception), tea, a bar of soap and a water spray for very hot days. 

When I am away, I mostly avoid eating out. It feels stressful. I get most of my food at supermarkets. Usually it's just fruits, vegetables, bread, nuts. 

Something that I bought which was rather expensive, wasteful and unnecessary, but interesting in terms of its packaging, was lavender flavoured water. It is evident that the company tries to avoid single use plastic. In France (as well as in Germany) it is safe to drink tap water, so I will not buy this kind of flavoured water again and simply use my reusable water bottle. 

15

Travelling to a conference

I have travelled to Paris from Northern Sweden by train. It took two days. Neither travelling itself nor my presence here is being of deep transformations. I can join most conference online, perhaps with few exceptions. 

Train journeys make me appreciate the distance and the effort required to reach a far-away destination. However, these trains (such as ICE) are still very fast.

Here in Paris it is discouraging to experience extremely high temperatures and see extreme consumption at the same time. Here I refer to consumption in a very broad sense: shopping, consumption of places, mass consumption of 'culture' and landmarks, consumption of nature, of energy (air conditioning, data centres which store all the endless media people are producing while in Paris), etc. 

I always travel lightly and bring very few items with me when I travel. When I looked around my room and saw a reusable water bottle, canvas bags, bread wrapped in paper, I thought that such attempts of a more ecological being in the world are rather insignificant. At the same time, if more people practised this mode of being, we would see less consumerism and more reflection.

Insect hotel in Paris. Similarly to the way I feel about my reusable water bottle in the sea of consumerism, the efforts to accommodate insects and other non-human beings are negligible. Though one can meet many rats and mice at night, especially near rubbish bins. These animals dwell in the same spaces where homeless people sleep. Homelessness and luxury co-exist, and people simply walk past. 

I wonder, can Paris ever become post-growth? Is post-growth life possible here? 

14

 Walking

Walking, for me, is one of the key transformative, deeply ecological practices. Reading and writing about harmonious co-existence with nature feels meaningless without experiencing nature and her rhythms, observing growth and death. 

Not owning a car means that some parts of nature are hard to reach. On several occasions I went on field trips with my colleagues by car. We went through industrial estates: forests where all the trees are of the same age. Driving through nature is akin to watching a film, it is a lot less immersive and engaging than walking. We stopped on a few occasions, and those were beautiful. 

13

Looking for inspiration (in nature and philosophy)

In terms of disciplines, I feel most at home with ecological (micro) economics. In terms of philosophy of science, with critical realism and perhaps especially its least popular moment (the philosophy of metaReality). In terms of environmental philosophy, deep ecology is where I look for inspiration. Many of its premises align with how I see the world, our place and role in it, the role of science, the meaning of sustainability etc. 

Recently I found a wonderful chapter in Sessions (1995). It is by Arne Naess and is called “Deep ecology and lifestyle”. It was originally published in The Paradox of Environmentalism (edited by Neil Everndon, Ontario, Canada: Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 1984). Revised 1993. The reference to the work I used is the following:

Naess, A. (1995) Deep ecology and lifestyle. In Sessions, G. ed. Deep ecology for the 21st century: Readings on the philosophy and practice of the new environmentalism. London: Shambhala, pp. 259-261.

In this chapter, Naess outlined a list of “tendencies and attitudes characteristic of supporters of the Deep Ecology movement” (Naess, 1995, p. 259). To draw the list, he used his personal observations. These tendencies and attitudes are very closely related to my own practice of simple, harmonious living. Here are the ones Naess lists (pp. 259-261, Italics original):

• Use of simple means. Avoidance of unnecessary complicated means to reach a goal or end.
• Propensity to prefer activities most directly serving values in themselves and having intrinsic value. Avoidance of activities which are merely auxiliary, having no intrinsic value, or being many stages away from fundamental goals.
• Anticonsumerism and minimization of personal property. This negative attitude follows from points 1 and 2.
•  Endeavor to maintain and increase the sensitivity and appreciation of goods of which there is enough for all to enjoy.
• Absence or low degree of “novophilia” – the love of what is new merely because it is new. Cherishing old and well-worn things.
• Efforts to dwell in situations of intrinsic value and to act rather than merely being busy.
• Appreciation of ethnic and cultural differences among people, not feeling them as threats.
• Concern about the situation of the Third and Fourth Worlds and the attempt to avoid a material standard of living too much different from and higher than the needy (global solidarity of lifestyle).
• Appreciation of lifestyles which are universalizable, which are not blatantly impossible to sustain without injustice toward fellow humans or other species.
• To go for depth and richness of experience rather than intensity.
• To appreciate and choose, whenever possible, meaningful work rather than just making a living.
• To lead a complex (not a complicated) life; trying to realize as many aspects of positive experiences as possible within each time-interval.
• Cultivating life in community (Gemeinschaft) rather than in society (Gesellschaft).
• Appreciation of, or participation in, primary production – small-scale agriculture, forestry, fishing.
• Efforts to satisfy vital needs rather than desires. Resisting the urge to “go shopping” as a diversion or therapy. Reducing the sheer number of possessions, favouring the old, much-worn, but essentially well-kept things.
• Attempts to live in nature rather than just visiting beautiful places, and avoidance of tourism (but occasionally making use of tourist facilities).
• When in vulnerable nature, living “light and traceless.”
• Tendency to appreciate all life-forms rather than merely those considered beautiful, remarkable, or narrowly useful.
• Never use life-forms merely as means. Remain conscious of their intrinsic value and dignity even when using them as resources.
• When there is a conflict between the interests of dogs and cats (and other pet animals) and wild species, a tendency to protect the latter.
• Efforts to protect local ecosystems, not only individual life-forms, feeling one’s own community as a part of ecosystems.
• Not only to deplore excessive interference in nature as unnecessary, unreasonable, and disrespectful, but to condemn it as insolent, atrocious, outrageous, and criminal – without condemning the people responsible for the interference.
• Try to act resolutely and without cowardice in conflicts, but to remain non-violent in word and deeds.
• Participate in or support of non-violent direct action when other ways of action fail.
• Vegetarianism, total or partial.