| This page gives an overall description of the Sustainable Sweden Tours. If you want to read about one of our previous tours, click one of the links below : |
Sustainable Sweden organizes so called “Sustainable Sweden Tours”. During these, we invite representants of organizations, regional and national delegates, association members and private persons to join us on a Tour across Eco-municipalities.
These Tours most often happen in Sweden, where we have the opportunity to make a personalized itinerary adapted to our guests’ needs, between the different Eco-municipalities to show projects in all areas, from Waste Management to Urban Greening and Capacity Building.
Is it possible to create a sustainable development considering all global threats? Where on earth can we find examples of broad ecological, economic and social adaptation to bring back hope and trust for a mutual sustainable future?
The Sustainable Sweden Eco-Municipality Study Tours offer you an inspiring program of study visits, seminars, cultural events and they open forums for discussions. Sweden has decades of experience with successful, innovative and practical examples from different fields of sustainable development.
Meet committed professionals with unique competence and experience. Learn from the Swedish Eco-municipalities and from a comprehensive sustainable work with Agenda 21. Take part in the Natural Step Concept and its methods for developing successful sustainable strategies in companies and organizations.
Inspiration…
Do you want :
- inspiration to work for sustainability?
- to take advantage of sustainability success already experienced by others?
- a deeper insight into the field of sustainable development?
- to learn about concrete “good examples” of approaching environmental matters?
- to find possible cooperation partners from other parts of the world?
Then you should consider participating in a Sustainable Sweden Eco-Municipality Study Tour. It will be a unique opportunity for you to learn from Swedish examples of sustainable community development.
Please check out these pages to get more detailed information about the tours. There are a limited number of tour spaces available, so please send your tour registration as soon as possible to guarantee your participation on a tour. You can also go on our new blog to have a feeling of the last Tours (2012 and 2013) : Sustainable Sweden Tour
Previous Tours
Since 1997 we have arranged and operated around 30 Sustainable Sweden Tours. The topics have varied from Eco-municipalities to forestry, legislation and education. We have traveled from the very south to the very north of Sweden and from our largest cities to very small communities.
All of our tour focus on sustainable processes, systems approaches and rich participant learning opportunities.
Results
We are proud to announce that the tours have had a big impact on the participants and their work. Here are some of the results of the previous tours:
- 20 Eco-municipalities in USA
- The book “The Natural Step for Communities”
- A new “GreenZone” in Japan
- 50 study circles only in Wisconsin on the book “The Natural Step for communities”
- A number of articles and media covering
One of the best ways to get to know what a Sustainable Sweden Tour has to offer is to hear directly from the people who have experienced a tour themselves. Here are some reports written by previous tour participants.
The Book
Book tip: The Natural Step for Communities by Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti. – [June 2005]
This book wouldn’t have been written if it weren’t for Sustainable Sweden Tours that brought its authors together. The book covers experiences and background on Sweden’s strivings for sustainability among different communities during the last decades. It includes case studies from Sweden as well as the U.S.
More info and ordering: New Society Publichers
Read some reactions on the book and the book campaign from 2004:
Thanks to Bryant Moroder for supplying the link.
Quotes
Don’t take our word for it? Here are some of the participants’ words:
“If there is one word to sum up my experience of this tour, it would be – remarkable”
Sarah James
Social Planner, Cambridge, MA, USA
Participant on the tour Summer 2001
“The Sustainable Sweden Tour is a remarkable learning opportunity on sustainable development. While few can explain this “magic” word in concrete terms, the tour shows us decade-long experiences of innovative, yet economically feasible examples by many committed people throughout Sweden.
With an introductory session by Torbjörn Lahti of Esam AB, a pioneer of sustainable development, participants are instantly invited to the world of unique competence and practicality based on the Natural Step framework.
We headed for the north up to the Arctic Circle, 1100km away from Stockholm making stop-overs in five days. The programme included meetings with officials from eco-municipalities and visits to sites where key initiatives had taken place.
One of the most impressive examples was ”Green Zone” in Umeå, a sustainable architectural platform for providing services to car drivers with a full cooperation by major global enterprises.
While having intensive activities by day, “fun time” awaits you in the evening. Outdoors-loving Swedes appreciate that mother nature is always a stone’s throw away. Even in today’s rushed world, they mind a balanced existence and a pleasant lifestyle. With wonderful local food and songs, the group and Esam consultants had a memorable night at Åkullsjön farm, taking advantage of endless dusk in early Scandinavian summer.
If you are a strong advocator of the sustainable development concept, this tour, during which you can regain courage and conviction, is certainly the one you should not miss”
Takayuki Funazaki
Tokyo, Japan
Participant of the May 2002 tour
”I was raised with the patriotic notion that the United States was the “cradle of democracy” and the “birthplace of freedom” since 1776. It was a real eye-opener to hear about the state-of-the-art democracy that is institutionalized in Sweden. The cities I visited are world leaders in the environmental sustainability movement. I was humbled. Upon my return to Minnesota, I realized I had visited a more humane place, a more civilized place. I returned home determined to redouble my efforts to apply what I learned to help make Minneapolis a more sustainable city. If it can happen anywhere in the US, Minneapolis is our country’s very best big city to be the next cradle of sustainability.”
Michael Orange,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Principal Planner, Planning Department of the City of Minneapolis
Participant of the August 2002 tour
”As a result of what I learned and experienced on the tour, and meeting all you wonderful people, I have decided to leave my current management position by the end of this year, so that I can begin transitioning toward sustainability work.. I’m planning to take up to a year off from working, in order to develop the basic skills and knowledge I will need. I look forward to learning all about sustainability and to figuring out how the successful models in Sweden might translate to other countries, including the US. And I look forward to figuring out how I can help in the process”.
These are the words from one of the eleven guests from USA and Mexico, who joined in Sustainable Sweden Tour August 2002