Upcoming Tours

DATES

Sat May 11

Welcome to our Northern tour! Meet your fellow travellers during an introduction dinner at Stockholm

Sun May 12

Stockholm  and Luleå – Kalix

Flight to Luleå in the morning. Bus to Kalix.
Receive introduction to Sweden, the history of ecomunicipalities and the introduction to the concept of ecomunicipality 5.0. by Torbjörn Lahti, chairman of Sustainable Sweden Association

Kalix

Visit to The House of Care and learn about social, economic and ecological sustainability. Learn more about how food is connected to local development and food security. Talk about the future with teenagers and listen to the Mayor presenting the ecomunicipality

Meet representatives from Ecomunicipalities from all around Sweden, at Sekom’s annual conference. Travel to Övertorneå and the Arctic Circle. Welcome by the Mayor Tomas Mörtberg. Meeting with local people, lead by Torbjörn Lahti, discussing the 40-year history, the “soul” of the first Swedish ecomunicipality and its link to nature and indigenous culture. Meet also prof. John Holmberg, researcher and expert on sustainable pedagogic transission, engaged by eg UNESCO and other international organizations. Involved in Övertornea during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Dinner with Tornedalian delicatessen.

Övertorneå today ! The town manager Anna Andersson describes how the municipality is working with sustainable development. Study visits to the National Resource Library for the minority language Meänkieli. Study visit to “The House of Families”, to learn more about how they tackle social sustainability. Lunch and visit at Utbildning Nord – the key to the Nordic labor market. Study visits about waste management and biodiversity.

Travel to Hudiksvall, and stop at Sundsvall for a visit and dinner

The municipality presents the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) Presentation of how they are working to develop the municipality. Business and municipality are presenting their collaboration on all dimensions of sustainability with some focus on climate change. System thinking, Quadruple helix, Electrification, study visits.

The final day of the Northern tour ! Share your experience and say goodbye to the group, or join us for the Southern tour.

Take the ferry to the archipelago of Åland, Finland, and explore the local nature surroundings. The newcomers will benefit from an orientation session with the chairman of Sustainable Sweden Association, Torbjörn Lahti. After dinner, enjoy a first presentation about Åland

At the Parliament we will learn more about this unique “country”, one of the oldest autonomies in the world. How they work with a cultural, value transformation towards a sustainable society. Presentations and study visits with choices to learn about social empowerment and sustainable consumption, food and fish production, biological diversity (water, wetland) or sustainable banking

Take the ferry back to Sweden and go to Västervik. Stop at Eskilstuna for a lunch visit.

Discover Västervik, a water-shortage zone in Scandinavia in a changing climate. Energy is a theme here. Sustainable Municipal housing. Climate protection measures that prevent drought and torrential rain. Presentation of the unique collaboration between the Ecomunicipality and farmers. Recirculation of nutrition, limitation of eutrophication, access to water, biodiversity.

Morning study visit, and then travel to Läckeby for a lecture about biogas, followed by a biogas study visit and lunch. Then travel on to Karlskrona for visiting the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). We will hear more about the development of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD).

We have now reached the beautiful archipelago in South Sweden and we will visit the headquarters of the National Association of Swedish Eco-municipalities, Sekom. Here in Karlskrona we will start the morning with learning about Karlskrona’s ecomunicipality program — including goals and challenges.

For our last morning on the tour, reflect on your experience and have an evaluation discussion with the other participants. Take the train to Copenhagen for a farewell dinner and some free time in the Danish capital-city