English - In English - Landsbygdsnätverket
Swedish - Bushresorna är tillbaka
There is a national romantic image that is pushed through the media here in Sweden (and around the World I imagine) - that unfortunately is also picked up by enviro groups like WWF ( see in Swedish)http://norran.se/asikter/debatt/det-oppna-landskapet-behover-vart-stod-436097 - of meadows of green fields with grazing sheep and cows, being some how Swedish and natural and good for people and the environment.
WHAT BS! "The Open Landscape" is the usual term and that implies farms, fields and meadows. Man made environment in other words. To press this misconception home, the re-growth of woodlands and forests on once land used for grazing is seen as almost the work of the Devil. For farmers a disused meadow is like a sign of failure, poverty, shame even. Never mind that the Forestry industry is one of the cornerstones of Swedish Welfare.
So what to do say the farmers? Yeah, have a bustrip "out in the bush" (i.e. see bushes growing on once farmland). Take along a few local politicians, agricutural bureacrats, local journalists etc and say, "look at the disaster that is apon us!"
Back in the real world - Scandinavia is in the heart of the taiga or boreal forest band of the Northern Hemisphere (see Taiga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). This means that the natural state is a coniferous forest (lots of pine trees) - not rolling green meadows. The gall of these farmers to use enviro concerns about species that have adapted to man made environments as a sign of calamity is beyond belief. The species that have been wiped out and are disappearing today, because of agriculture and forestry are somehow irrelevant.
Selective amnesia one could say.
To really ram home the point of human enviro influence, the amount of forests considered "old" - that is over 130 years old (note! not untouched) - is 4% in northern Sweden and just 2% in southern Sweden.
OK, rant over - get back to work now
Swedish - Bushresorna är tillbaka
There is a national romantic image that is pushed through the media here in Sweden (and around the World I imagine) - that unfortunately is also picked up by enviro groups like WWF ( see in Swedish)http://norran.se/asikter/debatt/det-oppna-landskapet-behover-vart-stod-436097 - of meadows of green fields with grazing sheep and cows, being some how Swedish and natural and good for people and the environment.
WHAT BS! "The Open Landscape" is the usual term and that implies farms, fields and meadows. Man made environment in other words. To press this misconception home, the re-growth of woodlands and forests on once land used for grazing is seen as almost the work of the Devil. For farmers a disused meadow is like a sign of failure, poverty, shame even. Never mind that the Forestry industry is one of the cornerstones of Swedish Welfare.
So what to do say the farmers? Yeah, have a bustrip "out in the bush" (i.e. see bushes growing on once farmland). Take along a few local politicians, agricutural bureacrats, local journalists etc and say, "look at the disaster that is apon us!"
Back in the real world - Scandinavia is in the heart of the taiga or boreal forest band of the Northern Hemisphere (see Taiga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). This means that the natural state is a coniferous forest (lots of pine trees) - not rolling green meadows. The gall of these farmers to use enviro concerns about species that have adapted to man made environments as a sign of calamity is beyond belief. The species that have been wiped out and are disappearing today, because of agriculture and forestry are somehow irrelevant.
Selective amnesia one could say.
To really ram home the point of human enviro influence, the amount of forests considered "old" - that is over 130 years old (note! not untouched) - is 4% in northern Sweden and just 2% in southern Sweden.
OK, rant over - get back to work now
