q: tell me about your role as sweden’s former minister of the environment. were you drafting legislation, representing sweden at conferences, working with the u.n.?

a: i was appointed as minister in 2006-2011, and during those years sweden had the responsibility of being the presidency of the eu, while in the end of 2009, so a lot of my time was really set aside for preparing that great task of leading eu in international negotiations on climate change. but, domestically, my main agenda was to work on proposals to reduce sweden’s climate emissions and establish emissions targets for sweden. i was in parliament a lot to discuss with different parties and answer questions. i also traveled around the world to meet with other ministers, including eu ministers quite often.

q: how did you see sweden’s environmental politics, domestic and internationally, evolve as you were minister?

a: well first of all, domestically, the most important aspect was climate change, we set new national targets for sweden’s climate emissions and it meant that we are supposed to have net zero emissions by 2050, and that is still the swedish national target. another important target was to make swedish vehicles fossil independent by 2030, and again that is still the target, and sweden is working very hard on achieving that. added to that, we also work on the baltic sea, the planet’s largest body of brackish water. the baltic is one of the most intensely used seas on the planet with heavy environmental challenges, so that i think we worked hard on. finally, another domestic thing was really to make stakeholders — local communities — involved in keeping biodiversity in sweden.

q: sweden is clearly one of the most environmentally progressive nations in the world – how has sweden made that happen?

a: i think it’s very much in the swedish tradition, that’s one part of it. i mean swedish people, they are usually very close to nature, either we live close to nature or being close to nature by heart. but another aspect was that i think we learned early on first of all from rachel carson, the person who really introduced environmental issues also in sweden. another aspect of that was american scientists working closely together with swedish scientists in those years was absolutely essential. in the 1960s as environmental policy was introduced in sweden, we continued to establish these institutions to work further on science to motivate people to really make it part of everyday life for ordinary people. and i think now it’s not very controversial, it’s quite natural for people to be involved in sorting or separating waste in households or to use cars that don’t emit too much, which is also good for private economy. people save money by having less waste and by having, paying less for fuels that are not necessary.

q: would you also say that sweden’s decoupling of gdp and emissions played a large role? 

a: i think that the thing is, in people’s ordinary lives, you experience that you reduce your energy consumption thereby you save money, you reduce your waste and thereby you save money, you reduce your emissions from cars which also means less gasoline, and you save money. meanwhile, economy is still blooming in sweden, and it’s, of course, not just because of (the) environment, but those things usually go hand in hand. people really have to in their ordinary life experience that the economy is getting better. but yes, also on the statistical level, the overall national level, you can see that we have had really one of the best opportunities for economic growth in europe, meanwhile we have also seen our emissions being reduced in sweden.

q: what do you think the biggest challenge sweden faces in furthering its sustainability efforts?

a: there are many things to be improved and there are two great challenges for sweden. on one hand, the transport sector needs to change. sweden has a small population on a very large area of land, which makes it a sparsely populated country with need for a lot of transport. we must change the transportation sector to be independent of fossil fuels. the second challenge is changing consumption. even if we reduced our emissions here in sweden, we import so many things that require emissions in countries where they produce these things that we buy. that’s the other great challenge.

q: what can the u.s. learn from sweden?

a: first of all, it should be said that sweden learned from the united states in the beginning. but i think one different thing is that sweden has been moving forward, based on a growing extent, broad shared values. it’s not that the u.s. should use swedish values, but it’s important to inquire and explore the national values of (the) united states and based on those values, you can conserve nature and promote (an) environmentally friendly lifestyle by nurturing your own national culture. actions are defined in the roots of motivation and the commitment inside a country. that’s what we’ve done, and i think that’s why sweden has been so successful, even if there are still many things to improve.

q: with the u.s. expressing intent to back out of the paris agreement, has another country stepped in as a global environmental leader? how might america’s inaction affect the paradigm of global environmental politics?

a: well, that is difficult to answer. i think it’s quite unlikely, but it is sometimes speculated that china will step in and be the leader instead of the united states. i’m sure the chinese would be happy to do that and i think that americans should really be aware of that. for america to leave this to the chinese, is a great opportunity for china. but there are many reasons for i’m not sure that really will happen. first of all, china still has a large dependence on fossil fuels, even if their renewable energies are growing enormously. secondly, i think there is a need for a different kind of international cooperation, one based on the ideas of the nobel laureate elinor ostrom, the first female to receive the prize in economic science. her idea was not just one global agreement, but rather using that as a basis and added to global agreement are local level agreements and coalitions between cities and states. all of this could still be possible within the paris agreement – which was really from the beginning an american idea. the genius within the agreement is that it is not just built top down, but also from the bottom up. that possibility should be used more extensively, but i think it’s great that so many americans are really still “in.” it means really that there are so many states, communities, businesses, and others who are still part of the paris agreement by heart and are working toward the goals. this might be the great chance to mobilize people all around the united states to come out stronger in the end, which is what i’m hoping for.  

q: has the idea of the paris agreement been effective thus far?

a: i think first of all it is a great hope, because there is such a broad support behind it. i would never have dreamed of so many countries supporting it. now almost every country in the world has delivered their national plans. it entered into force much earlier than anyone could expect it to, now it’s under sort of a transitional solution. this is another sign that the agreement has stronger support than almost any other international agreement. there are reasons for hope, but there still needs to be much more delivered, which is really the great challenge here. nations must upgrade their emissions levels and, in a sense, support and push each other toward raising their ambitions. i would like a type of competition among countries where they try and push each other’s ambition levels higher to really take the lead in this race. i think it would be possible, though not the most likely right now. i think reality will require such ideas from us.

q: do you think the u.n. conference of parties (cops) are effective overall? how could the cops become a more effective tool in combating climate change?

a: there is a need for some reforms within the u.n. system, certainly. but they will take time and countries could come up with requirements for reforms that can’t be accepted by others, so i think it’s rather about releasing more positive forces in other channels as well as supplementing the main u.n. track with other supporting actions. a group of countries, could form a coalition to move ahead, regardless of what will happen with the paris agreement. such an action is not going against the paris agreement, but is rather supporting it. ngos could also push nations to upgrade national ambition levels since it’s easier to work on the local and national level than solely on the global level. i think that the local and the national commitments and engagements by people is enormously important.

q: what is the role of the younger generations in today’s era of accelerated technology and climate change? how do millennials and the younger generations – what can we do, what’s our role?  

a: it’s all about values. it’s extremely important that young people feel they can take the lead and express values like justice, community, and personal responsibility. we both have to work together, collectively in the community, but also there is a need for personal responsibility and certainly for greater justice. these values could be expressed by young people. additionally, we have to build sustainability into the dna of our own lives, and the global interconnected society. the values many young people have could really support and express sustainability, allowing them to be leaders of this new kind of lifestyle. finally, i think younger generations must act with hope. there is a difference between being just superficially optimistic and to be hopeful, however. hope is a much deeper thing and it’s also something where you start to act based on hope — in your local community or in a bigger shared community between different societies. everyone should trust that acting on hope leads to something. reality will start to change, and again, there’s a certain power in this. that power should be trusted. young people must feel that and trust in hope.

first, let’s take a look at nutella’s ingredients. there are only seven ingredients in the hazelnut spread, all of which are relatively well-known, which makes consumers feel confident they are making a completely natural and healthy choice by avoiding myriad artificial enhancers and sweeteners that often are found in snack foods today.

of course, the first ingredient of nutella is sugar. listed second is palm oil, followed by hazelnuts, cocoa, milk, lecithin (soy) and vanillin.

the most controversial ingredient in that list is the palm oil. since ingredients are listed on labels in order of quantity, as nutella’s second ingredient, palm oil is a large component of the hazelnut spread’s recipe.

palm oil is extracted from the palm fruit, which grows on the african oil palm tree. it’s popular as a food ingredient due to its natural properties and versatility: it has a neutral odor and taste, is semi-solid at room temperature, and gives products a creamy, smooth texture.

this is especially important for confectionary products like nutella, because using palm oil avoids the use of the hydrogenation process, which creates unhealthy trans fats in products. palm oil is also the most efficient oil, producing about 3.7 tons per hectare (or roughly 2.5 acres), whereas oil from soybeans, sunflowers, or rapeseeds produce much less. that 3.7 tons is equal to about 7,400 pounds – the equivalent weight of about two and a half toyota prius 4-door hatchbacks.

all of this means that palm oil is frequently a hidden, yet substantial component in modern consumers’ lives. according to rainforest action network, palm oil is found in about half of packaged products in our grocery stores. it can be found in foods ranging from ice cream to instant noodles and from donuts to potato chips.

of course palm oil is not just used in food. it’s also found in multiple cosmetic products, such as lipstick and soaps.

as a result of its popularity, worldwide demand for palm oil is skyrocketing. this demand is convincing farmers in tropical climates – most notably indonesia and malaysia, where about 85% of the world’s palm oil is cultivated – to cut down rainforests and create palm oil plantations instead.

not only does the destruction of rainforests release carbon dioxide emissions, but native peoples are being displaced for such plantations, and once functioning, these plantations are known to violate their workers’ human rights. to top it off, the biodiversity of these forests are being compromised, and orangutans and other species are becoming increasingly endangered from such vast deforestation.  

ferrero corporation produces nutella along with a variety of other products such as kinder treats, tic tacs, and ferrero rocher chocolates. the company has been widely criticized for using palm oil in products, which continues to fuel the demand for palm oil plantations. in 2015, france’s minister of the environment made a bold statement, declaring that consumers should stop eating nutella if they want to help save the rainforest.

the ferrero group responded by claiming it sources about 170,000 metric tons of palm oil annually, representing a mere 0.3 percent of the world’s 60 million metric tons of palm oil production (casey). due to such widespread criticism, ferrero group has been taking actions in many different ways to assure its customers the corporation is acting sustainably and responsibly.

as a first step, in 2005, ferrero group joined roundtable on sustainable palm oil (rspo). rspo is a non-profit organization uniting seven stakeholders from the palm oil industry to ensure certified palm oil is environmentally and socially sustainable. in 2013, ferrero group stated that all nutella products contain 100% segregated rspo certified palm oil, and are traceable back to the plantation and production line (“only sustainable traceable certified palm oil for ferrero”). ferrero group also launched its 10-point palm oil charter in 2013, yet another commitment to consumers that the palm oil used in nutella does not contribute to deforestation, species extinction, greenhouse gas emissions, or human rights violations.

in order to implement the charter and to remain transparent about the process, ferrero group partnered with ngos, one being the forest trust, which will monitor and publicly report the company’s performance every six months.

in 2015, ferrero group became a member of the palm oil innovation group (poig), which builds upon rspo’s original commitments and standards. ferrero group is not only contributing to these polycentric efforts but the corporation is also becoming more transparent.

nutella’s website contains significant information regarding palm oil: what it is, how palm oil is harvested, environmental allegations against the company, and frequently asked questions about the crucial ingredient.

the website also contains key numbers. ferrero group claims to have 99.5% traceability to the plantations and countries from which their palm oil comes. this number is more realistic than the 2013 claim of supposedly knowing where 100% of ferrero group’s palm oil is from. additionally, the palm oil producing countries are listed: peninsula malaysia produces 75.87% of total volumes, papua new guinea produces 18.17%, insular malaysia produces 3.67%, brazil produces 1.2%, indonesia produces 0.91%, guatemala produces 0.1%, and the solomon islands produce 0.08%. finally, ferrero group also launched the “fer-way project” in 2014, which supports the development of a corporate circular economy model.

ferrero group is clearly working to make the company appear to be sustainable and environmentally and socially conscious at the very least. in fact, greenpeace actually came to the company’s defense after the french minister of the environment called for consumers to boycott nutella products.

however, there is no easy answer in this situation. there are certainly improvements that could be made when it comes to the sustainability of the palm oil industry, which ferrero group seems to be leading. roundtable groups may be hosted, but they are not the perfect solution.

groups like rspo involve many different stakeholders and since all regulations must be passed via consensus, the actual standards for certification are set low in order to keep all stakeholders on board. but large corporations like ferrero hold the power to change the status quo of palm oil.

so, where does the consumer go from here? there’s no perfect solution or easy answer. but consumers hold a significant amount of power in today’s day in age. completely avoiding palm oil is not only practically impossible but could also be considered unsustainable as so many people depend on the industry for an income.

perhaps a better response is to be aware of how many products palm oil is found in and attempt to minimize the use of such products, if possible. when purchasing products that contain palm oil, ensure the products is made by a company that is certified sustainable as a member of rspo or another similar roundtable.

vote with your dollar to show corporations that sustainability is a not a choice, but mandatory. this does not mean you need to swear off nutella, but perhaps minimize how often you do indulge in the sweet snack, only saving it for special occasions. maybe mom always knew best.

what does this mean for their future? after getting to know the three rhinos by helping with their daily care, i got an up-close view as to what the extinction of a sub-species might look like… but it’s not all doom and gloom – there might be hope for a new rhino calf in the future.

march 2018 update from olivia urbanski:

sudan died on march 19, just a couple of weeks after this video was made. his age-related health complications suddenly became more serious and sudan was soon in so much pain that he was unable to stand up. the difficult decision was then made by the veterinary team from ol pejeta, dvůr králové zoo, and kenya wildlife service to euthanize him.

sudan’s death garnered international attention and hit me harder than expected. upon waking up to the news notifications on my phone, i began crying. i didn’t want to believe it. sudan was gone. my friends and my family would never be able to have the experience that i had with sudan. we’re down to two. my thoughts soon turned to my friends who worked as rangers and care takers at ol pejeta – those who dedicated their lives to sudan and the royal girls, often spending more time with the rhinos than their own families. i couldn’t imagine the pain they were going through.

but why were we mourning the death of a single rhino when there is so much other pain and suffering in this world – even in our own communities? because sudan has marked a notable turning point. humans are the direct cause of the northern white rhinos’ demise and we have two options going forward. we can either learn from our mistakes by changing our ways, or continuing down this path that is destructive to animals, to our planet, and soon to ourselves. now more than ever before, we need to understand the implications and components that go into saving a species from extinction. if we fail to act, the rhinos and so many other creatures may live within our imagination. we must admit our failure and change our ways, to prevent this from occurring again.

with all of my camping and hiking gear packed into a duffel bag and backpacking pack, i felt like i would be prepared for anything, though i actually had no idea what my summer would entail.

i also had four months of food in tow, since there are no grocery stores in port alsworth, and i couldn’t afford to fly back to anchorage for grocery shopping. i quickly learned to love powdered eggs, powdered milk, powdered cheese, and even powdered butter. as different as it was living in a bush village, there is no doubt that i mentally adjusted to my surroundings much faster than my intestinal tract did.

port alsworth is a tiny community located on an inlet of the 40-mile long lake clark, completely surrounded by mountains. centered around two gravel airplane runways, there are about 150 people who live in port alsworth year-round, growing to well over 200 in the summer. the town is located smack-dab in the middle of the united states’ 5th largest national park – lake clark national park and preserve – which is composed of more than 4 million acres of pristine alaskan wilderness.

as i settled into my new position, i learned that tuesday mornings were dedicated to the local children. just before 10 a.m., kids stormed lake clark’s tiny visitor center, eagerly anticipating the week’s junior ranger program. rachel hellwig (my internship had two positions, so rachel was my other half for the summer) and i planned and ran the 12-week junior ranger program. unlike most national parks where junior ranger programs are designed for visiting youth, the programs at lake clark are aimed more toward local residents because lake clark national park draws a vastly different visiting audience than a park like yellowstone, since it is so remote and rugged.

a morning with the junior rangers

usually it took the kids a few minutes to settle down before they could focus on the day’s activities; most of these kids have known one another their entire lives and are often related. sometimes the junior ranger program felt like an entire community play date.

each week’s program had a unique theme. one week we focused on salmon, which coincided with the beginning of the salmon run. “can anyone tell me what type of fish this is?” i asked, pointing to a huge hand-drawn picture of what i hoped they’d be able to recognize as the iconic alaskan fish. the kids were quickly able to identify my poorly drawn salmon, and soon they were coloring their own salmon shaped hats and playing the “pin the tail on the salmon” game, which rachel and i had created to introduce the junior rangers to the day’s “salmon spawning” lesson. as usual, i was surprised by the vast amount of information the kids already knew about the natural world around them. sometimes they even knew more than i did; many of them had lived in port alsworth their entire lives and were intimately connected with nature and wildlife surrounding the area. while i had been studying ecosystems and environmental policies for longer than some of them had been alive, i had just moved to the area at the beginning of the summer. i was constantly reminded of how many intricacies there are to learn about our amazing planet and the impact we have on the environment.

using experiences to guide environmental ethics 

as a double major in environmental studies and international studies, i have great interest in international climate change negotiations. to my dismay, as the paris agreement took shape in 2015, i noticed little has been done that is actually working toward the agreement’s goal of keeping the planet’s temperature rise well below 2-degrees celsius. while large-scale actions are important to understand, local communities like port alsworth have the ability to implement policies and practices that can more quickly contribute to the goals of global climate policies.

additionally, environmental ethics plays a role global climate policies, specifically in getting individuals to do their part in caring for the planet. experiences in nature are the key to cultivating a sense of environmental stewardship. if those experiences can happen at a young age, it will likely lead to lifelong stewardship actions that help take care of the environment. however, this theory employs a tricky balance – while experiences are essential, those experiences must not harm the environment, as that would contradict the process. it is essential to balance the relationship between humans and the environment in a healthy way, so we can have enriching experiences in nature without damaging the nature we are so keen on protecting from misuse.

this is the perplexing dichotomy of environmental ethics. in order for someone to value nature to the extent of wanting to protect it, a personal experience within the environment is necessary. however, a personal experience within nature (and the increase of many people experiencing natural surroundings) can degrade nature in potentially irreversible ways.

my own interest in the environment had been shaped by my time outdoors when i was younger. from overnight camps and hikes with my girl scout troop, to family trips to yellowstone and the earning of my own junior ranger badges, my understanding and perspective on the environment was heavily influenced by experiential learning at a young age. i decided it was necessary to take a step back from the large-scale policy spectrum and understand what was happening in the environment at a local level.

when i arrived in port alsworth, i was the outsider. i thought i was coming to impart my “vast” environmental knowledge to a community. yet, it turns out that port alsworth residents actually knew more about the surrounding environment than i did. the residents knew the land like the back of their hand and are connected to it, and in some cases, have been for generations. as i became a member of the port alsworth community through my work with the national park service, i soon discovered that the community is integral to lake clark national park’s complex history and conservation.

a long history of subsistence 

lake clark became a national park and preserve in 1980 through the passage of alaska national interest lands conservation act (anilca). however, the land had been inhabited by the dena’ina athabascan people since the end of the last ice age. this meant that people had been relying on this land for thousands of years. traditional subsistence practices such as hunting, fishing, and harvesting had been passed down through generations. today, many port alsworth residents continue these practices within the national park, many honoring their native heritage by doing so.

while these practices may seem quite contradictory to traditional environmental preservationist beliefs, especially within a national park, subsistence use has been in place for hundreds of years, carefully taught and passed on to younger generations by the generations before them. these conflicting perspectives could cause a rift between the national park service (nps) and port alsworth residents. however, the nps staff, native residents, and community members have working relationships that express, understand, and work through differences between cultural practices and conservation measures in a pragmatic way. today’s politics make it seem impossible, but environmental policies can be implemented to benefit both the land and the community.

this complex relationship exists within and around each u.s. national park, since each park has a unique heritage of local peoples. the grand canyon has 11 traditionally associated tribes who consider the grand canyon as their homeland; parks in the dakotas caused tension between the u.s. government and native tribes; and yosemite and kings canyon are in close proximity to large, developed cities, just as so many cities are expanding closer to natural areas. these communities are just one part of the essential factors that can greatly contribute to national parks’ conservation if treated respectfully and if a working relationship between the park service and community is maintained. 

national park system under attack

now, the nps has been in the news a fair bit over the past couple of years. from obama signing to establish two new national monuments protecting 1.65 million acres during his last few months in office and the celebration of the nps centennial in 2016, there have been some high notes for to the park service. however, nps has also experienced significant lows such as the end of the six-year plastic water bottle ban, headlines announcing the possibility of increasing entrance fee, and the current administration’s reduction of protected land within the newest national monuments.

the nps is in dire need of support and improved infrastructure, specifically needing support from the american public and financial resources from the government. to increase public awareness, the 2016 nps campaign, “find your park” was aimed at getting more americans into national parks and to become aware of the land’s natural resources and cultural heritage. but the parks also face dwindling financial assistance — the 2018 budget for nps is just about $300 million short of the 2017 budget. to mitigate such financial cuts, nps has proposed significant admission increases to 17 of the nation’s most popular parks, including the grand canyon, glacier, yellowstone, yosemite, zion, and arches.

while the nps does need to find funding from somewhere other than the government since the proposed budget changes make it more difficult for americans (especially those with lower income) to experience the solace of nature, this proposal goes full circle, and brings us back to the ethical dilemma of environmentalism, and the fine line nps struggles to walk. while the park service wants more people to enter and experience parks, an increase in visitors can degrade land and natural resources quickly, going against the park service’s original goal to preserve and protect our national lands.

preserving local environmental stewardship

if we are able to teach values of protecting and respecting the environment to kids through personal experiences outdoors, we can create future generations of environmental stewards, that can have a positive impact on not only our public lands but our entire planet.

by the end my summer in alaska, rachel and i created and ran more than 12 junior ranger programs for the kids of port alsworth. our junior rangers explored everything from alaska’s forest ecology to the leafrollers found hanging from countless birch trees. i was lucky to help port alsworth’s youth delve deeper into understanding their surrounding environment and introducing them to environmental concepts through the silliest of games. this fosters a greater sense of intrinsic value through positive experiences in the great outdoors they are so lucky to call their backyard. these positive outdoor experiences taking place during the formative years of children’s lives now have the ability to shape the way they interact with nature for the rest of their lives.

while my summer internship was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the alaskan wilderness, work with phenomenal park rangers, and hone my environmental education knowledge, i eventually had to face reality and return to the concrete jungle. it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle of never-ending to-do lists and the fast pace of life, but taking a minute to not only recognize the importance of outdoor experiences, but honoring them will do great things for your health and mood (even in crazy cold january temps — just dress warmly enough). take a quick walk outside on your lunch break. challenge yourself to identify that tree you always pass on your way into work. actually listen to bird calls and songs. spend a family vacation exploring a national park. take the youngsters in your life to environmental learning centers. our environment is struggling to thrive in today’s economic and political climate, and it is up to us to do our part to develop a sense of environmental stewardship within ourselves and future generations.