An Awareness of the Environment

Last week, I took the opportunity to join a family on a very Norwegian Easter holiday up north near where the arctic circle passes through the country. We skied and picnicked through remoteness, often with very little sign of fellow skiers or concept of land ownership and boundaries. It was the most true experience I have found of Allemannsretten, and leads me to a better understanding of the relationship between Norwegian culture and the environment.

The Scandinavian Easter is about the sun. It is an important holiday period marking the end of winter darkness and celebrating longer days. And the days are noticeably longer - where I was, around 66 degrees latitude, a slight glow from the sun still remained over the nearby mountain ridges at 9:00pm. What is more, the Easter week is one of the first times when one can feel full radiation from the sun, after many months of only seeing glimpses of it from shallow angles.

My hosts from Rana introduced me to many Easter traditions, and thinking back, it is impressing how many of them are related to the sun and environment in general. Skiing is a major activity, as even so far north, they are approaching the last month of skiing. Beyond recreation, skiing becomes a form of transportation in and of itself, allowing people to reach places beyond car and utility access - pristine nature. It is also the best weather for outdoor activity, as the temperatures creep above freezing, and the sunlight makes spending hours outside very pleasant, even without multiple layers of clothing.

Sunbathing and outdoor picnicking is probably a close second to skiing over Easter. Families ski for hours and then search out perfect spots in the wintry landscape. The goal is to find a large rock or mound that can shelter any wind, then make camp on the sunny face - taking advantage of the natural heat. When at a lack for an ideal spot, it is not uncommon for Norwegians to dig their own. Carrying a shovel (and often a compass) on any trip - the ability to dig a few feet into a snow bank and create a leeward, sun facing bench comes naturally to those making ski tours. Any chance to be outdoors was seized and celebrated.

I was greatly impressed to be able to comfortably spend so much time outdoors in such a climate.

Boundary-less cities?

Since I cannot sleep back in the land of dark winters, I figure I will share my most recent thoughts. Most of today I spent putting together a presentation for Fulbright regarding the problems of land ownership in making public use of undeveloped land as contrasted with the Norwegian idea of shared rights to uncultivated land. Thinking more about this, I would like to study how this Allemannsretten concept could be applied to urban areas. Granted, even in Norway there has been much debate on it, as people strive sometimes for privatized property. However, to move towards a true balance, it seems that people bringing their (spare) land together for the appreciation of all could be a small compromise to a greater goal.

If cities could take down walls and fences, encourage vegetation in parcels of land between buildings, make full use of utility easements in ecologically sensitive ways, and allow public passage, could this give the city back to the people - encouraging them to take ownership and show environmental stewardship? And how much land could be given back to nature, for purposes of natural drainage, shading, and CO2 reduction? Maybe planners should think more about un-developing urban areas, if holistic sustainability is truly our goal.