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Global Field Study in Scandinavia

Research environmental sustainability in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden through visits to alternative energy sites, investigations of eco-villages, tours of industries featuring green technology, and discussions with members of non-governmental organizations dedicated to improving the environment. (Spring-3 credits)

Click here for some of the scenes we encountered this year.

Sustainable Practices in Scandinavia:
Make Learning Real and International on Recent Sterling College Field Study Program

Cozy eco-villages with close-knit social fabrics that expand the definitions of community and common purpose. Buildings constructed solely of renewable materials, from recycled tires for floors to sheep’s wool for insulation to mussel shells and boat hulls for roofs. High tech geothermal powered turbines, one aptly named “The Octopus,” churning out megawatts of energy from super-heated water drawn from wells over a half mile deep. Schools teaching young people the close connections with nature and the shared boundaries of trust and responsibility. Even internet-accessed food distribution systems, where an email in the morning results in a box of organic products left on one’s doorstep in the afternoon.

Such were but a few of the exemplary “best practices” in sustainability visited by Sterling students in May 2008, who this year were joined by peers from Salve Regina University and University of Maryland, on a recent two week travel-study tour of Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden. Students gained a sense of the interconnection of social organization, education, technology, all combining with themes of renewable energy and spiritual renewal that combine to lighten the ecological footprint with which it is possible to walk the earth. Most invigorating of all, perhaps, was the chance to live and work beside Scandinavians of all persuasions, from artistically gifted people with physical or mental challenges in Iceland, to engaged college students of politics, policy, and organic farming in Denmark, to mild-mannered yet enthusiastic bundles of energy in a host of middle school students in Sweden. In short, we came away enriched by ideas, enhanced in our vision . . . and with a good many more people to count as friends when we returned home.

Sample Syllabus--Sustainable Scandinavian Systems
Course Overview: This 3 credit course entails travel to Scandinavia in the spring intensive to research innovations in green technology and explore environmentally friendly planning, building, and education practices. The two-week intensive field program will visit four countries - Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Total lab fee estimate for the trip, pending confirmation of round trip airfare from Boston, is estimated at $2000. The lab fee includes all travel, lodging, and board costs.

On the trip you will:
Tour alternative energy sites (geo-thermal, solar, wind, bio-mass)
Investigate "eco-villages" and industries featuring green technology
Meet members of NGOs dedicated to improving the environment
Visit schools and colleges educating for a sustainable society

Course Premise: The UN Commission on Environment and Development was founded in 1983, headed by then Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Brundtland Commission essentially put the concept of sustainable development on the international agenda.

The Rio Conference of 1992 and Johannesburg again in 2002 further emphasized the need for a "Local Agenda 21," that is, local involvement of individuals and organizations to address pressing global environmental challenges of the 21st Century. We agree that fostering a responsible attitude toward sustaining our planet is an absolutely essential outcome as we engage in educating the next generation of student leaders.

The Scandinavian countries are setting striking examples in local governmental and business "systems thinking" practices that help protect the environment. We all can benefit by studying Scandinavian examples as models for how North American ecological practices could better attend to environmental protection.