Kungsor

A visit to small community of Kungsor, hearing their story of a failing economy in the 70’s-80’s – leading to a decision to begin to approach their community differently. An initiative called “Kungsor Opens the Door" was created to recognize internally among their citizens and politicians of the assets of their own place. This must occur before they are able to put together appropriate plans for future growth. This concept is one that we have frequently been told as humans – we need to take care of and understand ourselves in order to be effective taking care of others around us. Communities are the same – we must understand and take care of the community as citizens before we can begin to plan how we want/need to grow. Basically they worked to address that they maintained and created a good place to live and work, with an attachment to nature.

They spoke of the attempt to coordinate more extensive education of the youth relative to environment and sustainability. As well as education of the general public.

We toured a nature reserve – a beautiful area that has been restored – a part of the “Cultural Landscape of Kungosr. Our guide was a wonderful naturalist, artist and writer providing a heartfelt messages of how they approached this restoration. 300 and 400 year old trees were explored. Clearly this was one of the ways this community found to connect to itself and its history. The people we visited with were clearly attached to this land and its natural & cultural history.

We then toured an entrepreneurial company, Ecoil – we met Mikkel Selder & Bo Bjorkman, two wonderful men who are producing rapeseed oil for energy use. The rapeseed (canola) is grown in this region, brought to this plant for cold pressing. It is anticipated that they will be able to provide the oil necessary for heating the entire community. The remaining seed hulls are provided for farmers as feed for cows. The business is young, but they clearly have a vision and the expertise to pull it together.

Some facts:
~ 1 acre of rapeseed produces 31,000 kwh energy
~ 3 tons of rapeseed will produce 1 ton oil + 2 tons feed (also seen as fuel)
~ Rapeseed can be grown on the same land only once every seven years, forcing the need for crop rotation. The majority of growers they are working with are growing a variety of crops and are not large scale farmers.

When asked why they chose to come to Kungsor to establish this business, they told us the existing building was the most important factor, but also that the community leaders were poised to make the permit and start up process move along quickly. The community didn’t provide any direct financial backing. They clearly feel that the community has welcomed them – very important for their desire to stay and grow the company.


Some of their comments worth pondering:

“We don’t make garbage, We make money. It’s much better.”
“It’s better to work 100% for new technology rather than 5% for old technology.”
We finished the day with yet another great meal – ah, the food we’ve been provided with. Wonderful.