Hi everyone! Here is a post from our latest (physical) meeting with the participants in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, one of our seminar leaders in the program, and two former participants in the previous round of Sustainable Entrepreneurship.
Louise Hård af Segerstad from AlbaEco/ Stockholm Resilience Center is the seminar leader in the program that focuses on Ecological Sustainability and Resilience. She started the day by referring to our main working document in this program - our ”Sustainable Business Canvas”. What could we call it in Swedish? Our ”Sustainable Business Canvas” maybe? What do you think of it? Try putting your business in it and see if it can help you move forward! It is available to view and download here: https://www.sustainablebusinesscanvas.com/
This is what it looks like:
After we went through the Business Canvas as a group with both big and small questions, we reflected on a piece of art that hangs from a ceiling and is called "The biosphere sculpture. Title Nature/ Society/ Economy". What do you see when you look at it? Below the picture I will write some reflections from the participants:
Reflections from the participants in Sustainable Entrepreneurship:
”It's like a wedding cake stuck upside down” (See picture of the wedding cake further down)
”"Everything trickles down, the biosphere is at the top, obscured when you stand down and look. It feels typical of how it is today, the biosphere should not be given the prominent role it needs, but everything eventually trickles down, it is noticeable whether we want it to be or not."”
”"You don't see biology in society today, money is most important and the little glitter ball at the bottom shows that what we see first and focus on the most is the economy"”
”"What happens if you cut the threads? Everything is fragile and if you cut the threads to the economic sphere, only that sphere falls, but if you cut the threads to the biosphere circle at the top, everything collapses. That says something about what is fundamental."”
Below you can see the "Wedding Cakes", both the "right" way up and upside down, read more about the wedding cake here: https://www.globalamalen.se/ett-nytt-satt-att-se-de-globala-malen-som-en-tarta/
After we warmed up with analyses of the artwork which gave rise to many different thoughts, it was time for some future exploration and long-term thinking. We used the ”3 horizons” method, there is a video (unfortunately only in English) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5KfRQJqpPU
I will briefly try to explain the ”3 horizons”, which is not entirely easy. As you noticed in the text above, the participants are not entirely satisfied with how things look in terms of how they generally prioritize between economy, ecology and social sustainability. The patterns (”pattern” see picture above) that they are not satisfied with today are ”Horizon 1”. It could be, for example, food production, that most of the food we buy today is produced globally and that we do not have sufficient local food production. Then the ”cheap”, global food is Horizon 1, and horizon 2 could be something completely different, for example local food that is produced but in a way that is not ecologically and economically sustainable in the long run. And horizon 3 might be the local food that is produced and that is both ecologically and economically sustainable. That is where we want to go in the future and in the long term. We had many long discussions, many different opinions (of course!). And the gist of it all was that we want to help these initiatives that stand for what we want in the future. How can we help these pioneers, who are not currently so numerous and strong but who will hopefully become more and more numerous? I can tell you that many of the participants in Hållbart are exactly what I would call these ”Pioneers” or seeds of the future that are now sprouting 🙂 One of the participants in Hållbart also found a supplementary explanation of the ”3 horizons” and change processes that she shared with the whole group, it made it easier to understand further what it is all about. Thank you Marie! 🙂
Some thoughts from the participants on how "Seeds of the Future" can be spread:
”"If everyone brings one person along who then brings a new one, the concept spreads. Trust is important"”
”"More local associations talk to more people, we trade with each other, locally"”
”"Things need to happen at different levels. We must not lose the drive of faith and hope. In our levels, it is the enabling of initiatives that need to happen."”
”"We are in different layers, all of them are important. How can we influence larger systems? It should be mandatory to grow in every preschool and there should be public growing areas in every area"”
”"There needs to be a paradigm shift, you can compare it to healthcare where you now have to look and work preventively."”
”1. Talk to neighbors 2. Choose 3. Think about how you consume.”
”We need to create an association like Fjärdhundraland.”
”Is anything sustainable if it’s local? Local Weapons?” *laughs*
”"More education in school and preschool"”
”Integrate Sustainability into all school subjects”
”"We don't have to compete with each other even though we are entrepreneurs. What or who is the competitor? The global and the large-scale?"”
”"We need smaller units, Sweden should consist of a lot of small Åland with harvest festivals"”
”Centrality needs to die.”
”"ICA and Konsum should import local products instead of products from all over the world"”
”"Climate demonstrations are also seeds of the future, there is less and less resistance to the demonstrations and school strikes."”
The discussion ended with a more ”optimistic” participant saying ”"Is it about what we think will happen or what we want to happen? It's the same thing, that's how we should think"” and a more ”pessimistic” one” ”"It's very LUCKY that there are people like you, we need every single one"” THEN EVERYONE LAUGHED 🙂
The day then ended with a very nice return visit, Fredrik and Maja from LokaltOdlat who were part of the last round of Sustainable Entrepreneurship came back to Upplandsbygd to greet the new participants. They told about their journey with their company, which has had many ups and downs. But which is still running through cultivations at now four(!) different schools in Sigtuna, and of course Maja's gelato ice cream which is popular at Reko where she sells the Italian ice cream which is made with milk from a small farmer in Uppland.
We ended the day with a new exercise that seemed to be appreciated, the ”lighten the heart note”. We divided ourselves into two groups, Maja and Fredrik also participated to the delight of the participants. All participants were asked to write down a main concern or thought on a note and then the notes were collected together and then the group went through one note at a time, 5 minutes per note. Everyone got the chance to vent a little and that can be worth a lot, especially when you do it in a group that is both caring and competent.
PS If you want to know more about Sustainable Entrepreneurship, check here: Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2023-2024
Thank you for this, see you again on March 22nd! /Jenny