In Sweden | ICEHOTEL | Treehotel | STF Kolarbyn/Eco-lodge

Grey Lady - Lost Gardens of HeliganMoss Art Reverie | Wandering the Lost Gardens of Heligan AOC Style

Anne of Carversville makes no claim to passing a Green Beings litmus test. Our own consciousness is raised researching these articles; we learn as we write.  My own heritage is very mixed, making me a cultural American mutt: Swedish, Danish, British and German. Four grandparents; four countries.

In studying the evolution of environmentalism and my place in it — being a talented businessperson with a conscience — I can identify with being a ‘bright green’, supporting the idea that we can neither protest or shop our way to sustainability.

We must protest more and shop less, but neither will get us where we are going — like it or not.

‘Bright green’ environmentalists believe that radical changes are needed in the economic and political operation of society in order to make it sustainable, but that better designs, new technologies and more widely-distributed social innovations are the means to make those changes.

Studying Scandinavian lifestyles and its political systems convinces me that many elements of a ‘deep green’ philosophy align themselves with the ‘bright greens’. The ‘bright greens’ notably live in the Scandinavian countries, Britain and Germany.  While they don’t reject consumption and consumerism, and certainly not technology, the connection between humans and nature is front and center in their thinking, design and consumption choices.

The Norse cultures of Scandinavia are rich with gods and goddesses, long after so-called ‘paganism’ was banished by Christianity, which seeks to triumph over nature. God gave men (not women) dominion over all the earth and its inhabitants from animals to women.

Mudmaid - Lost Gardens of HeliganBeing a novice in this intellectual discipline, it makes sense to me that ‘bright green’ flourishes in Scandinavia’s rich secular culture, one that honors the spirituality of nature. Looking at three eco-travel or getaway concepts in Sweden, the first STF Kolarbyn/Eco-lodge is probably ‘deep green’ and the most ‘back to nature’ in the purest sense. 

The other two concepts: Treehotel and ICEHOTEL are blended experiences, with ICEHOTEL being Smart Sensuality sophisticated. All three ideas seem removed from the American consciousness, perhaps only because I haven’t educated myself on authentic green, communing with nature travel options in the US.

Communing with Nature in Sweden

STF Kolarbyn/Eco-lodge

Most people don’t consider electricity or running water as a disturbance to communing with nature. At Sweden’s STF Kolarbyn/Eco-lodge, you can happily fall asleep in front of the crackling fireplace and awake to beautiful bird song and a fresh swim in the lake. 

This natural refuge for silence, wilderness and adventure in a beautiful forest setting is just a couple of hours away from the capital Stockholm. Consisting of just 12 huts, a percentage of each reservation is contributed to to preserve local nature and cultural traditions. STF Kolarbyn/Eco-lodge is owned by the community — a concept that is verbotin in America — but at home in Scandinavia.

Treehotel

This ambitious concept Treehotel opened with four rooms in 2010. The five-year-plan will have 24 rooms, designed by 24 different architects designing concept rooms suspended in the canopy of the lush and pristine Boreal forest. Open to date are: Cabin, Blue Cone, Bird’s Nest, Mirrorcube, Room With a View and UFO. Located just miles away from the Arctic Circle, Treehotel is conceptually brilliant.

The Mirrorcube (above) is a prefabricated cube accessed via a ladder that runs straight up from the ground into the heart of the unit. As one might suspect from the name, the Mirrorcube is completely encased in mirrored walls that reflect the surrounding forest, allowing the structure to blend into the environment.

Designed by Inrednin Gsgruppen, the Bird Nest isn’t nearly as rustic on the inside as it appears outside. This giant “bird nest,” is supported by the tree in which it is perched and covered in twigs and is reached via an retractable staircase.

Other designers contributing to Treehotel are Tham and Videgaard Hansson, Sendell Sandberg, and the Cyren Brothers.

Every room has its own living and sleeping areas: four of the rooms have two beds while the remaining accommodate four beds, which are ideal for families. All of the rooms are equipped with their own state-of-the-art eco-friendly incineration toilet and water efficient hand basin.

In addition, there are plans for the world’s first tree hotel sauna and a conference/breakfast room that will seat 12 guests.

ICEHOTEL

The dropping of the temperature to several degrees below zero in Jukkasjärvi marks the start of an ephemeral art endeavour that is 20 years old.

Using only frozen water from the Torne River, artists from all over the world gather in this small Swedish village, 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, to create an exclusive art exhibition: ICEHOTEL.

José Pablo Arriaga & José Carlos Cabello Millán, Spain have worked with the theme Embraced for the last five years. The suite above is their second at ICEHOTEL.

Below is Art Suite 320 by Francisco Cortès Zamudio, Chile. This suite is a tribute to the conception, to the creation of life, and you are surrounded by it. Each form and sculpture symbolize the male or the female, merged together they become the divine union ‘Genesis’.

This link reviews all the suites created for the ICEHOTEL project.

The accommodations are both warm and cold. Typically people spend one night in cold accommodations at ICEHOTEL and the rest in nearby accommodations. Last winter ICEHOTEL offered nightly guided northern light tours by bus to its guests.

How about tying the knot in a marriage ceremony at Icehotel? Given Sweden’s innovative thinking on most social institutions including marriage, this might well be a ‘marriage’ celebrating a modern partnership or civil union.

It’s easy to see ICEHOTEL as just another form of Las Vegas, given its level of sophistication and design. But the stories embedded in its ice crystals are united in an appreciation and communion with nature and art and not domination over it. 

American Green

These concepts leave us inspired to transform our own surroundings and communities into structures with souls. Philadelphia, where I live now rather than New York, is alive with green awareness. I owe it to myself and to readers to dig deeper into our own environmental movement, which is alive and well in Carversville and Bucks Country.

An hour away, you’re in Amish Country. I guess that’s ‘deep green’ living.

There are tomato plants and herbs in the kitchen garden down below in my loft building, providing produce in the parking lot for diners in our local hot spot.  It was only planted two weeks ago, a bit late for summer produce. Yet, we Americans got it planted — better late than never.

Let’s hope this is a symbol of a ‘bright green’ consciousness is brewing stateside — if it only survives the next election cycle. Depending on who rings the next liberty bell, it could become unAmerican to be an environmentalist. In that case, I may be moving to Sweden.  Anne