The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

Shopping for groceries often means that, as consumers, we travel to the grocery store ourselves, by ear, bike or on foot. At the store we pick out the groceries that we want, go the register and pay for them. During the last couple of years consumers in Sweden have been given the opportunity to let someone else select and transport the groceries to their home instead, so called home shopping. As this report is being written, the possibility to buy groceries this way is somewhat limited, but many forecasters believe that in the near future it will increase immensely. Because of the large volumes of groceries that are being transported, there is great transport work being done in the supply chain.

The activity of interest groups in the political process of the European Union has given rise to a broad debate concerning the effect on European democracy these groups have. As relatively powerful political actors, the question of these groups? views on the EU and how the union should be is an important one. The status of these groups owns democratic representation also affects the democratic status of the EU. Being based on a number of theories, this study adopts an ideology analysis for the purpose of testing these theories on two cases ? the Swedish environmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

From an environmental and climate perspective we are becoming more and more aware of what we eat. Consumers want to know how their food is produced and where it is coming from. A term commonly used in this discussion is local produce. At this time, there is no clear definition of the term and a wide range of definitions can be found. However, despite this lack of definition, the term is often being used by producers, traders and consumers..

Ear piercing performed in hairdressing salons and jewellery shops using a piercing gun has been set aside from the obligation to notify the local environmental and public health authorities, due to the use of disposable cassette with the piercing gun. According to the Swedish environmental code each practitioner are required to prevent any health hazards arisen from the operation. Local bacterial infection is the most frequent complication associated with the ear piercing procedure and to prevent the potential risk of such an event, hygiene conditions in both the premises and in procedures are essential. The purpose of the report was to examine the presence of ear piercing practitioners in Umeå and their current hygiene conditions. The study consisted of interviews with employees and managers on site whose answers was evaluated and compared to the general recommendations of The National Board of Health and Welfare.

The purpose of this paper was to identify the elements and the alloys that five objects found in Birka consist of and to examine whether there are any significant differences between the presumably imported and domestic objects. The material was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) which was equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) in order to identify the elements that are present and the alloys that the objects are made of. Then the SEM results were compared with the results of previous analyzes that have been performed on finds from Birka in order to investigate how the objects differ in elemental composition and to find out if there are any significant differences between them. The results showed that the objects? content of the elements analyzed varies as the copper alloys the objects are made of.

The purpose with the thesis is to analyze and investigate the purpose of the co-operations between different brands within the hotel sector. We differentiate these purposes of the collaborations in regard to connections to quality- and environmental oriented symbols..

AbstractOur world is facing new challenges depending on the climate changes. The UN panel of climate changes has determined that the human race is responsible for the changes, but also that we have the opportunity to reduce the effects. This demands that the information reaches out to the public which means that the school system carries major responsibility to this type of questions. This also means that the teachers have to be observant, and give the questions the attention which is needed. The purpose of this essay is to see if this awareness exists today among active teachers and teacher students and if the perspective differs among them, but also their opinions is in agreement with the course plan in the subject.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka samband det finns mellan värderingar, föreställningar och normer kring miljön till agerande för ekologisk hållbarhet i det vardagliga livet. Vår hypotes var att det finns samband mellan affekter kring miljöns framtid och agerande till hållbar utveckling. För att söka svar på syftet och bekräfta hypotesen har enkäter med frågor gällande individens värderingar, föreställningar och normer om miljön samt frågor om miljömässigt agerande skickats ut via e-post till 119 deltagare i åldern 23-65 år. Svarsfrekvensen var på 59 procent. Resultatet visade att det fanns ett flertal starka samband mellan miljömässiga värderingar, föreställningar och normer till individens agerande och hypotesen om att det fanns samband mellan affekter och agerande för hållbar utveckling verifierades.

Pastern dermatitis is a common condition among horses. It is a symptom, a reaction in the skin of the pastern rather than a diagnose. There are a lot of homemade treatments when you ask horse owners how they handle pastern dermatitis, but what does the science say about how it should be treated? Today there is a growing problem with antibiotic resistance, but how good are the veterinarians on testing for resistance before they describe antibiotics? Bacteria and fungus is seldom the primary cause for pastern dermatitis, the reaction is often secondary to environmental factors. It?s difficult to diagnose the primary factor and it´s even more difficult when the horse has been treated in different ways before the veterinarian gets involved.

There is always an endeavor to govern the initial products in the plant cultivation with precision in order to keep down the expenditure and in order to decrease environmental impact. Initial phosphorus fertilizer can then be one possibility in order to keep down the fertilizer cost and to decrease environmental impact. This exam study includes a literature study about location of fertilizer and which effects this give and two field experiments. The aim with initial phosphorus fertilizer to autumn wheat is to accelerate the root growth and to give the crop a big root system before the growth stagnates before the winter. Easy to access phosphorus favours the root growth.

The aim of this study is to understand how the library environment affects the experiences and feelings of public library users. In order to concretise this, the study sets out from the public library in Bollebygd. We wanted to find out how the library users experience the library environment. Does the library environment affect the meeting between library users? How does the environment affect their moving patterns inside the library? Which environmental factors influence the users' experiences? Our questions were: how do users experience the library environment - as a mediating space for information and culture? - as a social room and meeting place? The material used to attain the purpose of the study consists of qualitative observations and interviews, and literature studies.

This study in Environmental Science examines the amendment of the EU-Directive on. Greenhouse gas emission allowance trading. The Directive is to be considered as a tool for fulfilling the obligations that the Union and its member countries have taken on through the 1997 Kyoto agreement together with the protocols proposed at that time. The flexible mechanisms of the protocol are intended as instruments for limiting the climatic changes arising from anthropogenic sources, emission allowance trading being one of these mechanisms. The results presented here consist primarily of an analysis of interviews with various experts in the field of emission control concerning the possibilities and problems attending the process of implementation.

The Swedish Government has decided that Wind power should have a higher contribution to the electricity generation in Sweden. Their goal is that, by 2015, the yearly production by Wind power should generate 10 TWh. In year of 2006, the 760 wind mills in Sweden generated only 0,936 TWh. Despite good wind conditions in a large extend of Sweden's land- and coast areas, the slow rate of new wind mills establishments will likely result in unattainable goals. The major problem for new establishments of wind mills is the extensive and complicated permission process. An expert group of environmental studies (Expertgruppen för miljöstudier) was commissioned by the Government to make a report concerning the problems with the expansion of wind power in Sweden.

This thesis provides a systematic literature review of a selection among current papers andarticles on Green Information Systems (IS). The main focus is on the current state of Green ISin academic research. This study aims at gaining a deeper understanding and a clearer view ofthe state-of-the-art of IS for environmental sustainability research, with the goal of clarifyingthe diffuse idea of what Green IT/IS is, and what differentiates Green IS from Green IT.To support the objective of this study, the articles selected for data analysis were collected byusing a systematic literature review as research and analytical method. Within the thesis, adescriptive angle with an interpretative character is used to analyse the data extracted.A theoretical framework based on concepts from sustainability, Green IS and Green IT isemployed in order to analyse and compare terminologies and frameworks used in the studiedarticles. Furthermore, the different dimensions of sustainability and the various terms used todescribe Green IS are analysed comparatively.The result and analysis are discussed in a conclusion confirming the on-going ambiguity ofthe terms Green IT and Green IS and the transformative power of IS.