The representative democracy has become weakened during the last decades. At the same time the United Nations declared at the Rio de Janeiro meeting in 1992 that environmental problems can best be solved by involvement of all concerned citizens in decision-making. The main purpose of this study has been to examine if citizens panels is a possible way to involve citizens in environmental decision-making and what the outcomes can be. Furthermore the study has investigated what the participation has contributed to environmental politics and how representative the results have been. This has been carried out by investigating the Piteåpanel in the municipality of Piteå by conducting interviews.The result of the study shows that the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making influenced the environmental politics of the municipality.

Disinfection methods for drinking-water produced at the two water works of Stockholm Water Co are compared in this study. Three different nethods are compared; disinfection with chlorine gas, disinfection with sodium hypochlorite and disinfection with UV-light and monochloramine. The method used is Life cycle assessment, LCA. LCA is defined as the compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and potential environmental impact of a product system shroughout its life cycle. The environmental burden is compared for the three different disinfection methods.

The predominant forestry harvesting method is based on the harvester-forwarder method, theharvester folds, branches and cuts trees, and sorts the logs into piles, while a forwarder transportsthe logs to a landing area.This master thesis work is about realization of a dynamic forwarder simulation model, and itspurpose is to provide an integrated forwarder simulation model in MATLAB/SimMechanicswhere the forwarder is based on a concept using pendulum arms to connect wheels and chassis.Active suspension control is developed and implemented into the simulation model, and finallycompared in simulation with passive suspension.In a first step, an integrated forwarder simulation model is developed, containing a simplifiedforwarder model, a tire-to-ground interaction model and a test track model. The simplifiedforwarder model is based a rigid multi-body system with a spring-damper suspension of thependulum arms. The tire-to-ground interaction model calculates the reaction forces, friction fromthe ground and applies the propulsion force. The test track model is a simplified version of thereal test track in Skogforsk. The propulsion wheel torque control is used to regulate theforwarder speed.

The aim of this thesis is to explore how a bookstore chain and a public library meet the needs of their customers through environmental scanning. The empirical material is derived from six semi-structured interviews with six informants, three from each organization, together with an analysis of internal documents. The method used is a case study and the theoretical framework is based on models used in the process of environmental scanning, as described by Choo, Hamrefors and Hedin & Sandström among others, and which facilitate a comparison of the environmental scanning of the two organizations. The results of the study indicate that the library, as a public organization with a mission in society, perceives the environment as society as a whole and all its members as their users, whereas the bookstore concentrates on the sectors of the environment that affect their sales. The consequences of these different views are that the library is more active in the environment and uses surveys as a basic source of information, while the bookstore is more passive, and relies on statistics for information.

Companies today are expected to communicate their responsibility to the world around them. Society?s expectations differ and stakeholders are demanding that companies act responsibly on matters related to climate, work environment and human rights. The purpose of sustainability reports is that companies should measure, present and take responsibility in relation to their internal and external stakeholders. It is intended that a reasonable picture of the company's sustainability performance should be communicated, containing both positive and negative effects.Companies efforts with sustainability issues is industry-dependent and industries with significant environmental problems perform the most advanced environmental statement.

The purpose of this essay is to study the impact of different factors on corporate capital structure. The factors studied in relation to corporate debt ratio are industry affiliation, size and profitability. The study involves all 252 companies quoted on the Stockholm stock exchange and cover a time period from 2007 to 2011. The result shows that branch affiliation has a significant impact on corporate debt ratios. Regarding size and profitability, however, these factors do not have an evident impact on corporate debt ratios..

The aim of this thesis is to study discursive change in the Swedish environmental political discourse between 1987-2005. The text of three Swedish budget propositions are analysed for this purpose.The results from the analysis are related to a few relevant theoretical perspectives that hold partly different views on what constitutes ?sustainable development? and ?ecological modernization?. Through these theories the thesis continues the discussion around the two central but somewhat blurry terms sustainable development and ecological modernization. The aim of this discussion is to conclude whether the discursive change in Swedish environmental politics can be said to go more in the direction of sustainable development or ecological modernization, or if elements of both perspectives can be found.The analysis shows that the Swedish environmental discourse has come to include more and more political fields such as general welfare politics, during the period.

In metropolitan areas where the exploitation pressure increases, also the importance to point out nature areas grows, both for the sake of outdoor life and for biodiversity conservation. Since nature conservancy and spatial planning constitute two different parts of the municipalities land use control, a case study has been carried out in two municipalities in the Stockholm region, Huddinge and Järfälla. Both these municipalities have protected about one third of their land and today there are plans to repeal parts of the reserves to enable exploitation. This thesis shows ? from the theoretical concept of sustainable development ? officials, politicians and non-governmental organizations perspectives on questions concerning land use together with the work with nature reserves and repeals.

The purpose of this study was to describe the possibility of implementing a lacto-ovo-vegetarian and organic diet in Eskilstuna municipality?s public preschool. Furthermore the purpose was to identify and describe the most important components involved in the implementation and their influence in the process.  The methods used were a survey based on a literature study. This study includes general information about meat production and consumption and also the use of pesticides in farming. It also brings up the environmental and health effects caused by the previously mentioned areas.

The purpose of this study is to make a close and critical scrutiny of the EU Lisbon Strategy and the assumption of `sustainable growth´. A basic question is to clarify what is meant by `sustainability´ in the economic and the environmental dimension respectively, and also, to analyse the meaning of `sustainable growth´. Secondly, I try to investigate the relationship between the economical and environmental dimensions of the strategy. Are the goals of the dimensions compatible and mutually supporting or are they conflicting? By illuminating these issues the study moves towards a final set of questions: What are the arguments that encourage or counteract the Lisbon assumption of `sustainable growth´? Is the European Union approaching `sustainable growth´ looking at different economical and ecological indicators? What are the prospects for the Lisbon Strategy as a way towards global `sustainable development´?.

The purpose of the study is to reach knowledge about how public librarians understands and describes environmental scanning as a working process in a Swedish public library. The study consists of 5 interviews with public librarians working within the same organization. The empirical material is presented in two ways. The first one is what aspects of the external world the librarians find important. The second is through a theoretical framework based on Magnus Hoppes model of environmental scanning, including communication and cognitive processes aswell as ways of analyzing information from the external world.

Cement manufacture accounts for 3-5 percent of total global carbon emissions. There is a growing interest in reducing the environmental impact and conserve limited natural resources. In cement production, clinker productions consume 87.5 percent of the total energy consumed in the cement manufacture.Cementa has since many years, focused on reducing the environmental impact of cement production. The work has involved the entire production process from selection of alternative fuels to the development of cement with less clinker content. During 2013/2014, two new types of cement (Bascement and CEM II / B) will be introduced to the Swedish market.

The concept of planetary boundaries was introduced in the year 2009 by a group ofresearchers led by Johan Rockström and Will Steffen. The group presented a draft of thelimits of the planet regarding nine Earth System processes concerning climate change, oceanacidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, interference with Pand N cycles, global freshwater use, land-system change, rate of biodiversity loss andchemical pollution. The starting point for the study presented in this report was that asustainable development only can be achieved if humankind stays within the boundaries. It istherefore, based on the ongoing urbanization, relevant to evaluate how cities affect the EarthSystem processes. The aim of the study was to investigate if Stockholm Royal Seaport (NorraDjurgårdsstaden), a district in the northeast of Stockholm with a clear environmental profile,affects the Earth System processes less than Stockholm in general does.

Social media seem to offer a great possibility for environmental non-profit organizations to communicate with their members and audience, if the organization aims to build and maintain a relationship to the users of social media. This essay has examined how three environmental non-profil organizations are communicating in social media. To create an understanding of the organization?s communication strategies a netnographic approach was implemented..

Algal bloom is a naturally occurring phenomenon and occurs in all waters around the world but in recent years, algal bloom in the Baltic Sea has become more massive and more widely spread. When an algal bloom negative effects on the seawater quality, it may have an impact on tourism in the Baltic Sea. The aim of this thesis is to study, through a survey based on a production function approach, whether an environmental change as algal blooms, influenced the Gotland tourist accommodation industry and their "production of attractive overnight? in the summer of 2005. The results show that algal blooms did not have a great impact on companies ?production of attractive accommodations".