Harmony and room service...

Hard working parents really need to go away and spend time by themselves sometimes - it is so fantastic! Last Friday A and I checked in to this Japanese four star hotel in San Fransisco. The view was superb, the bed was soft, the tub was nice and room service had excellent sushi. We spent a whole weekend holding hands, talking (without beeing interrupted), strolling around the Fillmore-area, having coffee breaks and actually remembering why we got married. I strongly recommend it! Thank you Emma for taking so great care of the kids (of course it was fantastic finally seeing them on Sunday)!

Living in Warmth

EVERY relative and friend I talk to in Sweden complain about the weather. They tell me it's raining cats and dogs and that half the country - more or less - is under water. Here in California climate change shows another face. Wildfire after wildfire is starting (some of them close to our house) and the temperature is seldom below 25 degrees. Personally I love it (except for the fires), its so nice to not worry about rain jackets or thick sweaters and to always have a bit of a tan. But climate change is real and we all need to think about living more sustainable. Recently I wrote about the heat and the fires in the US for TT. I interviewed climatologists who told me that California has not received as little rain as this past year since 1877. To people here it's an every day habit to sort garbage and conserve water. Many stores in San Francisco are banning the plastic bag and make people use tote bags instead. Organic food is huge, look at Wholefoods.
I think that change begins with small steps in our every day life. If we all care a little more we will create a better world. Environmental changes have often started as a grassrooth movement. Science is already far ahead and the politicians will follow... Meanwhile try not to drink coffee from paper cups. It's actually a part of a tree :)

Getting going with the Green

Horray. I'm getting my own Green Design-channel at PodTech. That's fun and exciting - and a lot of work. I'll be covering the areas were green and design converge, meaning industrial design, architecture, cool gadgets and sustainable fashion. To me this brings together the best of two worlds - marrying beautiful or mind-blowing or provocative thoughts on design with awareness and meaningfulness on a larger scale. Right now we're working on putting together a blog for the channel, I write copy and try to produce new episodes at the same time...
Here's an interview with designer Lotta Jansdotter, who's now based in New York, on the issue of sustainability.

People against Dirty

So I've been thinking about how to apply the innovation-concept to my areas of journalism (politics, economics, trends and design) while at PodTech here in the Bay-area. Some time ago I decided to make a green show on design, i e where sustainability and design converge. In a way design is very much an innovation-process. And - for most of the time - design is visual too. The first piece is about a company in San Francisco called Method. They make biodegradable cleaning products, soaps and detergents (all based on green chemistry). But the products are beautiful, they come in bottles by award-winning industrial designer Karim Rashid. I really like this trendy, funky and yet idealistic and responsible company that combines some of the best things in the world. Watch the video here.

On motherhood and evil wasps

Saturday we finally had a small birthday party for Sun (Happy 7 - love you!). Everything started off well with picnic in the garden, Swedish "pancake-tarte" and the great game "putting the tail on the pig" i e the kids try to draw a tail on a painted pig when blindfolded (dont ever try it, it makes you seasick). Before the grand finale of fishing candy in the kitchen fishpond (with a stick made out of a broom) we were to engage in some good, old sack-hopping.
That was when the wasp saw his chance and stung me in the foot.
It really, really hurt. And that was when motherhood really kicked in. I saw myself trying to be a good sport, cheering the sack-hoppers from the side-bench while desperately trying to put melted aspirin on my swollen foot... You have no idea how irritating kids can seem when you have a triangle of pain in your foot.
It made me think of a few years ago, when I was correspondent for TT in New York and had to cover a live press conference on TV with George Bush on the Iraq-war. I have a picture of me sitting on the floor in front of the TV, typing like a mad-woman on the computer. On my back hangs Sun, like a rug-sack, trying to bite me in the ear. I wonder what Swedish unions would have said about that work-environment - or the working conditions of many parents... (although we smile ourselves through it since we LOVE our small princes and princesses so much).

PS. For those of you following Suns blog, it has a new address sunbjers.wordpress.com