May 27, 2002, København, Danmark
by Kendra Lwebuga

I have been in København now for two weeks, and still get surprised each day when I find new projects, and hear about the genuine concern that Danes have towards the environment and social issues.

There is a wealth of information here that one could spend several months studying - and that's just within the city.  There are projects that are pushing to be the newest, the most innovative, and there, of course, are also the politics behind each project.  I have visited with several Vesterbro residents so far, sometimes for tea, sometimes for dinner, sometimes just for a few minutes, but on some issues I keep hearing a voice which is encouraging - the voice says... we are educated about the world around us, we care about what we give to our children, and even if the entire system falls around us, we will stand for what we care about.

The projects that I have witnessed range from the new off-shore windmill farm (which is just a couple kilometers from the city, and supplies about 3% of the city's electrical energy) to garbage sorting into nine different fractions.  There are several blocks that have put up composting systems in their "back yard" to reduce their waste and get good soil for their gardens.  Almost everybody in Vesterbro that I have talked to lives in a co-op housing situation, which is a very interesting system that allows them to own their apartments and pay a whole lot less.  I visited one woman in a co-op that includes 430 flats... and probably 900 people.  This is the second-largest co-op in Denmark.

Surprisingly, I have found three individuals who know where Portland, Oregon is!  (and two of them have been there!) 

On sunny days, I take from 60 to 120 photos, and on rainy days I conduct interviews or sort through the volumes of material that I have collected.  The weather has been good - about 50% sunny and 50% rainy.  I am very excited to share my findings with Portlanders... and especially excited to hear what is happening now with Vestas manufacturing in Oregon.  On Wednesday evening (May 29), I will have dinner with a photographer who tracked the construction of the Middelgrunden off-shore wind farm (the one that is just outside of København).  There is a webpage about Middelgrunden, if you are interested:  www.middelgrunden.dk . Click on the British flag, and you can get English. 

I will upload more pictures soon.  Unfortunately, it's impossible to upload them from my disk here at the public library, so I have to just prepare a disk of images and wait for an opportunity to get a machine that is more cooperative.