From Hippies to Hipsters

The organic bakery Aurion in Northern Jutland has been around since the 1970s.

They have their own mill, and their pioneering within the cultivation and milling of ancient strains of grain, such as spelt and emmer, has through the years provided the Danes with potent and nourishing baking flour. The decorative, durable paper bags with the handsome Viking-style company logo are retailed from health stores nationwide.

Aurion’s freshly milled flour goes into baking organic bread that is not only scrumptious and filling but also highly nutritious with the added benefit of being suitable for wheat allergy sufferers otherwise denied the pleasure of white bread. At the deli chain Emmery’s, ecology is not just about bread but also includes yoghurt, fruit juice, müesli, pasta and much more. Emmery’s has succeeded in making Danish eco-sceptics embrace an eco-trend. However, their sought-after bread is for the time being only available from their seriously designer-minimalist outlets in Copenhagen and Aarhus.

Eco e-commerce

Aarstiderne.dk e-store, on the other hand, is seriously virtual. Online orders for organic produce, such as apples and pears, warped carrots, bulging parsnips and Swiss chard and kale, are distributed door-to-door to more than 20,000 homes nationwide. The Aarstiderne Farm was established in 1999 in the beautiful landscape surrounding Barritskov, a forest in Jutland. Although the fields of this old manor farm were sprouting with vegetables, they still had to seek alliance with organic farmers nationwide to meet demand. The success of Aarstiderne shows how widespread ecology has become in Denmark.

Despite the vast and growing number of organic farms, keeping up with consumer demand for organic milk and other dairy products is still a hard job. About 4,000 farms are certified organic.

The farmers are often visionary innovators, who experiment with everything from organic canola pig fodder, improved access to water ponds for their stout ducks and better animal welfare for their chickens.

Many organic farms are incidentally open to the public, so there is ample opportunity for inspiring farm visits where the kids can cuddle the rabbits or feed the sheep and goats while the grownups tuck into homemade deli delights from the farm stores so often found on modern farms. Here you find everything from freshly extracted honey from their apiaries, seasoned cheeses, mature hams and firm salamis made of beef, goat’s meat, pork or mutton – the latter of which is excellent on a slice of buttered rye bread accompanied by the organic lager Thy Pilsner. The high season for farm visits is September when more than 100 organic farms nationwide host harvest markets.

Wind Turbines and Solar Panels

But ecology and sustainability is much more than food. The Danes’ love of renewable energy also emerged in the 1970s when yellow badges with the wording ‘Atomic Power? No Thanks’ were ideological fixtures on the knitted Icelandic sweaters worn by Danish hippies at demonstrations against nuclear power, also held in support of sustainable technology, such as solar panels and wind turbines. Once again, the sceptics were pretty smug. This time in disbelief that the sun and wind would ever become substantial sources of energy – but again, the old hippies were heading down the right track.

Over the past thirty years, Denmark has gained the position as one of the world’s leading wind turbine nations. The Danish landscape is not scathed by nuclear power stations, and dithering high-voltage pylons are rare sights. Instead, magnificent white wind turbines have become a natural part of the countryside, much as the yellow colza fields, the blue waters of the inlets and the purple heather hills. And thanks to major advances in turbine technology driving these small individual power stations, wind power contributes substantially to the national grid. Currently, the focus is on large offshore wind turbine parks shooting up in Danish waters, for instance near Middelgrunden at the port entrance to Copenhagen and near Esbjerg in Southern Jutland where 80 mega-turbines at Horns Rev make up the world’s largest wind turbine park.

With solar energy, Denmark also holds a place in the top league. On the charming island of Ærø south of Funen, the world’s largest solar panel system is being created. On a smaller scale, solar energy technologies are becoming more and more common in private homes. If you visit one of the Danish eco-villages, solar energy is one of the most common sources of hot water for the morning shower. Here, pioneers and the most ardent eco-enthusiasts in Denmark carry sustainability through in every aspect of modern living. The houses are constructed using re-cycled nails, timber and masonry, and some are made entirely of hay. Rainwater is conserved and used for everything from showers, laundry and watering the garden, but not for drinking. They re-cycle and conserve water on principle. It becomes a sport, and some of the eco-villages achieve a level of water consumption just a third of the national average.

The greatest success story of all, however, is that the development towards a more sustainable society in Denmark is comprehensive and not only the domain of eco-village enthusiasts. In just 10 years, water consumption in Denmark has fallen 40%, farmers are using fewer herbicides and pesticides, companies have adopted environmental policies and the range of eco-label products available is increasing by the year. Ecology has become an integrated part of the Danish way of living. Because it makes sense.