“People probably think it is funny that an old woman like me is busy campaigning, instead of knitting pullovers for her grandchildren.”  Thus Barbro Melander wryly commented during an interview about her activities in defence of the environment in Sweden.

To Theosophists, Barbro was chiefly a dynamic force in the Swedish Theosophical Society and a well-loved chairperson of the European Federation of the TS.  Within her homeland, however, she was widely known as a front line social activist, a role in which she remained vigorous until close to her death in 2000 at the age of 84.
At her memorial service, close TS associates Curt Berg and Ing-Britt Wiklund said:

“Barbro was a bundle of energy and she was active to the very end. Her energy was catching. Many of us received phone calls from her starting, ‘Hello, it’s Barbro here. Can you imagine…?’ ending with, ‘What do we do?’ not ‘Shall we do something?’ That was how she was, our Barbro – she not only ascertained that something was wrong, she did something to change it.”

As founding member, general secretary and then chairperson of the South Sweden Environmental Action Group (Aktiv Skåne-Miljö), Barbro appeared on television in Scandinavia, France, Germany and England.  She received several awards for her action in defence of the environment, including the environment prize for the city of Malmö in 1992.

Here are extracts from an interview that appeared in a TOS publication, The Service Link, in 1996.

Question: Many people, Theosophists or not, feel powerless to influence world events. They look at the wars going on all over the planet, at international drug trafficking, religious persecution, famine in developing countries and wonder what they can possibly do to help.  In the face of huge world problems, do you think that the best contribution a Theosophist can make is to concentrate on theosophical education? In other words, would we do better to apply ourselves to spirituality and self-transformation than to struggle in community projects and national campaigns?

Answer: Self-transformation as a goal in itself is fine, but shouldn’t it be ‘used’ in relation to others, in connection with, for instance, our physical environment?  I think that the two good things are not mutually exclusive. To be able to be of some use in social and environmental work, one has to know oneself and one’s limits, and one must be able to love co-workers – and understand one’s antagonists. All this is perhaps an expression of the deeper understanding of life and of the task of transformation that Theosophy gives us.

Q: If self- and social transformation have an equal place in our lives, what advice can you give to those of us who don’t know where to start in the domain of social activism, who feel overwhelmed?  What can we possibly do about, say, poverty in developing countries? Is that something that is always going to be with us?  Denmark was recently host to an international conference on world poverty, as you know, and it proposed that each participating country increase the percentage of its Gross National Product devoted to overseas aid to 20%.  Denmark publicly committed itself to doing this, hoping to inspire others. Not one country followed suit!

A: That international conference took place in Copenhagen close to my home, actually.  Delegates and prime ministers from nearly every country of the globe discussed for several days, and the results were, as you imply, meagre.  But it is always good when people come together and get to know each other.  There is no ‘collective brain’, only a lot of brains, and new ideas start in one individual brain.  Many individual brains can, however, influence one another.  I recall how at the end of the sixties here in Sweden we managed to increase the percentage of our country’s GNP donated to the United Nations, a move inspired by some of our scientists.  Through books, letters and use of the media, they informed us of the problems of the world and showed how closely we were connected to everything else on the planet through our relationship with Nature.  Once this had been achieved, I contacted people with the same outlook as myself and since then I have learned a lot about ecology and politics i.e. how our country functions.  And about how, as an idealist, independent of political parties, one can influence things.

Q: What about getting involved in local projects, close to home?  Have you ever done this?

A: ‘Putting one’s own house in order’ is indeed important.  Because of my love of nature, I have always felt close to the land in the south of Sweden here where I live.  Our rich soil is precious.  Depletion through intensive agricultural exploitation is a tremendous threat.  Back in the early 1970s, I got in touch with people who shared my concerns and we started a conservation organisation.  To be in a strong position to defend the land, however, I had to take some science classes.  My natural aptitude was for languages and the arts, so it was quite a challenge to take university courses in environmental management, law, agriculture (traditional versus ecological), town-planning, etc.  Lots of things to study!

[....] In the happy sixties in Scandinavia we did not know that our planet, our Gaia, is not a balloon that we can blow up bigger and bigger, but is restricted in size and capacities.  We are now frightened of the philosophy of the European Community where money seems to be the central thing, the hub around which everything turns.  The European Community is a colossus on weak legs, and will probably collapse, or change its philosophy, just because of this.

Schumacher’s book, Small is Beautiful, gives us some wonderful lessons and so does his second work, A Guide for the Perplexed, which contains some rather theosophical chapters.  Another important book is Jeremy Rifkin’s Entropy (1980) and then there are the writings of Ilya Prigogine.
 

Plans to build motorways all over Europe to meet European Community transport goals are unacceptable to many average citizens.  Our large South Sweden Environmental Action Group is lobbying politicians, ministers and government departments all the time.  Some say that road and bridge building provides work (mainly for machines, in my opinion!), and that with the many unemployed we have in Europe we need work opportunities; but we cannot do this at the expense of soil, landscape, water, recreation grounds, etc.  We must stick to the Agenda 21 document which Sweden signed at the Rio Conference and to our promise to reduce carbon dioxide levels.

In social action, we must first know, then find ways, find the right people to approach, find new ways, and not give up.  You cannot work with these problems if you have no inner balance between thought and feeling.  You must also have a supportive family.  Many marriages have broken up because of the intense involvement of one partner.

Q: Is it worth it?

A: My social involvement has meant a lot of work for me, but also the joy of learning. Not the least are the wonderful people you meet – real altruists.  And I have even met with respect from politicians! Without Theosophy I could never have worked this way.  You have to try to understand all the people one is in contact with, without condemning them, even while fighting their ideas and projects.  There are so many setbacks in work of this nature.  You have to rely a lot on your inner strength.  You have to focus on both the short term dangers to the environment and long term planning.  Much of what we are struggling for is part of a vision, something for our grandchildren.

Q: You may not knit pullovers, Barbro, but you and your fellow workers are perhaps weaving cloth of a different, durable nature!  In what way would you say that Theosophy has helped sustain you throughout your social action?  How does it affect your perception of issues?

A: Since we are all one, when dealing with your fellow creatures you see a glimpse of the blue heaven in them.  Even if many clouds cover it, you know it is there.  And you know that we are pilgrims on our way to the same goal.  Some know this, some don’t; some are old, some young; some are old friends of yours, others new.  All of them are different, so you have to show patience with your fellow travellers – and with yourself. The pieces of the puzzle do not always fit.

Some of our theosophical literature and poetry is an inspiration to me. And the Theosophical Society itself can be a comfort at times.  I remember an occasion when I had to travel to Basel in Switzerland for a meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Federation.  I had just been out on a protest action in a forest not far from my home.  Our goal was to prevent local government workers from felling a group of wonderful trees for an unnecessary highway.  We call this a ’tree-hugging action’ and it is stressful!  Well, I found myself in Basel in front of a wonderful table full of fresh green salads and the unpleasant pain I had been feeling for weeks in my solar plexus suddenly disappeared.

I have participated in many ‘illegal’ actions, though it would be more accurate to call them simple acts of passive resistance.  The idea is that such spontaneous initiatives by citizens must sooner or later influence law-making and turn it in favour of the environment. But it takes time.

When people say we are seldom successful, my usual answer is that idealistic action casts a shadow in front of itself.  Perhaps this Swedish expression isn’t very clear in English. What I mean is that actions can shape the future even if they are not successful.  The Latin phrase says about the same: Gutta cata lapidem – meaning that the drop of water wears away stone not by force but by persistence.

[....] But I have strayed from your question.  Where were we?!  Oh yes, the role of Theosophy in all this.  We have, as you know, a timeless wisdom and it is terribly important, to my mind, that we discover it in its contemporary forms in this modern world. I rejoice that we can now almost put behind us the old mechanistic view of the human being and cosmos.  I catch a glimpse of blue heaven every day in some form or another!

Q: We thank you for sharing your experiences and insights with us and wish you and your Environmental Action Group the very best of luck.