In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish paints a vivid picture of Denmark’s deep‑seated environmental culture, describing it as a quasi‑religion with daily rituals such as meticulous waste sorting, forest kindergartens, and a societal expectation to voice concern for the planet at social gatherings. She highlights Denmark’s global reputation for cleantech—wind turbines, waste‑to‑energy plants, and corporate sustainability departments at firms like Carlsberg and Danske Bank, as well as royal involvement in sustainable fashion. Mellish then reveals the stark contradiction that, despite this green image, Denmark ranks fourth in per‑capita pollution according to the World Wildlife Fund. The primary drivers are intensive pig farming (about 20 million pigs), cattle for organic dairy, a large mink fur industry, and high consumption of imported goods and air travel, all of which are counted against Denmark’s carbon account. She frames this paradox as a common pattern where the most vocal believers often act contrary to their professed values, and concludes with a tongue‑in‑cheek reminder to showcase environmental concern at the next Danish dinner party while promoting her book and social media channels.
Chapters
Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. It's a beautiful autumn here in Denmark. Warm with golden sun, blue skies, red and yellow and orange leaves on the trees. Just gorgeous. And unusually warm for Denmark. It's always exciting when, instead of wearing your winter coat every day from October to April, you can wear it every day from November to April. But this unusually pleasant weather can't help but spark conversation about global warming. So far, the biggest impact climate change has had in Denmark are some severe rainstorms, which end up flooding a lot of basements and overwhelming a lot of sewer systems. It's intriguing to think that the great heroes of the 21st century may be plumbers. Now, Danes care about climate change, and they've made a business specialty of green technology, or what they like to call clean technology. Cleantech. Denmark sells windmills to create wind power and burns most of its household garbage in an environmentally friendly way to create home heating. Danes care about the environment because they care about nature. You know, less than 100 years ago, Denmark was a mostly agricultural country, and Danes still feel close to the land. Children in Denmark are constantly being taken out to whatever forests or meadows are nearby. In the cities, they pack them into buses and trains to go get forest experience. There's even something called forest kindergarten for children 3 to 6. If you go to a forest kindergarten, you're out in the woods every day, hot or cold, rain or shine. So environmentalism is everywhere in Denmark. It's the closest thing that the Danes have to a religion. If you don't believe me, test it out at a Danish dinner party sometime. Now, Danes love their democracy, but you could easily say, eh, I don't really care about politics. It means nothing to me. But just try saying, eh, I don't care about the environment. It means nothing to me. I don't think it's important. You'll find yourself sitting alone very quickly. Like other religions, Danish environmentalism has its rituals: sorting the garbage into small household waste, big household waste, Paper, cardboard, hard plastic, batteries, discarded electronics, and dangerous chemicals. I do this every day. Like other religions, Danish environmentalism has special foods: organic foods, local foods. Now, in other countries, becoming a vegan or a vegetarian is one way to show respect for the environment, but not in Denmark. Not usually. Instead, people eat organic meat, organic cheese, and drink organic milk. Like other religions, Danish environmentalism has its cathedrals, like the new cleantech waste-burning plant with a ski slope on top that will open near Copenhagen next year. Danish environmentalism has its penance, like buying carbon offsets when you take an airplane trip. And it has its apostates. Bjørn Lomborg, perhaps the world's most famous global warning skeptic, Is from Denmark. Now, Denmark positions itself at the cutting edge of a green future. Every large Danish company has a sustainability department that monitors and communicates what that company is doing to help protect the environment. For example, Carlsberg, where I used to work, focuses on how carefully it uses water when making beer. Danske Bank, where I also used to work, talks about reducing the amount of paper it generates. Even the royal family gets in the game. Crown Princess Mary made a big deal of wearing a sustainable dress to one of the innumerable royal galas. So isn't it ironic, given this love for the earth and the environment, that the Danes were recently named the world's 4th biggest polluters per capita by the World Wildlife Fund? Only 3 Middle Eastern countries— Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE— were worse than Denmark. The USA was 8th. Now, the reason the Danes come in so high on this list is pigs. Pigs and pig products are some of Denmark's most important exports: live pigs, pork, and diabetic insulin, which is genetically converted based on an extract from the pancreas of pigs. It's Denmark's 20 million pigs that keep the country strong. It's pigs that pay for all those lovely sustainability departments and those pretty windmills. The modern Danish clean energy economy is built on the back of pigs. And as anyone who watches cartoons knows, pigs are very dirty. Now, in addition to pigs, there's also cows to produce all that organic milk and cheese, and minks. The wearable fur industry is very big in Denmark. Now, what's more, the World Wildlife Fund tracks not only local pollution, but pollution local consumers produce elsewhere. So if a Dane buys a t-shirt from H&M or an iPhone that's produced in China, the pollution goes on the Danish account. And the Danes buy a lot of stuff from abroad. Danes also love to eat meat from both local and international sources. And they love to travel. Airplanes are Awful for the environment. All these contradictions don't mean that the Danes don't believe in their religion of environmentalism. They do. But it's common across many religions that the loudest professed believers do the exact opposite in their personal lives. Now, I've read many times that when soldiers capture laptops belonging to Muslim fundamentalist fighters, the hard drives are chock-full of pornography. And of course, we've all heard of Christian evangelist TV preachers in the USA who spend their free time stealing money or bedding down with teenage hookers of either gender. These people would not appreciate it if you pointed out their hypocrisy, and neither will the Danes. So, at your next Danish dinner party, as you enjoy a tasty pork roast and discuss your host's fabulous recent trip to Thailand, remember to work into the conversation how much you care about the environment. It's the right thing to do. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. Remember the How to Live in Denmark book, available on Amazon.com, Saxo.com, and iBooks. If you buy it there, do me a favor, please leave a review. It helps others find us. I'm working on a print version of the book, which I hope to have ready in a couple weeks. It's harder than I thought. And then, of course, the Chinese version should be out by the end of November. You can follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @HowToLiveInDK— the 2 is a number— or come leave a comment on howtoliveindenmark.com. See you next week. See you next week.
