A Friendly Reminder

When I heard the news that Forterra had helped conserve a Girl Scout camp in Grays Harbor County, I thought to myself, "I know that place!"

Sure enough, Camp Klahanee, for which Forterra recently purchased the conservation easement, is the camp I was invited to visit by my cousin's Girl Scout troop in 2006. The news of the purchase brought back memories of my trip to the camp and why I had been invited there in the first place.

In late 2005, at my cousin's request, my mom and I gave a presentation to the troop about Finland. It was a fun evening as we shared information about the country and our experiences there. The next summer, the troop invited us to Camp Klahanee as thanks for our presentation. Set in a forest, the camp is beautiful and quiet. We had a great time at the troop's picnic.

As the Forterra press release explains, "Klahanee" means "friendship" in the Chinook language. Thus, the news was a friendly reminder of some happy experiences from the past and of the importance of conserved land in providing space for community building. Through a partnership with the Polson Park and Museum Historical Society, Forterra has ensured that Camp Klahanee will continue to serve as such a space.

A reminder that our environment offers us opportunities to grow and connect is a great way to end one year and look ahead to another.

A Simple Language with a Lot of Meaning

Actions don't just speak louder than words, in our communication with our environment, they are the words, and yes, they speak very loudly.

When I tell people I study environmental communication, I often get the same question (or at least, variations on it). "You mean, like talking to trees?" they'll ask. In return, I always say yes. I do so partly because I mean it, partly because I do talk to trees, and partly because I love watching the other person's reaction when I give their facetious question a serious answer.

After picking up How Nature Speaks: The Dynamics of the Human Ecological Condition, a book edited by Chuck Dyke and Finnish professor Yrjö Haila, I think I'll have to adjust my response. In the introduction to the book, Haila and Dyke make the point that "human relationships with the rest of nature begin with deeds, not words." That struck me as a simultaneously simple and profound statement. It's simple because it gives people a concrete concept (their actions) that they know intimately to understand an idea that can sound as abstract and foreign as talking to trees. Haila and Dyke's idea is profound because it can unlock a series of deep and meaningful interactions that alter how we see and relate to our environment. As it turns out, we all talk to trees and our other fellow inhabitants of the environment all the time, and we can do it without speaking a word. 

To take the idea further, Haila and Dyke also explain that the environment and other species speak and respond to us as well. Just like with us, their language comes in the form of actions. My cat says thanks for food by curling up on my lap. On a larger scale, we call the release of methane by thawing permafrost a "feedback loop" to our own release of greenhouse gases and subsequent warming of the atmosphere.

The next time I get asked if I study people talking to trees, I'll probably ask the person what they have said to and heard from trees lately. Maybe then, we'll have a discussion of how actions, particularly in environmental communication, say so much.

Reflecting on 10 Years of Blogging

What do you do after you have to create a blog for a class assignment and that class ends? If you're a tree-hugger with Finnish heritage, the obvious answer is to retitle it envirofinn and write about the environment for at least 10 years.

For the 2010 spring semester of my Ph.D. studies, I had to start a blog in my rhetoric class. It was simply a blog about assigned readings. Since I didn't have any more of those after the class ended, I decided to take the blog in a new direction on May 19, 2010. I thought it could become a good place to collect and share information about the environment.

Looking back on the last decade of envirofinn, I realize how much I put into its development and maintenance. It turned into a lot more than an information hub. I liked the template I chose so much, I haven't changed it once despite having many new options. The fall theme is just too me. Plus, I think it still looks nice. Besides, I spent a great deal of time trying to find the perfect color scheme for the text, and when I finally found it, I didn't want to let it go. I'm also quite fond of the envirofinn flag I created by adding the green of the blog to the Finnish flag.

A lake in Repovesi National Park reflects
a partly cloudy sky over Finland.

Yes, a lot of myself went into this blog. Eventually, the posts evolved from sharing resources, tips, and events to covering some of my personal experiences and growth as well. A few highlights included going to Finland in 2012 and coming back with material for several posts and the series from summer 2015 that chronicled my coming to terms with the age of global warming.

Some posts also recorded professional accomplishments and development. For instance, I used the blog to announce that I had published a journal article about environmental communication. In addition, I covered my work with Initiative 1631, Carbon Washington, The Nature Conservancy in Washington, and the Black Hills Audubon Society. In short, envirofinn contains some major pieces of my life even though it continues to be a place where I share resources, tips, and events. It probably helped me further my understanding of the environment as much as it helped anyone else learn where to recycle something or how to buy reusable shopping bags.

One thing I take extra pride in is the fact that I have made at least one post in each of the last 120 months. I may not post as often as I once did, but it remains important to me to keep the streak going.

A lot has happened since its inception, but looking toward the future, envirofinn will continue exploring our connection with the environment.

Finnish-ing off Cars

Maybe my love of ideas, interest in environmental issues, and dislike of cars come from my genes.

Finland has made much news lately for its environmental initiatives. Last month, it committed to a binding 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions. Now, Helsinki, its capital city, makes a move to eliminate the need for individual citizens to own cars. All those plans have left me even more proud of my Finnish heritage.

Helsinki's initiative shows what happens when people commit to the development of ideas. The city plans to capitalize on the country's innovative approach to technology as it makes its public transportation highly responsive to individual needs. According to this article from The Guardian, by 2025, Helsinki residents will have the ability to coordinate, plan, and pay for all their public transportation use with a single smart-phone app.

The vision Helsinki has for its transportation system challenges the need for private car ownership. By making the necessary changes in its infrastructure and embracing the potential of new technologies, the city will trump the convenience of the car, reducing the environmental impacts associated with transportation.

As a Finn, I'm excited about the thriving, environmentally friendly community Helsinki intends to build, but the great thing about ideas like this is that we don't need DNA to pass them on; all it takes is a blog entry and some forward thinking.

The Non-conquering Hero

She had the world in her hands and set it free.

Sports and power go hand in hand. In most sports, athletes struggle to assert their power over each other. The most successful athletes also tend to achieve social power and standing beyond the arena or the field of play. Fans revere them and see them as models for how to live. Some athletes become influential in politics.

Finland recently attempted to give an Olympic medalist power over nature, but her response turned the power structure on its head. According to this story from Finnish news outlet Yle, snowboarding silver medalist Enni Rukajärvi was offered land for a house as a reward for her success. She declined and said she asked only for "pure nature."

It's not completely clear what Rukajärvi's request includes, but her revision of tradition certainly calls into question the hierarchy that encourages the development of nature for human consumption. With it, she has placed greater value on the natural world than on humans' long-asserted privilege to control and manage the environment.

Nature has a special power, and thanks to a Finnish snowboarder, there's a place in the world where that power will remain.

Love in the Open Air

It may be my Finnish roots, but I think cross-country skiing would make a great activity for a date.

That is the thought I had today after reading about some outdoor date ideas from Tales from a Mountain Mama (Family). The site focuses on ideas for interacting with nature as a family. It also contains reviews of products that can make those experiences better.

One of my goals is to learn to cross-country ski, and I think that kind of skiing would make for a unique shared experience of the outdoors with someone.

Talk about putting a Nordic spin on romance.

Last Stop

After making my last post about how Finland plans to stop using coal by 2025, I found the following article from the National Wildlife Federation quite a contrast.

The article talks about how coal companies in the United States are looking for ways to ship coal to Asia. I had known about this for some time because the primary train routes chosen by those companies go through the Pacific Northwest. Although I'm glad that my region has stood up to the health and environmental threat this plan represents, it is discouraging to see that the coal companies are finding routes through places that are more willing to take on these risks.

Interestingly, as Finland strategizes on how to do away with coal and replace it with renewable energy, the United States looks for ways to keep spreading the impact of coal. Continuing to use coal keeps us from taking important steps to improving our lives, our society, and our environment, and giving coal a wider footprint by shipping it around the world only makes the situation worse.

One has to wonder if we intend to ever move from the old approaches that have depleted resources and damaged our environment.

Coal is Finnish-ed

As some of you may know, I am quite proud of my Finnish heritage. The great thing is that the Finns keep giving me more reasons to feel that pride.

Finland has the world's best education system. It gives its people quality healthcare. In addition, it has some of the lowest levels of political corruption and some of the highest levels of business competition and innovation.

Yesterday, I found out that Finns are taking yet another step in leading the world. In this news article, it is reported that Finland will stop using coal for energy by 2025. In doing so, it will likely become the first European country to kick the coal habit. What is more, Finns will replace the coal-generated energy with power produced by renewable sources.

I'm very glad to see Finland making this commitment. Hyvä.

My Souvenirs

I had intended to wrap up my Finland posts earlier this month, but I keep finding new things about it to discuss. Today's entry was inspired by a post from Go Explore Nature.

In its post, Go Explore Nature talks about the idea of collecting moments, not things. As I thought about it, I realized that the idea almost perfectly expressed my experience of Finland.

The only "thing" I bought on the entire trip was an electrical adapter. However, I brought back so much more. I took more than 1,500 photos (I've included two more from Repovesi National Park in this post); I kept a journal with detailed descriptions of each day; I added about 90 names to my family tree; I soaked up Helsinki, my favorite city in the world; I made nature a central focus of the trip; and I got to spend a third of the time with my wonderful Finnish relatives, who epitomized hospitality and introduced me to new things like snorkeling and orienteering. In addition, I shared the whole thing with my mom.

While I was experiencing the trip and then when I was looking back on it, the word full kept coming to mind. I know I got about as much out of the trip as I possibly could. It was completely satisfying, and I didn't need to buy one thing there to have that feeling. Instead, I took in as much as I could at a comfortable pace and enjoyed the connections to nature and family. It was a complete experience, and it even surpassed the fun of my earlier trip to Finland, during which I actually did buy souvenirs.

The Finland trip of 2012 was my life's greatest experience to this point, and by making it about moments, not things, I captured that feeling to hold through the life chapters yet to come.

Finally, I would just like to say that I cannot thank my mom and my Finnish family enough. Without them, this amazing experience would not have happened. I love them; I love Finland; I love nature; and in the end, I think my experience of this trip was really about all that love coming together.

Our Communities, Our Lives

In my last post, I talked about how Turku, Finland, had created a community where bicyclists felt comfortable leaving their bikes unchained, and that entry got me thinking a little more about what the city had done.

Essentially, Turku made it easy for people to use bikes as a primary mode of transportation. In other words, bicycling was a valued priority. Another priority was an emphasis on outdoor activity in general. Aurajoki, a key river of the Turku area, flows through the city and has been turned into the center point for walking and bicycling. Well-maintained paths line both sides of the river, and they are used frequently. Check out the photos below:

My guess is that these paths are used for cross-country skiing and other snow-related activities in the winter.

Overall, Turku has committed to and created a safe, healthy, and environment-connected community for its residents. Clearly, their design for the area intentionally focused on these concerns, and once the heart of the design was identified, they set about making it a reality.

The message is that environmental efforts are about our desires for a high quality of life and a healthy environment. If think those things are indeed priorities, we have to make them happen.

Bike Ownership

A bicyclist from Portland, Ore., is finding some YouTube fame for tracking down his stolen bike and helping police arrest the alleged thief. Check out the news article.

This story interests me for two reasons. First, it reminds me of my trip to Finland. While in Turku, the country's fifth largest city (178,784 people as of 31 January 2012), I was impressed with the number of bikes in use (even on really rainy days) and that very few people locked up their bikes. I only remember seeing one bike chained to something. The rest of the parked bikes, as you can tell from the pictures below, were simply left with the belief that they would be there when the owners returned.

When I saw these bikes in Finland, I thought about how different it was for bicyclists in the United States, and I realized that the Finns truly had ownership over their community. They had created and maintained a situation where they could feel safe and connected enough to trust people.

That brings up the second reason Oregon's YouTube bike saga interests me. The man whose bike was stolen expresses a strong sense of ownership of the bike, and it is clear he wants to fight for a community where that ownership is respected. US society may not yet have developed a culture in which a bicyclist can leave a bike unattended without worrying about it, but the more people show that we will not accept a culture where bike ownership is not respected, the closer we will be to enjoying the benefits of bicycling. Without question, that is the type of community we should all have.

Finnish VP

I'll end this series of entries on my Finland trip with a news story that is actually about the United States. However, since I saw the story in Finland and it probably received as much attention there as it did in the US, it still counts as part of my Finnish experience.

The news is that the US Green Party's vice presidential nominee will be a Finnish-American woman. Born into poverty in Minnesota, Cheri Honkala is an advocate for poor people's rights (she and Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein were just arrested for protesting housing foreclosures).

Honkala's ancestors immigrated to the US from Finland. You can read an English-language version of the news article about her nomination on Finnish news outlet Yle's Web site by clicking here.

As a fellow Finnish-American and an environmentalist, I find the news exciting.

Making the Connection

When I was in Finland, I saw the following advertisement a number of times. It's actually not focused on Finland, but since I saw it there, I am including it in the blogs about my trip.

The ad comes from the World Wildlife Fund, and I think it's really cool. It focuses on the relationship between humans and nature, emphasizing what we have in common. Also, it is simple and to the point but emotionally powerful.

Check it out:

See Ice Melt

In July, record ice melt was recorded in Greenland. High levels of melting occurred at two different times during the month (click here for details).

As it turned out, my mom and I were flying over and taking pictures of Greenland during the second big melt. We were returning from Finland and got some photos of icebergs breaking away from and melting ice pooling up on Greenland's glaciers.

I was glad to get the pictures because with melting events like those experienced last month, I'm not sure how much longer such pictures will be possible.

Here is a picture of some icebergs heading out to sea from the east coast of Greenland:

This is a picture of some of the meltwater pooling up in the middle of the country's southern region:

Finnish Design and the Environment

Finns take design seriously (check out their bridges and the glass from Iittala), and they have a knack for creating things that are both functional and cool to look at.

A Finnish company called Think Today takes design even further by focusing on the use of scrap and recycled materials. My mom saw some of its products in a gift shop at the railway station in Helsinki.

The company makes things such as handbags, place mats, mouse pads, coat racks, coasters, and clocks out of scrap materials like wallpaper, laminate, and ceramic tiles. Using the materials helps make sure less is wasted. The cool design (often with a nature theme) of the products makes them a great example of upcycling.

You can check out the English version of Think Today's Web site by clicking here.

The Art of Nature in Finland

Nature has a strong influence on Finnish life, including the country's art.

Jean Sibelius, Finland's famous composer, took much inspiration from nature, and a lot of the art from the country is based on environmental themes and images.

When I was in Turku at the Aboa Vetus and Ars Nova Museum, I saw an exhibit by Finnish artist Kaisu Koivisto. Koivisto uses many different types of art, including photographs, sculptures, and video. The exhibit, titled Loud Silence, included photographs of Soviet Cold War buildings and missile sites that are being overgrown by nature.

Another piece, called The Absorption of Pollution, is made of cow horns. The piece is moved to different places around the world, sits outside, and collects pollution from those areas. It changes as more pollution is collected.

Reintroducing the Species is a part of the exhibit that focuses on the idea of bringing cows back to Staten Island, where they could be found on farms several decades ago. Koivisto made cows out of blankets, placed them around the area, and took photographs of them.

Koivisto also keeps nature in mind when creating her art. She reuses (upcycles) old materials to make her pieces. To see and learn more about her work, check out her Web site.

Finns and Photography

While in Finland, I took a lot of pictures and found some Finns who also like to take photos.

Pirjo Natunen lives in Lapland, Finland's far north, and her photographs often focus on nature. She even has some great shots of the Northern Lights. Check out her Web site by clicking here.

Greger Grönroos photographs a variety of subjects, including nature. It was fun to walk around Porvoo with him, snap pictures, and talk photography. You can see his pictures on Flickr by clicking here.

Finn Focus

I just returned from a visit to Finland, so my next blog entries will focus on that trip. It is great because I get to talk a little more about the Finn part of envirofinn.

Finland gives many chances to go outside and experience nature, and I tried to take as many of those opportunities as I could. I had a great time everywhere I went.

Here is a picture of a lake in Repovesi National Park. I really liked the walk around the park. The sights are similar to those in the Pacific Northwest.

This is a picture of a field near Turku, Finland's former capital. The yellow and the green were pretty together.

Finally, this picture shows the coastline of the Gulf of Finland near Kotka in the country's southeastern region. (Thanks to my cousin for showing the place to me.)

There is more to come, so stay tuned.

On the Hour in Finland

Last Saturday, Earth Hour was observed around the world, including in Finland. Below is a video of various places in Finland going dark. I really like the shot where the Helsinki Cathedral lights are switched off, leaving the beautiful building in silhouette at twilight.

Films about the Environment and (Love?)

This year, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital will mark its 20th year. The festival runs March 13-25.

Included in the great collection of films is A Fierce Green Fire, which I blogged about last month. Another entry of interest to me is Moomins and the Comet Chase, which comes from Finland. Moomin characters are huge there.

The last film I'll mention (be sure to check out the full list) is Expedition Blue Planet: North America, which caught my eye because the film's director, Alexandra Cousteau (pictured), caught my eye. She is the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau, which automatically gives her coolness; but on top of that, I think I'm in love. She definitely has my vote as the face of environmentalism.

On a more serious note, if you're going to be around Washington, DC, during the middle of March, keep the film festival in mind. Even if you can't make the festival, think about seeing what films are on the schedule and maybe trying to view them somewhere else.