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Full-scale Scandinavian environmental friendliness

The inhabitants of the Nordic countries love and cherish their nature and themselves together with it. Let’s see how and in what it is expressed.

Local food

Vegetables are grown by professional farmers without the use of agricultural chemicals. Therefore, food products, for example, in Finland are among the safest.  The municipal authorities try their best to support such an ecological economy.

I paid attention to this point, being in Lahti (about 100 kilometres north-east of Helsinki) during one of my trips to Scandinavia. The vegetables grown by local farmers were on the shelves of the city supermarket. They look not so glossy-beautiful, but have a delicious taste and health benefits. Imports were represented by apples from Argentina, bananas from Ecuador and so on. And also there were the gifts of the forest: blueberries, blackberries, bog blueberries. And local strawberries were so excellent!

The similar eco-situation is in Norway. A good example is Bergen Food Festival/Bergen Matfestival, where we saw and tasted the abundance of farm products from the shores of the surrounding fjords.

Forest & its treasures

Forests in Finland cover almost 80% of the country. Of these, 2/3 are privately owned. State forest service consults landowners to correct the conduct of forest business and the protection of the environment. Well, non-owners can freely move through the forest on foot, on horseback or on skis, to collect mushrooms and berries.

Forests of Sweden are the basis of the economy of the Northern regions of the country. Therefore, according to Swedish forest law, the amount of reforestation must be exactly the same as the amount of logging.

Norway officially has a “zero deforestation” policy. In order to preserve the trees, the country refused to use palm oil and other products, for the manufacture of which it is necessary to destroy forests.

In recent years, Denmark has become one of the largest exporters of Christmas trees. In order to protect the forests from intensive commercial cultivation of this tree species, the nature conservation society has proposed a law to Parliament. Forest owners can use only 10% of their forest area to grow Christmas trees.

Waste recycling

It is a well-known fact that the processing of household garbage and industrial waste into electricity and building materials is a profitable business. The Swedes were so keen on the development of this industry that the shortage of their own garbage was appeared. So Sweden offered other countries to share this “valuable resource”, so, however, is mutually beneficial.

Eco-design

Ecology has left its positive imprint on fashion. Designers are passionate about designing eco-clothing-from flax, hemp and other natural materials. Scandinavian style prevails: classic + simplicity and, if possible, compliance with all the seasons.

Eco-capitals

Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo received statuses of European Green Capitals in 2010, 2014 and 2019 respectively. These honorary titles are given to cities by the authoritative Commission of the EU. It takes into account factors such as measures taken to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere, the degree of waste recycling, urban greening and other green growth initiatives.

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15 Comments

  1. An exhaustive article about eco-friendliness in the Nordic countries! I was interested in some details. I wish other countries that do not pay much attention to the ecology and healthy nutrition will follow their example…

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