photo by Helena Kääriäinen
report by Dr. Armi Temmes, Activist Granny, Helsinki
This year the Finnish Activist Grannies work on the theme of moderation – dream of moderate consumption in the world allowing for sufficient resources for all. Indeed, many researchers use the word sufficiency for the concept and on macro level it is related to the idea of de-growth. Moderation is one of the core principles of Activist Grannies.
In October we organized an open seminar on moderation trying to open some of the views. We had excellent speakers from both the academic world and the sphere of culture and an audience of approximately 80 people.
Dr. Toni Ruuska (University of Helsinki) shared with us his views on the need to understand better where our food comes from. In his own life he strives for self-sufficiency. His lifestyle makes visible the huge amount of external resources, including fossil fuels, that is needed for our present food system. His lifestyle is not possible for all, but we can try to recover the skills to produce our own food and the understanding of its origins to improve the sustainability of food and minimize waste.
Prof. Arto O. Salonen (University of Eastern Finland) criticized our lifestyle where we always want to have “a little bit more”, mainly because of external pressures. His main message was that each of us must define what is sufficient for our own lives and differentiate between needs and wants.
Minna Lindgren, a well-known author and radio journalist, advocated for culture as source of good life, good health and enjoyment with very little impact on the environment. Her humoristic and wise talk made the audience see the connection between health and climate is a theme that also the medical specialists of Activist grannies have stressed in the discussions.
The talks and the following discussion let us feel that striving for moderate consumption and sufficiency in our lives is worthwhile and necessary. The next steps of Activist grannies include working for practical advice on how to create a path towards sufficiency.