Website of Finland’s environmental administration

Civic activity

Human activity always has some impact on the population, nature and its biodiversity, the built environment, the landscape or natural resources. Societal influencing begins with following common issues. The next step is participation.

Make sustainable choices in your everyday life

Everyday life can be made meaningful when one strives to realise oneself, share what one has and promote the common good. Climate change, overconsumption of natural resources, loss of nature and other sustainability problems can be overcome together.

Protect your local nature

Loss of nature is also a reality in Finland. You can influence the well-being of your local nature in many different ways. You can for instance do your gardening in an organic way, participate in nature management activities, or make observations about species.

Contribute to the well-being of waters

Finland is one of the most water-rich countries in the world and our waterways are in fairly good condition. However, water pollution and climate change are also problems for us. Among other things, droughts and algae blooms are increasing. Our consumption also saps the water resources of other countries. With your own actions, you can reduce water eutrophication, chemical loads, and other impacts of your water use.

Be mindful when purchasing goods and services

Consumption has expanded to the Internet and the marketing of products and services is sometimes aggressive. A smart consumer pays attention to their purchasing decisions, repairs and maintains the goods they own, and prefers borrowing and sharing.

Environmental impacts of projects must be identified and prevented

Projects subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) can be motorways, mines, waste treatment plants or wind farms. The legal procedure provides information on what the actualisation of a project would mean in practice and what its impact on the environment would be.