Competition on practical solutions

It is very often that we have come up with a very good and practical solution in our own daily work and we do not even think of marketing it to others. This is partly because we are too shy or modest, but also we do not want to see the trouble of going out with it. To address this situation, a competition on practical solutions is organized. The competition’s goal is to bring together the solution providers and new customers in the Baltic and Nordic countries.

Practical solutions to climate change -competition is targeted at the Baltic Sea Region and the Nordic countries is searching for new or as yet unestablished business concepts, practices and technologies to assist municipalities and other local and regional actors to better control the effects of climate change. The competition winners will gain publicity, customer contacts, and concrete expert assistance in the marketing of their own solutions.

The competition is looking for projects that would

• combat climate change,
• support local and regional economics, employment and general well-being,
• lead to concrete changes in the practices of the municipalities and their residents, and
• can be broadly implemented as a successful measure.

Competition entries do not have to meet all of the criteria. The competition is part of the ‘Solutions local, together’ Conference. Do not hesitate to take part in it!

Degrowth for my family?

Encouraged by couple of friends, Lucas had started to read about degrowth.fi -project. It sounded so interesting. After getting into the topic, Lucas was all mixed up, as he was thinking of how to create well-being and employment for himself without thinking of economic growth? He knew that the mega trends of the future are expected to be environmental, wellness and security sectors. And what ever he was to start should use minimal resources. Following this logic, would the service sector be the only one that would answer to the limitations ahead?

Lucas became aware that the family consumption follows mostly the wishes of children. The entire taxation policy of Finland over the last years has guided people to consume more. This had also raised children and youngsters as a key focus group of marketing. Lucas noticed that his children have been truly influenced by the media. Also the peer pressure his children experienced daily at school guided their consumption in many cases. "Something has to be done to that or otherwise we are just fooling ourselves without changing our consumption patterns at all", thought Lucas. The double standards that he noticed in his family had to be changed, but how?

It is one thing to say that you are supporting sustainable development, but still you are saving for a trip to South, as your kids and friends expect you to do so. Lucas was not an exception yet, was anyone really?

Hey you - solution hero!

Tomorrow on the World Environmental day 5.6. - the world is in need of not only climate heroes, but also exceptional individuals advocating solutions for all environmental issues. We are all challenged to change our habits and make a difference. For this plenty of events are organized around the globe.

But where are the heroes that have true solutions in their pockets? We have gone through many proposals for the programme of the Solutions local, together Conference. Everyone has their own idea of what is a solution and this makes the selection of the presentations even harder. It is our utmost aim to be solution focused and require more than before. We need to be able to reach another level of discussion and be very practical. I am sure we are ready for that in the Baltic Sea Region.

Very soon we are able to reveal some of the side events of our conference. So stay tuned - meanwhile look for the solution hero inside yourself!

Wanted: New Fresh Ideas & Ways

Wood, metal, paper - or maybe something softer? All would allow the use of recycled material and they would also be further recyclable. On the course they had spent days on thinking and calculating what would be lucrative business to start. They had visited several fairs to get ideas but somehow most of the stalls sold the same ideas. Lucas has discussed the issue also at home and with friends, and they had given valuable comments. Hmm...

At the end it wasn't too hard to make the decision. Lucas knew what he wanted to do, and more importantly what he didn't. He also remembered the lady with inner spirit.

"We have never done anything like that before.", "It is going to cost you a lot.", "We are not interested as the amount is so small." Lucas was getting frustrated - where are all the innovative ways of thinking that our country is famous for? Do you know?

Speed dating of local authorities

Conferences offer a good platform for speed dating, that is for quickly creating a network of people that can be then further improved. The continuation of the "dating" depends then on both of the parties and their interests. Very often, the connections done create a spin that will have real results only after some time has passed.

Different declarations, such as now the latest declaration that has come out of the Sustainable cities and towns conference in Dunkerque, France stress the need of innovative, sustainable and inclusive communities. The unifying of the message that comes from the local authorities is a challenging task, as we need a permanent speed dating of local authorities on different levels. This means that we should be focused on our efforts when we try to influence on legislations, EU programmes etc. Lobbying is to be done by all of us!

Solutions local, together - conference offers an excellent speed dating spot for the Baltic Sea Region to get our actions together and have a direct discussion between the different levels, as all of the levels will be there. We can take the talk to the actions and show that if we look on the actions together - we are all winners.

A solution for everyone

Over 70 proposals for the solutions to be presented at the conference were received during the open call for solutions. This is more then we dared to expect! The results are now being evaluated and the Nordic group of the Conference is adding more good examples from their respective countries. The mixture that will be offered during the conference will be great.

The topics of education and climate change processes were the most popular out of the 12 different topics under Earth, Water, Air and Fire. It reflects well that the focus in Finland has been on those topics for the past years. The proposals received are all approaching the sustainable solutions from very interesting perspectives. I am sure everyone attending the conference will find something for their own use.

If you feel that you have still a solution that should be share to others - contact us!

Inner spirit

Weeks had gone really quickly since the course had started. Many new issues have been thought and now it was time to transfer the new knowledge to actual work - Lucas had started his internship at the local enterprise.

The owner was a lady with a long background of working and who had seen many changes in attitudes and ways of behavior over the years. Sometimes it had been really hard to make a living and she had been near to closing down. But somehow she had kept the spirit going on and had managed to get by.

The lady told Lucas that the thing that keeps her going is the inner spirit she has for the work. This Lucas has seen many times in her when she was talking to the customers or was wondering how to solve a problem caused by an assignment. Love for the work, told the lady, was the secret. Lucas wanted to have that too in his future job what ever that was going to be, but how to get it?