Finland has been making their best move!by | 20-10-2016 21:42 |
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 According to the 2016 Environmental Performance Index released at the World Economic Forum, with 180 countries being ranked, Finland is the leading country with the EPI score of 90,68. Prior to this, back in 2014, the nation only ranked #18, with its score recorded at 76,5. Significant improvements must have been made over these past 2 years, convincingly explaining to us why Finland should have implemented transformational strategies for a greener community most effectively. I went to an international game, and asked a few Finnish people, since I could not find what I really wanted on google (probably because I did not know how to search for it properly, my apology). So here are a few things that I think are worth mentioning. 1, Recycling: It is brilliant of the government to have implemented such an outstanding initiative that aims to get the public involved in the recycling. They recycle a multitude of bottles. How do they do that?  There is a machine at almost every shop. And when shoppers go to put their bottles in that machine, it will give them a receipt for an amount of money, and you can use that money later to purchase goods in that shop. For a developing country like mine, I have never heard of anything so interesting like that. 2, Education: It is compulsory for primary and secondary students to learn about environment protection. In highschool, there are only 1-2 courses on this, but they are optional. In doing so, everyone gets basic knowledge of the importance of environment, making it easier to get them involved in "green" activities in the future.  A typical example of how high public awareness of environment preservation in Finland is an increase in the number of people riding to work instead of driving their car. The goverment does not want to force their demographics. All they do is to propose such a method. And yet, it does work when people start giving up their own vehicles gradually. 3, Emission Reduction (This is also what the government has been heading for): The government sets the limit for the amount of C02 and other exhausted gases that a car can produce. In other words, in order to get your car pass the legal inspection, you have to make sure that it is environmental friendly enough to the air. If it releases more than required, you will not be allowed to drive it. The responsibility to keep the level of emission low belongs to the producers of the cars. If it exceeds the limit, the producers need to pay 40 euro per every additional gram. On average, in 2015, 123,6 gram of CO2 per km was released. And the goal for 2020 is 95g/km. There is also this kind of law for factories. Also, as regards car drivers, there is a diesel tax for cars running on this fuel, which means the more their cars contribute to the pollution, the more they have to pay. What's more, like I have mentioned above, the government encourages people to ride a bike to reduce emission. Besides that, the public transportation here is fairly systematic. Buses are provided everywhere, and students living far away from the school have free access, or discounts, to public transportation. This not only helps minimize the disadvantage of riding a bike, or parents taking children to school in their own car, but also makes it safe and keeps the pollution at a certain level. 4, Energy Saving: When you go to a shopping mall, you can find stickers attached everywhere with a "green" message on them. Electrical devices turn themselves off automatically, or reduce the power, when they are not used. Personally, I do not think these are new things, but I still have to mention in order to give you various insights. 5, Campaigns: Campaigns are also incredibly vibrant. One of the best "green" project runners is Motiva Ltd,. They are a corporation with a view to promoting energy efficiency.  They have conducted many a few projects, such as ones that encourage citizens to reduce the usage of the heater because it takes 50% of the whole amount of energy you consume, or to save water, Earth day,... In addition, they also have an 'energy consultation', where you can ask for advices on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle, which is especially helpful for companies whose objective is to build an environmental friendly image. They help their customers to achieve measureable and permanent cost savings. They offer services that range from practical level support to energy management consulting. Their customers include industry, service sector and public organizations. Moreover, they provide hands-on training, virtual trainings and tailored energy efficiency seminars. You can find out more on their website: http://www.motiva.fi/en 6, Punishment for lawbreakers: Protecting the environment is everyone's responsiblity. If someone breaks the laws, they will get fined, or may even go to fail, depending on the damages. And people's attitudes towards those will change negatively. Also, it is completely strict on waste management. Take Talvivaara - a mining business company - for example. They did not manage the waste well, and they even dumped harmful chemical substances into nature, making the citizens turn their back on them. There have been a number of protesters that go for closing the company. 7, Externalities:  8, Helpful Information: The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies. This index was developed from the Pilot Environmental Performance Index, first published in 2002, and designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. 9, Some thoughts about Singapore - The greenest country in Asia: Yes, we all know they have made a good job in environment preservation. We can also see their name in the top list for EPI. In 2014, I luckily had the chance to visit the country and gained some useful knowledge of their approaches to nature protection. So besides the strict laws, they had a few buildings equiped with energy-saving technical devices at that time, and were aiming for more of these. Also, they had grass on the wall in order to reduce the greenhouse effects. They carried out campaigns that encouraged the citizens to bring a plastic bag with them whenever they went shopping in order to reduce the usage of plastic bags, turn your lights, fans, TV s,... off whenever you did not use them anymore, even if just for a minute, Earth day,... I still remember the first impression on the country was that it was so clean. I went out all day long, and yet there was no dirt under my shoes! And you can see that the country ranked very high in 2014. They still appeared on the chart this year, but it seems like their improvements have not been quite outstanding, judging from these figures. But still, great job Singapore! <3 _______________________________________________ P/s: I apologize for the late report. I have been busy with exams, and also please make allowances for my shortcomings in my report. Some aspects in my report may not be true for everyone, since I only asked a few Finnish citizens whether they found the approaches effective enough or not.
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