Enabling sustainable choices
Participants in the life at 1.5 degrees campaign include:
Turku Energia, Arkea, Föli, Beyond challenge 2030 science competition, Library, Turku Climate Team, Eco-support, Visit Turku, Turku Museum Centre, Forum Marinum, Turku University of Applied Sciences, TVT Asunnot Oy, LSJH, area water utilities (Turku Region Water Ltd., Turun seudun puhdistamo Oy, Turun vesihuolto), Turku Student Village Foundation, The Baltic Sea Challenge, and VASO (Right-of-occupancy housing company of Southwest Finland).
Turkuseura, an organisation dedicated to the preservation of local culture, is the patron of the campaign.
Follow the campaign on the participants’ social media!
1. Move sustainably
Speedy electrification of Föli public transport
From 2021 about 3.4 million kilometres will be driven at Föli by quiet, zero-emission electric buses instead of diesel buses. Annual CO2 emissions will be reduced by 4,300 tons.
Read: Could public transport be your act on behalf of the environment?
Get to know Turku by walking
Turkuseura supports climate-friendly transport solutions and encourages residents to favour walking when they move about in the city. By walking you can see things that you would not see using any vehicle, not to mention the health benefits! As part of the campaign, Turkuseura is organising walks that will help people get to know their city easily on foot.
Read: Turkuseura to sponsor city's climate campaign (In Finnish)
2. Eat sustainably
Turning surplus food into new edibles
VASO, the Right-of-occupancy housing company of Southwest Finland, encourages its residents to take measures to reduce food waste and to cut down on the carbon footprint of living at VASO properties. VASO collects people's own waste-to-taste recipes and publishes the best of them.
Read: Sustainability indoors – Eat sustainably (In Finnish)
Renewable energy from biowaste
Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto (LSJH) takes part in the 1.5 Degree Life campaign by encouraging residents to sort their biowaste. We encourage and create possibilities for recycling biowaste, but it is the residents of the area who are taking real action on behalf of the environment by sorting the waste correctly. The campaign shows an example by looking at how LSJH personnel sort their biowaste:
Read: By sorting your biowaste you help create a carbon-neutral Turku (In Finnish)
Reducing the carbon footprint of school meals
Arkea has made changes to the menus of schools and day care centres, reducing the carbon footprints of individual meals by as much as 30-50%. The goal of Arkea has been to find ways of reducing the carbon footprint, while maintaining the tastiness and healthiness of the food. As part of the campaign, Arkea will challenge its own personnel to test low-carbon recipes at home, and to offer tips on ecological cleaning methods.
Read: Small changes have great effect on carbon footprint for school food (In Finnish)
3. Being a sustainable consumer and traveller
Library - a circular economy giant
The activities of libraries are inherently environmentally friendly, as they are based on the recycling of resources – a circular economy feature. Lending services are based on a circular economy – the recycling of different kinds of resources, such as books or objects that are shared. Personal ownership is not necessary, and everyone benefits from a wider selection. The library challenges its personnel to take part in the campaign in accordance with the “Don't buy anything” theme.
Read: Could the use of a library be your act on behalf of the environment? (In Finnish)
Local tourism and local services create sustainability
Visit Turku draws attention to local products and entrepreneurs and inspires travellers to use their services and to buy their products. Visit Turku also encourages local actors in tourism to invest in sustainability in their own activities.
Read: Visit Turku focuses on responsible services produced locally (In Finnish)
4. Live sustainably
Smart heat conservation
TVT's heating campaign will help you save in home heating costs. Twenty-one degrees is a healthy and energy-efficient room temperature in living areas. A suitable indoor temperature for the home improves the quality of living, and of indoor air. It also saves energy. Heat energy constitutes a significant part of rent costs and is the largest expense of TVT homes. If the temperature of a home is reduced by one degree, the annual savings in heating costs can be as much as 5%. As part of the campaign TVT is challenging its own personnel to take part in the “Green Challenge”.
Read: TVT taking part in the 1.5 degree campaign (In Finnish)
Tips on how you can save energy more efficiently
Turku Energia aims at carbon neutral energy production, while also encouraging residents to adopt smart energy use. It is easy for people to monitor their own energy consumption and in doing so, to identify what their energy is spent on. The electricity contract and the form of heating has a great impact on the environment. It is possible to start producing energy yourself.
Read: Saving energy begins when you know what you use energy for (In Finnish)
Shower challenge and carbon neutral residential area
The Turku Student Village Foundation (TYS) is challenging all of its residents and personnel to familiarise themselves with their own water consumption by handing out five-minute sandglass timers for measuring the time they spend in the shower. The student village puts great efforts into reducing emissions in other ways as well – for example, by using solar panels to produce some of the electricity that is used. The goal for the future is to have a neighbourhood that produces more energy than it consumes.
Read: Working together for sustainable student living – join the TYS shower challenge! (In Finnish)
Plenty of energy from wastewater
Turun seudun puhdistamo Oy has a negative carbon footprint. Energy produced from wastewater is ten times the amount that the wastewater treatment consumes. Heat is extracted from the wastewater and the sludge is recovered and utilised. The heat is used to produce district heating (and cooling). As much as 10% of the district heating used in Turku is pumped from wastewater. Sludge from urban wastewater is processed in a biogas plant and refined into liquefied biogas for transport.
A smaller carbon footprint from water
Turun vesihuolto Oy is reducing its carbon footprint through life cycle thinking and renovation technology that produces fewer emissions. The company favours sustainable pipe materials, and renovations are done in a way that requires the opening of as few streets as possible.
Fewer emissions from transporting water
Turku Region Water Ltd. Takes energy from the flow of water and its own solar panels to deliver water to consumers, using less energy in the process.
5. Taking climate solutions into use
Preservation and sustainable repairs benefit the environment also in construction
The Museum Services of the City of Turku nurtures its climate-friendly relationship with construction, building preservation, and renovation in Turku. As part of the campaign, Museum Services will arrange a social media challenge for residents.
Read: Museum Services help promote 1.5-degree life (In Finnish)
Eco-support helps promote environmentally friendly workplaces
The goal of Eco-support is to act on behalf of the environment at workplaces with the help of education, incentives, and peer support. In Turku, eco-supporters have, for example, streamlined or initiated waste recycling at their work premises, reduced paper consumption and energy use, drawn attention to modes of transport, and increased environmental consciousness among the work community, and organised campaigns to activate their units. As part of the campaign, Eco-support shares information on the climate actions taken at workplaces on its website.
Read: Eco-support activities set goals for environmental work at workplaces (In Finnish)
Skills and knowledge are decisive in climate matters
The Turku University of Applied Sciences is responding to climate change by providing important knowledge, skills, and solutions. Wielding an influence involves education and research, development, and innovation activities. The University of Applied Sciences is taking part in the 1.5-degree climate campaign of the City of Turku with its “Know and be effective”.
Read: In climate issues, competence is key
Science competition encourages students to create sustainable solutions!
The Beyond 2030 Challenge science competition is a magnificent opportunity for students in secondary education in Finland to develop solutions for the future together with institutions of higher education and private companies. The competition encourages young people to immerse themselves in an interesting sustainable development challenge and to create solutions that support the environment and society through means of science and technology.
Protecting the culture and environment of sea areas is a part of climate work
Alongside the warming of the atmosphere, the rise in sea levels is a massive challenge that we can all affect all influence through small actions. The theme of the year 2021 at the Forum Marinum is the Baltic Sea and the protection of waters, which can be seen at the 40,0000+ exhibition. Forum Marinum is taking part in the campaign under the theme of “Plastic-free Archipelago Sea”.
Read: Merikeskus luo ilmastokohtaamisia (In Finnish)