Trees on board -Global future of sustainable paper
Paper team: Milla Airosalmi; archaeology, Kati Heikkonen; contemporary history, Tiina Jaatinen; business law, Elsa Kangaspunta; law, Heli Marttila; italian language and culture, Iida Pyykkö; geography, Fanny Suominen; ecology, Kaisa Voipio; geography
Realistic future 2050
Ecological future 2050
Science is base for policy first politics
implemented internationally but locally adjusted.
International regulations make companies
responsible for whole production chain, making
abuse on nature and human rights nearly
impossible.
Paper- and pulp industry proved circular economy
to be realistic possibility and is in use.
Paper products are leading the way with closed
product lifecycle while recycling and reusing are
prevailing practices, leading consuming to prefer
services over products.
Disposable product demand has partially vanished
and the industry does not employ as many workers
as in the past, but new sustainable products have
secured stable employment.
‘Environmentally conscious’ values are trendy, but
under the surface is throwaway culture.
BoP is heavily used in marketing, while industries
have re-modelled most products to seem sustainable.
Those disliking the hidden throwaway culture face
belittling from those fine with it.
Industries lobby to stale political decisions: main
reason for overall worsening state of environment.
International cooperation has intensified leading
measures against illegal economy and corruption
globally.
Bio economy, mainly powered with fossil fuels and
nuclear energy, is used to ‘greenwash’.
Paper- and pulp products have secured place which
provides steady employment.
Unsustainable future 2050
It’s the golden age of throwaway culture.
Paper- and pulp industry is reaping fast profits with
disposable products while recycling is optional and
people aren’t expected to do it.
Most natural resources are nearly exhausted while some
are used up and climate change has intensified causing
most of the IPCC:s worst scenarios to happen.
Deforestation is quick and rainforest have almost
disappeared.
People have lost political power for companies, who
own nations by controlling their debts. NGOs are
powerless and human rights are ignored. Who has
money, has the power: transnational companies dictate
international and national politics as they own natural
resources or can buy them at will.
Paper & Pulp industry rank to World’s
4th largest industrial energy user, and it
also needs plenty of water
Tissue is produced mainly
from virgin fiber, which is
a really unsustainable way
to produce, e.g. toilet
paper.
In practice, it means that every
day nearly 270 000 trees are
flushed down the toilet.
Tropical forests
produce more than a
quarter of
assimilation
generated oxygen
and regulate the
planet's climate
How do the dimensions of sustainability connect with paper?
There are four different dimensions of sustainability: ecological, social, cultural and economical. Each of
them has several definitions. One of the most important things we realized this year was that all of the
previous are bound and overlapping, just like the roots of the trees in this poster.
One can't examine sustainability of paper without thinking all of the dimensions and all things related to
them. This makes the processing of sustainability tricky business, but we believe that with a co-operation
of all dimensions sustainable solutions are possible. Here we have gathered some examples of more
sustainable solutions
The bio economy
The bio economy is said to be the future of pulp business.
The companies are already producing products (bio fuels,
bio energy) from secondary materials such as waste, used
paper and packaging and woodchips. The Finnish
government plans to make the bio economy Finland's next
Nokia by creating 100 000 jobs and massive profits in ten
years. The bio economy still has many problems including
the usage of virgin materials and the use of the word "bio" as
greenwashing. The production needs to be truly sustainable
from the view of the nature and forests. Still it is an example
of a compromise that has to be done to achieve more
sustainable production without a major decrease in the
profit.
One culture on the go, please
Over 500 billion disposable cups are manufactured globally
every year. Disposable products create an enormous amount
of waste and emissions. Product lifecycle includes raw
material extraction, manufacture, transport, retail, recycle or
reuse, separation, and finally waste management. Is it really
necessary to make a new cup for your coffee each time? After
all making one reusable KeepCup requires the energy and
material of the making of about 20 disposable cups and lids.
Drinking takeaway coffee on the go, is an admirable thing and
to sit down to have a cup of coffee would be an automatic
signal of unproductivity and laziness. We have created this
culture with our daily life choices and determination and its
changeable. What kind of culture do you want to support?
Social justice to workers – Finnish style
The rights of the workers, basic income and safety in the
workplace are guaranteed by the Finnish law and usually well
executed. In addition to legal protection Finnish workers are
also secured by the trade union named Paperiliitto. It makes
sure that every member has at least basic income in case of
unemployment and enough training and knowledge regarding
their profession. Paperiliitto also does lobbying and it can be
seen as a problem because the Finnish paper workers already
have very good salaries and benefits compared to workers in
other countries.
Paperiliitto could try lobbying the same rights to the workers
abroad who are employed by Finnish companies to achieve
globally more sustainable working conditions.