The article examines how the Finnish forest debate is publicly evaluated in a meta-discourse that is part of the debate. By way of the meta-discourse, the fragmented forest debate is condensed into interpretative packages that summarize what the debate is about as well as what is wrong with it. The frame analysis presented in the article examines meta-discourse from newspapers and press releases between 2023 and 2025. The study shows that mainly actors close to the forest sector have been eager to evaluate the state of the forest debate. Three frames that structure how the debate is evaluated were identified from the research material. The polarization frame evaluated the forest debate from a perspective complaining about its escalation into divisive confrontations. The fairness frame drew attention to how forest owners and those working in the forest sector were treated in the debate. The rationality frame evaluated the debate from the perspective of facts and ideological distortions.
In the early 2020s, the energy peat tax increase unpredictably forced many of the Finnish energy peat businesses to shutdown in a short notice, causing economic losses and a heated public discussion. This article investigates the discourses found in this discussion and analyzes them with the theoretical concepts of the sacred and heritage. Sacred is utilized to nominate things that are socially set apart, indispensable, and normative. Heritage refers to a cultural process of attaching meaning and signifiance to specific culturally important elements. The combination of these concepts explains both the cultural significance attached to peat industry, and the ensuing heated discussion. The peat industry was opposed and defended through discourses that nominated certain things as sacred: climate, economic aspects, preparedness, justice and tradition. Especially the last discourse, which sacralised the peat industry as heritage, illuminated the valuations and meanings held by the people involved in the industry and which were dismissed during the phase-out of the industry. This article proposes, that recognizing and acknowledging the concepts of sacred and heritage may significantly support the transition towards a more sustainable society. Neglecting these may result in turbulent transitions, as evident in the examined shutdown of energy peat industry.
Although green infrastructure is widely recognized in land use planning, applicable indicators are needed to safeguard its values especially in densely populated areas. The 3–30–300 rule, the EU's restoration regulation and soil strategy stress the importance of canopy cover and vegetated surfaces in balancing urban growth and green infrastructure. We follow these indicators and study how canopy cover and impervious surfaces can be used to assess the green structure of residential areas. We analyzed three neighborhoods in Tampere: Ranta-Tampella housing area, infill development of Tammela, and Hervantajärvi suburban area. We examine green infrastructure using spatial data analysis and supplementary field observations. We compare the results with reference cities and studies and recommendations on the adequacy of green infrastructure. Tampere's results remain below recommended levels and align with similar studies on dense residential areas. The areas have a canopy cover of 3,7–28,3% and an impervious surface of 57,3–78,0%. It is notable that the results are fairly consistent across all case areas, irrespective of building efficiency or location. Sustainable urban growth requires greater emphasis on site characteristics and green infrastructure in planning and construction. Securing and increasing canopy cover and permeable surfaces provide a good tool for this.
This commentary examines Kunnas, Mäkinen and Sulkava’s (2026) proposal to restore the natural environments of Finland’s eastern border as a policy that integrates ecological, economic and security‑political objectives. It highlights the role of restoration in strengthening biodiversity, rebuilding carbon sinks, supporting rural vitality, and embedding environmental and climate security within the broader framework of comprehensive security. At the same time, it critically assesses the assumptions underlying the defensive use of natural barriers. Historical analogies offer useful insights, but applying them to today’s security environment requires caution given the technological transformation of warfare. Particular attention is paid to the altered terrain logic of drone warfare and to the ethical and political questions raised by the militarisation of nature. This critical analysis is situated within a wider security debate in which hybrid operations, cyber interference and information warfare challenge border‑centric security thinking. Ultimately, restoration emerges primarily as an ecologically and climatically justified policy whose potential security benefits are significant yet limited.
This article explores dumpster diving as a multisensory and embodied experience and skill. Based on sensory autoethnographic fieldwork, research literature, and social media contents, the study analyzes multisensory dimensions of dumpster diving in relation to social norms, shame, and the cultural construction of waste. Dumpster diving is shown to transcend economic or ecological motivations, involving ethical, bodily, and aesthetic dimensions. The study highlights how sensory perceptions – such as auditory sense, gustatory taste, smell, touch, sight, and kinesthetic senses – guide dumpster diving practices and shape experiential relations to food and its value. Dumpster diving emerges as a liminal space where food is simultaneously devalued and valuable, clean and questionable. The research sheds light on how embodiment, multisensory experience, and cultural meanings intersect in everyday food practices and perceptions.
In recent years, the strengthening of borders has become a central security policy instrument. The construction of physical barriers, the expansion of surveillance technologies, and the tightening of border legislation have returned borders to the centre of the political imagination at a time when globalization was expected to blur their significance. Border measures offer concrete and easily communicable responses to phenomena perceived as abstract and difficult to govern, and their effectiveness often rests more on symbolic than material dimensions. Security, however, is a politically and socially constructed category through which uncertainty is interpreted and rendered governable. In the process of securitization, threats are not merely identified but named, framed, and presented in ways that justify even exceptional measures as part of institutional normality. This review examines the logic of border reinforcement as part of the transformation of late‑modern security politics and demonstrates how border practices have become a means of performing state agency and control in situations where their practical foundations are increasingly fragile. Border measures signal determination and the restoration of control, yet at the same time they produce and reproduce hierarchies and inequalities that define who is perceived as a threat and who is granted the right to move. Emphasizing borders shifts attention away from the structural sources of insecurity that physical barriers cannot resolve. In this sense, the strengthening of borders appears as a political act that generates a sense of security and an impression of control, while narrowing the understanding of the long‑term and structural conditions of security. The article calls for a security approach oriented toward a politics of honesty - one that acknowledges the symbolic nature of border practices and emphasizes sustainable, structural forms of security-building in contexts where visible measures offer only an illusion of control.
The forest industry is often presented as an alternative or even as an independent counterforce to the fossil industry: bio-based products substitute for fossil-based products and mitigate emissions. In Finland, the history of forest industry and forestry remains typically unconnected with fossil fuels and materials. Instead, Finnish society is seen as built upon the expansion of the forest sector, i.e., the proverbial ”wooden leg”. We question these perceptions through the symbiosis perspective: the modern forest sector is not separate from but symbiotic with the fossil economy. We first examine the environmental and economic history of the Finnish forest sector through the symbiosis perspective. We show that next to the wooden leg of Finland has stood an even sturdier ”fossil leg”. Secondly, we discuss the narrative of replacement that is used to justify current and future forest bioeconomy. We present a common critique of replacement, i.e., the scale problem: there are not enough sustainable (forest) biomasses to substitute for fossil materials, if the scale of the economy is not shrunk significantly. Furthermore, we show how replacement is made more difficult by the symbiosis of the forest industry and the fossil economy.
The article examines school as an integration environment from the perspective of Ukrainian refugee children, as part of broader arrival infrastructures. Eight students from grades 3–6 shared their experiences of the Finnish school with us. We analyzed them using a holistic educational integration model focusing on social, emotional, and learning-related needs. The results largely reflect the positive experiences of Ukrainian children in the Finnish school and as learners, which creates a good foundation for successful integration. The most important factors promoting integration are meaningful relationships with other migrant students (bonding) and local children (bridging). Meeting the needs of refugee students requires listening to their experiences and positively recognizing their perceived identity; without this, integration measures may remain ineffective and alienate children from Finnish society. Factors that hinder integration include a lack of social relationships, language barriers, and a failure to take individual needs into account. Our findings emphasize the importance of two-way integration in educational integration environments and, more broadly, in arrival infrastructures – a principle that is currently being weakened in Finnish integration policy. In terms of responding to the needs of refugee children, listening to their own contextual experiences appears to be of primary importance.
Kirja-arvio teoksesta: Teea Kortetmäki, Markku Oksanen & Mikko PuumalaKestävyyden filosofia. Gaudeamus, Helsinki. 2025.
Kirja-arvio Peter Wagnerin teoksesta Carbon Societies: The Social Logic of Fossil Fuels. Polity Press, Cambridge. 2024. (320 s.)
We present a comprehensive plan for securing the border region between Russia and Finland by utilizing natural barriers. The motive of the plan is to better identify the various interests connected to Eastern Finland in particular, the possible conflicts between them, and the means to coordinate these factors. Similarly, greater attention should be paid to resolving these conflicts, taking into account in particular national defense, economic, social, and also ecological perspectives. We argue that utilizing natural barriers in national defense would be both economically cost-effective and socially significant - without forgetting the necessity of defending the natural environment as part of securing life. In addition, natural conditions act as a barrier more effectively than, for example, a fence that can be bypassed relatively easily.
In environmental research, the past two decades have witnessed a growing interest in the co-production of knowledge, with promises such as increasing the impact of research and generating more context-specific knowledge. Transition arena is one methodological approach where a carefully facilitated process gathers participants representing different perspectives to co-create future pathways and identify actions needed to achieve desired transformations. This article focuses on the different political contexts and types of outcomes produced in transition arenas. In Finland, at least fifteen transition arena processes have been carried out since 2016, addressing transition phenomena ranging from the preparation of national sustainable development and biodiversity strategies to the local implementation of neighbourhood energy retrofits and circular economy initiatives. Through examples, we show how transition arenas can be divided into four distinct emphases: arenas for opening alternatives, arenas for shaping policies, arenas for understanding systemic change, and arenas for fostering experiments. These four types of transition arenas illustrate the diverse ways in which this form of knowledge co-production can be used to bring together different people and perspectives, build shared understanding, and co-create future pathways even in contested domains.
This study examines two major turning points in Finnish riverine policy through the lens of contested hydrosocial territories, focusing on two rapid areas in eastern Finland. Following the Second World War, Finland saw a surge in hydropower development. The first turning point began in the late 1950s with local ”rapids wars” and culminated in the Rapids Protection Act of 1987. One of the key moments was the successful struggle to prevent hydropower construction in the Ruunaa rapids. The second turning point emerged around the turn of the millennium, influenced by the European Union’s water policy. During the 2010s, the Finnish state initiated a new riverine agenda, funding stream restoration and the removal of migration barriers. This shift is exemplified by the ongoing struggle over the Palokki power plant, where the energy company is confronted by advocates for restoring the rapids. We analyse Ruunaa and Palokki as hydrosocial territories – spaces shaped by interactions between human and non-human actors. The study explores how conflicts over free-flowing rapids and regulated streams have reshaped riverine policy and environments, and how the nature of these struggles has evolved over the past fifty years.
The impacts of human activities are evident in the historical layers of the Koitajoki watershed, reflecting the environmental state and its development over time. Water traversing the watershed acts as a mediator, intertwining environmental vitality, diverse human interests, local history, global trends, and their intersections. Examined through these relationships, water emerges as a multifaceted governance subject, necessitating inclusive interaction. A prevalent model addressing this need is collaborative governance. In my research, I address the question of how citizen actors’ participation is realized in the collaborative effort aimed at promoting water cooperation within the Koitajoki–Koitere collaboration group. Literature identifies the potential of collaborative governance to enhance local communities’ influence in decision-making processes. The research data comprises semi-structured interviews with participating and non-participating citizen actors and organizing entities of the cooperation group. As a result, I identify three key thematic areas through theory-driven content analysis. My research indicates that collaborative efforts face procedural and structural challenges, hindering full-scale initiation. This creates a backdrop for citizen participation, challenged by limited resources, adaptation to local operational culture, regional power imbalances, and the tensions arising from these interconnections. The study provides insights into the application of watershed-based collaborative governance in the Finnish water context.
