For Moominous adventures – choose environmentally friendly fuels and vehicles!

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“We’re flying! We’re flying!” cried Hodgkins. He was standing beside me at the rail and staring up at the cloud in our rigging, like a large white balloon.
“How did you get it up there?” I asked.
“It rigged itself,” he replied “A flying riverboat…!”
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Slowly our cloud tired, and the riverboat sank down towards the sea. When the sky reddened in the east, we were rolling in the long swells after the gale, and I heard the buttons rattling in the Muddler’s tin. The white picture-book cloud had fallen asleep between the rails again.
“Dear crew,” Hodgkins said solemnly, “we have ridden out the gale. let my nephew out, please!”

Memoirs of Moominpappa, 1968

This is how Moominpappa describes the stormy adventures in his youth, together with his friends The Joxter, Hodgkins, and The Muddler. The boat Oshun Oxtra winds up in distress, however, the party manages to save itself with the help of clouds lifting them up and flying them to safety.

Fairytale creatures may be able to get by with the help of fluffy clouds, but in the real world, one might need more than a bit of condensed air. Here are some simple ways you can travel environmentally friendly, and together with the Moomins contribute to help save #OURSEA.

  • Always choose environment-friendly vehicles when possible. Because – newsflash – you leave the smallest carbon footprint on foot or by bike.
  • Choose public transport or share rides if you have to travel by car. Reduced emissions from traffic lead to smaller amounts of nitrogen and airborne particles being released from the air in water streams. Car tires also release microplastics and rubber that end up on the ground and in the water.
  • It’s always better to travel by train, rather than flying. Flying uses up loads of energy and contributes to a warmer climate, which leads to an increase in storms, rain, and nutrition leakage especially from fields out to sea.

Moomin under Sail, Tove & Lars Jansson, 1959

The Moomin family loved boating, and used boats for fishing trips as well as longer journeys, in hope of great adventures. Here are a few tips, if you, like the Moomin family, enjoy traveling by sea and want to do so with clear, green consciousness.

 

  • Take care of both the boat and the engine – that way you will avoid pollution in the sea and make fuel consumption more efficient
  • If you have a larger boat, always empty the boat’s septic tank at a pump-out station

Through these small everyday deeds anyone can fight against the “peasoup” on the shores of the Baltic Sea come summer. The green algae soup is a sign of overnutrition which, in turn, is caused by large quantities of phosphorus and nitrogen being released into the water.

Wishing you fisherman’s luck and exciting, Moominous adventures at sea!

The Moomin community to the rescue of the polluted sea

2020 marks the 75-year anniversary of Tove Jansson publishing her first Moomin novel. To celebrate the anniversary Moomin Characters Ltd has launched the one and a half year long #OURSEA campaign in collaboration with the John Nurminen Foundation.

At www.oursea.fi you will find more useful information on what you can do to help save the Baltic Sea – the sea that inspired Tove Jansson to create the beloved Moomin stories.

The goal of the campaign is to collect one million euros for John Nurminen Foundation’s work to save the Baltic Sea and its heritage for future generations. A donation of 10€ can remove 40 kg of blue-green algae from the Baltic Sea. To take part in the campaign you can make a direct donation via www.oursea.fi, buy a campaign product, learn more about the sea, the challenges it faces and solutions needed to help improve the situation, as well as influence your friends, family, colleagues and politicians to take action.

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On the website you can follow how the campaign counter works its way up to the campaign’s goal of one million euros.