”There is group of countries which have done remarkably well in the face of the challenges to our modern, democratic societies… Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden might just hold the clues to solving the security, social, political, environmental and technological threats and challenges of the 21st Century”.
– These are the words of Project Director András Simonyi in the foreword to a book of essays, “Nordic Ways”.
Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges is a joint initiative by the Prime ministers of the Nordic countries. We want to invite the world to share Nordic knowledge and experiences of six priority flagship projects. These Nordic solutions will be effective tools in our common work to reach the United Nations Sustainability Goals before the year 2030.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has teamed up in 2016 with the Nordic Council of Ministers and distinguished institutions from all the Nordic countries to answer a simple question: how far could we go simply by scaling up already proven Nordic low-carbon solutions? The Green to Scale project has combined innovative analysis with active communication.
By scaling up just 15 proven Nordic solutions, countries all over the world can save 4 Gt of emissions every year by 2030 which is as much as the EU produces today. The costs for this scale-up equal the amount spent in just 9 days on fossil fuel subsidies.
These results come from the Nordic Green to Scale study which was launched during the UN Climate Conference in Marrakech.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has partnered with the Nordic Council of Ministers and distinguished institutions from all Nordic countries to answer a simple question: how far could we go simply by scaling up existing Nordic low-carbon solutions to a level of adoption in 2030 that has already been achieved by one or more Nordic countries today…
Read the whole article by Christian Bjørnæs in CICERO.
The Harvard education professor Howard Gardner once advised Americans, “Learn from Finland, which has the most effective schools and which does just about the opposite of what we are doing in the United States.”
Following his recommendation, I enrolled my seven-year-old son in a primary school in Joensuu. Finland, which is about as far east as you can go in the European Union before you hit the guard towers of the Russian border.
OK, I wasn’t just blindly following Gardner – I had a position as a lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland for a semester. But the point is that, for five months, my wife, my son and I experienced a stunningly stress-free, and stunningly good, school system. Finland has a history of producing the highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a trophy case full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most literate nation.
In Finland, children don’t receive formal academic training until the age of seven. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs, games and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the youngest. School hours are short and homework is generally light.
