We need an environmental debt brake
STATEMENT
Today is Finland’s Overshoot Day. For the rest of the year, we will be accumulating debt to the environment and our own future. Environmental debt directly chips away at the younger generations’ prospects for the future and cannot be paid back with money or economic growth.
A society that overconsumes natural resources crushes students’ future under environmental debt.
Today, Finnish society has exhausted its share of the Earth’s renewable natural resources and ecosystem services for the year. The overconsumption of natural resources accelerates global warming and biodiversity loss, feeding the ecological polycrisis of our time. In the worst-case scenario, the uncontrollable consequences of the ecocrisis can wreck the foundation of our everyday lives, including the conditions for studying.
Determined action must be taken on the overconsumption of Finnish society during the next parliamentary term, as breaking ecological boundaries cannot be the unspoken norm in politics. By consuming more than the ecological boundaries allow, we are taking away the future of young generations, the safe daily life of communities living amid major climate risks and the habitats of other species.
‘Students’ faith in the future is really being put to the test in this age of the polycrisis. It is difficult to imagine a sustainable future in our consumption-centred society in which economic growth is constantly sought over ecological boundaries. Society must offer stable prospects for the future without fear of an ecological collapse’, says Vice Chair of the Board Olli Jalonen, who is in charge of sustainable development on HYY’s Board.
We need a parliamentary agreement extending across parliamentary terms to curb the overconsumption of natural resources. It is unfair to thrust the responsibility on consumers when they are presented with unethical production, products that are designed to break and advertising that only aims to incite consumption. Responsible consumer choices that fit within planetary boundaries must be genuinely accessible to students and to other people with a low income.
Making cuts to the overconsumption of natural resources is an investment in the living conditions of the future. Students must be able to trust that they can help build a sustainable future using their education without having to worry about chronic environmental debt. If we do not take action now to curb overconsumption, nature, young people and future generations will suffer from the indifference of today.
On a planet with limited resources, activities must be adapted to the available natural resources. We cannot continue to take out more environmental debt – we must pull the environmental debt brake instead.
Further information
Olli Jalonen
Vice Chair of the Board
050 344 3730
Santeri Sammalkivi
Chair of the Environmental Committee
santeri.sammalkivi@helsinki.fi
044 240 8764
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