A Finnish environmental NGO working in urban environments - example of Dodo (2014)

A Finnish environmental NGO working in urban environments –

example of Dodo

Titta LassilaAugust 18, 2014

Helsinki Summer SchoolEcology and management of urban green space

Why an urban NGO?• Majority of people live in cities; 50-50 situation was reached

in 2008– Finland 30 % in 1950 70 % in 2030

• Cities are getting bigger; in 1975 3 megacities of 10 million or more inhabitants, by 2025 there will be 27 (21 in the developing world)

• Urban people are increasingly detached from the natural environment and the sources of food, energy, raw materials,…or are they?

• Cities are not ecological bubbles!

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/aug/18/percentage-population-living-cities

"Well-designed and well-governed cities can combine high living standards with much lower greenhouse gas emissions.”

David Dodman, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Sustainable Development Goals post-2015:

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable- enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacities for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management;- reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality, municipal and other waste management;- provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces; etc.

Urban green space?

http://mashable.com/2013/

Dodo – A Progressive Finnish environmental NGO

• Established 1995 • Promotes global environmental thinking

and citizen-based action • Wide perspective to environmental issues• Urban point of view: individuality &

communality• Open sharing of ideas and willingness to

test any possible solutions – with a permission to fail

• Avoiding expert talk; everyone’s entitled to understand and contribute to the discourse

• strongly voluntary-based

In Dodo we ask:

• What is happy & sustainable life made of?• Who decides our way of living?• How can we find local solutions to global

environmental challenges?• Can I do it??

Ideas rising into action

Lumituuli OyDemos Helsinki

Typpilaakso – ‘Nitrogen Valley’

1) Space:Urban planning

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

This is OUR city- and us means

everyone

“Copenhagen has no cyclists. Copenhagen has ordinary citizens who ride bikes.”

Bianca Hermansen, urban designer

http://dodo.org/dodoilu/uutiset/copenhagen-has-no-cyclists-copenhagen-has-ordinary-citizens-who-ride-bikes

2) Food: Urban farming

• A great success since 2009: you CAN grow your own food in a city!

And that DOES make a difference!

Dodo’s urban farming 2009

One year later…

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=203894599090529002570.0004bc88592cdfdb1ac67&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=60.185745,24.940681&spn=0.051209,0.09613&z=12&source=embed

Creating ones own urban green space - Kalasatama 2010

Kalasatama, July 2010

http://new-lifeflavour.net/

2011: Urban farming centre Kääntöpöytä / Turntable

The Plan

The Plan – Made into reality

Urban beehives: Turntable, August 2013

Project Forkprint

From global food security to closed

nutrient cycle

3) Home: Urban Housing Fair2013 & 2014

30 % of our carbon footprint & 15 % of total ecological footprint comes from housing

Not the size but the function

Think outside your apartment

Happy housing companies• How to make your whole house and living environment more

comfortable, safe and collaborative – and hence more sustainable?

4) Platform for ideas about anything

Elsewhere…

http://www.laciudadverde.co/2/

http://bicisporlavida.org/es#!/catid=1

What makes Dodo a great place to act?

• Learning by doing• Global approach; sharing solutions and ideas• Positivity; environmental activism is fun!• Courage to try out even the boldest ideas

The NEXT level?

• Bottom-up ‘green economy’ & ‘clean-tech’https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zqMPFRhRKB-c.kF7tdGTIKtMw

• Off-grid: small-scale energy production• Off-pipe: stop to resource waste, closing the

nutrient cycle

What is YOURurban sustainability challenge?

Objective• Message• Target group

Means & action!• Space & environment• Platform• People• Resources• Windows of opportunity within the political

framework?

Thank you!titta.lassila@dodo.org

dodo.org