Moomin Characters is currently preparing for a major international campaign called #OURSEA to protect the Baltic Sea and its cultural heritage and invites everyone interested to join the work. The campaign, launched at the start of the 75th anniversary year of the Moomin stories in 2020, will be carried out in cooperation with the John Nurminen Foundation, internationally distinguished in protecting bodies of water.
The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of the first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood, which takes place in the middle of a natural disaster. Moomin Characters wants to celebrate the anniversary year in the community spirit of the Moomin stories by drawing attention to restoring and protecting the wellbeing of the Baltic Sea.
“The sea is an essential part of the Moomin stories. Tove Jansson created the Moomin stories in the Pellinge archipelago, inspired by the beauty and power of the sea. She loved the sea, like we all do, Moomintroll included”, says Sophia Jansson, Creative Director and Chairman of the Board of Moomin Characters.
“We want to take care of the sea and do everything we can to protect it. People are already doing amazing work for the future of the Baltic Sea, and we want to join this effort and also inspire as many people and different organisations as possible to join,” she says.
The goal is to collect one million euros for the work of the John Nurminen Foundation for the Baltic Sea
“Everyone had to face the terrible truth about the condition of the Baltic Sea during the summer of blue-green algae in 2018 at the latest. It sparked the idea of encouraging the extensive community that had formed around the Moomin stories to join the effort to protect our sea,” says Roleff Kråkström, CEO of Moomin Characters.
“For us, this is also a way to inspire the Moomin licensees to include environmentally friendly values that protect the future of the Baltic Sea as a part of their activities even more strongly,” he continues.
There are already more than 50 companies and other organisations from various cultural institutions to cities, schools and the field of organisations around the Baltic Sea and further away involved in building the campaign.
“Almost everyone we told about the idea joined the campaign immediately. It seems like this is becoming the largest initiative in history to save the Baltic Sea – there are several parties involved all the way from Japan and Great Britain,” Kråkström says. “Our goal is to get everyone who cares about the Baltic Sea to join, from toddlers to grandparents and from boy and girl scouts to the managing directors of large companies – there is plenty of room in the campaign and we gratefully receive contacts from interested parties.”
The purpose of the campaign is to increase awareness of the condition of the Baltic Sea and raise funds for the work of the John Nurminen Foundation to save the sea and its cultural heritage. The funds for the activities of the John Nurminen Foundation will be collected through corporate donations, direct donations from consumers and campaign products. The goal has been set at one million euros.
The name of the campaign is #MEIDÄNMERI in Finnish, #VÅRTHAV in Swedish and #OURSEA in English. “We hope that the campaign and the sense of community created by the Moomin stories will help to create even just a little stronger feeling that the Baltic Sea really does belong to all of us together, and that the dozens of millions of people on its shores can both enjoy it and take responsibility for it,” Kråkström says.
“The best possible party for a project of this scale”
“We chose the John Nurminen Foundation as the recipient of the donations, because they are pioneers in protecting the sea and they have done amazing, internationally recognised work to clean up the Baltic Sea,” says Roleff Kråkström. “The John Nurminen Foundation is the best possible party to implement a project of this scale.”
The Baltic Sea is one of the worst polluted seas in the world, and its most serious environmental problem is eutrophication. Even though the nutrient emissions causing the eutrophication of the sea have declined recently, the visible signs of eutrophication, such as blue-green algal blooms, turbidity of the water and oxygen depletion of the seafloor still plague the Baltic Sea. The effects of climate change accelerate the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea further.
In the Clean Baltic Sea projects of the John Nurminen Foundation, the condition of the Baltic Sea is improved by reducing the load and environmental risks affecting the sea. More than 30 projects have been launched, and the measures have helped to reduce the nutrient load of the sea by thousands of tonnes.
The John Nurminen Foundation implements concrete and successful measures to protect the Baltic Sea with the funds donated through the #OURSEA campaign and ensures that the stories of the sea will be passed on to future generations. The ongoing projects of the foundation are focused on issues such as the gypsum treatment of fields, the management fishing of cyprinid fish and wastewater treatment in different parts of the Baltic Sea. The Foundation is also an award-winning communicator of information and producer of marine cultural content.
“It is important to bring the story of the sea and its history to public attention, because it also helps us understand why our unique Baltic Sea must be protected. This is why it’s so wonderful that the Moomins, who are known to be friends of the sea, have joined our Baltic Sea forces,” Secretary General Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt of the John Nurminen Foundation rejoices. “Together we can ensure that Moomintroll can continue to swim in a clean sea and that Snufkin’s fisherman’s luck will not run out in the future.”
The fundraising for the #OURSEA campaign starts on 1 January 2020, and the campaign and all of its participants will be launched in February 2020 in connection with the Vene 20 Båt – Helsinki International Boat Show.
Hear more about the campaign in the panel discussion held at SuomiAreena
A panel discussion “Bridge over polluted water – How to save the Baltic Sea” about ways to save the Baltic Sea was held in SuomiAreena 17.7.2019. The discussion was in English and was led by Mark Levengood.
Panelists:
- Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt, Secretary General, John Nurminen Foundation
- Paula Lehtomäki, Secretary General, Nordic Council of Ministers
- Henrik Normann, President & CEO, Nordic Investment Bank (NIB)
- Roleff Kråkström, Managing Director, Moomin Characters
- Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Member of the Parliament, Estonia
- Amanda Rejström, CEO, Spark Sustainability
The panel discussion was organized in cooperation between the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB).
For more information, please contact
Roleff Kråkström
CEO
Moomin Characters
tel. +358 (0)40 054 9692
roleff.krakstrom (at) moomin.com
Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt
Secretary General
John Nurminen Foundation
tel. +358 (0)400 477 878
annamari.arrakoski-engardt (at) jnfoundation.fi
Press photos for journalists:
https://moom.in/ourseapress
https://staging.johnnurmisensaatio.fi/tietoa-meista/mediapankki/
John Nurminen Foundation – Baltic Sea protection and marine culture
Founded in 1992, the purpose of the John Nurminen Foundation is to save the Baltic Sea and its heritage for future generations. The Foundation is an award-winning communicator of information and producer of marine cultural content. The goal of the Foundation’s Clean Baltic Sea projects is to improve the condition of the Baltic Sea with tangible measures that will reduce the load and environmental risks directed at the sea. Our work is steered by measurable results and impact. www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi
Moomin Characters
The #OURSEA campaign was initiated by the company Moomin Characters, which manages and supervises the copyright of works by Tove Jansson. The campaign is implemented in cooperation between the John Nurminen Foundation and Bulls Licensing, the global agent of Moomin Characters.
