The Heart of Christmas Is Somewhere Else Than in Shopping Carts

18.12.2025 In this blogpost, Merja Turpeinen, the Communications Specialist of the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development, discusses the overconsumption aspects of our Christmas habits. In early December, we shared a statement prepared by Sustainability Panel members Lassi Linnanen and Niko Soininen for the Finnish Parliament’s Future Committee Working Group on Overconsumption. The statement addressed structural overconsumption and possible solutions. Structural overconsumption means that institutional and cultural frameworks in society …

Sufficiency Policies Offer Solutions to Finland’s Structural Overconsumption

1.12.2025 Structural overconsumption, driven by institutional and cultural frameworks that promote unsustainable consumption, is one of Finland’s greatest obstacles to sustainability. The Finnish Parliament’s Committee for the Future’s Overconsumption Steering Group requested a specialist statement on this issue from members of the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development: Professor Lassi Linnanen (Environmental Economics, LUT University) and Professor Niko Soininen (Environmental Law, University of Eastern Finland). Their conclusion: Finland needs a …