In the year of the European Green Capital Tallinn launched the SAVE OUR SEA campaign. The campaign was born in cooperation between Tallinn, the environmental organization Let’s Do It World and the city of Helsinki and John Nurminen Foundation.

The Save Our Sea campaign took place from 31st of August to 16th of September: it started with the Baltic Sea Day and ended with the World Clean Up Day

The purpose of the campaign was to draw attention to the increasingly critical condition of the Baltic Sea and to call on the cities and residents of the Baltic Sea to jointly protect and preserve the Baltic Sea.

 

A conclusive overview of the campaign here: SOS CAMPAIGN

 

Over the course of more than 2 weeks we managed to do a lot as a joint effort:

Over 156 000 participants

91 – registered events
45 – cities and counties

10 – countries and territories: Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Åland, Belgium

 

 

Campaign events:

  • The most popular activities involved marine litter clean ups, some of which were also related to the World CleanUp Day. This day by itself had over 2,1 million participants in Europe and 19,1 million peole around the world cleaning up 250 000 tons of waste.
    • For example: The “Let’s Save the Baltic” Expedition in Klaipeda Lituania that cleaned the Melnrage beach. Giedrias Bučas’ installation “The Sea Starts Here!” was also presented during the beach clean-up.
    • The Coalition Clean Baltic and SAP beach clean-up in Stockholm, Sweden that included clean-up games and CoastWATCH activities.
    • Clean-up in Kiel Germany: A clean coast is a happy fjord.
    • FOTO: https://photos.app.goo.gl/45cPVoYUsLPqbvo18 (Beach clean-up in Tallinn, Estonia
  • The second most popular activities during the Save our Sea campaign were awareness-raising events such as public discussions, debates, seminars etc. Here are a few examples.
    • The eco-picnic event in Kolobrzeg, Poland. Kolobrzeg City Hall invited all the residents to be part in Baltic Sea Campaign! There was an eco-picnic for residents and tourists and beach cleanup, to raise awareness about waste pollution and show that eco initiatives are important for us.
    • Seven municipalities from the Bay of Køge, south of Copenhagen. Around 1000 people gathered to an event discussing the pollution of the sea and how they can manage it better in the future. There were discussions between mayors, politicians from the parliament, researchers, and active people from NGOs.
    • FOTO: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KiZK5bKaQXJC2tyEA
  • Very popular among families and children were the Aranda research vessel visits in Helsinki and Tallinn. RV Aranda is a modern, ice-reinforced research vessel owned by the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. Even if  planned and constructed for Baltic Sea research, she is able to operate in all seas. Aranda has made scientific expeditions i.a. to Antarctic waters and the Northern Atlantic.
  • Other events
    • RoboRiga in Riga Latvia. With the ongoing pollution of the sea, ongoing and innovative solutions are necessary to prevent and correct it. RoboRiga 2023 was a gathering of robotics, innovation and technology enthusiasts and experts combined with environmental researchers and scientists to lay foundation for the first Water Robotics festival in Riga, set to happen next year.
    • Young people of Jurmala educate the public. Young people from Jurmala, Latvia educated people about beach pollution on September 9th on the beach in Jurmala, Majoros.
  • We would also like to especially highlight the Baltic Sea Day events organised by the John Nurminen Foundation Helsinki. You can read about the Baltic Sea Day celebrations here: https://johnnurmisensaatio.fi/en/the-5th-baltic-sea-day-celebrated-in-spite-of-the-rain/

and watch the Baltic Sea Day Opening Ceremony here:

https://www.helsinkikanava.fi/fi/web/helsinkikanava/player/vod?assetId=254173603

FOTO: https://photos.app.goo.gl/amQnvL2BP4FaXS1t8

 

I invite You to visit our Save our Sea website where you can find all the facts about the Baltic Sea: seacleanup.org

Here’s also a map of all the different activities around the Baltic Sea. You can find more information about all the registered events here: https://www.seacleanup.org/events-map

A collection of interviews (with mayors, scientists, influencers etc) as well as short stories about the Baltic Sea can be found here: https://www.seacleanup.org/news

In December a documentary film about the Save Our Sea campaign will be completed and made available on our website.

The Baltic Sea Day Seminar in Tallinn (31th August) “Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea and factors affecting it” with top marine scientists is available for re-watch HERE.

You can find pictures of the campaign’s Tallinn events HERE, HERE and HERE. The materials are all free for you to use.

Read more:

OVER 90,000 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THE BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN https://greentallinn.eu/en/over-90000-people-participated-in-the-baltic-sea-campaign/

INTERNATIONAL BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN BEGINS

https://greentallinn.eu/en/international-baltic-sea-campaign/

A big thank you to our co-organizers: the City of Helsinki and the John Nurminen Foundation. A very special thanks to the Let’s do it World team and their fearless leader Heidi Solba!

We hope this will not be the end of our campaign and we shall continue to Save our Sea