Sydänmaa means the Heartland. It is the wilderness, the distant woodland, backwoods or salo, erämaa, korpi, takamaa as we say in Finland. The common thought is that Finnish people in general love forests. We have lived in the forests as long as there has been settlement in this part of the world. Forests reinvigorate us, nourishes us and nurses us. Forests provide shelter and care. So yes, we do love our forests, but have we taken enough care of them? Do we really understand them, do we know how to protect them so that our beloved forests last from generation to generation?
This year Finland celebrates its 100th birthday. The big year has generated several different Finland 100 campaigns. We in Weecos, however, stopped to ask what is really going on in our forests.
Finnish people love forests, and yet it seems that the economics mainly dictates how we should take care of our trees, or how we should benefit from them. The government wants to increase the economic and energy usages of the trees. But we are almost completely ignoring the forests diversity and the value of the primaeval forests. In Finland, under 5% of the forests are in the primaeval stage and that is too little.
In Sydänmaani (My Heartland) campaign we want to raise the awareness of the stages of our forests. The diversity of the forests should not be discarded under the rules of economics! The value of the old grown forests and natural stages of the forests should be embraced and protected.
Sydänmaani campaign is done together with Weecos brands and The Finnish Association for Nature Conversation. For the campaign, brands have developed exclusive products, which reflect their perception of 100-year-old Finland and its nature. When we asked the stories behind the products, it became clear that forests played a significant inspirational role for almost everyone. In the Sydänmaani campaign, we will share these stories with you.
You are warmly welcome to explore the campaign products in our special Sydänmaani category. From every sold product we donate 1€, or more, to the Finnish Association for Nature Conversation for protecting our forests.
We will also share our love towards the woodland via images and information of how diverse our forests are. Follow the stories on our Facebook and Instagram pages, and in our blog.
Walk deep into the Woodlands with us!
-Hanna