Scandinavian&Baltic route

Sustainability and Climate Change

[Sweden – Finland – Estonia]

European integration transformed the Baltic Sea from a frontier into a shared Mare Nostrum between the Nordic and Baltic countries of the Union, the only ones above 55° latitude at Europe’s northern tip. On the one hand, Nordic countries share vast uninhabited landscapes and relatively small populations with a long-standing tradition of care for the environment: they recycle, prefer public transport and bicycles and see the nature as a public good that needs to be protected. They demonstrate global leadership in the fight against climate change by aiming to be carbon-neutral in the near future and lead in renewables – housing the world’s biggest solar plant and for example. On the other hand, the struggle for energetic independence of the Baltic states has been emblematic of their broader quest for emancipation from the Soviet past and embracing the common European future. The key to achieving it has been found in diversity. How does the ‘green’ dimension of European citizenship blend with its other colors? What are the legal, social and geopolitical challenges all these countries face and the lessons to be learnt from their pioneering journey away from an anthropocentric worldview? How do mobile EU citizens in these countries see their lives and democratic role in squaring the circle between these processes? These are the questions that will guide the caravan on the Baltic route. In two weeks, four brave and adventurous European citizens will explore the roads to sustainable European integration looking for ways to keep the doors equally open for all citizens and their environment.