The Moomin family's habit to stack dishes until it rains is portrayed in Tove Jansson's comic Moominmamma's Maid from 1956 where Moominmamma, on the advice of Mrs. Fillyjonk has hired a maid - Misabel. Letting the rain do the dishes can feel like a bit of a stretch for modern people, but the fact is that the choice of cleaning product makes a huge difference for the environment and the sea.
Use as little unnecessary chemicals as possible. A big amount of chemicals in household products like washing- and cleaning detergent end up in water streams via the sewer. By choosing environmentally marked products in your everyday life you are minimising the chemical burden on the sea. The same goes for pesticides and fertilisers that are used in gardens and on fields. That’s why you should buy ecologically produced food – in ecological food production none of the environmentally hazardous pesticides are used.
Some of the chemicals that end up in the sea are stored in sea organisms that live off nutritions found in the sea – and when bigger animals eat smaller ones they lastly end up on our plates.
However, you shouldn’t always do it the Moomin way. In the story about Moominmamma’s maid, Misabel is appalled over Moominmammas advice on doing dishes in the ocean:
Tove Jansson wrote the stories between the end of the 40’s and the beginning of the 70’s. In those days the information about the pollution in the Baltic Sea was scarce, and the effects weren’t as visible as it has been over the last decades. During her time the load on the sea and the climate weren’t common knowledge, and back then one could still wash one’s coffee cup in the water, or wash rugs on the cliffs for the sea to rinse – which people living in the archipelago have done for generations.
Luckily there are many small, concrete actions you can take to make a difference and by your own choice support a cleaner Baltic Sea – the sea that inspired Tove Jansson and her Moomin stories. Here you can read more about what you can do to help save the sea.
The Moomin community to the rescue of the polluted sea
2020 marks the 75-year anniversary of Tove Jansson publishing her first Moomin novel. To celebrate the anniversary Moomin Characters Ltd has launched the one and a half year long #OURSEA campaign in collaboration with the John Nurminen Foundation.
At www.oursea.fi you will find more useful information on what you can do to help save the Baltic Sea – the sea that inspired Tove Jansson to create the beloved Moomin stories.
The goal of the campaign is to collect one million euros for John Nurminen Foundation’s work to save the Baltic Sea and its heritage for future generations. A donation of 10€ can remove 40 kg of green-blue algae from the Baltic Sea. To take part in the campaign you can make a direct donation via www.oursea.fi, buy a campaign product, learn more about the sea, the challenges it faces and solutions needed to help improve the situation, as well as influence your friends, family, colleagues and politicians to take action.
On the website you can follow how the campaign counter works its way up to the campaign’s goal of one million euros.
Wear your old trousers – follow the philosophy of Snufkin for an environmentally friendly lifestyle
The Moomin campaign #OURSEA for cleaning up the Baltic Sea inspires people to environmental deeds – and Moominvalley is in fact full of good examples on environmentally conscious decisions if you know…