Mikko Pelttari and Jenna Kunnas do not want to teach their children ways that would have to be abandoned for climate reasons. The decision affects both the offers on the Dining Table and the contents of the toy box.
Slime jars, plastic dolls and glitter clothes.
Among other things, they were found by a non-fiction writer, a science journalist Mikko Pelttarin and illustrator Jenna Kunnas from the firstborn Christmas gift list.
8-year-old Elle had read from the cover of the toy catalog that had fallen out of the mailbox and listed many pages of gift wishes based on it.
The amount of plastic in the catalog was terrifying for Pelttar and the Municipality, who are familiar with climate issues for their work. Nonfiction written by Pelttar Warming Earth – Handbook on Climate Literacy appeared in late fall. In 2019, a children’s book written by Pelttar and illustrated by Kunnas was published An invisible storm, which also deals with climate change.
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Adults often underestimate children’s ability to understand and reflect on their own feelings, such as not only the experience of being left behind.
The couple thinks it is up to the adults to explain to the children why not all toys are necessary. To their own firstborn, they said it was not worth hoarding goods too much because their manufacture consumes natural resources and generates pollution.
“We talked about it being harder when the toy lasts and it’s a joy for a long time and nature doesn’t pollute anymore. And that old toys are also good, ”says Pelttari.
“Unless I thought it was a good idea,” Kunnas says.
According to Pelttar and Kunnas, the child’s attitude was a good example of how adaptable and smart children are. Adults often underestimate their ability to understand and reflect on their own feelings, such as not only the experiences of being left behind.
The municipality and Pelttari try to question the compulsion to own the goods in everyday life. “If a child wants a toy because a friend has one, we ask if the toy would be possible to play with the friend or if the toy would be of use to him for a very long time,” says Pelttari.
Many parents feel anxious and confused when thinking about how to talk about the climate crisis to children without depriving them of hope for the future.
In addition to the work of Pelttar and Kunnas, the topic has been covered in other books aimed at children and parents published in recent years, such as Laura Ertimon and Mari Ahokoivun in the whole family non-fiction book Miracle air! – Why the climate is changing, Tiina and Marjo Nygårdin in the non-fiction book for children and young people Hulivili and a whimsical climate mixed Silja Annilan, Sanna Pekkonen and Kaisa Uusitalon in the book Do it now! World Savior Handbook.
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“It would be good if the world that children hear about at home would not be a completely different pair with the world they grow up in.”
In addition to 8-year-old Ellen, Pelttar and Kunnas are 3 years old Myry. Parents are trying to talk to their children, at this point above all about their firstborn, about the climate crisis as honestly as they can.
“It would be good if the world that children hear about at home is not a completely different pair with the world they grow up in and the media tells about,” Pelttari puts it.
However, honesty for children, they say, does not mean painting catastrophic scenarios or constantly presenting the climate crisis.
The municipality and Pelttari talk to their children about climate change mainly to justify why they act the way they do. Why, for example, oat milk, meat substitutes and vegetables are preferred at home.
“We have said that our family does not eat meat products and we learn to reduce dairy products because it is not good to raise and kill animals for human consumption and because meat production puts a strain on the climate,” says Pelttari.
The municipality and Pelttari try to avoid teaching their children at home ways that should be abandoned for climate reasons.
On the other hand, many solutions are simply not just good or bad from a climate perspective.
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“It’s easier for people to stand up for what they see and love.”
Municipality and Pelttar, for example, have two cats that increase the family’s climate load. However, they see climatic dimensions in pet keeping.
“It is important to us that children feel that other species are close and learn to think about their needs,” says Pelttari.
“It is easier for people to defend what they see and love,” Kunnas adds.
Pelttari and Kunnas have emphasized to their children the importance of respecting all forms of life and, for example, leaving rotting wood on the edge of the yard. Decaying trees provide habitat for many insect species and maintain biodiversity.
“Children need to grow up with the fact that man is not the pole of the world,” Kunnas says.
Jenna Kunnas says that she is sometimes anxious about what kind of world she has given birth to. Yet he cherishes hope.
Future is scary.
That’s what 75 percent of young people think fresh, broad according to an international survey.
According to the survey, a large proportion of the world’s 16-25 year olds feel great climate anxiety and 81% think that humanity has failed to protect our planet.
According to Pelttar and Kunnas, all children and young people should be able to see that adults, and especially those in a crucial position, have a responsibility to combat the climate crisis.
“It’s not good for children and young people to be told that they have a huge amount of work left to do to clean up the mess we’ve caused. The responsibility for climate change lies with adults, and there is so little time that we need to make big changes right now, ”says Pelttari.
“It is not reasonable to ask young people and children to understand the slow actions of adults in an issue that has such a radical impact on their future,” Kunnas says.
Pelttari and Kunnas say they did An invisible storm book specifically to help children and parents discuss climate anxiety and the frustration caused by a lack of adult activity.
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There is a lot of power in the concern of young people.
The protagonists of the book, the little siblings Juju and Aatos, grieve that strange things happen in nature but the adults don’t seem to care. When they hear that the adults are going to dry the beloved Usvalammi, they decide to take action to save the pond. Just when they find that their strength is not enough, the adults inspired by their actions come to the rescue and the pond is saved.
According to Pelttar and Kunnas, there is a lot of strength in the fact that so many young people are now worried about climate issues.
Pelttari and Kunnas understand the frustration of young people with how slowly older people have responded to climate change.
In the first place children influence their parents.
“According to research, many adults who have had a negative attitude towards climate policy have changed their attitudes through the concern, knowledge and activism of their own children,” says Pelttari.
Second, #metoo, for example, has shown that collaboration can revolutionize the world faster than anyone would have thought.
“Civic activism is an effective way to make an impact. It puts pressure on politics, ”says Pelttari.
The couple themselves have attended climate demonstrations with their children and plan to encourage them to join NGOs at a later date. Acting is also the best way for them to reduce climate anxiety.
According to Pelttar, many are paralyzed because the climate crisis is such a huge problem on a large scale, but individuals are often offered small opportunities for influence in the media, such as recycling.
“Then it’s worth remembering that both big and small actions are needed to tackle the climate crisis, and the importance of small ones grows when done together,” he says.
Mikko Pelttari spends most of his time writing climate information. “I think my biggest climate work is books and newspaper articles on climate change,” he says.
What kind of emotions the future of mankind and the planet then evokes in Pelttar and the Municipality itself?
Pelttari replies that it is not terribly hopeless.
“It still seems sensible to write books and strive to work in this time. What we do has a big impact. ”
The municipality says that it is sometimes anxious about the world in which it has given birth to a child. Yet he cherishes hope.
“There’s no other option to be able to do your part to change the situation,” he says.
Pelttari clarifies that he cherishes critical hope, which is a different matter from uncovered hope. An uncovered hope, he said, would be a lull in the idea that this is fine here anyway. The critical hope, on the other hand, is to create images of a future that can be hoped for and do its best for it.
Among other things, Mikko Pelttari is hopeful when he meets very intelligent people who work to solve the climate crisis. A lot of good changes have already happened and are happening, he recalls.
Even in family life, it would be good to remember that the climate crisis would not be thought of only through abandonment, stress and self-exploitation.
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Lack of free time often increases consumption.
“It would be good to approach it through pleasures as well and think about all the fun and wonderful things that could be learned that would not warm the climate at the same time,” says Pelttari.
As examples, he lists trying out good vegan recipes, exploring hiking opportunities in the surrounding area, and cherishing his leisure time, instead of constantly scratching and then rewarding himself and his family by shopping and traveling. According to Pelttar, studies show that lack of free time often increases consumption.
In everyday life, the family goes on a lot of forest trips, and the highlights of the summer vacation are trips from the cottage to the nearby islands.
“We dream that we could buy a piece of forest from the cottage area for protection,” says Pelttari.
The story was first published in HS Our Family 1/2022.
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