Estonians and the environment

Nature is definitely the biggest asset of Estonia. Although it is difficult to give a numbered value to it,  several studies (my favourite literature about it is "Une écologie du bonheur" by Eric Lambin, http://www.editions-lepommier.fr/ouvrage.asp?IDLivre=392) have concluded on the positive impact of nature on the human being. 

Nature is everywhere

"Estonians are lucky", I often tell myself. We are in 2014, the world is filled with advanced technologies, and the Estonian territory is still "rather unspoiled". 

My country, Belgium, has access to the same technologies but the activity of the two previous generations have completely destroyed and reshaped the country ; there is nothing left of what nature has created in millions of years: every bit of green space you see is man-made, there is not even a single square meter of primary forest and the fragile equilibrium of nature has fallen completely in the hands of the human. The seaside is awful and unattractive, there are tall buildings in sight everywhere, except in tiny little stretches of natural reserves. 

In Estonia, a large part of the country is unspoiled. A large portion of the seaside is original and little impacted by human activities. So, there is a huge potential! Potential to value this territory, on one side, but also potential for destruction, on the other side. Yes, because if nothing explicit is done to protect the nature, sooner or later the short-term economic interests might take over. 

The story of the cultural kilometer in Kalamaja

I already mentioned the "cultural kilometre" in another post. It is a walk and bicycle track on the seafront, located on the Tallinn bay at the beginning of the Kopli peninsula. It goes from Linnahall (the building hosting the sailing races of the 1980 Olympics) to the end of the old fishermen village of Kalamaja, along the former Soviet prison of Patarei and the Seaplane Harbour museum.

We were informed last week that the cultural kilometre will be cancelled and replaced by a transit road. And works would start within two days. A transit road, on the seafront? aaaahh... so sad. The location of the cultural kilometer, very close to the old town and on the seafront, gave it such a huge potential. Potential for green spaces (there is one, but it is not actively managed), pedestrian area, cafés...

Despite a shy demonstration at the city hall (apparently, the city government noticed only then how popular the promenade actually was), the works are now ongoing. And I plan to keep an eye on what will happen. There were talks about not only a transit road, but also some building projects. Wait a minute!... what about the rule that you cannot build anything within 250 meters from the shoreline?! well, apparently, it is not too difficult to cheat on that one if you have powerful friends (and money), it all depends where you officially set the shoreline...

We often had evening walks on the cultural kilometer. I will try and enjoy it as much as I can until it disappears totally. And hopefully the municipality will ensure the seafront will be embellished, at least preserved, and tall buildings will not grow as mushrooms like at the Belgian seaside.

Wide spaces 

Space in Estonia is virtually unlimited. Even in Tallinn, you rarely feel much constrained by space. Traffic might be dense in some arteries during peak hours and payed parking appeared in the centre and around the train station. Nevertheless, I rarely experience the stress of not finding a parking space when going somewhere, unlike in Brussels. 

Also, Tallinn has been mostly built horizontally, rather than vertically. Here, you need to make an exception for the three Soviet style buildings areas, Mustamäe, Lasnamäe and Õismäe. All the rest of town seems to be built with the intention of never being in the shade of another building and never having a direct view inside your neighbour's windows. This leads to a quite extended town and to many districts being made of multi-familiar 2 or 3 storeys houses with a stretch of ground circling each house on at least 3 sides, used for open-air parking or shared garden. This is the typical architecture of Kalamaja (it is the most famous of these districts, but not the only one).  

Oh, just a parenthesis. When you move through Tallinn and you see the contrast between the Kalamaja style habitation and the Soviet blocks, you would wonder "Why the hell would anyone go and live in Mustamäe?". Today, the answer is clear: the price. But back in time, the houses of Kalamaja were old and rundown. Most of them had one bathroom for 4 to 6 families. People had to go to the public sauna to get properly washed. The Soviet blocks, on the other hand, had "all the modern facilities", that is, district heating, warm water, and individual bathrooms. And Soviet planning was robust: each building block had all you needed, shops, a kindergarden and a school, and a bus stop to take you to town ; if you needed to, because most people actually didn't need to leave their block at all. 

The ordinary Estonian's approach  to the environment

Estonians are blessed with nature, but sometimes I wonder if they acknowledge it. People are used to go in the forests. They pick berries and mushrooms, and it is allowed. Currently, it seems that nature gives more than Estonians take. So, why not? I also take part in it and enjoy it. In the end, for most people, it is more a fun hobbie than a need.

Sometimes however I feel like it's going too far: even if what I am doing "right now" is allowed and I am able to afford it, it might not be sustainable in the long term if we all do it... and I wonder if the ordinary Estonian considers sustainability.

I'll try and illustrate my fears with a couple of examples. The first one is the approach to transportation, which is in some aspects an image of the policy in Brussels before I was born. Public transport is for those who can't afford a car. In public transports, you don't meet many middle-aged people and parents with kids. It is much more practical for them to move around with a car. Road planning is done to improve the car traffic fluidity and reduce transit times for commuters (viaducts and new transit roads are being constructed right now in Tallinn), nothing is done to discourage people from using cars. And, of course, Estonians like big, fancy cars: you need to be able to drive on forest roads during the winter, right!? and to show off a little bit too!

I suggested several times already that privacy is unique in Estonia. People have grown used to having "all the space they need"... for doing what they want, when they want and where they want, because there is little risk of being disturbed by or disturbing your neighbours. Personally, I see this as a bad habit: the absence of explicit rules does not mean "first come, first serve" and should not refrain you to implicitly respect others, even if there is no one (yet). I experienced this feeling when going to public spaces like free barbecue spots, where people "take possession" of the place as if it as private and play loud music. I also experience it when I come back home at night and there are several bikes in the entrance hall, and I seem to be the only one to complain about it (there is a basement with a bike room, after all).


Hopes for the future

I might sound unnecessarily critical towards Estonians here. Maybe. Maybe if Belgians seem to "do better" from the sustainability perspective it is only because some people (like me) have realised there  is no possible other way to be today and some even have some pride to show they are "green". In today's Estonia, there is no urgent need to change the behaviour, people can continue and no tragedy should happen in the short term. However, I would like Estonians coming back home after living abroad or visiting another country not to think "thank god, we do not need to be strict like that here, there is space and the air is still clean!".

Yes, precisely, I would like Estonians to proactively preserve their clean air. I would like the country leaders to plan and manage the territory so that bogs and natural areas will never disappear, the seafront remains natural and unspoiled, and to educate people to sustainability and set up rules if needed. I would like the ordinary Estonian to think that when he drives 70 km/h in our small street, he is actually disturbing me. And the solution is not building houses further away from the road and civilisation, the solution is within every single person: to behave in a more environmentally friendly way in order to reduce its immediate (noise, smell) and long term (pollution, destruction) impact around him.  

Ignorance cannot be used as an excuse: consequences of bad environment management are well known and illustrated around the globe while good practices as well as technology are accessible...