Search for Sustainability and Connection in The Finnish Forest. "Figuring out the new lifestyle" - Reconstructing nature in a time of ecological crisis

Abstract

This thesis is a discussion of the data that arose out of the ethnographic fieldwork I conducted over the summer of 2018 in Finland. I took part in discussions and practices at various locations in the the Finnish forest about engaging with nature in particular ways, some of which I will present in this paper. These interactions have played a role in furthering my understanding of my research participant´s conceptions of nature and sustainability. Activities that I participated in with my research collaborators such as wild foraging or building livelihoods in the woods, aimed at building more sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyles. Furthermore, the empirical examples I present here can be seen as a Western cultural critique, moving away from a perception of nature as something separate from themselves. They bring about greater concern for both nature and human´s role in the “web of life”. In this paper I argue that through their practices and discussions my research collaborators are actively reconstructing nature and the human-nature relationship in a time of ecological crisis. Hope, grief and imagination play an important part in practices of sustainability, self-sufficiency and nature-connection when searching for a new way of life. Film abstract: Barefoot in the Forest, is about activist Christoph "Huck" Middeke and his experiment with life. In the forest of Finland, with his bicycle and simple gear, he sets out to explore how one can live closer to nature and how we can all do our part in supporting the web of life. Huck dedicates himself to putting thought into action – repairing our culture, living without money or fossil fuels and without producing rubbish – to be an integral part of nature. But Huck´s dream is tempered by the realities of life; supporting a family, living in a city and raising a young son.