Baltic Sea Day celebrated on 29 August – learn more about the unique marine environment and make a change with small choices

Baltic Sea Day will be celebrated again, on the last Thursday of August. The goal is to inspire people to enjoy our unique sea and to take concrete action and promise to look after it. In addition to celebration, the purpose of Baltic Sea Day is to provide information on the sea’s diverse nature, culture and history. 

Baltic Sea Day is organised by the John Nurminen Foundation with which Kiilto has been working since 2021. Kiilto is taking part in the Baltic Sea Day celebrations for the fourth time. This year, four videos were made with Miinä Mäki, Senior Specialist in marine environment at the John Nurminen Foundation. 

“The sea hides both fascinating biodiversity and cultural history. It reminds us all to study things beyond the surface. In order to do that, you must pause for a moment and take a closer look. This is why this year we decided to prepare a series of short videos with an expert. The themes are: underwater world, concrete action to benefit the Baltic Sea, underwater biodiversity, and the relationship between man and the sea,” says Tiina Niemi, who coordinates the work with the John Nurminen Foundation at Kiilto.  

Choose your own way to celebrate Baltic Sea Day

Baltic Sea Day can be celebrated in a number of ways, and many companies and organisations will be organising events and rallies on 29 August. The Kiilto videos will be published on the company’s social media channels during the week leading up to Baltic Sea Day, and will also be available at kiilto.com.  

You can take a dip in the sea or have a Baltic Sea moment. Or would you prefer to celebrate by making a food promise? Maybe you can promise to have one vegetarian day a week or have fish on Wednesdays, choosing Finnish wild fish? You can challenge your friends, team, coworkers or a politician to make a promise, too. 

Choose whatever suits you best. There are plenty of tips on the website itameripaiva.fi/en.  

You can find images from earlier years on Kiilto’s social media using the hashtag #Kiiltoforthebalticsea, for example. 

The Baltic Sea brings kiiltonians together 

Kiilto operates in nine countries, almost all of them around the Baltic. This is why it comes naturally for Kiilto people to celebrate Baltic Sea Day. It is also important to note that not everything that affects the Baltic Sea actually takes place on the coastal regions. Almost 90 million people live in the catchment area that affects the Baltic Sea.  

In previous years, contributions by us at Kiilto have included picking trash near waters, participating in a photo campaign, telling about our relationship with the sea and cooking food in the Baltic Sea Menu. Last year Kiilto donated to the John Nurminen Foundation two cents for each Kiilto, Serto or Linna consumer product sold during the campaign period, committing itself to a donation of at least 24,000 euros. We continue with that campaign this year. For each Erisan personal hygiene product bought during the campaign period from 1 August to 30 September 2024, we donate 8 cents to the John Nurminen Foundation. The donation will be a minimum of 20,000 euros. 

However, taking part in Baltic Sea Day does not require an official event or a background organisation. Anyone can participate independently and in their own time. 

“The idea is to celebrate the Baltic Sea. It’s about taking a moment to think about these things whenever we spend time at the sea or any water. Even the smallest rally may help us understand something about our relationship with the sea, so no act is too small. In the process, we can learn something new and pay attention to the condition of our waters. By sharing what we did and participating in social media, we can increase the visibility of Baltic Sea Day and the important work done to protect the sea,” says Miina Mäki. 

Senior specialist Miina Mäki shares some interesting facts about the Baltic Sea.  
Did you know that: 

• The Baltic Sea is the world’s second-largest sea with brackish water, and also the world’s youngest sea. 

• Animal and plant species of native to both oceans and freshwaters live side by side in the Baltic Sea. 

• The bay mussels (Mytilus trossulus) in the Baltic Sea filter the entire volume of the sea in a year. 

• The sandy sea bottom of the Baltic has seagrass meadows home to dozens of inhabitants, such as the brown shrimp, mussels and the straightnose pipefish, which is related to seahorses. 

• The average depth of the Baltic is only 55 metres. The average depth of the Mediterranean is about 1.5 km and that of the world’s oceans more than 3 kilometres. 

Further information: 

Laura Heinovaara 
Sustainability Communications Manager 
laura.heinovaara@kiilto.com 
+358 50 5969 424 

Tags: