Sustainability – Nanoq's cornerstone

Creating new with old is our motto and our lifeline. Our background as a small local museum with few funds has meant that we have had to think sustainably about the museum’s finances and working methods. Ever since the founding of Nanoq in 1988, the business has revolved around protecting our environment and the traces history has left behind. At Nanoq, these aspirations meet in harmony: The buildings are built from recycled materials and have been placed and shaped according to the conditions of nature and the surroundings.

A better future

Our goal is to be one of the region’s most ethical and environmentally friendly tourist destinations. We work actively to reduce our carbon footprint and for Nanoq to become synonymous with sustainable development. We are currently working based on the Sustainable Travel Finland (STF) model for sustainability, to be able to apply for the STF label in the future.

Sustainable Travel Finland

ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

We minimize the environmental impact:

  • We recycle.
  • We use environmentally friendly methods when maintaining buildings.
  • We prefer local products and services.
  • We use 100% green electricity.
  • We keep the museum area clean and have marked out paths on the museum area to avoid tourism’s harmful impact on nature.
  • We reuse materials and shop at flea markets when possible.
CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY & HERITAGE

We promote local society, culture and people's well-being:

  • We preserve the valuable local culture by taking care of the typical buildings of the coast, which have been moved to the museum area. The buildings themselves showcase sustainable development and sustainable building methods. They house a significant amount of peasantry objects that have been collected from nearby areas.
  • We tell our visitors about nature’s diversity and sustainable development. We also emphasize individual responsibility for one’s own environment.
  • We make the Arctic regions and the effects of climate change known in the region.
  • Equal treatment and people’s rights are things we consider important, and they are reflected in our customer and staff treatment. We also want to bring forward the Arctic indigenous peoples’ culture, history and political situation.
  • We promote people’s well-being by offering nature and cultural experiences in a safe and accessible way.
  • We nurture the bilingual culture on the Ostrobothnian coast and highlight the typical and significant “talko” (volunteer work) culture in the region.
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

We have a sustainable and a long-term way of running the museum:

  • We promote the local community by offering jobs and making the area known nationally and internationally. We cooperate with other local actors.
  • We develop our business according to the spirit of the times to make the business sustainable and fluid in a changing society.
  • We strive to develop environmentally friendly products and campaigns to reduce our carbon footprint.

"We shall build with nature – not against nature"

Pentti Kronqvist – Founder of the museum