“First, make yourself sustainable” We donated a portion of our sales in 2023 to a Swedish NPO nature conservation group.

What is sustainable living?

Sustainable is a word we often hear in many places these days.

I have often thought about this since moving to Sweden.

In order to achieve a "sustainable lifestyle" without difficulty, isn't it necessary to assume that each person is satisfied with their current life? That's what it means.

The definition of satisfaction varies from person to person, so it's difficult to generalize, but in Sweden, it means having a good work-life balance, having enough time to spend with family and friends, having time for yourself, and being in an environment where you can enjoy nature. This could include a rewarding job and a commensurate income.

Since both society and individuals take it for granted that these things are fulfilled, many people seem to be living highly satisfied lives, even if not 100%.

Satisfaction in numbers

This level of satisfaction may also be reflected in numbers.

Scandinavian countries dominate the annual global happiness rankings published by the World Happiness Report.

1st place Finland
2nd place Denmark
3rd place Iceland
4th place Israel
5th place Netherlands
6th place Sweden
7th place Norway
8th place Switzerland
9th place Luxembourg

In the 2023 report, Japan was ranked 47th.

What is the world happiness ranking?

The World Happiness Report is a report published by the United Nations' SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) based on data from the Gallup World Poll.

This happiness ranking is made up of individual responses to a survey based on six themes: GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and fraud and corruption.

The first thing I noticed when I researched this time was that this famous world happiness ranking was a report related to SDSN, a non-profit organization.

Of course, individual happiness and a sustainable society are connected.

Rankings aren't everything

It's easy to end up just checking the happiness rankings, but the real significance is not the rankings of countries.

The World Happiness Report describes its purpose as follows:

``The World Happiness Report may reflect a global demand for greater attention to ``happiness'' and ``a life of physical and mental satisfaction'' as criteria for government policy.

The report outlines the state of "happiness" of people in the world today.

It shows how this scientific view of happiness explains variations in individual and national conceptions of happiness. ”

Excerpt/translation from The World Happiness Report

This report aggregates, scores, and ranks the survey results of over 100,000 people from 130 countries around the world over the past three years.

The small voices of individuals become voices with great influence.

Individual thoughts convey something to the whole world.

There seem to be many things that can be seen beyond the rankings.

Make yourself sustainable first

In order to create a sustainable society, we may have to create "sustainable individuals" ourselves.

A sustainable society is built on the premise that we ourselves are sustainable.

Of course, there is also the aspect that individuals cannot change unless organizations and society change.

First of all, consider what you can do little by little to lead a sustainable and happy life.

I’m sure Fika is one of them!

We donated a portion of our sales in 2023.

Every year, we donate a portion of our sales to Naturskyddsförenningen, a Swedish nature conservation organization.

It's really a small support, but I would like to do it little by little from what I can.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
Naturskyddsforeningen

“What is eco-friendly?” Donations in 2022

“Value limited nature” Donation in 2021

“Fika is also earth-friendly” Donations in 2020

Fika and nature, Greta's words