In Finland, over 70 percent of the most beloved Christmas carols sing about snow. At the same time the actual winters are getting more snowless every year. In Southern Finland there’s only a 40 percent chance for a white Christmas.
To shine light on this problem, an environmental organisation called Protect Our Winters rewrote Finland’s favourite carols to create a realistic image about Nordic winters. To make a point about climate change they changed snow into rain, ice into mud and Christmas cheer into a will to survive through the darkest winter days.
The campaign was launched with a peaceful protest where a local child choir performed the snowless Christmas carols to Finnish politicians. In social media, Finland’s most famous winter sports athletes, such as Eero Ettala and Enni Rukajärvi, joined the demonstration to fight climate change.
The Snowless Christmas Carols campaign was distributed through a wide range of channels. The rainy key visuals and gloomy lyrics are presented in outdoor advertising and the snowless carols are available in Spotify, YouTube and TikTok.
We also made snowless Christmas cards, which they are handing out through Finland's largest sustainable food and health chain. During Christmas time, Ruohonjuuri distributes Protect Our Winters Christmas cards to each of their customers.
If you don’t want Santa to replace his sled with a surfing board, you can donate for the cause at www.protectourwinters.org