From Past to Present in the Interaction of North Finnish Forest Industries with Society, 1994 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Sakari Virtanen

The essay is based on the material collected in the author’s previous works on the history of three North Finnish forest companies. It will be a part of the author’s academic study “The Interaction of the North Finnish Forest Industries and Society 1860-1990; Aspects of Growth, Power, Environment”.

The central questions of the study are: “How are the prevailing attitudes towards the forest industry born?”, and “How to affect the attitudes?”

The study starts with a consideration of the example taken from the history. It is obvious that the attitudes towards the forest industry in Finland have over generations prolonged roots. With the environmental problems the roots anyway have hardly anything to do, sooner they are in the political and economical history. The knowledge of the factors behind the vitality of the attitudes is essential in chosing the strategy for the interaction with society. Another central plot followed is the role of the internal labor relations in the external image of the industry. While the history helps to understand the attitudes, the labor relations make a means to affect them.