Finland

It takes only 208 days for the average Canadian to produce as much greenhouse gases as the average Finn will produce over the course of the entire year.  Therefore, July 27th (208 days into the year) is "Climate Change Impacts in Finland Day."

While Finland may benefit from certain expected impacts of climate change, such as an extended growing season and extended cultivation areas, insect pest populations and weeds will also increase.   Also, “Extreme events such as drought, heavy rain and floods are expected to become more common.” 

The dangers of extreme weather events were witnessed in floods in Finland in the summer of 2004.  According to Finland’s National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change, “exceptionally high precipitation in Finland caused floods that resulted in intestinal bacteria entering wells and tapwater systems, stormwater and wastewater had to be pumped to bodies of water without treatment, lots of nutrients and decomposing organic substances were conveyed to bodies of water from arable lands and shores, fish populations died in certain sections of rivers, buildings became surrounded by water, basements were filled with water in several towns, many households lost their electrical supply, there were interruptions in rail traffic, roads had to be closed and different parts of the country suffered crop damages.”