NordenBladet – This week Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden were in Solna to attend a Gen Pep Forum at Karolinska Institutet. Organised by Generation Pep, the seminar and workshop brought together more than 800 representatives from politics, industry associations, research bodies and internship schemes to discuss and commit to changing and improving the health of children and young people.
The Crown Princess opened the event with a keynote speech which highlighted the importance of the UN’s Global Goals, for which she is an ambassador. She said:
“The point of the UN’s global goal is that they are just global; that they are about us all. And in order to achieve the goals by 2030, in order to achieve sustainable development, we must all contribute. In big and small [ways].
“And now I’m coming back to that Swedish schoolyard: It can be empty because the kids are indoors watching funny clips. Or, it may be full of children in motion, because the school organizes fun weekend activities. That choice, and that responsibility, are not the children’s. It’s ours. ”
Topics covered during the course of the full-day event included the general health picture in Sweden, the Scapes survey, the commitment to giving all children the opportunity to participate in sport, and factors that motivate positive change.
Prince Daniel provides closing remarks, summing up the findings of the forum and highlighting the importance of a coordinated commitment from people, businesses and organisations from all walks of life in society.
Generation Pep was launched by Prince Daniel – together with Swedish companies, foundations and non-profit organisations – in July 2016 with a vision of giving all children and adolescents in Sweden the opportunity (and inspiring a willingness) to live an active and healthy life. Generation Pep works to spread knowledge, inspiring and supporting children and young people as well as parents and other adults to institute positive change.
Featured image: Swedish Crown Princess couple attend Gen Pep Forum (Raphael Stecksén, The Royal Court, Sweden)
NordenBladet – Already this Saturday I will commence a major road trip to Finland with my children, planning to round practically all of Finland. I have arranged many meetings, also there are Estella Elisheva’s several photoshoots in the schedule for her Instagram account (@Estella.Elisheva), her homepage (EstellaElisheva.com) as well as for OHMYGOSSIP teen platform (see the website HERE, the Instagram account HERE).
The travel program will include various SPA visits, plenty of restaurants and hotels, meetings with friends and business partners, visits to offices, supervision of estate (there is a tiny plan to buy land and estate in Northern Finland), and on top of that a loooot of driving.
Now that the first Elisheva & Shoshana care cosmetics series products have been launched for the market, I am hoping already during this journey to discuss various cooperation opportunities. The product wrappings (stamping, print, final touch for the boxes) were ordered from Tallinn from the printing company Joon.eu and they should be arriving any day now. Then I need to complete the wrapping of the handmade soaps into the boxes, to be taken with me along to the journey. While E&S products are all premium class and targeted for a consumer that will seek classical style and high quality, then I would first and foremost consider apothecaries as the resellers. We have enormously emphasized the choice of ingredient compounds and we see the products as belonging to the series of apothecary cosmetics. Our products would be described by key words such as honesty, efficiency, and quality. We have also indicated possible allergenes on the product cover, which in some cases would be 0.0001% probability of being contained in it. Most of our products already on the market and those to be launched any minute have been created for people with gentle and sensitive skin. Our slogan is: “So Gentle, So Pure!”. Keeping this in mind, we create and compile all our recipes. The key ingredients are natural and have been grown, collected and dried by us in most part.
So there is a lot to be packed for the journey. Two weeks clothing for three people, bags, footwear, also samples of the products (several boxes/baskets), school books (assignments are to be completed despite being away from school), the violin, training kits and SPA garments, hiking equipment, skiing supply, Ivanka’s toys, laptops, small vehicle TV screens, etc… the list is so long. Besides I will be taking a big box full of food and beverages for picnics. And then for myself Saku GO non-alco light beer – this is among my favourites lately! One enormous suitcase is already full and I even haven’t properly started packing yet. I have decided to travel with the smaller car (it consumes less petrol, considering the long distances that we will cover), yet the downside is that there is less space in it.
As of today, our journey trajectory would be the following: 20 October – we will stay in Tampere overnight, in Original Sokos Hotel Ilves, 21 October in Vöyri near Vaasa (I have rented an entire house there from the Finnish Swedes), 22 October in Oulu Bereak Sokos Hotel Eden, 23-24 October in Sirkka Levi Hotel SPA, 25-27 October we are in Rovaniemi (haven’t decided yet, whether I will rent an entire house or we will be staying in the hotel… I’ll decide when we get there), 27 October I am planning to stay overnight in Kajaani or Iisalmi in a quality hotel (again, I’ll decide when we get there, whether I bother to drive that long), 28-29 October we’ll stay in Kuopio ovenight, in Original Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi, 30 October is still an open end, however I believe that we’ll be in Jyväskylä, 31 October will be a day spent in Helsinki and we’ll be heading back to Tallinn on Viking Line. Those of you who will be travelling in the same places at the same time and wish to discuss our cooperation, make sure to contact me – write to me on FB or drop me an email to info@nordenbladet.com! Lots of sunshine! Hugs!
NordenBladet – Last ten years I have thought that my life is a non-stop spurt – I have been working in media (have managed the web pages of NordenBladet and OHMYGOSSIP, that are operating in 17 different countries), at the same time being active at all levels – I have written and translated news, interviewed a lot of people, visited and reflected on various trade fairs and events, organised galleries, retouched photos, designed banners, sold advertising spaces, written promotional articles, enlisted cooperation and found cooperative partners, advertised all the trademarks belonging to the brand, built, designed, developed webshops and web pages, represented all the trademarks in international trade fairs, given interviews and held conferences, given lectures, developed the social media of various brands, designed and planned a clothing and accessories brand, signed some contracts with shops and department store chains… this list is very very long!
In short, I have had 15-17-hour-long workdays, working in two computers at the same time and at a pace in and such hard to exceed. And doing all this in a way that my kids are my first priority. My timetable is set in strict compliance with my daughters’ lesson plans and trainings – however, there are quite many of these recreational activities – I spend about 2-3 hours in my car every day, either as being a driver or just waiting for one hobby activity to finish in order to take my daughter(s) to the other one. The alternative would definitely be to take a driver or sign a contract with a taxi driver, but I like to drive a car – I think and plan my activities, invent new ideas, give my brain and eyes a different work. Moreover, I want to be with my children when they come from their activities and have the most powerful emotions – when they want to talk about what or how they did. I love my daughters very much, and I want them to know and feel that I am always there for them. I wish that besides the knowledge they actually felt that they are the most important ones in my life.
As you can imagine, this kind of motherliness affects children greatly. My older daughter Estella Elisheva is talented on all fronts, in everything she undertakes. She studies in Russian-speaking school (Tallinn Jewish School), thus she clearly speaks both Estonian and Russian, she already speaks English at a normal level too (it means that she can express herself well and say what she needs to say, though she could expand her vocabulary) and she also works on her Hebrew (she has studied it for 5 years). Estella has 3-7 trainings a week, depending on a week, she goes to music school, where in addition to the violin she started to take piano lessons, she plays in a band and in an orchestra. She wakes up at 6.16, and she is at school until 3 p.m., she finishes with her trainings and music school at 8 p.m., after which she studies and practises until 10 o’clock. Ivanka Shoshana, who is autistic, and was really as 5 kids in her childhood, has made great success by now. I have actively taken her to concerts, events, recreational activities – involved her in everyday life, taken care of and loved her – and it all has borne fruit! In other words, the non-stop spurt in dealing with kids and professionally.
I sometimes feel as a super-mum and super-woman, because I really do and manage to do a lot – a large part of it thanks to my careful planning. I take my time to think through what and how to do and so lay a firm foundation for all endeavours. At the moment I am also setting on foot the brand named Elisheva & Shoshana – the trademark and company I created for my daughters already years ago, aiming to do something all together, to involve Ivanka Shoshana to the activities as well, to have our own project, something totally “ours”. Previous weeks I have been busy with starting up the care cosmetics brand named E&S. It is highly encouraging that people have a strong interest in this project. I have been contacted by Amazon England and likewise by dozens off boutiques all over Scandinavia. Currently, I feel like I am simultaneously thinking about several things – honestly, I do not know how it is possible. The first sales packages will be printed this week and on Saturday, when I am going to start a big trip around Finland with my daughters (read about it HERE and HERE), I can indeed already take along the first boxes of E&S products. So awesome! Everything happens at full speed and goes uphill – it is great to witness the success of several brands. Where is, there is more to come! Like clockwork! Yay.
Featured photo: On the way to unicorn company – from a tiny and simple home office (maybe even rather a one-person enterprise operating at the kitchen table) which during the years has grown into a considerable media monopoly and an internationally operating company that brings dozens of different brands together under one roof. My aim is to expand this privately owned company into a company worth a billion dollars, that is to say into a Unicorn company – as this start-up is named after a venture capitalist Aileen Lee.
NordenBladet – It would cost passengers just the price of a glass of wine a day if cruise ships would stop burning highly polluting heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the fragile Arctic environment. That’s according to a new report (attached)from green transport group Transport & Environment which analysed the impact on the cruise ship MS Rotterdam had it switched to marine gas oil (MGO) [1] during three summer trips to the Arctic in 2018.
Banning the use of HFO in the Arctic last summer would have increased ticket prices on the MS Rotterdam by on average 6%, based on 2018 fuel prices and assuming the additional fuel costs incurred were passed on to passengers. This equates to an additional €7 a day on ticket prices – or no more than the price of a glass of wine onboard the MS Rotterdam, which is owned by Holland America Line.
Lucy Gilliam, shipping officer at T&E, said: “Arctic cruise tourism is booming, increasing the risks of oil spills and creating more pollution. The costs per passenger of a switch to cleaner fuel are tiny. It’s more than worth it to reduce the risks to the unique environment that passengers are paying to see.”
T&E said the analysis shows the Arctic HFO ban can be implemented immediately with an insignificant impact on the cruise industry. Such trivial increases in ticket prices for this luxury business should be acceptable for cruise passengers who, in growing numbers – up by 20% in the Norwegian port of Svalbard in 2017 – are paying to see the pristine Arctic environment.
Lucy Gilliam concluded: “Cruise companies claim that an HFO ban would be a death sentence to their industry yet the figures show that the costs passed on to passengers are trivial. Cruises to the Arctic are, by any measure, a luxury yet tickets are VAT exempt.”
Last April the IMO agreed to move forward on developing a ban on HFO from Arctic waters on the basis of an impact assessment. Currently the IMO is inviting submissions on how to assess the impact of the HFO ban on communities and operators in the Arctic. It will be discussed during the next marine environment protection committee meeting (MEPC 73) in London in October.
_________________________________________
[1] HFO is made from the dregs of the oil refining process and is the dirtiest of all fuel types. In the event of a spill, is virtually impossible to clean up. It also produces higher levels of air and climate pollutants than other marine fuels
[2] MS Rotterdam is equipped with scrubbers. Therefore, it is assumed that the ship will continue using high sulphur HFO with scrubbers in order to comply with the 2020 global sulphur cap, as opposed to switching to 0.5% sulphur blended fuels.
NordenBladet – Already next week, on the 20th of October, I will start an extraordinary trip with my kids. We are going on a trip that dares to undertake very few experienced grownup travelers. Namely, I practically have a plan to take the way around Finland by car, while myself being the only driver and my two companions will be my daughters (12-year-old Estella Elisheva and 10-year-old Ivanka Shoshana).
Ivanka Shoshana is autistic – according to the papers with a profound disability. Uh, it sounds awful, because she is actually a very smart and lovely girl, but still travelling with her is something way different from travelling with a normal child. However, on this point I have never “given her mercy” – she had gone along with all my extremes, I take my kids everywhere and I can say that the progress compared to many other children with the same diagnosis is amazing. Of course, it depends on the child, but the environment and direction (by setting an example) also have a high impact. Ivanka is in form four subsistence learning class. I am convinced that thanks to the teachers’ and specialists’ (and my) efforts her development has been so rapid that maybe she could even enter the first grade in a normal school, though in a small class and keep up with other students, in other words, to go through the simplified curriculum. In the big picture, it does not matter if she is in the first or the fourth grade, the outcome is more important.
2x Ivanka Shoshana
There is about a week until our trip and our travel anxiety is growing. As I have just got started with the cosmetics brand named Elisheva & Shoshana (it is a part of E&S brand that I created for my daughters several years ago aiming to do something altogether), I have had less time than usual to pre-prepare our trip. I hope to get many experiences – we would like to see as many sights as possible, the ones that are so to say in “uncomfortable”, out-of-the-way places, that people usually do not visit. I will leave out Kuusamo from my initial trip route and I will replace it with the following trajectory: Kivitaipale, Narkaus, Portimo, Tolja, Ranua, Kuha, Asmunti, Pudasjärvi, Hirvaskoski, Ervasti, Auho, Puolanka, Leipivaara, Paljakka, Ristijärvi, Paltamo, Jormua and Kajaani. Tomorrow I will continue my research… Old towns and city centers are fascinating and we will visit them for sure, but the places that so to say an ordinary tourist does not see on a daily basis are also very interesting – I have always liked to experience and reflect something that all the newspapers/blogs do not write about and that all the tourism websites do not promote. Something unique, something special – something that one cannot experience every day. The experiences – even a special tree, landscape… or a local resident or his/her undertaking. I would like to fit some extreme luxury into our trip as well – something royal, almost lavish and pleasing to one’s eye or senses. If you think that it is easy to find such pearls, you are wrong. Type in “Luxury in Finland”, “Luxury in Lapland”, “Luxury in Tampere”, “Luxury in Rovaniemi”, “Luxury in Kuopio” or some other similar search phrase into Google… Google does not offer anything useful besides some a bit more expensive hotels, that actually do not provide the luxury I am thinking of at the moment. However, there is enough such luxury in Finland that seven-star hotels decorated with gold and ornaments, crowded with handmaids do not offer – surrounding virgin forests, clean and untouched nature, beautiful lakes, northern lights and a lot of genuine and ancient culture. Nature is definitely the luxury of Finland; it is actually the greatest value of all Nordic countries. I wish people could appreciate it more! My experience says that you get the greatest luxury if you can imagine up unto yourself exactly what you expect from your trip and just order it. It is possible to buy and book everything, even the things you do not have on the “programme”. You need some fantasy, this is what people usually lack of. It is the most difficult to come to a conclusion what you want. Heh…
Please, send me some hints, if you have any good suggestions what we should visit during our trip! The biggest stopping points are Tampere, Vaasa, Oulu, Levi, Rovaniemi, Kajaani, Kuopio and Jyväskylä. Do not be afraid to come up with your ideas – I am interested in EVERYTHING THAT IS EXCITING, really!
Right now, I will start reading the book named “Lotte from Gadgetville” by Andrus Kivirähk to Ivanka. Have a nice evening!
Keywords: planning car trip, planning finland trip, planning finland vacation, vacation in finland, Kivitaipale, Narkaus, Portimo, Tolja, Ranua, Kuha, Asmunti, Pudasjärvi, Hirvaskoski, Ervasti, Auho, Puolanka, Leipivaara, Paljakka, Ristijärvi, Paltamo, Jormua, Kajaani, luxury in finland, all around finland, around all finland, around all finland with car, Tampere, Vaasa, Oulu, Levi, Rovaniemi, Kajaani, Kuopio, Jyväskylä, with children on a road trip around finland, with children on a road trip, around finland, car trip in finland, with car in finland, with family in finland, with kids in finland, finland road trip, finland tourist attractions, finnish road trip, finland travel, rovaniemi northern lights, visit lapland, places to visit in finland, lapland finland christmas, europe road trip, finland tour, roadtrip suomi, lapland finland, finland trip, finland tourism, finland vacation, finland itinerary, things to do in finland, scandinavia trip, finland tour itinerary, finland train, day trips from helsinki to lapland, helsinki to rovaniemi train, driving in finland in winter, finland destinations, things to see in finland, lapland map, finland map, finland travel blog, finnish travel blogger, finnish travel bloggers, travelblog, what to do in finland, auto finland, things to do in lapland, ice hotel rovaniemi, best places to visit in finland, finland winter, helsinki finland points of interest, norwegian finland, finland, norway sweden finland vacation, things to do in rovaniemi, lapland norway, trip to sweden, road trip north finland, helsinki winter, finland google map, things to do in helsinki in winter, finland winter itinerary, driving in helsinki, cars tour, finland travel itinerary, day trips from helsinki in winter, scandinavian road trip, around finland road trip, lapland tours from helsinki, visit lapland finland, finland travel guide, lapland road trip, cities in finland, visit finland in winter, finland self drive, helsinki to lapland, finlands road trip itinerary, best time to visit finland for northern lights, time in finland, visit finland, finland lapland itinerary, blogger road trip, northern lights helsinki, what to do in rovaniemi, finland fly drive holidays, best time to visit finland, scandinavian road trip itinerary, planning a trip to finland, what to see in finland, finland itinerary winter, finland travel blog, finland lakes, suggested itinerary for finland, bycar, norway sweden finland itinerary, things to do in finland in winter, where to go in finland, trains in finland, arctic circle finland, finland lapland tour, finland by car, finland self drive tours, travel from helsinki to lapland, day trip to lapland finland, travel finland northern lights, norway sweden finland trip, touring finland, travel to finland northern lights, where to go in finland in winter, finland itinerary summer, scandinavia road trip, finland in december, places in finland, driving in finland winter, rovaniemi itinerary, finland guide book, finland cars, driving to finland, maps finland, road trip to lapland, finland sweden norway trip, finland visiting places, sweden norway finland trip, winter driving finland, finland driving, finnish trains, places to visit in finland in winter, motorhome finland, helsinki to rovaniemi by car, sweden road trip, how many lakes in finland, finland attractions, wheres lapland, best places to visit in finland in winter, afinn, trips to norway sweden and finland, travel norway sweden finland, campervan finland, how to go to finland, nordic blogger, nordic bloggers, scandinavian blogger, scandinavian blogger, top scandinavian bloggers, top scandinavian travel blogger, lakeland finland, finland train map, arctic circle rovaniemi, driving in finland, best road trips in scandinavia, finland tourist destinations, where is finland on the map, finland travel advice, finland scenic routes, finland sightseeing tours, scandinavian roadtrip, finnish map, trips to finland winter, touring scandinavia by car, finland day tours, where to travel in finland, finland scenery, best cars finland, road trip finlande, how to travel to finland, driving in finland in december, finland where to go, car visit, finlandia, fly and drive finlandia, cars in finland, finland guide, finland 5 day itinerary, roadtrip scandinavia, finland road map, finland backpacking routes, go to finland, driving in rovaniemi, helsinki driving, helsinki winter itinerary, touring sweden by car, road trip through finland, auto in finland, scandinavia by car, road trip through scandinavia, finland road, travel finland on a budget, helena-reet, helena-reet ennet, estella elisheva, ivanka shoshana, models who travel, travel influencer, travel influencers, scandinavian influencers, travel article, travel writer, digital nomad, scandinavian writer, travel from finland to sweden, rent a camper finland, planning a trip to lapland, scandinavian road trip route, finland itinerary blog, lapland travel blog, helsinki to lapland train, rv finland, travel helsinki finland, travel to lapland finland, dr helsinki, finland sites to visit, a week in finland, roadtrip finland, finland trip blog, nordic road trip, day trip to finland, how to travel from helsinki to lapland, trip in finland, road trip around scandinavia, road trip en finlande, finland tour blog, finland tourist map, travel blog finland, travel from sweden to finland, finland free and easy, two weeks in finland, 2 weeks in finland, travel in finland with car, mom travel blog, is it safe to travel in finland, safe travel in finland, best places to visit in finland, nordic travel sites, scandinavian travel sites, scandinavian travel website, scandinavian travel magazine, scandinavian travel news, nordic travel news, finnish travel news, finland travel news, visiting finland in november, finland snow driving, getting from helsinki to lapland, where to go finland, what to do in finland in october, finland tourism brochure, finnish tour, how to go to lapland from helsinki, how much is a trip to finland, road trip norway sweden finland, finland motorcycle, capital of finland map, finland travel tips, road trip denmark sweden norway finland, rovaniemi travel blog, roadtrip finnland, visiting finland in november, helsinki finland travel guide, a trip to finland, day trips in finland, travelling around finland, 4 days in finland, 5 days in finland, finnland roadtrip, rovaniemi finland things to do, norway sweden finland road trip, suomi road trip, road trip suomi, finland offroad tour, things to do in finland in october, finlan travel, 10 days in finland, is it safe to travel to finland, travel finland blog, how to go lapland from helsinki, when to go to finland, one week in finland, finland travel map, finland in 7 days, e75 finland, how far is helsinki from lapland, drive from helsinki to rovaniemi, visiting finland in november, train helsinki to levi, byer i finnland, why travel to finland, winter driving in finland, suomi roadtrip, finnish roads, finland when to go, best road trips in scandinavia, getting to lapland from helsinki, finland road conditions, helsinki road, scandinavia driving tours, road trip finland, finland road trip itinerary, road trip in finland, finland round trip, finland santa trip, finland igloo trip, a road trip, finland road cameras, visiting finland with kids, in finland with children
NordenBladet – Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, 4 October 2018: Hollywood legend Sean Penn leads a stunning parade of movie stars and celebrities posing – without their clothes – with iconic and threatened fish species, to send a strong message to EU governments to end overfishing.
“These stars are aligning to make a bold statement: end EU overfishing by 2020. Now it’s time that EU governments make brave decisions to secure the long-term health of our oceans, our fish stocks, and the future of coastal communities,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of Our Fish. The campaign is calling on European citizens to join thousands of others who have signed a petition calling on ministers to #endoverfishing.
The celebrities were photographed by Alan Gelati for Brighton restaurant MOSHIMO’s celebrated Fishlove campaign as part of a major coordinated effort by the Our Fish organisation to urge European governments to end overfishing by 2020. The series features actors from Hollywood, London and Copenhagen, with more European stars set to join by the end of the year.
In Hollywood, Sean Penn, actress, model and singer Paris Jackson, Clark Gregg (Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2), Leila George (Mortal Engines, The Long Home), and Australian actors Ben Lawson (Neighbours, Designated Survivor), Lincoln Younes (Tangle, Home and Away), and Jai Courtney (A Good Day To Die Hard, Suicide Squad), have all appeared with fish provided by Santa Monica Seafood.
NordenBladet – Our Fish is concerned that that the EU Commission is again choosing to propose fishing limits above what science says is safe.
Brussels September 3rd, 2018: Responding to the publication of the European Commission proposal for Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2019 on Friday, September 1st, which includes increased quotas for plaice and western cod and reductions for Western herring, Our Fish Program Director Rebecca Hubbard said:
“While moving in the right direction, Our Fish is concerned that the EU Commission is again choosing to propose fishing limits above what science says is safe. This is not only a warning for EU ambition on ocean governance, it sets a low bar for EU fisheries ministers to deliver on their duty to end overfishing. Despite this, fisheries ministers can still respond to EU citizens’ expectations and restore ocean health by setting limits that will end overfishing in the Baltic Sea in 2019.”
This year the EU Commission has proposed TACs that follow scientific advice in some cases, while not in others. Most notably it goes against scientific advice and proposes continued overfishing for Central Baltic herring, eastern Baltic cod, western spring spawning Herring, and removes extra protection for the blighted Western Baltic cod stock by lifting fishing restrictions during the spawning season.
Total allowable catches, TACs, are the limits set for fishing by European Union, EU, vessels. The proposal includes many TACs for which the Commission has followed scientific advice, but also a number for which it has not. On 15-16 October, the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers (AGRIFISH), made up of the 28 EU member state ministers responsible for fisheries, will negotiate and agree on the 2019 TACs for the Baltic Sea. The ministers can agree to changes to the proposal for any fish stock. In the past, they have repeatedly set limits that exceeded the scientific advice and continued overfishing.
“We have seen some improvements with Baltic fish stocks, but we are still too far from safe, healthy and profitable fisheries. In October ministers can end overfishing in the Baltic. The longer they yield to short-term interest and delay ending overfishing, the greater the loss to communities dependent on these fisheries and to the health of the ocean. Deciding to continue overfishing may be politically easier but it harms the fish stocks, risking the viability of the fishing sector in the long-term,” Hubbard said.
ENDS
1. TACs are set annually for Baltic stocks and should conform to the EU’s reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which entered into force in January 2014. The policy requires that fishing limits for all stocks be sustainable by 2015 where possible and by 2020 at the latest. The 2015 target can be delayed only in exceptional cases in which meeting it would seriously jeopardise the social and economic sustainability of an affected fleet. In those instances, catches must be reduced incrementally and progressively to end overfishing of the stocks as soon as possible.
2. The Commission receives scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and the Scientific, Technical, and Economic Committee for Fisheries to inform the setting of these catch limits.
3. For a more detailed analysis of the Commission’s proposal see this summary from the Fisheries Secretariat: https://www.fishsec.org/2018/08/31/commission-proposes-baltic-tacs-for-2019/
Contacts:
Dave Walsh, Our Fish Communications Advisor, dave@our.fish +34 691826764
Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Director, rebecca@our.fish +34 657669425
About Our Fish
Our Fish works to ensure European member states implement the Common Fisheries Policy and achieve sustainable fish stocks in European waters.
Our Fish works with organisations and individuals across Europe to deliver a powerful and unwavering message: overfishing must be stopped, and solutions put in place that ensure Europe’s waters are fished sustainably. Our Fish demands that the Common Fisheries Policy be properly enforced, and Europe’s fisheries effectively governed.
Our Fish calls on all EU Member States to set annual fishing limits at sustainable limits based on scientific advice, and to ensure that their fishing fleets prove that they are fishing sustainably, through monitoring and full documentation of their catch.
NordenBladet – For the past few weeks my time has in a concentrated manner been spent on the active development of Elisheva & Shoshana cosmetics brand. The recipes for cosmetics products that for half a year have been tested and have been work in progress are now taking shape and form. It is time that the ideas visualized in my mind’s eye obtain an actual physical form – the first products are ready and now awaiting the labels and packages.
For me the entire production process has been super fun and without stress – I have been doing something that I really like. This in my case is most important – I only choose to do the things and get involved in the activities that interest me and give pleasure. This is called freedom. Oftentimes I have been asked how my business is so successful, how it can be possible that with a team a lot smaller in percentage it is possible to accomplish that much. It is not a big secret actually – that ALL these people that are in cooperation with me, are professionals – such people who are fond of what they do unfailingly. Since life is so short and I do not feel like lowering my head before anybody then I only communicate with people who do their thing with all their heart and with passion. People involved in this undertaking love the work and the challenge. Of course there are exceptions and I do not agree with the claim that there is always and fully only success accompanying my endeavors. Through the years there have actually been quite a few shortcomings. Yet this can not change the baseline – I have only been involved in undertakings that nurture the soul – in this way I have always won, not lost. I have grown as a person and have not lost the lesson. You cannot lose if you do something that is close to the heart.
Journalism has been the greatest passion in my life – I am proud of my accomplishments in this field. I know that there are not so many people able to say that they are managing a six-language online media channel as well as printing press, are represented in 17 countries and have in social media the monopoly in Scandinavian journalism landscape. This has been my contribution in the Northern media landscape.
Now I wish to set new challenges – I want to launch a care cosmetics series, created in the first place to a Northern person. Everyone has heard the frase “Scandinavian welfare model” – but what exactly does it mean? It means that the thinking is on the individuals’ level – action is taken to put the individual and their living environment first. The thinking context is the future, not the present. The entire life-business-production line must be green and sustainable.
Elisheva & Shoshana (E&S) first handmade products have briefly been advertised in Instagram and Facebook and just two small stories have been posted in NordenBladet (my blog is published in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, English) and now I was startled again – I sometimes forget that even though we are roughly a company that can be described as “desk in bedroom” rather than 7000 staff members in office – then our grasp reader- and coverage wize exceeds that of many national newspapers. Thus at first I was full of juvenile joy when Amazon.co.uk wished to cooperate with me. Amazon! Amazon, com, Inc (earlier also known as Cadabra, Inc) is after Alibaba Group the second largest web store sales-wize. I really admire the founder, 54-year-old Jeffrey Preston Bezos. One must be talented, determined an industrious to build a company that will make you the world’s leading millionaire. Mystically gifted! And now when such calibre company seeks to collaborate with a small Scandinavian brand – there nothing else to do than be happy and thankful! 🙂
Once an close acquaintance called and said: “You have written yourself in history, you do really cool things but why would you ask people their opinion about your labels? Are you so undecided that you cannot think for yourself? Why would you place yourself in such awkward situation.” I was surprised about this call – the question is not whether i can make up my mind, on the contrary – I find it nice to hear and consider the thoughts of the readers that have been following me online for 10+ years – I trust these people, they are dear to me. Certainly I can decide for myself I surely I will always make the final decision myself, but I guess the secret of a great product is cooperation. Just the personal touch, personal contact, genuine passion, affection and being there with heart and soul will bring you closer to the goal. Something that has been done with the heart cannot turn awry and will always bring closer the best “success algorithms”. At least my experience tells me that.
NordenBladet – The entire last week I have been actively involved in the product design of our cosmetics brand Elisheva & Shoshana – I have been furnishing the website (ElishevaShoshana.com), producing soap and designing the etiquettes, also I have been concluding the documents so that everything would be in line with the National Health Board and the requirements of the European Union. There has been quite a lot of work and engagement with it.
I am rather glad that we live in the countryside – unpolluted nature and clean environment is something that can be valued more and more in the hasty lives that we lead. Also in the process of brand design I aim to bring country life and the power of unpolluted nature closer to people. The more we connect to nature the more there is happiness and contentment in our mind. Every single article of soap, shampoo and bath foam that has been produced from pure ingredients, contributes to this welfare-chain. The healthier and more natural our choices, the more our bodies and minds thrive.
The process of preparing splendid soap is time-consuming. Already in springtime we were growing, gathering and collecting from our own home fields as well as from the clean forests of Estonia herbs, leaves, roots, stems, inflorescences, we dried them for herbal tea as well as for the ingredients of cosmetics – as natural dye and fragrance ingredients. Most of the ingredients that go in our soap can hit our mouths – I have been trying to work on the recipes with our pharmacists taking into account that whenever a cosmetics or treatment product can be dyed, decorated, scented naturally than that is how we will perform it. The smell of coffee or the creamy mocha shade stems from coffee, the yellow tone comes from the native dandelions, etc. Every product is handmade – prepared carefully one after another with own hands, machinery is not involved in the production and naturally we do not test our products on animals. Currently we have refined three magnificent recipes for soap and three wonderful bath salts – product design process proceeds with shower gels, shampoos and body lotions. Besides developing the recipes, testing and preparing the products one must consider that soap must still ripen after preparation in order to attain the optimal pH level and to give best results upon use. Therefore, molded today, lain to dry tomorrow, the soap matures to be packed and consumed during the period of two months.
A significant proportion of the production process comprises the look – for years we have had and used the logo, yet the labels for bottles, jars, boxes are still undergoing styling and this actually is an important part of the working process – I do want everything to look just stunning and to represent our products just as they deserve to be represented. Thus a lot of weight lies in the right packaging and wrapping, the right design. I would wish to use in packaging only the materials that can be recycled – cardboard, PET, etc. Yesterday I have designed the etiquette samples for Coffee-Argan oil soap… what is your opinion on what is the best solution – what should be added/ lost/ modified? 🙂 I fully design the packaging myself (I am quite so excited about the process!!), then I send the samples to the artist and further to print. All of you who have good ideas on what-how could be done in a cool way, what packaging you would like and in what kind of wrapping of the products would urge you to purchase them — drop me a line! For all the good ideas or hints that find a way into our product design the authors of the ides will receive a prize of beautiful and valuable SPA-set gift!
NordenBladet – Finally I can share this splendid news with you – we are launching Elisheva & Shoshana (E&S) cosmetic products! When creating this brand already back in 2013 I had in mind doing something in favor of the good (spare the animals and the nature, live economically, consume what is natural and of quality) as well as doing something with my darling daughters – Estella Elisheva and Ivanka Shoshana. I wished for us to have so to say “our project” together.
For some years we simply produced content for the blog elishevashoshana.wordpress.com and cooperated with various enterprises. Then we began to produce for the nearest and dearest and for our acquaintances quality handmade articles of knitted tissue. Now coming soon for sale are the first products of cosmetics. The prime products to be launched for sale in the pharmacies, eco-shops, (natural) cosmetics stores and our resellers are the care and treatment products – high quality and with purest of the pure ingredients, various soaps, bathing salt and SPA-products – most of the products are suitable for people with sensitive skin and with allergies, also for babies and expecting mothers. The recipes for E&S products have been composed by leading experts – in close collaboration with pharmacists, chemists and doctors, and the products are prepared by hand to maintain the quality and the spirit of each and every product. All the products have abundantly absorbed resources of devoted preliminary work, research, time and loving care. Whichever product is picked, I would be happy to use it myself and on my children!
Product design stage is complete, the prime samples are there (without lables, though). Currently I am working on the architecture of the homepage (see elishevashoshana.com) and building the product register (barcodes, certificates, and then lables). It has been for so long that I have striven for running my own natural cosmetics line! Therefore it is super exciting to be taking the first steps today!
