We all feel the impact of consummerism. Global warming is one of them.
I'm well aware. But, then we have to consider several factors. For instance:
1) Finland seems to be doing pretty well on emissions already, so maybe they can afford it:
http://www.stat.fi/til/khki/2014/khki_2014_2015-05-22_tie_001_en.html
2) Theirs is a policy for five million, not five billion. What they're doing may not be manageable if scaled up to the whole planet right now, but it *isn't* scaled up to the whole planet - it may be that this will actually maintain their economy by maintaining confidence, and that may provide the resources to continue to reduce emissions, where a recession would be a roadblock to reduction.
The simple fact is, "more money tends to lead to consumerism" is not sufficient to analyze a particular policy choice. Context matters, and we aren't informed on the Finnish economic landscape enough to really know what the impact would be.
The problem is that economic growth fueled by consumption doesn't always go hand in hand with our* desire to have a better relationship with our environement. One will have to give way
With respect, there's a logical failure there - "A doesn't always go with B" does *not* imply that you can't have both. It means that *sometimes* you can't have both. In order to get that one *must* give way, you must demonstrate that they *never* can go hand in hand, which you haven't done. Otherwise, the absolute phrasing doesn't hold, you see.
As noted, consumerism can help keep an economy healthy enough to continue the transition to alternative energy sources (which is an investment - if your economy doesn't have room for investment, you have a problem going green) and can also drive adoption of alternative technologies - consumerism aimed at the right products can lead to reduction in energy usage - so long as those things you consume are using less energy than what you used to do. For example, in the US, consumerism can be )(and is) used to drive folks to purchase new, more efficient cars and other transportation.
So, maybe it can be done, with careful management.