Home

Blueberries in a blue bucket
,

Berry pickers, landscapes and modern slavery

Ever since I saw an exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Photography, over 20 years ago, I have followed news about Thai berry pickers in Finland. The exhibition included work by the Swedish photographer Margareta Klingberg, who portrayed foreign…

When ESG efforts are crushed along with the mussels

Stora Enso is one of the big forest companies, a merger between Finnish and Swedish giants. Actually, Stora Enso calls itself a renewable materials company: "Our commitment to renewability is not only about our raw material. It is also linked…
, ,

Respecting Indigenous Knowledge

I visited for the first time Australia in spring 2023. When the Qantas plane landed in Sydney, the first announcement acknowledged the First Nations peoples of Australia as the continuing custodians and traditional owners of the land. I was…
,

Western stereotypes and small island realities

Recently, we organized a hybrid meeting in a small island developing nation. It was special occasion as we hadn’t had a chance to meet face-to-face in three years. The main topic of the event was climate resilience. What could have been…
Cover of the featured book The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
,

Humboldt’s advice

In the first Geography lectures our professor Aartolahti described the way a Geographer observes the world: by taking the globe in her hand. This came very vividly into my mind as I read Andrea Wulf’s marvellous book “The Invention of…
,

Mining for renewables

Mining is a complex topic. People don’t want such nuisances nearby but instead somewhere else, preferably somewhere far away. A NIMBY phenomenon which isn't about a backyard only but larger region or a whole country. At the same time, we…
Drainage basins
, ,

Cooperation in drainage basins

The Visual Capitalist just published a great map on the drainage basins of the World's Longest Rivers. Drainage basin for geomorphology, or catchment area for hydrology, means the area where the water flows downstream and finally reaches the…
Die Erde wall map
,

Global cooperation across time zones

Exactly a year ago we didn’t go to the office anymore. One thing that pandemic has taught us by now, on an anniversary of the WHO’s declaration of pandemic, is to sit in endless zooms and teams and meets. It has been amazing to see how the…
Dancers
,

Interview at 12 o’clock

I’ve done hundreds of interviews as a researcher and performance auditor. Some of the interviews are more interesting than others. No matter what the topic, the key is to listen carefully what people say and be honestly interested in that.…
Sustainable Development Goals
,

Long-term plans

At the heart of sustainable development is the long-term approach, the famous future generations, that the Brundtland Commission so beautifully named as one key stakeholder in 1987. The importance of longer-termism is now gaining root among…