NEVER MIND THE COPENHAGEN

Last week I attended a environmental conference in Helsinki, Never Mind the Copenhagen, which was arranged by Ilmastotalkoot. The seminar lasted for four hours with almost 20 different, interesting speakers from marketing industry to philosophers. One of my favorite speeches was held by the US embassador Bruce J. Oreck who suprised me a big time. I was waiting for something totally different than what he offered us, the main point being "take risks". Don't be afraid to fail - success comes from failure! It's not wrong to fail. It's only a failure if we fail to learn from it! So now when the world is facing big changes, we can't just step back or stay still. We have to take a brave step forward, take risks and see if they can bring us some good, new changes to our lives. Don't wait "them" to make the change - YOU are the change!

Another interesting speech was given by Markku Jussila, founder of kuinoma. The concept of the company is really innovative, at the same time being common sense: it is a lending service website where people can borrow their gear for other people's use. So basically, if you go once a year camping, you don't need to buy your stuff for it! You can borrow the needed gear from other people and save your money besides getting to know nice, new people. How brilliant!

Last but not least I got really inspired by Maija-Riitta Ollila who's among many other things a philosopher. Her view to the global issues and solving them was, well, different? If you have five friends that you believe you can influence in a positive, greener way, and they have five more friends who have friends etc., this world we live in now could be according to her calculations changed in - tadaa - two weeks! Sounds quite utopistic but I like to believe her. I have to believe!

Later the day we were offered some delicious Finnish finger food and beverages by Laitilan Wirwoitusjuomatehdas while listening to trumpetist Jukka Eskola and saksofonist Timo Lassy playing. It was a perfect day!