Tuomas Aivelo

Tuomas AIVELO, 25 years old, holds a Master of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is currently reading for a Ph.D. in the same field at the University of Helsinki. The general theme of his research is ageing in the Malagasy mouse lemur. In addition to expeditions to the tropics, he is also driven by a love of biodiversity and environmental issues. He has previously been active in other environmental groups and worked in Brussels in forest conservation. Nowadays, he also works part-time as a web assistant to the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and as a teacher in IB high school in Helsingin Suomalainen yhteiskoulu.

Pekka Grönlund

Pekka GRÖNLUND, 27 years old, holds a Master of Science degree in Economics and is currently studying Environmental Economics at University of Helsinki. His studies have a focus on Corporate Responsibility and more recently on environmental issues.

Juha-Pekka Hokkanen

Juha-Pekka HOKKANEN, 26 years old, holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering with a focus on business analysis. He is especially interested in the role of public-private partnerships in combating climate change. He currently works for ABB Marine Systems.

Oladeji Ikuesan

Oladeji IKUESAN is a Nigerian and hails from the oil rich Niger Delta region that is currently experiencing massive environmental problems. He is studying International Business Management at Laurea Business Ventures in Espoo, Finland, and his thesis is titled “Eco-preneurship Market Potential in Nigeria”. He currently works as a business development consultant to companies aiming to penetrate the Nigeria and West Africa markets. He strongly believe that the policy makers and multinational companies will never seriously address “Climate Change”, that is unless the people take action.  He is an active member of Environmental Rights, Friends of The Earth, and ONE.org.

Minna Jokinen

Minna JOKINEN, 30 years old, holds a Master of Science (Tech.) degree in Energy Engineering and Environmental Protection. She works for Pöyry Management Consulting working in the areas of climate and environment. Examples of Minna’s project experience include industry sector carbon footprint calculations and environmental impact assessments.

Vuokko Kurki

Vuokko KURKI, 27 years old, holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental and Energy Technology. Her major subject was waste management and minor subject was environmental politics. She has a good knowledge in areas such as; waste water treatment, sustainable sanitation, international water resource management and methods to decrease agricultural eutrophication. In her free time she has participated in the several environmental education projects through Nature League, an environmental NGO group. Her interests include developing  a healthy relation with nature and finding own roots using traditional knowledge.

Maarit Laihonen

Maarit LAIHONEN, 27 yrs, holds a Master of Science (Econ.), major in international business and management and is also studying for Master’s degree in Social and Moral Philosophy. In addition she has minors in e.g. environmental studies and marketing. Currently she is working on her doctoral thesis about multinational corporations' role in global environmental politics in Aalto University School of Economics. Around COP 15 she was working on research on global climate change politics. Maarit pursues to ascetic and minimalist ideal of life, believing that the greatest happiness is found in small things.

Satu Onnela

Satu ONNELA, 30 years, holds Master of Science in Planning Geography. She’s especially interested in combining sustainability and quality of life by utilising the tools of urban planning and social politics. Currently Satu works in Demos, Helsinki on themes such as happiness, more energy-efficient alternatives for consumption and metropolitan wellbeing. She’s also actively participating in activities of an urban environmental organization, Dodo.

Sari Palmgren

Sari PALMGREN (33) is works as a freelancer dancer and choreographer. She holds a Master of Arts in Dance from the Theatre Academy, Helsinki. Her current solo work "Animal motion" at  the Zodiak-New dance centre, involved researching the animal known as human. She has studied this vertebrate’s relation with its own body, environment and other animals. Sari is working widely in the field of dance embracing dance works, theatres, dance films and different social choreography projects with UNIT-collective and MAD production.

Jukka Parkkamäki

Jukka PARKKAMÄKI, 28 years, holds a Master of Science (Tech.) degree in Real Estate Economics. His minor subjects were in finance. He became interested in environmental efficiency when he joined the construction company Skanska in 2008. Among other things Jukka is a LEED Accredited Professional and is hugely passionate about changing himself, other people and the society. Currently he works as a development manager at Skanska in a global team focusing on environmental efficiency refurbishment projects.

Maija Saijonmaa

Maija SAIJONMAA, 30 years, holds a Master of Science (Tech.) degree in Energy Engineering and Environmental Protection. Her minor studies were in industrial and environmental management and along side these she has taken additional courses on finance. She worked in Fortum’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) unit and as a Consultant for Pöyry Energy Management Consulting. It was whilst working in these positions that Majja undertook her thesis on ‘Allowance price estimation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme’ . Currently she works as a project manager in Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) within the carbon finance and funds team. Here she looks after a portfolio of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects looking to reduce carbon emissions mainly in Asia. She is also a founders of Nordic Offset Oy, a company established in 2008 which offers voluntary emission compensation services to companies and private persons.

Outi Silverberg

Outi SILVERBERG, 26 years, is currently writing her Master's thesis on urban nature from a citizens’ perspective. Her major is in sociology and for her secondary subjects she has been studying environmental and development studies. Outi has a fair amount of experience in project work and evaluation and she is especially interested in participatory methodology. Besides environmental issues one of her biggest concerns is how limited time is. In her few spare hours she spends her time doing volunteer work in the urban environmental organisation, Dodo. She also enjoys singing and playing music.

Laura Vanhanen

Laura VANHANEN, 24 years, is studying for a Master of Education as part of the International Programme at University of Oulu. She has previously worked in the European Parliament as a political assistant to MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen. She is interested in educational development, the promotion of human rights, and environmental issues as well as intercultural communication and negotiation.

Virpi Velin

Virpi VELIN, 32 years old, completed her Master of Arts degree in Aalto University’s School of Art and Design in spring 2010 with a major in Photography. Her final thesis centred around the themes of the human condition and the complex relationship between humans and environment. Currently she is preparing for her PhD studies which will continue to explore these themes through photography and literature.

Elina Virtanen

Elina VIRTANEN, 27 yrs, holds a Master of Science (Tech.) degree in Industrial Engineering and Management. She currently works as an energy and environment expert in Gaia Consulting. In Gaia, she works as a project manager in energy, climate change and risk management projects. Her expertise includes carbon footprint evaluation and management, energy demand scenarios as well as electricity network regulation and smart grids. In addition, she has experience of facilitating several workshops. Before Gaia Consulting, Elina used to work at Fortum. She did her studies at Helsinki University of Technology where her major was environmental management. Elina’s dream is to make living a carbon neutral life easy.

Maria Vuorelma

Maria VUORELMA, 27 years, is studying Environmental Economics at the University of Helsinki. She is currently finalising her Master's thesis on international emissions trading. She is also working for Nordic Council of Ministers as a co-ordinator for the Environment and Economics working group.

Maaria Wierink

Maaria WIERINK, 30years old, holds Master of Science (Tech.) degree in Material Science. Her educational and work background is in environmental engineering, and her speciality is in the recycling of materials. She works as a researcher at the Aalto University School of Science and Engineering, currently working on her PhD project. Her research interest is studying the factors influencing the balance between production, consumption, and recycling, so that the consumption of natural resources and the production of greenhouse gasses would be minimised.