Terve!
I am Wendy Kahler, Environment, Science and Technology Officer at the American Embassy in Helsinki. I arrived in Finland in August 2008 and will be working here for three years to promote cooperation between the US and Finland on environment, climate and technology issues. This is my first time living in Europe, having spent the last six years or so in Africa. As you can imagine, the weather here is a bit different than I am used to. Thanks in part to the generous spirit of the Finns, though, I have survived my first Nordic winter unscathed.
I will be contributing to this blog as a way to discuss the Embassy’s work on environment, science and technology (we say EST for short!) issues, and generate discussion on these topics with the wider community. I must admit that I never blogged before coming to Finland. In most of Africa, internet connection can be spotty and full-scale blogging is not so popular. However, Finland is one of the most-wired countries in the world, so it seems only fitting to put that technology to its best use.
I welcome your insights and feedback on all my entries. If you have a specific question, I encourage you to post it on the blog. At the moment, I anticipate posting one new entry a month, and responding to any remarks within a week.
Finland’s EST advancements matter to America, and I hope my entries will shed some light on how Finland and the US are working together to positively impact the global environment.
Happy Blogging!
