I headed over to the YleX radio studios earlier today for a live interview with Heikki Soini and Bikka Puoskari.  I thought we were going to try to figure out why Hip Hop music is popular in Finland or maybe discuss Lady Gaga’s latest releases.  But no, they wanted to talk about the environment and at one point about bodybuilding. (Note to readers, despite Heikki’s assertion that we could both bench press about the same weight, I am not so sure.)  If you want to hear the interview -  yes, it was RADIO not TV – you can click on the following link: http://areena.yle.fi/audio/575685

By the way, Heikki is really ticklish, as you can see from the photo below. 

The interview was a lot of fun, but I turned the tables on them a bit as I brought a mini video recorder with me.  Look for the video in about a week when we have the Youtube channel up and running for my journal.

I listened intently for almost two hours as Petteri explained all of the amazing work that was being undertaken at FMI. (O.K., I have to admit that I interrupted every few minutes to pepper him with questions.) He covered everything from the short term weather modeling that they use to generate the predictions so important to businesses and individuals, all the way up to the large scale and long term climate analysis critical to understanding, addressing and adapting to climate change. 

This kind of meeting with someone armed with so much knowledge and such clarity in translating technical information into layman’s terms brings out the science geek side of my personality.  I had days of questions, but only a few hours to spend with Petteri.  I warned him that “I’ll be back!” (to quote a now famous Governor), although next time I want to meet up at the Sodankylä-Pallas weather research stations (around 67 degrees latitude).

By the way, just because this is serious science doesn’t mean you can have fun.  Here is a photo of Petteri and me in his office.

 
So off we went with the Spanish Ambassador, H.E. Ricardo Zalacain and his wife, Monica Espinos, Heidi Day (of the U.S. Embassy) and Octavian Balea (a photographer friend).  The tour was lovely and fascinating – a real look into the private world of some important citizens whose lives covered a significant portion of the 20th century.

Historic preservation has been a long time personal passion.  And for the last decade both my wife and I have been very active in energy efficient and sustainable building practices.  (Although I will leave a detailed discussion for a future journal entry, these principals are fully compatible with beautiful design.)  At any rate, we invited the museum director, Severi Blomstedt, and his friend and longtime Helsinki resident, the British born architect and author, Jonathan Moorhouse for lunch at the Embassy. What was scheduled for an hour drifted into over two hours as we discussed a century of Finnish architecture.  Wonderful conversation and the start of what will be great friendships!

With Severi Blomstedt and Jonathan Moorhouse

For those who are not familiar with the tradition, the United States Marines (founded during the American Revolution in 1775) celebrate their “birthday” each year to commemorate their fellow Marines who have fallen in combat. It is also an event that helps to keep their esprit-de-corps as strong as their skill sets. Now while that sounds rather formal, the event itself is really a wonderful celebration with great food, good friends and terrific dancing.  This year’s event followed firmly in those traditions. Basically, I ate too much, danced too little and stayed too late.  I attach the photo below just too show that everyone had a whole lot of fun!

The American made Tesla was on display. An absolutely beautiful car that just happens to be fully electric. And although I am not exactly sure where one could actually do this legally, the Tesla will go from 0 to 100 kilometers an hour in just 3.9 seconds!  As you can see from the photo below, the test drive blew the hair right off me and Jyrki.

Here I am with the Tesla and the show promoter Jyrki Mattila of Shift2e

Another really compelling presentation was by eCars-Now! – a Finnish firm that is using open source thinking to create a fully electric retrofit for older cars. Basically they are looking at the most popular gasoline cars on the road today and are designing a drop in fully electric drive system to convert older cars to electric power. Very innovative and potentially a terrific way to “fix” the existing auto fleet as it ages.

Here is my wife, Cody, with Jiri Räsänen, Tim Hitchkock and Eki Leinonen of eCars-Now!

My other favorite was the Think City car – a real vehicle already for sale in Norway (if I recall correctly).  Moreover, they are opening a manufacturing plant here in Finland.  OK, I want to test drive one as soon as they become available here!

Cody and a Think City car

I spent the morning at the Cleantech Finland Conference in Lahti. Several very thoughtful presentations were given and I plan to return to get into greater details and specifics on their waste reduction and utilization practices. (Yes I know, it perhaps does not sound exciting, but it really is.)

The conference included lunch followed by a concert at Sibelius Hall – neither of which I could attend due to an already over-scheduled afternoon. So instead, I headed back to Helsinki for the first snow of the season. By the end of the day only about 4 or 5 centimeters had fallen, but wonderful nonetheless. 

What is it about snow? Watch any child and you cannot help see their sense of wonder and delight playing in it, catching snowflakes and of course throwing snowballs. Kids don’t complain that it is cold or that the days are darker. For them, winter isn’t a cause for unhappiness. Rather they revel in the miracle of snow, in the entertainment of seeing their own breath in the frost air and the discovery of the mysteries of the trees now revealed in the absence of leaves. Winter means popcorn by the fire, the beauty of candlelight and piling in under quilts and blankets. Sometimes as adults we focus more on the drudgery of winter than on its pleasures. 

I got to thinking about this because of our dog, Deckard, who simply revels in the cold and snow.  Here he is yesterday afternoon catching snowflakes with his tongue and generally romping without a worry in the world.

One of the first trips I made after arriving in Finland just over two months ago was to Jyväskylä to attend a two day Bio-Energy conference there. Anyone who cares about technology (and of course for me that means technology applied to address energy and environmental problems) knows that two days in Jyväskylä is not nearly enough time to begin to get a sense of all the cutting edge products that are being developed there. The day started with an amazing visit to Moventas, where the team from the U.S. Embassy met with Moventas’ senior management. Partnering with world leaders in wind turbine industry such as Vestas (which has brand new manufacturing facilities in my home state of Colorado) and General Electric (who manufactures wind turbines in Pennsylvania), Moventas engineers and builds what are arguably the finest wind turbine gearing mechanisms in the world. Their plant is as spectacular as is their technology.

From there, we traveled to the home of Markku Anderson, the Mayor of the City of Jyväskylä. I had the pleasure of meeting Markku on my first trip to Jyväskylä (a very funny thing happened at that first meeting – but I will leave that for another entry). His home, a beautifully restored wooden house from the late 1800’s – was filled with wonderful art and furnishings – and the lunch was terrific. Just to prove how much fun we had, check out the photograph below.

The afternoon was filled with terrific presentations from a number of start-up and established businesses all relating to alternative energy and energy efficiency. The view from their conference room was so spectacular that I had a hard time imagining how anyone actually got any work done there.
 
Last stop of the day was at the offices of Keskisuomalainen Oyj, the publisher of so many Finnish newspapers. I was there to learn about their leadership in sustainability. I saw and heard the details about their real commitment to sustainable business practices. I know it isn’t Finnish to brag about oneself, so I will do that on their behalf. I was impressed and inspired.

Once again, the time in Jyväskylä flew by and we had to rush off to catch our train back to Helsinki – I plan to return to Jyväskylä soon.

The presenter was Mr. James Balog of the Extreme Ice Survey.  Speaking to an overflowing auditorium, Mr. Balog lectured by way of his amazing time-lapse photography film clips.  Using solar powered cameras permanently located at some of the most remote locations on earth, Jim Balog has assembled remarkable footage on the retreat of key glaciers over the past several years. I can honestly say that the audience was spellbound by what they were seeing and motivated to expand their own efforts to make a difference.

Then off to Oulu University of Applied Science where the School of Music, Dance and Media acted as the host of the Embassy’s sponsored “Scratch Ambassadors Tour”.  This was one stop on a multi-city Finnish tour for this hip-hop group from the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. For all of the various master classes and the concert itself, the joint was jumping.  

Scratching with Berklee Hip Hop Quartet in Oulu

Finally, a late night dinner with the Major of Oulu, Matti Pennanen and then I caught the late night flight back to Helsinki. My only regret was that I didn’t have more time on this trip, but I plan on getting back to Oulu soon.