Sustainable use of the world’s natural resources
25.10.2010
Using natural resources sustainably to meet the needs of industry and business is an increasingly urgent theme. New information and specialists are sorely needed in many branches of science.
The Finnish Ministry of the Environment notes that the renewable natural resources produced globally this year were already consumed by August.
From the very outset, students on the new Aalto University bioproduct technology degree programme will receive a generous helping of progress and understanding of the sustainable use of natural resources “straight from the horse’s mouth”.
The “horse” is a series of 13 distinguished lectures in which the top management of major Finnish corporations and other stakeholders such as the environmental lobbying organisation Greenpeace will present their views of the principles governing sustainable use of the world’s natural resources. The lectures will be open to the public.
“How on earth did the university manage to get such a team together? This is an incredible range of lecturers! All we could say was wow!” was the reaction of students Karoliina Helanto, Johanna Järvinen, Senja Kuokkanen and Jonas Stubb coming from a bioproduct technology lecture.
“We felt that there had to be some kind of special appeal in our programme. It’s great that industry stresses the importance of this.”
The views of industry and an environmental organisation on the adequacy of natural resources
The bioproduct technology degree programme that began in autumn 2010 is an MSc programme for key future specialists. The first 60 students are currently enrolled in this new programme.
The autumn lecture series responds to the challenge of the degree programme to train new specialists, who will participate in the debate on natural resources and the social and environmental impacts of their use.
“So far we have mainly studied this subject through the news media. It will be really nice to hear about it from the point of view of industry and the environmentalist lobby as well.”
The involvement of Greenpeace came as a surprise to the students.
“Greenpeace are sure to raise a large number of issues. Hopefully this lecture will attract many other students and will result in lively questioning,” the students explain.
Karoliina Helanto, Johanna Järvinen, Senja Kuokkanen and Jonas Stubb are not only preparing coursework for the lecture series, but also working though their own ideas.
“It’s a safe bet that critical questions will be raised. We would prefer to give the speaker a fair hearing and form our own impressions of it as a whole. It’s important to keep an open mind.”
http://chemat.tkk.fi/en/studies/study_programme/index_02/
The lecture series:
1 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Lecture Hall A
Tuula Teeri, President, Aalto University
2 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
The world’s natural resources and their use, Magnus Diesen, Special adviser, Aalto University
3 November 2010, 16.15-18.00 Lecture Hall A
The world’s forests, Jan Heino, Senior forests adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
8 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Lecture Hall A
Greenpeace, Director of Communications Juha Aromaa
9 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
Stora Enso, Jouko Karvinen, CEO
10 November 2010, 16.15-18.00 Lecture Hall A
Valio, Pekka Laaksonen, CEO
15 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Lecture Hall A
UPM, Jussi Pesonen, CEO
16 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
Outokumpu, Juha Rantanen, CEO
17 November 2010, 16.15-18.00 Lecture Hall A
Kemira, Harri Kerminen, CEO
23 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
Pöyry, Heikki Malinen, CEO
29 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Lecture Hall A
Fortum, Tapio Kuula, CEO
30 November 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
Fiskars, Director Jaakko Autere
7 December 2010, 14.15-16.00 Mellin Hall
The Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA), Director Eeva Hellström
Further details of the course will be available on the Noppa website at https://noppa.tkk.fi/noppa/kurssi/puu-0.1120/luennot
