University of Helsinki
Ylioppilaslehti published a long-read, written by the newspaper’s sub-editor Pekka Torvinen, with a grim title “Tulevaisuus on tuhottu” (Future is destroyed).
People were so much besotted by the gift of energy they found under the ground, that we thought we could do anything. In that illusion we did not notice that we, at the same time, created our own destruction.
For this thought-provoking article about the fight with climate change, Torvinen interviewed Docent Dr. Tere Vadén and Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen. Professor Tynkkynen spoke about the energy flows coming from Russia to Finland, oil spill that occurs in Russia during oil transportation through the pipelines, burning of the gas that is a byproduct of oil extraction, methane and carbon dioxide emissions, and other disadvantages of energy sector – that Finland and other countries benefiting from hydrocarbons extraction prefer to forget about. Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen does not believe that energy superpowers will reduce the use of fossil fuels and start investing in the renewables unless some climate disaster happens that would push them, but unfortunately it might be too late to react after it. Even though Professor Tynkkynen describes himself as a realist pessimist, he believes that there is always hope.
Read the full article online in Finnish here.