Theoretical philosophy was my first love; it was where I invested the majority of my time – although in my student days that time was not spent on getting good grades. For my minor subjects I chose cognitive science and cultural anthropology. Although my starting point was entirely theoretical, I strongly believe in combining philosophy with other subjects. At some stage I found myself studying the theory of evolution, molecular biology and genetics. I wrote my master’s thesis on the philosophy of biology, more specifically on the problem of the individual in natural selection. My choice of subjects has permanently shaped my thinking, and I find I am still able to apply it to my work, both in environmental policy and in NGO work.

In the environmental debate, the problems are pessimism, cynicism and the view that environmental destruction is inevitable, which is also the defence mechanism that people employ when faced with unpleasant environmental news. In my own 20 years of experience, pessimism in the face of challenges is completely wrong, but it is one of the largest obstacles in the environmental debate. Throughout history, discussion on the future has often shaped the course of development. If our dominant way of talking about the future is dystopian, I fear that it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I went to China in 2011 as the manager of Greenpeace’s coal campaign team and an advisor to its climate campaign. The rapid change that occurred in China during those years was a real awakening. As the manager of Greenpeace’s Beijing coal team, I led a Chinese team, people who had not had much experience of NGO work, but also people who didn’t have the same problems of an entrenched debate. Our role in China was to provide alternative environmental knowledge through research and guide the debate to those issues that environmental officials could not tackle without public discussion.

Climate change is a huge issue, but it suffers the difficulty of understanding the scale of the problem. The debate centres on personal choices or the climate poker played between states. Nevertheless, it is only the connections between them that will precipitate change. In recent years I have been campaigning against the global use of coal, a level at which both the activity of NGOs, states and companies is visible.

In 1991 I was the first from my upper secondary school to enter university to study theoretical philosophy. My best memory is definitely finding other thinkers of a similar spirit. During my student days this led to endless debates and the development of ideas in cafes, corridors and rooms in the Metsätalo building. Sometimes we ended up having ridiculous discussions, while respecting the dry humour of philosophers, and sometimes we arrived at really crucial insights.