To
whom it may concern, I had the pleasure of first meeting Mika Vanhanen at the 2008 edition of the Science Festival in Joensuu, Finland, an event which gathered several thousand students from all over the world. Mr. Vanhanen is the organizer of this, by now, annual global educational event for schools. In 2008, the European Environment Agency, a European
Union body where I am responsible for environmental education, was looking for
an international event to launch its educational website for kids. It
should be noted that Joensuu is a small Finnish town located closer to the
Russian border than the Finnish capital city, Helsinki, through which all
visitors had to pass to get to the SciFest event. As such, there was a
degree of skepticism as to the international dimension of the event during
which the website was to be launched. All doubts dissipated at the
event’s opening ceremony, which gathered teachers and students from places as
far away as Iran and Taiwan! It
came as no surprise to learn that Mr. Vanhanen was nominated for UNEP’s
Champion of the Earth award and it is an honor to be able to support his
well-deserved nomination. For further information, I remain at your disposal at
the below coordinates. Sincerely, |