Special Events
The Alworth Institute occasionally hosts or co-sponsors events that do not fit into its other categories of programs.
(Events listed in reverse chronological order.)
Information Session on Internships and Careers with the US State Department
Monday, September 18, 2023 - 4:30 pm - Cina Hall 106
Presented by Thomas Hanson, Alworth Institute Diplomat in residence and retired Foreign Service Officer, US State Department
Hanson will also meet with people individually on Tuesday, September 19 and Wednesday, September 20. Email [email protected] to schedule an appointment.
Rewilding Finland
Tuesday, August 29, 2023 - 12:00 pm (Noon) - UMD KAM Library Rotunda
Dr. Tero Mustonen will discuss his work transforming depleted and damaged peatlands, which are the largest carbon stores on Earth, into productive and biodiverse habitats and wetlands.
Dr. Mustonen is the Finnish founder and president of the Snowchange Cooperative, a non-profit organization based in Finland with members across the Arctic, including the communities of Eastern Sámi, Chukchi, Yukaghir, Sakha, Evenk, Even, Inuit, Inuvialuit, Gwitchin and many more. He is an adjunct professor of Geography at the University of Eastern Finland. He was awarded the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for his work restoring peatlands in Finland. He has also won several human rights and environmental awards for his work with Snowchange and the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
He has worked as the traditional knowledge coordinator for Eurasia for the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment and as Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a well-known scholar of Arctic biodiversity, climate change, and indigenous issues. Since 2017, he has been coordinating the Landscape Rewilding Programme which is the largest restoration program on private lands in Finland.
Since April 2018, Dr. Mustonen has led the restoration of 62 severely degraded former industrial peat mining and forestry sites throughout Finland—totaling 86,000 acres—and transformed them into productive, biodiverse wetlands and habitats. Rich in organic matter, peatlands are highly effective carbon sinks; according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), peatlands are the largest natural carbon stores on Earth.
Dr. Mustonen lives in the middle of the last old-growth forest in Selkie with his wife, Kaisu. He is a winter seiner. As a Finnish scholar, fisherman, and leader, he is deeply connected to nature and rooted in traditional Finnish culture. He grew up amidst Finland’s lakes and peatlands and has dedicated his life to bringing together Western scientists, village elders, and Sámi Indigenous knowledge holders in the region to preserve traditional culture and environments in the face of human exploitation and climate change.
This event is co-sponsored by the Climate Action Team of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth.