Esa Mäkelä donated €75,000 in support of the climate change research being conducted at Taita Research Station. His climate values informed by childhood experiences, Mäkelä began to grow concerned about the state of the environment in his twenties.
A snow-peaked mountain in the fjords of western Norway left a lasting impression on Esa Mäkelä decades ago and is also part of the reason why Mäkelä recently made a donation in support of climate change research.
Mäkelä, a resident of Klaukkala, donated €75,000 to the University of Helsinki via a fund that bears his name. The funds are especially meant to support research conducted at Taita Research Station, aimed at curbing climate change.
In his youth, Mäkelä spent four months on a summer vacation amid the scenery along the Nordfjord in Svelgen, western Norway, working at an ironworks both earning money and gathering experience for his engineering studies.
His apartment was located on the shore of the fjord. On the other side of the fjord rose a strikingly beautiful mountain with a snowy peak.
- In the beginning of August, when I returned home, the peak was still covered in snow. But when I returned there decades later as a tourist, that perpetual snow had vanished. It's observations like this that are so alarming: what's going to happen once all the ice melts?, Mäkelä asks.
Multidisciplinary research at Taita
Mäkelä's concern for the state of Earth, its viability and the preservation of its biodiversity has gradually grown over the past several decades.
Particularly in recent times, news on the topic have become quite alarming: headlines have been dominated by floods, droughts, storms, reduction of the Amazon rainforest...
- All of this has turned into more pressure on me to support global environmental conservation.
Mäkelä recalls first hearing about Taita Research Station, opened in 2011, through the media. The station is located in the Taita Hills of Kenya and is administered by the Department of Geosciences and Geography at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science. The station conducts multidisciplinary research.
- The donation is primarily meant for environmental protection and generally all the functions that Taita is carrying out so well: research, education as well as related communications.
Childhood values
Mäkelä grew up in materially modest circumstances, the youngest of a large flock of siblings. This meant a meagre everyday life. His values today largely draw from his childhood experiences.
- When we got a new piece of clothing, it would be worn until the fabric could no longer be patched up or repaired. I've kept the same ethos in my adult life.
Mäkelä is concerned that new clothes no longer tend to last as long. In a single-use culture, goods are cheap but there is a constant need to buy more. Humanity can no longer afford to waste natural resources.
- If I buy a pair of socks, they'll be worn out after just a few uses. I miss the older kind of socks that would survive anything.
After completing his engineering studies, Mäkelä first worked in production and international trade duties in the metal industry and afterwards as a consultant entrepreneur. His work has made him believe that innovation is the key to slowing down climate change as well. In turn, innovation requires research.
For example, Mäkelä believes that the efficiency of raw material use can still be improved in many industrial sectors in order to reduce the strain on the environment.
