What is it to be an Eco-Event organizer?

Last year, the City of Tampere became receptive to my idea of giving more visibility to topics related to sustainability that are not discussed enough in the public space. The idea was to bring them to anybody through relaxed and safe conversations meant to inform, to share with guests or between us, and by doing so, to learn, take courage, reduce eco-anxiety and, sometimes also, to network. The Eco-Impact Events started slowly on-line during Covid time. It felt good each time, when we were 15 or 3, it has always been super interesting and empowering.

All the info related to the upcoming Eco-Impact events are on this site so feel free to explore!

People are so rich, everyone has so much to share about the topic that it’s a bliss for me to run these events. On top of this, I am left completely free to create each event as I want, to invite who I feel, to communicate how I please. I’ve also received support to develop a bit the site in Finnish. It’s incredible. The team I’ve been working with (3 women from the City Hall and Eko-Kumpanit) has been flexible and open and thanks to that I wanted to give my very best. But most important, I felt included in my town, useful to others while, at a personal level, I was going through extra-tough times.

What is it to be a Change Agent?

At the same time, Pirkanmaa Liito invited me to join the Ekothon with other Change Agents from the region. It was the same Covid times. Meaning that connecting/networking on-line most of the time with a big group of people involved into making the region more sustainably aware has been a challenge.

It was a lot of discussions between people who sometimes never met before. It was in Finnish yes, and still, even if I’m faaaar from mastering the language, there was a place for me and a few others like me.
With this group, I had a direct experience of diversity and inclusion, and it felt good.
Sometimes, I would just sit in a corner, listen to the entire conversation in Finnish, understand what I could, asking for a short summary at the end, and then come with a little idea to contribute.
It feels good to be one of them.
It feels good to be seen.
If feels good to listen to such a massive amount of creativity and dedication.
All these discussions took the form of a story that is available for free here (soon in English): https://projects.tuni.fi/uploads/2021/08/c39cfaab-murrosagenda-web.pdf

But hey, I’m a doer and talking between us wasn’t enough. The spirit had to be share more and wide open. :-) This took the form of interview’s with other Change Agents and Pirkanmaa Liito supported it gladly.

I could share and learn from many amazing people and the good news is that there are a few more to come :-)

You can listen to these conversation on Sepia’s YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpoISSfc_Ukp0tukC2gLb1g/videos

With all of them you’ll learn about creativity, sustainability, courage and sisu.

I just wanted to express #gratitude to all these people for trusting me in such difficult times <3

Image. Creator: Muaz Bin Saat | Credit: EyeEm/Getty Image