Towards planetary wellbeing | JANNE S. KOTIAHO

Janne S. Kotiaho is a professor of ecology at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, the director of the JYU.WISDOM research community and the chair of the Finnish national IPBES panel, i.e. the Nature Panel. His fields of research include ecology and the measurement, evaluation and forecasting of habitats.

RE SEARCH: PUTTING THE RESEARCHER FIRST

Towards planetary wellbeing

Planetary wellbeing refers to the equal wellbeing of humanity and non-human nature. Non-human nature and its functioning are vital for humanity, because it provides our nourishment and most of our resources. Humans dominate the competition for resources between species, but, at the same time, we are destroying non-human nature at an unprecedented rate.

This activity already threatens our wellbeing. Words and language affect our thinking, and we cannot afford to just talk about promoting human wellbeing anymore. The time of gazing at your navel is over – we must think bigger than before.

The School of Resource Wisdom is an open community for the students and staff of JYU and partly for external participants. It contemplates solutions for planetary wellbeing, sustainability, the circular economy, and wise and reasonable use of resources in general. We gather regularly for lunch colloquiums and planetary wellbeing breakfasts and have environmental debates. People from all faculties participate in the activity of the Wisdom community, which guarantees multidisciplinary perspectives.

In addition to non-biased interdisciplinary research and education that does not get hung up on traditions, we boldly focus on societal interaction. The Wisdom community is a proactive advocate of knowledge, creating a better world by increasing the understanding of the academic community and society as a whole.