What do a brain scientist, an MP and a standup comic have in common?

On September 25, 2013, I teamed up with a brain scientist, a member of parliament, an architect, a standup comic, a prison official and a few others to talk about “borders” in Estonian society and how we can bridge them. Despite the speakers’ varied backgrounds, they all had a fresh perspective to share that stemmed from their own discipline and life experience. And our standup comic host, Stewart Johnson, kept us laughing all the way through!

Member of Parliament Liisa Pakosta questions assumptions

The event was the first in a series of seminars that is being put on by Estonia’s U.S. government exchange alumni NGO with fresh perspectives on social, cross-cultural, and cross-disciplinary issues. These alumni have participated in U.S. State Department funded exchanges such as Fulbright and the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) and are now teaming up to stimulate discussion in Estonian society on hot topics. The whole event felt like a TED Talk with short, intense presentations, lots of audience participation and cameras everywhere to capture the action.

Audience members kept the Q&A sessions lively 

The seminar kicked off with Jaan Aru (a neurosciences researcher at Tartu University) who proposed we cut open someone’s skull to examine where consciousness begins. Despite no volunteers from the audience he went on to talk about what is known and unknown about the human brain. He was followed by IVLP alumnus and Member of Parliament Liisa Pakosta who questioned our ideas of whether maternity leave and bans on youth labor are really the best thing for families and children. In the last talk of the morning, Fulbright Student alumnus and architect Ivan Sergejev discussed how buildings and built spaces create or bridge boundaries between people.

Neuroscientist Jaan Aru asks where consciousness begins 

The afternoon kicked off with IVLP alumnus and director of the Tartu Center for Creative Industries Raul Oreskin, who talked about the butterfly effect and how Estonian society can change as a result of small but impactful inputs. Mathematician Kristjan Korjus challenged the audience’s ideas about god, the brain and mathematics. And finally, Prison Department official and Humphrey Fellowship program alumnus Anne-Marika Maschorov talked about her work crossing borders and breaking stereotypes as a woman professional working in correction.

I was impressed with the range of topics and passion that our speakers brought to the dais, but the audience’s (mostly university students) enthusiasm was also contagious. By the end of the day, people were pretty exhausted, yet we’d all learned a whole lot more about our world, Estonia and the borders that we can overcome together. To learn more about the U.S. Embassy’s exchange programs and how you can apply, visit our website.


Blog post by Assistant Public Affairs Officer Alison Davis

American Documentary Takes Prize at Nature Film Festival

During Autumn, Matsalu National Park is a special kind of place. Moose roam around, wildlife is abundant and bird migrations are underway with crane calls and the chatter of gathering flocks in the Matsalu bay and reed beds. The air is full of the golden glow of birch trees preparing for the long winter.

Photo by Ago Ruus, Matsalu Nature Film Festivals, www.matsalufilm.ee

But last week it wasn’t only Mother Nature who was putting on a great show in Matsalu, the park also hosted the Matsalu International Nature Film Festival, in its 11th annual installment. For more than 10 years the park has also been a special place for nature documentary film makers and enthusiasts and this year was no exception! More than 280 entries came from 60 countries, of which 30 films were accepted for competition in two categories: Nature and Man and nature. This event has clearly arrived on the international map of film festivals. More than 10 films from the United States from a diverse group of American film makers made it into the program and we are proud to congratulate one American filmmaker, Director Sandy Patch, who won 1st prize in the category of Man and Nature. His movie “The Last Ice Merchant” was praised by the jury for showing the global implications of a changing world in a simple and humane way.

I really enjoyed being on hand for the launch of this year’s festival which featured performances by local musicians and a screening of a documentary on the life of Jacques Cousteau. To attend the opening night we travelled to the small western Estonian town of Lihula which is located on the edge of Matsalu National Park with a population of approximately 2500 and a history dating back to 1211. Films were also screened in Haapsalu, and the best documentaries were screened on the national broadcast TV channel, ETV, much to the delight of many nature fans in Estonia.

Film festivals are not only about the movies – the program also featured many workshops, educational programs and also an Earth Day exhibition on loan from the U.S. Embassy at the Lihula Library. On the first day of the festival, school kids gathered for the screening of a documentary about the lives of owls, followed by an owl-drawing workshop. The children’s whimsical owl drawings were then exhibited at screening venues in Lihula.

It’s great that I get to attend film festival’s like Matsalu as part of my job, but our partnership with Matsalu International Nature Film Festival speaks to something bigger: treasuring nature and our environment – something we all care deeply about. I hope to see you at the festival in 2014!

Post by Jane Susi, Cultural/Educational Assistant

Giants, dragons and towers!

Did you know that there’s a dragon in Tallinn?

You can find it in Nõmme, the “village within the city,” where I joined Ambassador Levine for a tour with District Elder Erki Korp on Monday. Nõmme is one of the eight administrative districts of Tallinn, located at the south-western edge of the city. Although it is located in Estonia’s largest city, Nõmme feels far removed from the high rise metropolis and is known for its small town ambiance. And we definitely got a taste of this on our visit!

Our small group started our tour at the district offices, where we met the administrative staff and quickly moved on to the grounds of Nikolai von Glehn’s stone castle. Von Glehn was a Tsarist-era Baltic-German landowner whose Gaudi-like, eccentric style has left its mark. During his time in Nõmme, he built a fanciful castle, observatory tower and several larger than life statues, including a dragon and a towering colossus of the Estonian epic character Kalevipoeg. Most of these were damaged or demolished during war times, but they have been faithfully rebuilt since then. In fact the castle is now owned by the capital’s own Tallinn University of Technology, whose male chorus raised funds to rebuild and restore it to its former glory.

Von Glehn's Castle

Kalevipoeg

I really enjoyed my visit to Nõmme and learning about its history and architecture. It was especially interesting to learn that, though von Glehn left Nõmme in 1918, his descendants, most of whom now live in Brazil, are still in touch with the town and that many of them planned to visit this very week! I hope they enjoy seeing not only all that their ancestor accomplished during his lifetime, but also what a pleasant, prosperous and green place Nõmme has become.

Burning garbage is one way to go green? No way!

Yesterday, I got yet another amazing opportunity to leave the office and learn something completely new. The Ambassador and I embarked on a trip to Iru Power Plant to tour the brand new Waste to Energy facility, which is in its first year of operation. This addition to the plant incinerates about 220,000 tons of Estonian waste annually, eliminating the need for landfills and providing all of Tallinn and the neighboring Maarda municipality with thermal energy.

Now, I have traveled to parts of the world on numerous occasions where I have seen my fair share of trash on fire, but nothing would prepare me for the scope of the operations here, especially the fact that it is environmentally friendly.

About 80 garbage trucks arrive at the Iru facility daily, bringing with them 700 tons of garbage. The trucks go through radiation detection and a weight bridge before dumping the garbage in the tipping hall. From there, the trash is moved to the waste bunker where it is picked up by cranes, a large scale version of a claw machine but instead of grabbing a toy, these engineers are grabbing a ton of trash and depositing it into the boiler. In the boiler, the trash is heated to 1200 degrees Celsius. The plant can incinerate 27.5 tons of trash per hour. The heat released from waste combustion produces overheated steam which is then guided to a steam turbine to produce electricity. The leftover heat is guided to the district heating network through heat exchanges. After this, the flue gases are cleaned using a semi-dry cleaning process and an environmental impact assessment has shown that the WtE unit to have no impact on the pollution level in the vicinity of the power plant.

After walking through this huge factory and seeing some really interesting sites (like 20 tons of garbage on fire!), we walked to the chimney. The chimney is a 200m tall tower which stores energy, and the day was sunny and perfect so we got a chance to hop in the Willy Wonka style elevator and ride to the top! We saw amazing views of Tallinn and learned about the 60m cooling tower we saw below us, though it looked tiny from our vantage point.

This new addition to the plant completely changes the waste management system in Estonia, as there is no longer a need to put trash into landfills; instead it is being used to provide people with heat and electricity. There are some metals that don’t burn, and those are also reused as they get sold off to a company that deals in scrap metal. Estonia produces about 500,000 tons of waste annually, but after half of that gets sorted for recycling, the Iru power plant deals with the leftover miscellaneous garbage.

After a great afternoon in the factory, I can conclude that the Iru Waste to Energy unit is a new solution for Estonia, both in terms of energy production and waste handling, as well as being an important environmental project. It is great to see the people of Estonia exploring alternative energy sources so they can save precious nonrenewable resources.

Post and photos by Public Affairs Intern Aalia Udawala

PAMYUA at Viljandi Folk!

PAMYUA

Estonia may be pretty cold, but you still don't expect to see Inuits here!

Last Friday, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Viljandi Folk Festival with the Ambassador and Public Affairs staff. The Viljandi Folk Festival is one of the largest folk festivals in Europe! Around 25,000 people travel to the otherwise quiet town of Viljandi, mainly drawn by the friendly atmosphere and storybook location. I couldn’t believe the setting, in the ruins of Viljandi castle, overlooking a lush lake and forest. Immediately upon entering the gates we were hearing music from all over Estonia, Europe, and the world!

The main purpose of this trip was to meet and introduce the Inuit band PAMYUA (pronounced Bum-YO-ah), whose members hail from Alaska. PAMYUA means encore in Yupik and Rolling Stones magazine has called them the ‘best Inuit band in the world.’ Over tea in the Estonian Traditional Music Centre, we learned more about their incredible background, Yupik culture, and the inspiration for their music. Ossie Kairaiuak, who composes the majority of PAMYUA’s songs, told us how he wrote the song ‘Bubble Gum’ in colorful detail, inspired by a student who was chewing it in his class. Being exposed to yet another facet of the wide range of American cultures was both fascinating and exciting. PAMYUA were keen to share their story and love of their heritage with us and their friendliness was contagious.

Ambassador Levine with PAMYUA

Next we met up with Ando Kiviberg, who founded the festival in 1993 and has been an active part of it ever since. He gave us a wonderful tour of the Estonian Traditional Music Centre, a wonderfully restored store house on the castle ruins. Every room was decorated with Estonian needlework from a different region and some stages had ‘trick elevators’ and gorgeous halls. This festival truly became ‘Estonian’ after I saw the IT guys sitting in the computer headquarters running multiple stages and numerous screens simultaneously, all the while keeping an eye on a rainstorm that was threatening to come through. They were two young Estonians working their high tech magic in a way only Estonians can. Everything was interconnected and linked to the internet; it looked like a scene from a high-tech movie. We then went to the Folk Music library, where the Ambassador presented Ando Kiviberg with a book about American Jazz, adding a different kind of folk music to the mix.

After the tour we toured the Kondas Center which held magnificent paintings from Paul Kondas and other naïve artists. Naïve art means that these artists weren’t trained formally but I would have never guessed as I saw brilliant canvases painted with vivid scenes and political commentaries.

Finally, it was time for PAMYUA to play! After the Ambassador said a few words of introduction in Estonian, the band came on for a highly traditional and interactive performance. Soon, the whole crowd was telling the story about a hunter and a seal in Yupik style, waving their hands and singing in verse. This passion of storytelling shared by PAMYUA was now radiating through the crowd and it was a great moment to be a part of.

On the long ride back to Tallinn after a great afternoon in Viljandi, I reflected on the tradition of folk music that brings people from all over the world together to sing, dance, and share their cultures with anyone and everyone. If I ever find myself in Estonia for another summer, I will definitely make it a point to spend an entire weekend in this happy, friendly, and exciting festival.

Post by PA Intern Aalia Udawala
Photo by PA Intern Oleg Remizov

Startup Central

Want to make it big with your startup?

You’ll need to attract venture capital to get your idea off the ground.

And today, I had the fantastic opportunity to attend a lecture by Dr. Ken Singer of the University of California, Berkeley, as he addressed a group of students at the European Innovation Academy and told them how to do just that. After an introduction by U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Jeff Levine (whose hometown just happens to be in what is now Silicon Valley), Ken walked the student teams through the essential steps required to win over the toughest audience of all: the men and women who control millions of dollars of venture capital that can make or break a startup with their quick decisions. Ken’s take away messages were so many, but it all comes down to distinguishing your business, product or service from a field chock full of serious competitors.

The event was hosted by the Tallinn University of Technology and brought together 200 students, pairing them with experienced mentors, successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and academics from tech hot spots all over the world. Split up into thirty international teams, these students are forming their own startup business plans and getting ready to “pitch” them as part of the three-week experience. One of the biggest groups in attendance came from UC Berkeley.

It was really thrilling to be in the room with so many bright minds – all of them intent on turning their concepts into viable businesses. One student team proposed to set up a web-based person-to-person bike rental service for people on vacation. As an avid biker and traveler, this is one business I’d use in a heartbeat. Each of these teams will be facing a mock competition in the next few days … and the best team will win €10 000! I wish them all the best of luck in the next few days and success as they pursue careers of innovation and entrepreneurship after graduation.

Post by APAO Alison Davis
Photos by Cultural Assistant Jane Susi

Chemistry Class with Molycorp and Eastman

Normally, most people rarely consider the entire process that goes into manufacturing products they use in their day-to-day lives. Yesterday’s visit to two American chemical facilities opened my eyes to the captivating and complex steps within this manufacturing process. I joined Ambassador Levine and embassy staff in touring Molycorp and Eastman factories located in the cities of Sillamäe and Kohtla-Järve.

We first visited Molycorp, where we donned lab coats and goggles as Managing Director David O’Brock led us around the facility. This Molycorp plant is one of Europe’s largest producers of rare earth metals and rare metals. These are fundamental in creating specific parts within items used in everyday life, from cell phones to magnets. Molycorp is the largest company in Sillamäe, and has played a vital role in not only rebuilding the town, but in helping to sustain it for the future.

In our tour of Molycorp’s facilities, we witnessed how rare earth metals were both separated and then manufactured. While the facility and machinery lacked aesthetical appeal, it made up for this by being absolutely fascinating. For me, the best piece of machinery we saw was a giant electron gun. We also toured Molycorp’s pristine lab, where all the glass beakers and bottles were very reminiscent of a chemistry class. David was an amazing tour guide, and even gave us CDs of his band following the tour’s end!

Our next stop was Eastman. With company headquarters in Kingsport, Tennessee, the facility in Kohtla-Järve is one of several worldwide. This plant’s production is centered on benzoic acid. It’s a key component in many normal parts of life, one example being food preservation. Site Manager Gadylsha Gismatullin gave us an informative presentation about the company and facility, and then it was onto the tour! The biggest surprise of the tour was seeing how Eastman still uses a bit of technology installed during Soviet times. In one particular room, older, massive machines with a complicated system of buttons, levers, and graphs surrounded a group of workers sitting at modern computers.

Visiting these chemical facilities and witnessing how American companies operate globally with local partners was such a treat. Prior to these visits, I found chemistry boring, but these tours taught me otherwise. Best of luck to Molycorp and Eastman in the future!

Post by RSO Intern Genevieve Shapiro