Speakers October 7, 2023

Mark Krawczynski, 

Chair of BASRAN Board 2021-2023, Rotary Club Warszawa City

R. Gordon R. McInally, 

2023-2024 Rotary International President, RC South Queensferry, West Lothian, Scotland.

Evaldas Vaikasas, 

Rotaract Lithuania, Chairman of the Rotaract Lithuania Council.

Nomeda Kazlaus, 

Rotary 1462 member, President of Vilnius Perkūno RC, one of the most outstanding Lithuanian operatic sopranos, TV host, producer, vocal teacher. 

Jörg Schmiedel

Regional Coordinator Baltic Green Belt 

BUND Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 

Jörg Schmiedel works as a professional landscape ecologist and consultant. He is based in Rostock on the Baltic seashore and has for a long time been the main coordinator of the Baltic section of the European Green Belt.

Der BUND MV im Internet:

www.bund-mv.de

Das Grüne Band Ostsee: www.balticgreenbelt.de 

Eija Rantajärvi, M.Sc. (hydrobiology, University of Helsinki 1994) 

She has extensive experience within the Baltic Sea marine research community: her career started as a phytoplankton ecology scientist, at the Finnish Institute of Marine Research, involving cruises on board the Finnish Research Vessel Aranda.  This background benefits her passion of presenting the marine research findings to the public.  It is through this interest that she has developed her expertise as a communication specialist. 

Currently she works as a coordinator at Finnish Environment Institute's (Syke) communication and marketing unit.  She has produced a series of versatile educational materials, mostly about the Baltic Sea environment, for example, for educational section of the Finnish national Baltic Sea portal (Itameri.fi (in Finnish), MarineFinland.fi (in English)). Especially important to her, is the work on basic education for schools.

https://www.syke.fi/en-US/Experts/Eija_Rantajarvi(44483)

Louise Lerche-Gredal

CEO of Plastic Change 

"In Plastic Change, PC, we fight to change the terrible situation we are in and the future we face. We are constantly working with the problem from several sides, which has to do with how we use plastic, so that we can save the earth's resources when we produce, and at the same time prevent it from ending up as waste and pollution when we are done with it:

PC mobilizes and engage the population, through public information about the consequences of plastic pollution and what we believe are the solutions to it.

PC work with politics and green legislation, among other things we fight for ambitious national goals for the reduction and recycling of plastic

PC collaborate with industry players on concrete solutions in practice and industrial innovation.

PC collect knowledge, create teaching courses and train, e.g. children and young people in the country's primary and secondary schools about plastic pollution, production and consumption."

Rafal Tondera

Applied Linguistics Expert, District Communications and Marketing Officer, Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator of Zone 18 Creator and Editor-In-Chief of bilingual Rotaract magazine “Żurawina” (Cranberry) with 4k readers, initiator of global environmental programs including "Small Steps towards Bigger Goals", co-founder of Viral MD – eco clothing brand for medics. Languages - Polish, English, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese.

Rimantė Balsiūnaitė, 

Partnership coordinator of the Expedition "Let's save the Baltic Sea!"One year-long hiking expedition around the Baltic Sea to raise awareness about the environmental status of the Baltic Sea.

https://savebaltic.eu/en/

Thomas Flinck,

 Bachelor of Economics from Stockholm University, Training in leadership, environment etc. Briggen Tre Kronor, Expedition Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Sea Contract"" which was launched during the Stockholm boat fair in March 2023 and signed by 1200 visitors during the fair. The contract is translated to English and can be used in the countries around the Baltic Sea (English flag on the website www.ostersjokontraktet.se) 

Olga Sarna, 

CEO at The MARE Foundation. As part of its activities, the Foundation carries out projects on sustainable fisheries, shipwreck management, and marine litter (including ghost nets and plastics). MARE pays special attention to climate change and biodiversity crisis, as these are the most crucial environmental issues of our times. They believe that a good state of the Baltic Sea can be achieved only through a holistic approach and initiate multisectoral and interdisciplinary collaborations to initiate the necessary change - including cooperation with scientific institutions, government, small and big scale business and artists in various fields.

Jan Somp, 

Master in Business Administration, University of Uppsala. 

Experience from sales, marketing and leadership, local and international.

Rotarian since 1996. President Trosa Rotary club 2013-14. Served in several club functions. 

Currently Head PR and Save the Baltic Sea Committee in Trosa. Member of District committee Save the Baltic Sea.

Tapani Kaarlas, 

PAG, Member of Baltic Sea Committee in District 1410. 

Chair of Rotary Foundation Committee of Finland, Turku. Member of Turku Sirkkala Rotary Club.

Hanna Fransson, 

Pedagog,  Baltic SeaScience Center, Zoologiska avdelningen.

I have a BSc in Ethology and Animal welfare from SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). After my graduation in 2016 I’ve worked in both schools and zoo’s.

The past three years I worked as a vocational teacher in animal care before my current position as an educator at Baltic sea science center at Skansen which I held since January 2023.