Today, April 24, 2023, our good friend Tero Mustonen, founder of Snowchange Cooperative in Finland, was awarded a prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. This award, sometimes called “the Green Nobel Prize,” specifically lauded the work he’s done through Snowchange to restore 130,000 acres of mined peat areas back to productive and healthy land that supports fish, waterbirds, a wide diversity of plants, and even provides the calving grounds for wild reindeer (caribou). Those of us who know Snowchange know this is only part of the tremendous work it has been doing for nearly 25 years now. 
The award ceremony in San Francisco was live-streamed (you can view the recording of Tero receiving his award at this YouTube link), and it was a real delight to see Tero and Kaisu seated front and center in the audience as a total of 6 awards — one for each continent except Antarctica — were made. But we in Tapestry have to admit, one of the parts of Tero’s acceptance that moved us most deeply was his opening statement acknowledging that the ceremony was taking place on the Lands of the Ohlone Nation, and had never been ceded. Amazingly, he was the only person who spoke all evening — even among the presenters — to have done this. The crowd roared its approval, and so did we. Well done, Tero!
