Conceptual Issues in Ecology

Raimo P. Hamalainen is professor and director of the Systems Analysis Laboratory and co-director of the Systems Intelligence Research Group at Aalto University Finland, He is an internationally acknowledged scholar in systems and decision making with over 200 scientific publications. He has helped to solve complex environmental policy problems with governmental agencies including the Parliament of Finland. He has been a visiting scholar at major international universities including MIT, UCLA, UC Berkley, National University of Singapore and University of Cape Town. He has a passion for outdoor life including fishing, sailing snowboarding and backcountry skiing.Rachel Jones received her education in New Zealand. She holds two PhDs, the first in English literature and the second in Knowledge Management. She has gained multicultural experience while working as an English language teacher and a university lecturer in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. She also spent time working for Aalto University's Systems Analysis Laboratory (Finland) as a research fellow. Currently, Rachel works freelance as a researcher and consultant. Her latest areas of interest are health and safety culture in organizations and exploring different models of retirement. She has several publications in academic journals, including in the field of Systems Intelligence. In her free time, she enjoys reading, camping and fishing.Esa Saarinen is a Finnish philosopher, and life-philosophical lecturer, inspirational speaker, professor of applied philosophy at Aalto University and co-director of the Systems Intelligence Research Group. A national celebrity noted for his colorful media appearances and highly personal and non-academic lecturing style, Esa has helped to make philosophy a recognized part of Finnish public life. In addition to his interventions in media and in education, he has worked extensively as a coach for organizations and companies such as Nokia and Marimekko, promoting a doctrine of positive self-actualization. He is a prolific author of books who has written on a wide range of subjects including philosophical textbooks, history of western philosophy, scholarly research papers, and the volume Imagologies: Media Philosophy (1994), with Mark C. Taylor, an early discussion of the internet.