Pentti Linkola: Biography

Pentti Linkola was born December 7, 1932 in Helsinki, Finland. At college he became a naturalist, writing his first book at age 23. However, it wasn't until fifteen years later that he became an ecological activist of the most serious kind: those who believe humans must set aside individual desires in order to preserve nature.

In 1995, Pentti Linkola founded the Finnish Nature Heritage Foundation, a non-profit designed to conserve and preserve the remaining old-growth forests in Finland. Relying upon donations from corporations and private individuals, the Foundation buys forest areas that are unique enough to deserve protection. By maintaining private ownership of these forests in addition to protection under Finnish law, the Foundation keeps these areas safe from destruction in perpetuity.

A retired naturalist now, Linkola earns a living by fishing from a rowboat and selling his fish to local people from a horse-drawn cart. He avoids modern technology as much as possible and is well-known only in Finland. Throughout most of the industrialized West, his ideas are considered "fascist" and made taboo, thus there are very few examples of his work available outside Finland.