East Kootenay author and speaker Jon Turk is coming to Invermere next week to give a presentation on his many outdoors exploits around the globe and on the importance of wild places in the southeast corner of B.C.
Mr. Turk will share personal stories and images from his many human-powered trips to places such as remote parts of Siberia, Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic, the far-flung Solomon Islands and South America’s notoriously wind-raked Cape Horn as well as right here in the Kootenay region.
The author is touring several Kootenay communities this fall, helping local environmental group Wildsight.
“Jon has been a hard-core adventurer in wild, remote places for decades,” said Wildsight Invermere president Baiba Morrow. “What I find most interesting, and I’ve known him for many years now, is his transformation from a science textbook writer with a conventional world view to a unique public speaker with a dramatic flair who is not afraid to question our cultural and environmental tipping points.”
Mr. Turk was in Invermere last year, but this time has a whole new show.
“Last November he presented Crocodiles and Ice for the Summit Trail Makers’ annual general meeting to a jam-packed audience,” said Mrs. Morrow. “Wildsight is pleased to host his new show From Yaks to Blowguns in which he explores the connection between environmental integrity and personal well-being , or as he puts it ‘the level of sanity and sustainability in this oil-soaked, Internet-crazed world’.”
Nearby wild spaces are just as intriguing to Mr. Turk as remotes ones.
“The Kootenays are an integral part of the planet,” said Mr. Turk in the press release, adding local conservation efforts in people’s figurative backyards are importan, even though they are may not seem so at firs glance.
“By starting here we join with other people in other communities, working within other organizations, to join hands for the common good,” said Mr. Turk in the release.
Wildsight is hoping Mr. Turk’s tour can highlight why Kootenay wild places are critical for healthy Kootenay communities, according to tour co-ordinator Erna Jensen-Shill.
“Wildsight is all about connecting,” said Ms. Jensen-Shill, adding the organization works to facilitate links between Kootenay residents and the region’s world-class wildlife, wilderness and recreation opportunities.
“We are excited to bring Jon’s global perspective to audiences around the Kootenays,” she said.
Mr. Turk’s presentation will be at David Thompson Secondary School on Thursday, October 17th at 7:30 pm.