WCW Conference & Trade Show ▪ Calgary ▪ September 21 - 24 ▪ 2010 

Key Note Speaker

Chris Turner

Author, Geography of Hope

Rather than lending his voice to the chorus of recriminations heard in recent environmental tracts, acclaimed author and journalist Chris Turner traveled the globe in search of hope for a sustainable future and now points to the bright light at the end of the very dark tunnel.

Turner chronicles his findings in his best-selling book and popular speaking topic: The Geography Of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need, a result of year long travels with his family criss-crossing the globe in search of people living sustainably and lessons to be learned.

He asks: "Would this - this place, this machine, this social system or way of life - be capable of continuing on its present course for the foreseeable future without exhausting the planet's ability to sustain human life at something like the current population and quality of life?"

His result is a global survey of the state of the art in sustainable living and he shares his findings in his entertaining and eye-opening multimedia presentations.

Turner also writes a monthly feature series on sustainability for The Globe and Mail. He is the author of the international bestseller Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation (2004).

His magazine writing – mostly for the late, great Shift Magazine – has earned him four Canadian National Magazine Awards, including the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence (the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing). His writing and reporting on culture, technology and the environment have also appeared in The Independent (UK), Time Magazine, Maclean's, Canadian Geographic, The Walrus, Azure and Utne Reader. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife, the photographer Ashley Bristowe, and their daughter, Sloane.