CANMORE – For the past four months, the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley and the Canmore Public Library have been putting on Earth Talks, which look at various issues of the outdoors in a safe place to open dialogue.
“We want to make a welcoming space for people to come and learn about environmental topics and ask questions,” said Andrew Cotterell, communications and engagement strategist for the Biosphere Institute. “This is an opportunity for people to come together around topics and find connection and find hope and action as well.”
Cotterell added creating a positive space for sometimes scary conversations about the environment was a big part of the Earth Talks series.
“You can expect to come down to the library, or join online, and find a room full of people with an interesting presenter,” Cotterell said. “We have had authors, we have had different groups, business owners, and more.”
The last event was on May 15 at 7 p.m. in the Friends Programming Room at the Canmore library. It featured Lynda Pianosi, who spoke about family hiking and how to make it safe and easy for a fun day.
Pianosi has been spending time in the outdoors for years, and she brought that love of the outdoors to her children. She also saw the challenges that came with taking two small children into the mountains as not all hikes were alike and not all trails were designed for families.
From that experience, she wrote and published Take A Hike With Your Children, the first-of-its-kind guidebook for the Canadian Rockies that has families in mind with its 1-2-3 mountain rating system.
The next event will be June 12 at the Canmore Public Library at 7 p.m., featuring Josh Welsh, Justin Deoliveira and Peter Thompson. The presentation – Sharing the Bow Valley: Balancing Human Use with Needs of Wildlife – will help attendees understand environmental effects of development in the valley, teach the importance of mountain biking taking place in a responsibile way and ongoing research to help wildlife corridors function along with human recreation activities.
On June 19 at 7 p.m., Gareth Thomson will present Meet Some Bow Valley Birds and walk through the Policeman's Creek area to see birds in Canmore.
The talk will help people use binoculars, identify common birds and learn about birds.
“There are so many benefits for families getting out into nature and taking advantage of this amazing place we all live in,” Cotterell said. “The event is about how to hike safely and pick appropriate objectives to have a fun day.”
For more information, visit www.biosphereinstitute.org/events.
