Of Sturgeon, Crocodiles & Ice

Wednesday, November 8th, 7:00pm
Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center, Bowdoin College

Jon Turk,  Author, chemist and expedition adventurer Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) second presentation of their 21st annual Winter Speaker Series; Of Sturgeon, Crocodiles & Ice, features Jon Turk, author, chemist and expedition adventurer. The event takes place in Beam Classroom of the Bowdoin College Visual Arts Center, Wednesday November 8th at 7pm. This illustrated program is co-sponsored by Bowdoin’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center. From the dinosaur sturgeon of Merrymeeting Bay to their nearly-as-old collegues, the crocodiles of New Guinea and to the ancient peoples of icy and jungled lands, we are all connected. Over many decades, noted expeditioner Jon Turk has kayaked across the North Pacific and around Cape Horn, mountain biked through the Gobi desert, made first climbing ascents of big walls on Baffin Island, paddled jungle waters of the South Pacific and circumnavigated Ellesmere Island by ski and kayak. Jon’s life and times; people and places, in the far north and other remote areas, has become a journey he loves to share and all the more relevant with current climate changing at a pace unprecedented in modern times. In this illustrated lecture, Turk reflects on interconnections between the North Atlantic, Arctic, and other regions of the globe.  Jon grew up on the shores of a wooded lake in Connecticut, and attended Brown University. He earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado, in 1971. The same year, in honor of the first Earth Day, Jon co-authored the first environmental science textbook in the United States. It sold well over 100,000 copies and spearheaded the development of environmental science curricula in North America. At the same time, hounded by restless spirits, Turk began wandering the globe, visiting people and places far from his childhood upbringing.    FOMB hosts their Winter Speaker Series October-May, the second Wednesday of each month. Their December 13th presentation, The Amazing Sea Lamprey features UMO fisheries ecologist Steve Coghlan.  This 7pm presentation will be in the Morrill Meeting Room of Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. Speaker Series presentations are free, open to the public and supported by Patagonia, Inc. in Freeport. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographies, full event schedules, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay. Part 1 Part 2