Forward Thinking Speaker Series

The Forward Thinking Speaker Series reflects EPL’s rich history of taking risks, trying new things and redefining the modern library. EPL invites thought-leaders from a variety of industries to share their insights, ideas, experiences and viewpoints. Its purpose is to help build better organizations, neighborhoods and communities.

Featured Speaker

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Chris Turner: How to be a Climate Optimist presented by Gridworks Energy Group
Tuesday, April 16 at 7 p.m.
Triffo Theatre, MacEwan University

In this presentation, based on his most recent bestselling book, Chris Turner distills 20 years on the climate solutions beat worldwide into a powerful case for optimism in the face of the challenge of climate change. Turner has been reporting on clean energy, sustainable business, and smart green design the world over since long before any of these were mainstream interests, and he draws on the full breadth of his extensive reporting to paint a vivid portrait of a global energy transition already tackling the climate crisis and pointing the way to a much brighter future.

The Q&A at this event will be moderated by Tara McCarthy from Edmonton AM on CBC Radio One.

Thank you to our presenting sponsor Gridworks Energy Group.

About Chris Turner

Chris Turner is one of Canada’s leading voices on climate change solutions and the global energy transition, drawing on his reporting on the state of the art in renewable energy, cleantech and urban design to paint a vivid portrait of a new, sustainable world order that will allow individuals and businesses alike not only to survive but to thrive in the twenty-first century economy.

Turner’s latest book is How To Be A Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World — published by Random House Canada — and has garnered multiple awards including the Writers’ Trust’s Shaugnessy Cohen Prize, the National Business Book Award, and was named a finalist for the GG (Governor General’s) Award.

His 2017 bestseller The Patch: The People, Pipelines and Politics of the Oil Sands, won the National Business Book Award, and his previous books on climate solutions, The Leap and The Geography of Hope, were both National Business Book Award finalists. His 2014 book, How to Breathe Underwater, a collection of his award-winning essays and feature writing, won the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Turner’s essays and features on energy, climate and technology have appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Globe & Mail, Maclean’s, and many other publications, and won 10 National Magazine Awards, among other distinctions.

About Tara McCarthy
Tara McCarthy is the traffic, weather and community reporter for Edmonton AM on CBC Radio One. Born and raised in Ontario, she moved to the Yukon in 2007 to start her radio career as a morning show co-host on CHON FM and eventually started working at CBC Yukon as a fill-in host. She then relocated to Alberta in 2019 to join the CBC Edmonton team. Aside from radio, Tara was the editor of Yukon, North of Ordinary, the official inflight magazine for Air North, from 2012-2019. During that time she won Gold at the 2018 International Regional Magazine Association Awards for her profile feature “Northern Haute Couture.”

Presenting Sponsor

Media Partner

Upcoming Speakers

Dr. Marie Wilson

Dr. Marie Wilson: Keeping Reconciliation Alive
Wednesday, June 19 at 7 p.m.
Tickets available in late April

In this moderated event, Dr. Wilson will discuss her new book North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner and what we can do to further reconciliation across Canada.

Dr. Marie Wilson (CM, ONWT, MSC) spent six years crisscrossing the country as a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. She has spoken throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on the potential of reconciliation. Born in Ontario, she has lived, studied, and worked as a journalist, teacher, professor, trainer, and executive in Canada, France, Burkina Faso, South Africa, and parts of South America. She lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

 

Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser
Margaret Atwood

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Past Speakers

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