Chris Turner

Topics

Presentations

A Colossus of the Genre

Planet Simpson

Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need

The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy

Summary Profile

The most vital project of the twenty-first century is a shift from our unsustainable way of life to a sustainable one - a great lateral leap from a track headed for ecological and economic disaster to one bound for renewed prosperity. In The Great Leap Sideways, Chris Turner presents is a field guide to making that jump, drawing on recent research on the state of the art in renewable energy, cleantech and leading-edge urban design around the world. In this expansion and extention of his 2007 bestseller The Geography of Hope, Turner provides the latest evidence of a bright green future ever nearer at hand.

From the solar towers of sunny Spain to the bike paths and pedestrianized avenues of the world's most livable city - Copenhagen, Denmark - to the nascent "green-collar" economies rejuvenating the former East Germany and the American Rust Belt, The Great Leap Sideways paints a vivid portrait of a new, sustainable world order already up and running.

In addition to The Geography of Hope - a Globe & Mail Best Book of 2007 and finalist for the Governor General's Award for Nonfiction and the National Business Book Award - Turner was for two years the author of a monthly feature series on sustainability for The Globe and Mail. His recent feature reporting for The Walrus received two gold medals at the 2010 National Magazine Awards. He is also the author of the international bestseller Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation (2004).

Turner was a featured speaker at the 2008 Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures in Melbourne, Australia, and a 2010 Fleck Fellow at the Banff Centre. His narrated visual tour of The Geography of Hope has captivated audiences across Canada, ranging from Environmental Defence summits to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers galas.

Turner's magazine writing has earned him seven 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 Fast Company, The Globe & Mail, The Walrus, 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 two children.

Client Testimonials:

"Chris Turner's presentation was powerful and delivered with passion. It was exactly what we were looking to provide to our audience."

Better Buildings 2009 Conference

"Chris provided a thought-provoking and stimulating presentation on the need for a change in the way we live. His passion for the subject matter certainly came through in his detailed and energetic presentation. He left us with a renewed sense of the need for (and benefits of) sustainability as a core principle in transportation planning and city-building."

CITE Conference