Public Lecture Series with George Kourounis: 20 Years Of Documenting Extreme Forces of Nature and Climate Change

• Global Affairs
• Science & Health

For twenty years, George Kourounis has been documenting extreme forces of nature around the world and sharing his findings via the internet, public talks, assisting scientists, and by hosting numerous television programs. In this lecture, he’ll be sharing some of his most exciting, dramatic, and sometimes hilarious and harrowing experiences that span 65 countries.

Some of the topics he will cover include:

Almost two decades of tornado chasing across the Great Plains of the United States which boasts the highest density of tornado activity in the world. Here, George and team have been witness to some of the most powerful winds on Earth, including the world-record largest tornado. At 2.6 miles wide (4.3km), it was the largest ever documented.

The National Geographic Society funded expedition that George led to look for extremophile bacterial life at the bottom of the Darvaza Crater in the central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. The crater, known locally as the “Doorway To Hell” is a flaming sinkhole of burning methane gas that has been burning for close to 50 years. In the process, George became the first person to ever set foot at the bottom amongst the flames.

Hurricanes, which are another phenomena that George documents. He’ll show what it was like to ride out the most intense part of Hurricane Katrina, where the entire town around him was coming apart, and the winds were too strong to stand up in.

Descending down inside many of the worlds active volcanoes, some of the craters deeper than skyscrapers, to get as close as possible to the violently churning lava below.

The Naica Crystal Cave expedition in Mexico. Probably the most beautiful place on Earth. The cave is filled with the largest crystals on Earth, some 30 feet long, and weighing in at 55 tons. Despite the incredible beauty, the place is deadly, with heat and humidity so high that access to the cave, even when wearing special cooling-suits, is measured in mere minutes at a time.

He hopes to inspire people to appreciate the power and beauty of the natural world, and to get people, especially students interested in conservation and environmental stewardship.

Explorers Club Fellow George Kourounis is also an Explorer-In-Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He specializes in documenting extreme forces of nature worldwide, including: volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and other extreme weather events as well as the effects of global climate change. He is The Explorers Club Canadian Chapter Chair and is also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of the Society Of Environmental Journalists, and has given 4 TEDx talks related to exploration and his expeditions. He has addressed the United Nations Environmental Emergencies Forum, and in 2014 he won the Stefansson Medal from The Explorers Club Canada Chapter for his “outstanding contributions to science and to public education.” In 2015, the Explorers Museum presented him a medal “for courageous contribution to scientific research.”