On Oct. 8 and 9, St. George and Springdale will host conservationist Harvey Locke. The first lecture will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at Dixie State University in the Zion Room of the Holland Building. Locke’s lecture, “Green Postmodernism and the Attempted Hi-jacking of Nature Conservation,” will offer an enlightened perspective on the contemporary language of conservation and its harmful outcomes. Locke will follow up with “From Yellowstone to Yukon to Nature Needs Half: A Hopeful Agenda for the Future of Wild Nature and Humanity” on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. at the O.C. Tanner Amphitheater in Springdale. The free public forum is hosted by DSU and sponsored by the Virgin River Land Trust.
Locke, a world-renowned conservationist, writer, and photographer, will share his vision for the survival of nature in the 21st century. Harvey Locke is one of North America’s foremost leaders and advocates for wildlife preservation in the face of global climate change.
The 2015 forum, Keeping the Wild, will show the strength of the humanities in creating new ways of conserving wild nature by seeing the world beyond ourselves. The forum was inspired by the Reimagine Western Landscapes Initiative, which uses the environmental humanities to inspire the will to act for human and natural world prosperity. www.reimaginewesternlandscapes.com
As the founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Locke shares his “Nature Needs Half” message with audiences around the world.
“For people and nature to survive in the 21st century we must share the Earth, at least equally,” says Locke, adding that Nature Needs Half “is a science-based and common sense vision of a relationship between people and nature that ensures enough natural areas of land and water are protected and interconnected—and of sufficient size and resiliency—to provide life-supporting ecosystem and biodiversity services that are essential to both human health and prosperity and a bountiful, beautiful legacy of wild nature.”
The forum kicks off Thursday with a student conversation with Locke in the Holland Building. The Thursday evening presentation begins with an appetizer reception at 6 p.m. The Keeping the Wild program concludes Friday night in Springdale with the 21st Century Nature Narrative and Locke’s vision for saving half for nature followed by a dessert reception. Both events are free and open to the public. Venue seating is limited.
For more information, visit reimaginewesternlandscapes.com.
