• December - Sun, Sea, Sand, Sounds and Sights of a Caribbean Melting Pot: Trinidad and Tobago, a land of contradictions by Kristal Pouching
  
• November – Improved Stoves and Community Reforestation in Central America and Haiti to Combat Climate Change and Save Lives by Stuart Conway
  
• October – Trip to Tunisia by Klaus Lorenz
  
• September – Kazakhstan - The Beating Heart of Eurasia by Dulat Bekbolsynov
  
• August – Ecuador - Sustaining Peoples and Resources by Ana Sylvia Avendano
  
• July – Two Weeks In Iran: A tourist’s view of the highlights of western Iran by Harry Mueller
  
• June – Cycling the Central Mekong River Valley in Lao and Thailand by Ron Conard
  
• May – Mongolia - Saving Traditions Sustainably by Susan “Alex” Bourke
  
• April – Greenland - disappearing ice and emerging independence by Jes Harfeld
  
• March – A tour of Pakistan and Alpinism in the Himalaya by Ali Jaffri and M. Ali Kemal
  
• February – Bolivia and the Amazon Region of Peru by Klaus Lorenz
  
• January – Trekking To Gokyo Ri by Dave and Lori Taylor
  

December – Sun, Sea, Sand, Sounds and Sights of a Caribbean Melting Pot: Trinidad and Tobago, a land of contradictions.

By Kristal Pouching

At the southern tip of the Caribbean archipelago lays treasure. The birthplace of the steelpan, the limbo dance, calypso and soca music, Trinidad and Tobago is rich in culture, teems with diversity and exudes adventure.

These twin islands each offer a distinctly unique experience. Trinidad, the undisputed industrial and economic epicenter of the Caribbean stands tall alongside her breathtakingly beautiful little sister, Tobago. One of the world’s leading exporters of; ammonia, methanol, oil and natural gas, hand-in-hand with the 2009 Caribbean World International Travel Awards “Island of the Year”.

Once part of the South American continent, Trinidad is the home of; 450 bird species, 108 types of mammals, 55 reptiles, 25 amphibians and 620 types of butterflies, all native to the island. An eco-adventure destination complete with the technological ‘bells and whistles’ to host major international events such as the 2009 Summit of the Americas.

A truly cosmopolitan society, of varied races, ethnicities, religions and customs combine to create a cultural explosion of unique tastes, traditional dances, music, folktales, superstitions, dialects and festivals.

Experience the rhythm and tempo of Carnival contrasted against the calm, soothing embrace of the Caribbean Sea. View white sand beaches, unspoilt coral reefs and tropical rainforests, amidst a booming manufacturing and petrochemical industry. Learn of Trinidad’s own struggle against the wave of terrorism, crime and economic downturn of the present age and perhaps, one day, live the experience.

Kristal Pouching is a native of Trinidad now pursuing a Masters degree at CSU on a Fulbright scholarship.  Her passion for animals led her to become a veterinarian, obtaining her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2006. She is currently specializing in surgery and works with pet animals. She enjoys travelling throughout the Caribbean and has visited Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada and Curacao. She is a lover of all things Caribbean and enjoys sharing aspects of her culture with others.

November – Improved Stoves and Community Reforestation in Central America and Haiti to Combat Climate Change and Save Lives

Join Stuart Conway of Trees Water & People (TWP) this month as he discusses their grassroots work of reforestation with community groups and life-saving improved stoves that TWP is currently undertaking in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Haiti.  TWP and our partners have planted more than 3 million trees and built more than 35,000 improved stoves over the last ten years.

Stuart is the co-founder and International Director of TWP; a non-profit based in Fort Collins.  He received an E-chievement award in 2001 from E-town, a nationally renowned PBS radio program, for his tree planting and forest conservation efforts in Central America. In 2005, Prince Charles awarded Stuart the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy for TWP’s stove project in Honduras. In June of 2009, Rio Tinto/Alcan presented TWP’s international programs with the $Million Rio Tinto Sustainability Prize.

Stuart is a graduate of Colorado State University in Forest Management and has a Master’s degree in International Development and Agroforestry from Cornell University. Stuart was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 1984 -87.  Then, he ran New Forests Project out of Washington, DC for 8 years, before founding TWP with Richard Fox in 1998.

Trees, Water and People is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving people's lives by helping communities protect, conserve, and manage the natural resources upon which their long-term well-being depends.  TWP implements projects of tree planting, watershed protection, and fuel-efficient stoves in cooperation with local non-profit organizations in Central America.

October – Trip to Tunisia

by Klaus Lorenz

Tunisia , located on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, has played a significant role in world history. It has inspired the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and French to locate here. From the magnificent Roman ruins, to its colorful seaports, fine beaches and desert landscapes, Tunisia offers much to the visitor. The Romans left impressive legacies. The remains of underground dwellings, villas decorated with beautiful mosaics, baths and public buildings give a vivid impression what life was like in the 2nd century AD. Green landscapes covered with olive trees and expanses of desert are dotted with scattered oases full of date palms. The rulers of desert empires built magnificent mosques. The Great Mosque at Kairouan is the 4th holiest site in Islam. Castle-like fortified villages, known as Ksars and built by the Berbers, have been used in the filming of the Star Wars movies, because of their exotic architecture. Located in easily defended hilltops, Ksars blend in with the surroundings to be virtually invisible. Particularly striking are the Ghorfas, vaulted granaries once used by the Berbers for the storage of their harvests. We will meet a Berber family still living today in rock caves in the presentation.

Klaus is well known to those of you who regularly attend INL. He has traveled to over 70 countries and shared many of these adventures with us at the Library Program. He is retired from CSU and enjoys traveling the world.

September – Kazakhstan - The Beating Heart of Eurasia

by Dulat Bekbolsynov

Kazakhstan is one of the most unfamiliar places to many people in America, yet at the same time this is one of the most interesting countries too. The stones of its ancient ruins can tell you an amazing story of rises and falls, conquests and empires that have shaped the flow of history for the entire continent of Eurasia over the last 3 thousands years. Larger than Western Europe, Kazakhstan hosts all possible landscapes from deserts to ice peaks. Lying on the crossroads of the continent, Kazakhstan is a home to people of over 120 ethnicities, practicing all world religions and coexisting peacefully for many generations. Today’s Kazakhstan is rapidly developing country with its own unique set of issues and hopes.

Dulat is an international student at CSU majoring in microbiology. He is originally from the village of Urumkai in Northern Kazakhstan. He finished high school and entered university in the city of Astana in 2003, and then in 2005 he was selected for the governmental scholarship to study abroad and was directed to pursue his undergraduate degree at CSU.

August – Ecuador - Sustaining Peoples and Resources

Join Ana Sylvia Avendano for a virtual journey to Ecuador.  The trip to Ecuador was focused around social and environmental justice from the Andes to the Amazon.  Ana and other CSU students met with indigenous community leaders who are creating efforts to fight off the big transnational corporations, such as mining in Intag (Andes) and the devastating oil effects made by Texaco in Lago Agrio (Amazon) since 1967.  We also learned alternatives to this exploitation such as ecotourism and self-sustainability, which promotes protection of indigenous cultures as well as forest and jungle preservation.

Ana is graduate of CSU with a degree in International Studies: Latin America and two minors in French and Spanish.  She is originally from Mexico City and came to the USA in August of 2000 when I was 13.  In the spring of 2007, I studied abroad in France for a period of six months.  During this time, I had the opportunity to go to a service trip to Kinshaje, Uganda for two weeks where I witnessed first-hand such high levels of impoverished communities and so many injustices.  Last march (2008) I was a leader for a group 12 students to Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico where human rights violations against women are being committed.  Learning about this devastating situation, I began to take an interest and develop a true passion for social change and social justice.  This has allowed me to look deeper into the issues surrounding my own country, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America.  I have encountered amazing leaders within my local community and in the few countries I have visited.

Tuesday August 11 from 7-9PM at the Main Library and Thursday August 27 from 7-9 PM at the Harmony Library.

July – Two Weeks In Iran: A tourist’s view of the highlights of western Iran (November 2005 & March 2007)

After the U.S. government removed its long-standing embargo against tourist travel to Iran, Harry and his wife Susan took two tours of Iran, traveling by air and bus to the major cities of Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd and Ahwaz, as well as numerous towns and sites in between.  In spite of the level of apparent antagonism highlighted in the media, Harry and Susan were enthusiastically welcomed, not only by Iranian tourist service industry personnel, but also by everyday “on the street” Iranians.  Although the official Iranian political line may be “Death to America, the Great Satan”…….for the Iranian “man on the street” the effective greeting was consistently “We love Americans” and “May we please talk with you for a while to practice our English?”  Although the official doctrine is for Iranian women to keep their hair and all of their skin (except their faces) covered……the women, especially in the major cities, have succeeded in adopting a stylish look that just barely avoids the strictures of the authorities.

From the museums of Tehran (especially the Carpet Museum), through the ancient ruins around Shiraz (especially Persepolis) and Ahwaz (the ziggurat at Choqa Zanbil), to the wonderful mosques and square of Esfahan, the cultural history of Persia is amazing in its longevity and preservation.  The country has dramatic topographic contrasts (from the mountains of the Alborz and Zagros chains through the salt flats of the Dasht-e Kavir to the flat deltaic plain of the Tigris/Euphrates delta) as well as significant climatic variability (from the heat and humidity of the delta of the Tigris/Euphrates system to the snow and wind of the high Zagros Mountains).

With appropriate arrangements through a travel agency in Iran, and with the appropriate visa in your passport (the hoops through which you have to jump are, in general, not too onerous if you start far enough in advance), it is possible to experience all of the above over a span of one or two weeks.  Iran: a wonderful country and a wonderful people.

Harry Mueller is a geologist who has spent a significant part of the last 30 years in the Middle East, first as an employee of Exxon, and later as an employee of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian national oil company.  Living and working in that part of the world has provided the opportunity for him to travel widely, largely in southwest and southeast Asia.  It has also afforded him the opportunity to indulge his photographic hobby so that he has extensive photographic documentation of those travels.  He enjoys sharing the wonderful experiences he has been fortunate to have had and continues to enjoy adding to his insight into the cultures and history of the area by interchanges with other individuals and groups. 

June – Cycling the Central Mekong River Valley in Lao and Thailand

On a bicycle, one is destined to stay in out of the way places that other forms of transportation do not present. Join Ron Conard for a presentation on his recent bike trip through Laos and Thailand along the Mekong River.  In December 2008, he headed for Thailand and Lao with only one minor hurdled to overcome.  The airport in Bangkok was shutdown due to an ongoing political crisis.  The upside was that he flew into beautiful Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.  The downside was that all his plans had to go out the window, as his original route was to ride along the southeast coast of Thailand into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat then on into southern Lao.  In hindsight, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the "winging it" factor lead to an incredible, rewarding trip down one side of the Mekong River in Lao and up the other in Thailand.  He spent 44 days in Lao and Thailand, 21 days in the saddle and he logged nearly 1300 miles. 

Ron, a native of Billings Montana, moved to Fort Collins in 1965 where he attended Rocky Mountain HS and CSU majoring in Landscape Horticulture.  Ron was 13 years old when he followed his older brother out to City Park Nine Golf Course and was bitten by the golf bug.  Even though playing the game was what initially drew him to the sport he wound up being more fascinated with the agronomy behind the playing field.  He has spent his entire career working on golf courses.  He is currently the Director of Golf for the City of Cheyenne.

The dates for this presentation are:
Tuesday June 9, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the Main Library and
Thursday June 9, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the Harmony Library at Front Range Community College or possibly the Council Tree Library in SE Fort Collins.

May – Mongolia - Saving Traditions Sustainably

Join Susan “Alex” Bourke for a discussion on her work in Mongolia with the AltaiCraft Company whose goal is to help to alleviate poverty in the Kazak villages of western Mongolia by employing women to use their unique skills to produce handcrafted items for sale throughout the world.  The AltaiCraft Company is a women's cooperative that facilitates resource sharing and training, enabling them to do business with the "outside" world.  AltaiCraft was started as a Women's Project under the auspices of the Women's Federation of Mongolia.  For more information go to the their website at www.altaicraft.com

Susan "Alex" Bourke is a motivated individual who volunteers her time to better the lives of the Kazaks of western Mongolia.  She has lived in Bayan Olgii since 2000.  Alex is currently managing the project and works with the women daily.
Dates; Tuesday May 12 from 7-9PM at the Main Library and Thursday May 28 from 7-9 PM at the Harmony Library

April - Greenland - disappearing ice and emerging independence

Coffee Club Island is a small island at the top of the world, which is the furthest north you can go on our planet without crossing sea ice or sailing (mostly through sea ice).  It is part of Greenland, a self-governing region within the Kingdom of Denmark.  Greenland itself is an island - the world's largest, the Greenlanders claim (considering Australia a continent).  A flight from Coffee Club Island to Cape Farewell on the south tip would cover the same ground as flying from Fort Collins to Mexico City.  Placed in the Arctic, the 13th largest country in the world, one of only two ice sheets left from the ice ages, 56.000 inhabitants, virtually no land based infrastructure and a geographical, political and geological position which could make it one of the most interesting regions in the 21st and 22nd centuries.  Greenland is more than pretty coloured houses and seal blubber.

This talk will focus on several topics concerning Greenland.  Starting with a look at nature and man in the arctic, it will move into historic and then geo-political aspects in relation to both present-day Greenland and Greenland in the future.  In other words, there will be more focus on how the Greenlanders live today and what social and political challenges they face, than pictures of pretty glaciers (don't worry, there WILL be pictures of pretty glaciers).

Jes Harfeld is presently working on his PhD in agricultural and environmental ethics at Aarhus University in Denmark.  This semester he is a visiting scholar at the Department of Philosophy at CSU, working with Distinguished Professor Bernard E. Rollin.  He has spent every summer (usually a couple of months) the last five years working as a tour guide in Greenland - from Uummannaq in the west to Ammassalik in the east.  His main interests in the region are the Viking presence in the Arctic, US military history in Greenland and the move towards Greenlandic independence.

The dates for this presentation are Tuesday April 14, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the Main Library and Thursday April 23, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the Harmony Library.

March – A tour of Pakistan and Alpinism in the Himalaya

Join Ali Jaffri and M. Ali Kemal for a slide show about Pakistan.  Learn about the geography of Pakistan, the national dress flower etc and then move on to the games played there and festivals in Pakistan. This will be followed by some discussion about tourist attractions such as historical sites, some modern architecture and on to the mountains and peaks, which are significant tourist attractions in more ways than one.

Ali Jaffri will then talk about alpine activities in the most majestic mountain ranges on the planet. There are approximately 200 peaks in the world that exceed the 7000 meter (23,100 feet) mark, with 168 of these located in Pakistan.  You are invited to a journey that will take you through the Pamir, Hindukush, Karakoram and Greater Himalayas of northern Pakistan. On the way we will cover the political situation briefly, discuss training methods used by elite athletes to tackle mountaineering problems in these ranges, and answer questions about logistics of planning a Himalayan expedition.

These mountains are accessible in one of two ways. First, you can sign up with one of the many 'adventure outfitters' listed in the back of Outside/Rock and Ice/Climbing, or other popular outdoor adventure magazines, where someone in the U.S. will collect a $5000 fee from you, keep $3000 and then send $2000 to the company representative in Islamabad, Pakistan who has never seen a Himalayan peak. That person will keep $1500 and give $500 to a mountain guide. The mountain guide will keep another $300 and will distribute $200 between 10 porters. So the at the end of the day, the locals who cook for you, carry all your gear, and provide entertainment through their cheerful songs at night only get $20.

The other way is through Unnamed Unclimbed Expeditions (UUE) , which does not have an office, secretaries, accountants, or other administrators. You pay less than half of what other firms charge, and Ali will personally guide you in Pakistan with 3-5 hired porters. Company profits are applied only towards my airfare, with the remainder given to the locals who make all this possible. UUE  follows leave-no-trace guidelines, so when your grandchildren want to ascend a peak you climbed in 10 days in alpine style, they will find it in the same pristine condition that you left it in.

Ali Jaffri is a doctoral student in geology at Colorado State University, and a native of Pakistan. Five years ago he traveled to K2 and witnessed the environmental effects of large-scale ‘corporate’ expeditions on the fragile mountain environment. These careless practices instilled a desire within him to make a difference, to the beauty and longevity of these valuable resources for future generations to appreciate. As a result, he founded Unnamed Unclimbed Expeditions, a mountain guiding company to introduce people who have a passion for alpine activities, to the mountain grandeur of the Himalaya in Pakistan in a responsible minimal impact manner. M. Ali Kemal is doing PhD Economics at the Colorado State University.

Dates; Tuesday March 10 from 7-9PM at the Main Library and Thursday March 26 from 7-9 PM at the Harmony Library.

February – Bolivia and the Amazon Region of Peru

Join Klaus Lorenz for a presentation on his trip to Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia`s La Paz -" the city that touches the clouds "-is the highest capital city in the world. It is surrounded by the breathtaking high altiplano and towering peaks. In the presentation we will explore the city , the premier archeological and ceremonial sites of the country and the region`s fascinating cultures -more than half of the population is indigenous .Since pre-Inca times ,the shores of Lake Titicaca, located deep in the Andes , have been inhabited . We will take a boat ride on the lake  to visit the Uros Indians , living on " floating " islands made of reeds to learn about their way of life.

We will then travel to Peru to tour the capital Lima , take a flight over the Nazca Lines and then embark on a cruise on the Amazon. Abroad a classic riverboat we will explore the river`s network of lakes and tributaries and  observe the area`s rare animals, fish for piranhas, visit a local medicine man and meet the people living along the shore of this mighty river.
Klaus is well known to those of you who regularly attend INL.  He has traveled to over 70 countries and shared many of these adventures with us at the Library Program.  He is retired from CSU and enjoys traveling the world.

Join us Tuesday February 10, 2009 at the Main Library or Thursday February 26, 2009 at the Harmony Library for this presentation on Bolivia and Peru!!

January – Trekking To Gokyo Ri

Dave and Lori Taylor are outdoors people and especially avid backpackers. Packing in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah are the favorites in recent years. They are slowly becoming world travelers having been to Costa Rica, Thailand, Hong Kong, and most recently two trips to Nepal.

Their presentations for January will cover their last trip in Nepal’s Gokyo region near Mt. Everest. While the Everest region is not as culturally diverse as the Annapurna area they covered last year, it more than made up for it with spectacular scenery. Come share some great pictures of Everest, Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu, and the sacred lakes of Gokyo and listen to some stories of trekking in Nepal.