EXPERT NATURALISTS & GUEST LECTURERS

Our voyage in the Amazon will be led by an Expedition Leader and a team of naturalists, all familiar with the Amazon and all experts on various subjects that pertain to the river. The Expedition Leader and the naturalists will plot our daily activities and conduct our shore activities.

In addition, we are pleased to be joined by the following lecturers, whose lectures and discussions will enhance our understanding of the amazing world of Amazonia.

     March 21 - April 5, 2010 Departure

Vincent Resh has been a professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California at Berkeley since 1975. An authority on the ecology of large rivers, he has been senior environmental advisor to the Mekong River Commission for eight years and was an advisor to the World Health Organization on freshwater management and sustainability of rivers in West Africa for 15 years. He has traveled much of the route covered by this trip. He will discuss the geopolitics of water in the Amazon Basin, the region’s environmental issues, and the role of the river in the economies of the countries of Amazonia.

Richard Ned Lebow is the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and Centennial Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is an authority on international relations, conflict management strategies, environmental politics, and the politics of memory. His most recent books are Forbidden Fruit: Counterfactuals and International Relations (forthcoming) and A Cultural Theory of International Relations. On this trip he will address the politics of environmental control and global warming, both globally and the challenges facing the region we are visiting.

     April 4 - 20, 2010 Departure

John Hemming is one of the world’s foremost Amazon experts. His expeditions include first exploration and mapping of the upper Iriri river in central Brazil, visits to 45 indigenous peoples in Brazil (including four at time of first contact), and many other expeditions/visits. His books and papers include a 3-volume history of Brazilian Indians, The Conquest of the Incas, The Search for El Dorado, and Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon. He is founder-trustee of the tribal-peoples charity Survival International and is involved in many other environmental charities. He is Director and Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, London, for 21 years.

Margaret D. Lowman, representing The Explorers Club, is Professor and Director of Environmental Initiatives at New College of Florida, Sarasota. As “CanopyMeg”, she has pioneered the science of canopy ecology. For over 30 years, Meg has designed hot-air balloons and walkways for treetop exploration to solve mysteries in forests, especially insect pests and ecosystem health. Her autobiography, Life in the Treetops, received a cover review in The New York Times Sunday Book Review.

Patty Hostiuck, representing the Smithsonian, is a popular and respected naturalist whose work has taken her to all 7 continents and nearly “pole-to-pole.” For the past 20 years she has been guiding and lecturing around the world. After a few years as a National Forest Ranger in Alaska and National Park Ranger in Sequoia National Park, Patty found her niche teaching in the field. For the past 15 years, she has been exploring and studying South America, and she has spent many enjoyable months on the Amazon River in both Peru and Brazil.

THE AMAZON & WELLNESS

In addition to the Natualists & Lecturers listed above for the April 4 - 20, 2010 departure, we are pleased to feature on this cruise a program on wellness and longevity and how the medicinal plants of the Amazon may contribute to both. The program will be conducted by two experts in their respective fields, Dr. Linda Hegstrand, whose lectures and discussions will focus on Age Management Medicine (treatments aimed to slow our biologic age), and Lilias Folan, a renowned master yoga teacher. A brief biographical sketch of our two experts follows.

Dr. Linda Hegstrand is a board certified and licensed physician, who earned both her MD and PhD (Biochemistry) from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and did postdoctoral training with a Nobel Laureate in pharmacology at Yale. For the past 10 years she has trained and read extensively in many complementary and alternative medicine techniques. In 2002 she spent time in Peru visiting ancient villages along the Amazon and studying the herbs found there. Her clinical practice is in Grand Rapids, MI, at the Complete Wellness Center, where she is the Medical Director. She also serves as the Medical Director at the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences. Dr. Hegstrand will offer a series of lectures on Age Management Medicine, treatments aimed to slow or decrease our biologic age. Her topics will include “The Magic of Amazon Herbs,” “Genetics and You: Who’s In Charge,” and “The Best of Both Worlds: Blending Western and Alternative Medicine.”

Lilias Folan, recognized as the “First Lady of Yoga” since her groundbreaking 1972 PBS series “Lilias! Yoga and You”, is regarded as one of America’s most knowledgeable and beloved master yoga teachers. She has spent over 40 years inspiring students and teachers throughout the U.S. and teaching in Australia, Russia, and Northern Ireland. In her third book, Lilias! Yoga Gets Better with Age, Lilias turns her attention to a demographic that has not yet been addressed, her own. At 70 plus, she is living proof that yoga is a continually changing, growing, deepening practice that can be learned with ease at mid-life and beyond.