Environment Seminar: Fossil Fuels in the Age of Climate Change

An illustrated discussion of the impacts of climate change and growing awareness and concerns around fossil fuels and how this will impact Canada's economic and ecological future. As these issues become increasingly polarized and rational open discussion becomes more challenging but also more necessary than ever, the role of art and photography can play a role in encouraging discussions of these issues in a non threatening and non polarizing context.

About the Speaker

Garth Lenz is an editorial and fine art photographer based on the west coast of Canada. Garth was originally trained as a classical pianist but turned to his other lifelong passion of photography shortly after completing his music degrees. From the outset of Garth’s career the contrast between the industrial and the natural landscape has been a central theme. During Garth’s early career, the world’s old growth forests and global deforestation were a major focus of his work. In more recent years, much of his work has been focused on the world of modern fossil fuel production, climate change, and the associated impacts on the landscape. Often photographing from the air, to better illustrate the massive scale of industrial impacts and the remaining large intact ecosystems, this is particularly evident in the work from his current exhibit The True Cost of Oil. This work has received worldwide attention. It has been published in the most prestigious editorial and fine art publications, and been exhibited in New York, Paris, London, Boston, Los Angeles, Montreal, Belgium, Mexico City, at Germany’s GDT photography festival and in other major art and photography centres. It has received significant awards in international photography competitions. A popular public speaker, Garth been invited to address major corporations, government bodies, and academic centers on the issues of conservation and sustainability. These include The New York Times, the European Parliament, Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard universities, the Royal Geographical Society, London’s Natural History Museum, and many others. His TED talk, The True cost of Oil, has received well over 800,000 views and been translated into 23 languages. In 2009 Garth was named a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, one of only 60 photographers in the world to receive this honour.