Famed Canadian naturalist and artist Robert Bateman is in Edmonton Dec. 11 to deliver a public keynote for Thinking Mountains at Metro Cinema. (Birgit Freybe Bateman photo)
Robert Bateman can't understand why some people don't see the forest for the trees. Take the Glen Valley area of Langley, B.C., for instance, where the renowned wildlife painter and environmentalist recently stopped to visit a 10-hectare forest that's slated to be sold off and developed to help pay for a new recreation centre. "They already have a recreation centre, and it's free," Bateman says of the forest itself. "All they have to do is go 20 feet outside." The issue is symptomatic of modern Canada where families aren't taking the time to experience and enjoy nature, says Bateman, who is in Edmonton Dec. 11 to deliver a public keynote for Thinking Mountains at Metro Cinema. Hosted by the University of Alberta's Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative , Thinking Mountains is a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary conference focusing on key issues facing the world's mountain regions—the very sorts of places where Bateman finds inspiration. Growing up in Toronto, Bateman's first real mountain experience came in the 1950s when he and a friend took the Greyhound to Victoria and set out for Mount Arrowsmith.
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