Interview

5Point, Adventure Media Review, Film Festival, Interview / 26.04.2011

The 5Point Film Festival opens its fourth season this weekend in Carbondale Colorado. Organizers are sprucing up the mountain town to welcome movie buffs from across the country to share in the latest creations of aspiring filmmakers, stories and images that celebrate the active lifestyle.

The adventure media genre is on the raise with more films, music, art and literature to pick from than ever before. Available on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, production house web sites and even network television, these days fans of outdoor action flicks can easily get their adrenalin fix of inspiration. But what makes for a quality viewing experience isn’t necessarily the vehicle you choose to watch. With your ass creasing the couch cushions downloads off your laptop or iPad2 will never be as exciting as a gathering of friends and like-minded strangers who share your passion for the outdoors and pushing the limits of the human experience. When it comes to true adventure media it’s all about the venue.

In a town with only one stop sign, one hotel and a three room bed & breakfast for lodging Carbondale is creating an intimate viewing space to tap the core energy of adventure culture. And just as I’m heading out to catch the show I connected with 5Point program director Beda Calhoun to get the inside scoop on what makes this festival a truly unique experience.

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Destinations, Environmental Protection, Interview, National Parks, PBS, Podcast, Television, Yosemite / 19.04.2011

01 Lee Stetson 1 Yosemite Valley California, president day: I’m walking with my recorder along a wooded path with a long bearded man wearing period clothing circa 1890, a tweed coat, a wool vest with a red pocket square and wide brimmed hat. Ahead of us is Yosemite Falls, a massive flowage of water running white and fast, churning with melted snow from the high country upstream. The man describes a fanciful vision of what we see. "Can you imagine? Can you imagine if in the midst of its headlong descent with all this whirling fairy springtime spray and those rushing comet tails that the fall was suddenly frozen solid and then carried bodily out into the middle of the valley that we might go around it and see it from all sides in the sunshine,” he says. “Oh was a show it would make. This colossal white pillar half a mile tall adorned with airy flowing drapery as if chiseled out of white marble.” Who better with whom to tour one of America’s greatest National Parks than the man himself John Muir. As if transported back in time I had the rare opportunity to get his impressions on Yosemite today.
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Afghanistan, Banff, Film Festival, Interview, Podcast / 20.03.2011

Millions of people around the world have read the bestselling book Three Cups of Tea. Written by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson it’s the amazing true story of one man’s journey to turn a failed attempt to climb K2 into an international movement for peace. Working to build schools in the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan Greg Mortenson has inspired the production of a one-man play about his life starring Curtis Nielson. A Literature to Life production of The American Place Theater This stage adaptation of the popular book brings to life the spirit of exploration that delves to find the common threads of humanity that bind us all together. Three Cups of Tea is playing to captivated audiences across North America. This one-man show is a dramatic and heartwarming reenactment of the book. But Curtis Nielson’s portrayal of Greg Mortenson is a story in itself. In this interview recorded at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Alberta, Canada Curtis tells us how his journey as actor has led him to discover many wonderful gifts on the stage of life.
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#ORWinter, Climate Change, Environmental Protection, Interview, Outdoor Recreation, Podcast, Skiing, Skiing / 31.01.2011

[caption id="attachment_4544" align="alignleft" width="311"] alisongannett.com[/caption] There are plenty of people out there talking about climate change. But how many are actually doing something about it. Even those of us who spend a lot of time outdoors can be guilty of contributing to the destruction of the natural environment we love. We fly in jets from place to place for the sake of adventure. And many of us are still driving low gas mileage carbon emitting SUVs. Our active lifestyles can put a really hurting on the planet. So that’s why we can all  take a few lessons from professional skier and environmental advocate Alison Gannett.
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Afghanistan, Charitable Giving, Interview, Mountain Film, philanthropy, Podcast / 29.12.2010

 

An interview with executive director Shannon Galpin

In her travels through Afghanistan the locals call Shannon Galpin the blond, blue-eyed infidel. At 36 this mountain bike racer from Breckenridge, Colorado makes her way through active war zones waging peace. As the executive director of her own non-governmental organization called Mountain 2 Mountain Shannon works on behalf of vulnerable women and children caught in the crossfire. “Our focus is to look at women in Afghanistan as beyond the victims but as the solutions and as the agents of change, “ Shannon said “and that these women that we are trying to work with through education and training are truly the solutions for the country.” Afghanistan has been a place of violent conflict for more than 40 years and with U.S. Troops on the ground now for almost a decade ordinary people, with no special training like Shannon are getting involved trying to find a peaceful solution. “I started traveling over there two or three years ago. I have spent time living in the middle east,” Shannon said. “I lived in Lebanon and traveled throughout the Middle East for a couple of years and I have always connected with the regions that have the worst human rights, that have the worst gender equity rights.” A single mother with a daughter at home Shannon is like many American women frustrated with the plight of people here at home and half a world away who suffer largely because of their gender. “What I realized was that I was ranting a lot and I was upset about it, and it was old adage of be the change that you want to see in the world,” Shannon said, and instead of complaining I should just get off my ass and do it.”
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Charitable Giving, Interview, philanthropy, Podcast / 18.12.2010

In the spirit of charitable giving Robert Egger is leading the charge in America to show that philanthropy and looking out for the best interest of others can be business as usual. Dedicated to feeding the homeless and providing job training for the formerly incarcerated Egger’s work at the D.C. Central Kitchen serves the poor in our nation’s capital.

In cooperation with restaurants and catering business, the D.C. Kitchen collects more than 3,000 pounds of surplus food each day. The non-profit makes 4,500 meals that are distributed to over 100 shelters, transitional housing facilities and rehabilitation centers throughout the Washington D.C. area. And Robert Egger travels the country giving talks on the value of philanthropic giving as an engine for social change. At the D.C. Central Kitchen Egger is using food to build stronger communities, combating hunger while creating opportunities.

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