MEDIA ADVISORY - World-renowned explorer Sven Lindblad launches Canadian initiative for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic.

TORONTO, Jan. 29, 2013 /CNW/ -

What:	World-renowned explorer Sven Lindblad launches Canadian initiative for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic.
	Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic launches Canadian Initiative to conduct more expeditions in Canada's vast wilderness. With the melting of the Arctic Ocean and the opening of the Northwest Passage, huge parts of Canada will be revealed for the first time, with equally large opportunities and threats. So, starting this summer, Lindblad will take people through the High Arctic Ocean, in addition to up and down Canada's Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
	Extraordinary Canadians - Wade Davis, Dr. Roberta Bondar and Dr. Joe Macinnis - come together on special Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Advisory Board to develop ideas about where to explore and what in Canada's vast wildernesses.
Who:
	Sven Lindblad, world renowned explorer, founder of Lindblad Expeditions http://www.expeditions.com/sven_bio494.asp & http://www.youtube.com/user/lindbladexpeditions Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer-in Residence, Chair of the Canadian Initiative Advisory Board www.daviswade.com & http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/wade-davis/
When:
	Tuesday, February 5 7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Breakfast presentation -- http://ramsaytalks.com/events/?regevent_action=register&event_id=27 Afternoon - Media interviews with Sven Lindblad and Wade Davis
Where:
	University Club, 380 University Avenue, Toronto
Why:
	Few people alive know more about eco-tourism than Sven Lindblad (his father invented the term) and about indigenous people and eco-systems than Wade Davis. Wade Davis is also Canada's very own polymath, while Sven's Lindblad Expeditions partners with National Geographic to offer marine based expeditions to the world's most remote places.
	Wade Davis has long said that travel can overcome our greatest conceit about people and cultures whose environments are wildly different from Western society: "They are not failed attempts to be us; they are unique manifestations of other visions of life itself."
	Sven Lindblad expands on this thought:  "In the 21^stcentury, exploration and adventure travel are no longer about firsts, at least on the earth itself, and especially on the seas.  But there is no less wonder and opportunity now.  In fact, I would say that the experiences offered now as a consequence of navigational tools, underwater technology and access to information, allow for far richer expeditions."
	As Sven says: "Too many discussions about the oceans' condition, climate change, the diminishing access to fresh water and the loss of native cultures take place in environments with no emotional and physical connection.  We are consumed by so many challenges, but when a person has seen the cathedral-sized icebergs of Antarctica or snorkeled on a truly healthy reef, or seen a stressed polar bear where the sea ice has disappeared - all these discussions become personal and infinitely more meaningful."

SOURCE: Lindblad Expeditions

To interview Sven Lindblad and Wade Davis, please contact Bob Ramsay: 4l6 822 3452, or [email protected]