Open mind and a way beyond conflict | Derek Grzelewski | TEDxWanaka

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Every day we are bombarded with news, views and opinions. We often feel compelled to take instant positions on these; to believe or disbelieve, often to argue for or against. This is the genesis of conflict, whether on a a personal level or between religions, tribes or nations. Yet there is a solution that's both obvious and simple as Derek explains.

Now based in Wanaka, Derek left his native Poland, then still behind the Iron Curtain, in 1986 by climbing over the Carpathians to Slovakia, then passing through Austria into Western Europe. His travels eventually led him to New Zealand, where he started a career writing and photographing travel, adventure and natural history stories for publications including New Zealand Geographic, Smithsonian, GEO and Reader's Digest. He has also worked as a high-rise window cleaner, professional diver and freelance film cameraman. His globally-acclaimed books The Trout Diaries and The Trout Bohemia chronicle his travels fly fishing the rivers of New Zealand; both are part instructional, part travelogue and part philosophy and conservation. Going to Extremes: Adventures in Unknown New Zealand, a compilation of his best published works, is scheduled for release in June and explores the 'extreme' in some unexpected places including mountains, oceans, outer space and the spinal recovery unit. As he writes in the first chapter: "Sometimes you have to go to extremes just to find room to breathe."


www.derekgrzelewski.com
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