Over the past 20 years John Bowermaster has written about adventure, the environment and exotic corners of the world for publications such as National Geographic, The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly and Outside. Recently, most of his writing and adventuring has been done on behalf of the National Geographic Society. Jon has travelled to seven continents on adventures such as two-person sledding across Antarctica, sailing a 60-foot sailboat across the Atlantic, and first descents of rivers from Chile to China. He has poured those experiences into eight books, including three with renowned polar explorer Will Steger. Many of the expeditions have been made into documentary films. Whether as editor, writer, documentary producer or lecturer, his international travels have a common goal: to learn about and share how the world works today. Today, his expeditions are less about adventure-for-adventure's-sake and more about what the map of the world looks like early in the 21st century. Jon joins us from the US.