East Bay Dinner: "Bhutan: Past, Present and Future"

Thursday, March 24, no-host cocktails/social hour - 6 pm, dinner - 7:00, program - 7:50, Berkeley Yacht Club on the Berkeley Marina, one block north of the west end of University Avenue (ample free parking is available in the Marina parking lots).

Join adventure traveler, photographer, archivist, and part-time Bhutan resident Brent Olson for a fascinating program highlighting the landscape, culture, history, and future of Bhutan. This program will be both visually stunning and informative. Brent will first focus on aspects of Bhutan's history, culture, and environment in relationship to the country's past. He will specifically explain why Bhutan has been able to preserve and protect its unique culture and environment to the present day. Brent will then talk in detail about the present political and social situations in the country and what the future is likely to hold for the culture and environment of the world's most renowned "mountain kingdom".

Olson is one of the Western world's leading experts on Bhutan. This native of the Black Hills of South Dakota is one of the few Westerners to have actually lived in Bhutan. (He worked with the country's government in the creation of a photographic archive of Bhutan's rich artistic heritage.) He has traveled to "The Mountain Kingdom" at least 35 times, in the course of which travels he has forged lasting relationships with the full spectrum of Bhutanese society, from villagers to the royal family. He has organized trips to Bhutan for such prestigious organizations as the Asia Society, the California Academy of Sciences, Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, the World Wildlife Fund, and the American Museum of Natural History. He has presented numerous slide shows and talks on Bhutan around the country, including a slide presentation for the Smithsonian Institution's seminar on Bhutan at the Smithsonian's Textile Museum in Washington, DC.

Dinner is $22, which includes tax and tip. To make a reservation, send your check for $22 payable to "Sierra Club", including your name and phone number, to:

Evelyn Randolph
938 Galvin Drive
El Cerrito, CA 94530
(510) 526-2494

Attendance is limited to the first 115 reservations received. Reserve early, as these programs do fill up. There is no admittance for program only.

For more information, call (510) 845-8055