Edwin BERNBAUM

Born in 1945, Edwin is a mountaineer and a scholar of comparative religion and mythology, whose work centers on the relationship between culture and nature.

Edwin, who now lives in Berkeley, started climbing mountains as a teen in Ecuador, where his father was in the foreign service. He continued to follow his vocation as he grew older and tried his hand at climbing in the Himalayas.

One day, while climbing Nepal’s Annapurna, his party was caught in an avalanche. He survived, and soon after he met a Buddhist abbot who told him about Shambhala, which in Tibetan Buddhist cosmology is a Shangri-la-like realm of peace and contentment. This is how his interest in the role of mountains and religion in mythology was born.

He is author of numerous publications, including award-winning book Sacred Mountains of the World, subject of an exhibition at the Smithsonian and winner of a Commonwealth Club gold medal.

Edwin has lectured and given seminars on the environment, culture, myth, art, and mountains to audiences such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As Co-chair of the IUCN group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas, he works on projects to integrate the cultural and spiritual significance of nature into the management and governance of protected areas around the world.