Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, conservationist, National Geographic explorer, and a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a Midwestern work ethic.

Peru State College and the PSC Foundation will be hosting Sartore Thursday, September 4, in the College’s Performing Arts Center. The event will be free and open to the public. To register for the event, go to: bit.ly/4kV0jsf.

Sartore specializes in documenting endangered species and landscapes to show a world worth saving. He is the founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark, a multi-year documentary project to document every species living in the world’s zoos, aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries, inspire action through education, and help protect wildlife and their habitats by supporting on-the-ground conservation efforts.

In his words, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”

Joel has produced many books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky, Let’s Be Reasonable, The Photo Ark, Birds of the Photo Ark, Vanishing, and Wonders of the Photo Ark. His most recent book, Photo Ark Babies: Growing up in the Animal World, is now available as well.

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Joel has contributed to Audubon Magazine, The New York Times, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and numerous book projects. He and his work are the subjects of many national broadcasts including “60 Minutes,” “The Today Show,” “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” the CBS “Sunday Morning Show” and believe it or not, the daytime soap opera “General Hospital.”

You may have also seen him on “National Geographic’s Explorer”, the “NBC Nightly News,” “NPR’s Weekend Edition,” an hour-long PBS documentary “At Close Range,” and he is a contributor on the “CBS Sunday Morning Show.” He is also featured in a three-part series on PBS titled: “RARE: Creatures of the Photo Ark” and a continuation of that series on NatGeo Wild.

Joel is always happy to return to home base from his travels around the world. He lives in Lincoln with his wife Kathy.

Sartore’s talk has been arranged by the Peru State College Foundation and has been funded in part by Humanities Nebraska, Jeff Zindel (Omaha), and Sid Dinsdale (Omaha).