In 2015, Forrest Schoessow led a crew of three on a Mississippi River survey expedition, travelling in a 20-foot canoe and using only a compass and maps. In three months, they traveled 2,350 miles down the Mississippi River from its headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. In this talk, he discusses the coevolution of the river and its people.

Forrest Schoessow is an explorer in pursuit of knowledge of Earth’s interconnected natural and human systems. His curiosity has led him to serve, via Americorps, in the Montana wilderness, work as a farmhand in the Bolivian jungle, teach in South Korea, hitch-hike across Eurasia and ramble about most of the United States.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.