George Kourounis travels to the most remote and inhospitable corners of the Earth to document the extremes of nature. An award-winning explorer, one of the best-known storm chasers, and the former host of Angry Planet, Kourounis frequently finds himself up close to the world’s most fearsome forces: vicious tornadoes, the eyes of hurricanes, and inside erupting volcanoes. In talks, he chronicles his often dangerous, always spectacular adventures—revealing the motivational power of harnessing fear, as well as first-hand insights to how climate change is impacting the environment.
George Kourounis is a newly-minted Explorer-in-Residence with The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. His efforts to document nature’s most extreme conditions have taken him all over the globe, into places most people would flee from. Whether he’s following a tornado outbreak in Kansas, a monster hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, or forest fires in Australia, Kourounis is always in the middle of the action with his camera rolling. Most recently, he carried The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s flag into the active Marum volcano crater on Ambrym Island, Vanuatu—home to one of the world’s seven permanent lava lakes.
Kourounis' explorations have often resulted in him accomplishing world’s firsts. While leading a scientific expedition for National Geographic, he became the first person to set foot on the bottom of the Darvaza flaming gas crater, a fiery pit that has been burning for over 45 years in the Turkmenistan desert. For this stunning feat—more people have stood on the surface of the moon—Kourounis was named a Guiness World Record-Holder. “I take things to the extreme, but I do want to encourage people to do something they’ve always wanted to do but were afraid to, because that’s where the best juice in life is,” explains Kourounis. His adventures have fascinated and inspired audiences worldwide, broadcasted on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, BBC-TV, CNN, the Science Channel, and of course, on his own adventure TV program, Angry Planet, which has been broadcast in over 100 countries.
Kourounis started chasing storms over 20 years ago and has expanded his explorations to include all types of extreme natural phenomena ever since. Today, as an RCGS Explorer-in-Residence, Kourounis provides geographical education and outreach across Canada. He is also a fellow of The Royal Geographical Society (U.K.), chair of The Explorers Club Canadian Chapter, and a member of the Society Of Environmental Journalists. Kourounis has given 4 TEDx talks, addressed the UN’s Environmental Emergencies Forum, and won the Stefansson Medal his “outstanding contributions to science and to public education.” Recently, he was named one of Canada’s greatest explorers by Canadian Geographic magazine.