(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Civic Center is launching a new Explorer Series tomorrow (Tuesday) night that will include in-person talks from a NASA engineer who puts robots on Mars, a deep-ocean underwater photographer, and Mike Libecki, who describes his life as a National Geographic Adventurer the following way. “I’m a professional climber and explorer, and you know, you could even call it a professional child. I absolutely love what I do,” Libecki says. “I travel around the world climbing and adventuring, supporting science, going to places no one’s ever been to before. Honestly, it’s a dream come true.”

Libecki will present what he’s calling “Paddling with Polar Bears.” It documents one small part of his exploits in the high Arctic, though his job has taken him to all seven continents, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and the peaks of Nepal and Peru. “The best part about my lifestyle is getting to go on these expeditions and travel around the world, but the second best part is coming back to share these stories,” Libecki says. “These are places that few people get to experience and to bring these emotional stories back and share them with people, it’s one of the best parts of my life.”

Lebecki talked with Radio Iowa from his rural home in the mountains of Utah, a place he says is only accessible by snowmobile or skis during the winter. While Iowans who long for adventure in their lives might think this state has little to offer, Libecki disagrees, saying Iowans can use the current environmental challenges to steel themselves for even more harsh conditions elsewhere on the globe. “Iowa is a great place to train for Antarctica and Siberia in the winter, I mean, from what I understand it gets pretty darn cold out there,” Libecki says. “These adventures take me to places with minus 60-70 degrees where we’re climbing and adventuring, so we’re up against the most difficult challenges and climates on the planet.”

Saying he’s obsessed with climbing the world’s most remote and untouched mountains, Libecki says he’s completed more than 100 major global expeditions, reaching summits from Afghanistan to Antarctica, Greenland to Guyana, Siberia to Socotra, and most places in between. “I’ve got some pretty tough criteria how I define an expedition, and that’s being 100% self-reliant in places you can’t be rescued,” Libecki says. “I have a question that I ask myself and that’s why ration passion? The time is now and we’ve got to live this life. It’s an absolute gift to have enthusiasm about something in life.”

Libecki’s appearance on Tuesday night will be followed by, “Beyond Earth: The Quest for Life on an Icy Moon” on March 21st, and “Aboard SeaLegacy 1: Documenting our Blue Planet” on May 13th.