Many of the redwoods along the Pacific Coast are 150 years old. Or, about as old as Steve Dunsky feels working on the first virtual Visions of the Wild.

Sponsored by Dunsky’s employer — the U.S. Forest Service — and the Vallejo Community Arts Foundation, the fifth annual event has been challenging, even “scaled back” from its usual plethora of in-person activities, field trips, and adventures during the good old pre-COVID-19 days.

“I would say that producing ‘Visions of the Wild’ in the middle of a global pandemic, insane election year and climate chaos has probably taken a couple of years off my life,” Dunsky said.

It’s tough enough on a personal level that “it feels like we’ve been hammered from one thing to another,” Dunsky said by phone Tuesday, grateful that “some people are managing to maintain a perspective and sense of humor. You do wonder what’s next. I think everyone is expecting a big earthquake.”

House-rattling tremors aside, Dunsky’s managed to get the Visions of the Wild virtually in place, with online presentations starting this Wednesday, followed by Oct. 1, Oct. 21, and Nov. 18.

Since each presentation will be recorded, all could be viewed any time after the scheduled date and time, said Dunsky.

Rewinding the clock, it was back in early spring when the original idea was to recognize the 50th anniversary of Earth Day “with a big celebration,” Dunsky said.

When the pandemic canceled everything, “we decided to make the most of it,” Dunsky said, coming up with the the concept pre-COVID of “38 degrees North,” “the idea behind that thinking, how do we do an Earth Day celebration in Vallejo and make it into a global event?’”

Dunsky looked at the world at the 38th parallel, which is the latitude of Vallejo with the “Visions of the Wild” mission of connecting nature, culture and community and “how the arts can be used to inspire people to be better stewards of the environment.”

“And that’s what we’ve done,” Dunsky said, announcing the following:

• Wednesday, 7 p.m. live (and recorded for any time viewing), Authors David and Janet Carle describe their journey around the world on the 38th parallel.
• Oct. 1, 7 p.m., Global Recycled Plastic Art Challenge for kids.
• Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m., Yale University historian Dr. Valerie Hansen explores the ancient Silk Road.
• Nov. 16, 6 p.m., a panel discussion centered on the film “Carvalho’s Journey,” which is available to registrants starting Nov. 9.

Though “everything’s scaled back” from the “normal” Visions of the Wild, “it’s made it doable,” Dunsky said.

Each presentation is a different theme and “the benefit is that we can really expand our scope beyond Solano County and the Bay Area and engage all across the world,” Dunsky said. “That’s exciting.”

Dunsky is particular thrilled with the launching of the Global Recycled Art Challenge for “anyone living between the 37th and 39th parallel. If you qualify, you can be part of this competition. We’re asking young people to create art out of plastic trash. It’s a way to highlight the problem of plastic pollution.”

Basically, participants are asked to turn plastic trash into art, take a photo of it and send it in with an appropriate statement. Prizes will be given.

Technology, naturally, was the major obstacle in pulling off a virtual Visions of the Wild, said Dunsky.

“We’re fortunate in a sense, now that everyone is working from home, meeting virtually with Zoom. It made this so much easier to do something like this,” Dunsky said. “I know some are sick of Zoom. Nonetheless, we’re able to get people from all over the place together,” combining Zoom with the platform QUDIO to facilitate switching cameras while setting up images and videos.

“I’ll be moderating these discussions … so I don’t have to be doing all the technical stuff,” Dunsky said. “It’s always an experiment.”

Nobody would rather the annual event be hands-on, he said.

“I have a deep and abiding love for Vallejo. I never have lived in a place that has such a sense of community,” Dunsky said. “All the people I would see (at previous events) have become the fabric of that community. That’s what I’ll miss. There’s no substitute for seeing people in person and giving people a big hug.”

Each event for this year’s Visions of the Wild is free, though online “there’s an opportunity to make a donation,” Dunsky said.

“There’s no obligation. It’s open to everyone around the world,” he said.

For more information, visit visionsofthewild.org.