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Archives for 2012

Top 10 most viewed TEDxMileHigh Talks of 2012

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The following are the top 10 most viewed Talks from TEDxMileHigh events this year.  They don’t, unfortunately, include any videos from TEDxMileHighWomen—these will be up in the next couple of days! Want to know what else happened this year? Check out the full review here.  Without further ado, we present…

#10. Libby Birky: Ripple Effect

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: SAME (So All May Eat) Cafe exists so that if you’re in the neighborhood you have a pleasant place to go, to enjoy good company and get a great, healthy organic food no matter what. A lot has changed with the Cafe in the last year. Libby Birky shares a community action update and the ripple effects from her first TEDxMileHigh presentation in April 2011.

#9. Adam Lerner: The Art of Risk

Event: TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward

Description: What do Andy Warhol and artificial lighting have in common? Nothing? Something profound? The outcome doesn’t necessarily matter—what matters is that the question is being asked. Adam Lerner doesn’t shy away from the ridiculous. At TEDxMileHigh, Adam tells his hilarious story of how he went from seeking a higher plane of thinking through more than a decade in higher education to discarding “status” and becoming one of America’s most celebrated museum directors. For Adam, the risk is not in failure or criticism, but in not taking the chance to begin with.

#8. Jeremy Bloom: Viewing Age

Event: TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward

Description: If you had one wish, what would it be? The question may be common, but Jeremy Bloom asks it from a unique angle: he asks it to members of the “oldest generation” and actually attempts to make the wish a reality. In this touching and humorous talk, Mr. Bloom retells his personal story of learning and growing through time spent with his grandpa and how those moments have impacted his life. His call to action is to get involved, to be proactive, and to listen to a generation that has so much to offer.

#7. Lucifury: Ode to the Feminine

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: Theo Wilson is among other things a slam poet known for mastering the power of the spoken word and its ability to inspire. In this delightful and passionate TEDxMileHighSalon performance, Theo Wilson (AKA Lucifury) shares a tribute to the feminine

#6. Shannon Galpin: The Power of Voice

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: Shannon Galpin hails from Breckenridge, Colorado and it’s fitting she named her nonprofit, Mountain2Mountain, as she travels from the mountains of Summit County to the mountains of Afghanistan to bring the power of voice to women and children in conflict zones. In this TEDxMileHigh Talk, she shares about the risks and rewards she has faced in this journey.

#5. Allen Lim: Identity

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: In April 2011, Allen Lim showed us through his first TEDxMileHigh Talk how easy it can be tolose sight of our true passions as we move forward with our careers and lives. More importantly, he inspired us to reignite these passions and showed us how he overcame obstacles in his own life to do just that. In this TEDxMileHighSalon Talk, he describes his journey since then and his explorations with identity.

#4. Evan Walden and Nathaniel Koloc: Shift Work

Event: TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward

Description: What does it mean to have purpose in profession? For a long time, the purpose was the profession—get a job, stick with it, retire. In other words, it was okay to settle as long as there was a steady paycheck rolling in. In this eye-opening talk, friends and business partners Nathanial Koloc and Evan Walden discuss a cultural shift in thinking about jobs, in which people desire to have purpose within their profession, seeking organizations whose missions align with their own, and never settling for a paycheck alone. Using their personal backgrounds as color, they show how they align impact-driven professionals with impact-driven organizations and vice versa.

#3. Cesar Gonzalez: What Others Think Does Matter

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: By age 16, Cesar Gonzalez had lived on four continents. He later found himself with a degree from Caltech and a tremendous opportunity as an Unreasonable Fellow. Today, he is a permanent member of that extraordinary team. In this TEDxMileHighSalon Talk, he illustrates the power of community and our expectations to deliver extraordinary results. He doesn’t have all the answers, but does have something unexpected to share at the end of his Talk…

#2. Woody Roseland: You are Here

Event: TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward

Description: Woody Roseland lives to laugh, to dream, and to be HERE. From his story, it wouldn’t seem like he has anything to laugh about. As a sophomore in high school, he experienced a pain in his leg that wasn’t just a bruise, it was cancer. Since, he has overcome cancer five times, and through it all has discovered the most important aspects of life. In this engaging and moving talk, Woody tells his serious story with humor, and asks us to participate in loving life and understand the weight of ‘You Are Here’.

#1. Michael Huemer: The Irrationality of Politics

Event: TEDxMileHighSalon

Description: Michael Huemer focuses on the scope and nature of what we know, morality and truth. He is an expert at structuring logical arguments the premises of which are easy to go along with, which makes it annoying if you don’t agree with his conclusions. We’ll let you decide. In this TEDxMileHigh Talk, he details the irrationality of politics.

Which was your favorite event?  Which was your favorite Talk? Why?

TEDxMileHigh 2012: A Visual Review

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Recap 

In January, TEDxMileHigh will be entering its third year of operation with another full slate of events planned, including an increase in community engagement pieces like ideas hours, and a continuation of the Prize. Thanks to the community’s support in the Rocky Mountain region, TEDxMileHigh has been able to make real, tangible impacts through what is a very simple concept: accelerate big ideas + inspired citizenship in Colorado.  Big ideas can take many forms, and to us, it’s one of the most beautiful aspects of the TEDx concept.

This year we’ve had the opportunity to hear from wide variety of changemakers and leaders in every sector. Recently named National Geographic Humanitarian of the Year Shannon Galpin shared her story on the Power of Voice as it relates to women and girls around the globe.  Olympian+entrepreneur Jeremy Bloom taught us about taking time to reach out to the oldest generation.  Jessica Posner gave her talk on how one dedicated person can set a course for better education and healthcare in one of the largest slums in Africa. Kristen Race has dedicated her life to the brain science behind mindfulness, and gave a call to action to the audience of TEDxMileHighWomen that continues to resonate with attendees. In all, 36 speakers presented this year at our four events: TEDxMileHighSalon, TEDxYouth@MileHigh, TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward, and TEDxMileHighWomen.  If you missed any, all of the talks are online and categorized by date.  Check them out here!

We also awarded the first TEDxMileHigh Prize to ReWork of Boulder, who used it to help accelerate 15 local organizations and startups at the Rocky Mountain Scrimmage.

We would like to thank the TEDxMileHigh community for a year of inspiration + action in 2012.  Without your participation, your feedback, your partnership, your friendship, your enthusiasm, and your support, TEDxMileHigh could not exist.  To continue to help us spread big ideas in Colorado, engage with us on the blog, on Facebook and Twitter, at the events, or at [email protected].

With that, here’s to a wonderful 2012 and an even better 2013! 

The Numbers

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Events

TEDxMileHighSalon

Date: January 19, 2012
Attendees: 420
What: Riding the inspiration and inspired citizenship from the inaugural TEDxMileHigh in April 2011, this was our first smaller event, held at RedLine Gallery in Denver. The experience was an intimate evening that featured a few past speakers and variety of new ones as well.  Read the write-up on the event here and see Michael Huemer’s controversial (and highly viewed) talk here. 

TEDxYouth@MileHigh

Date: June 1, 2012
Attendees: 751
What: The first Youth event was designed to bring the TEDx experience to the youth of Metro Denver. In addition to learning about innovation, leadership, and sustainability, students were able to explore the Exhibits Lounge and experience first-hand 21st century skills like speaking, ideating, creating, and delivering.

TEDxMileHigh: Risk + Reward

Date: June 2, 2012
Attendees: 1743
What: TEDxMileHigh 2012 was centered around the theme “Risk + Reward.”  The event was a curated look at how some of Colorado’s most brilliant and influential people have measured, battled, and endured risk to experience some sort of reward on the other end—be it financial, personal, or humanitarian in nature. Read more about the event here.

TEDxMileHigh Prize: Rocky Mountain Scrimmage

Date: November 3, 2012
Attendees: ~100
What:  At the main event in June, TEDxMileHigh first announced the Prize, which would be given “to an individual or idea” worth spreading.  In August, we awarded the Prize to ReWork of Boulder, who used it to specifically accelerate 3 local entrepreneurs that were given training, mentorship, and a network to help build their business.  In addition, ReWork organized the Rocky Mountain Scrimmage, which brought 15 local organizations including iDE and FreshTakes Kitchen to learn, and experience, rapid-prototyping.  Read more about the Prize here. 

TEDxMileHighWomen

Date: December 1, 2012
Attendees: 460
What: Our inaugural TEDxMileHighWomen event, held at the Denver Art Museum, was a curated look at how women and girls are shaping the future, and our very first go at a mixed livestream/live event.  Half of the event was streaming in from Washington, D.C., where TEDxWomen was taking place, and half the event was live with speakers from around the state of Colorado.

Which was your favorite event?  Who was your favorite speaker?  What would you like to see next year? What was one thing that profoundly influenced you?

Global warming, empty bellies

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Global warming, empty bellies

News stories about the recent United Nations climate meetings in Doha, Qatar, generally leaned on the old-standby climate-change impacts: melting glaciers, droughts, heat waves, sea-level rise, and, of course, superstorms.

But of late, a second-order problem has been getting more attention: the worrisome effects of climate change on food supplies.

A recent World Bank report on the dangers of a 4-degree-Celsius (7.2 degree Fahrenheit) temperature rise by the century’s end put food front and center:

The 4°C scenarios are devastating: the inundation of coastal cities; increasing risks for food production potentially leading to higher malnutrition rates; many dry regions becoming dryer, wet regions wetter; unprecedented heat waves in many regions, especially in the tropics; substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions; increased frequency of high-intensity tropical cyclones; and irreversible loss of biodiversity, including coral reef systems.

That 4-degree temperature rise could well happen before the century’s end, according to a recent study by scientists John Fasullo and Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. They looked at how much warming various climate models – those supercomputer-riding crystal balls – predicted with a doubling of greenhouse gas equivalents over the preindustrial baseline (we’re well on our way). It turns out that models that estimated lower temperatures with such doubling had assumed too little subtropical humidity (humidity being a plug-in proxy for clouds, which are too complex to model globally). The ones with the higher, more accurate assumptions with respect to humidity predicted more warming, Fasullo and Trenberth found.

What’s the connection with food?

Lester Brown and colleagues at the Earth Policy Institute set that table nicely. Brown’s new book,Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Security paints a disturbing picture of a world on the cusp of food crisis.

Brown, who in 1974 founded the Worldwatch Institute before peeling off in 2001 to create his current think tank, has long since gone global with his Plan B books. But having come up through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he has a sweet tooth for food issues.

Full Planet, Empty Plates is a thin book with heaps of evidence that global food system, already stretched thin, could well snap with the combined stresses of population growth, soil degradation, freshwater scarcity, and higher temperatures. Climate change will directly impact the latter two, he describes. A few stats:

  • Each day brings 219,000 new mouths to our collective dinner tables, or a Colorado’s worth every 24 days
  • World food prices have doubled in the past decade.
  • Yields (bushels per acre) have plateaued globally, the hybridization, fertilizing and irrigation behind the green revolution having essentially pushed staples such as corn, rice, soybeans and wheat to their photosynthetic limits.
  • For every degree Celsius of increased average temperature above growing-season norm, there’s a 10 percent drop in crop yield.
  • A one-meter rise in sea level (well within the bounds of scientific estimates) would wipe out half the rice production of Vietnam and Bangladesh (“It is not intuitively obvious that ice melting on a large island in the far North Atlantic could shrink the rice harvest in Asia, but it is true,” Brown quips, in a rare toe-dip into something approaching humor).
  • Half the world’s population depends on grain fed from declining fossil (unrechargeable) aquifers.

One comes away realizing that food is water (it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce a ton of grain; 70 percent of our freshwater use goes to irrigation) and vice-versa. And also that dwelling on whether to buy the iPad with Retina display or the iPad Mini may represent a misapplication of our collective cognitive energies. Let’s take it a step further – the notion that we’re somehow becoming a digital society is a total load of manure (which has, despite the organic farm movement, largely given way to synthetic fertilizers). Or maybe just: there’s no app for that. Meat and potatoes are a lot more important than bits and bytes – though meat, given the immense amounts of water and grain it takes to grow it, is part of the problem, too.

Of course, the poor will suffer the most as scarcity spikes prices. According to a 2010 Nomura report, we Americans spend 13.7 percent of our incomes on food, on average, so a doubling of food costs doesn’t hurt as badly as it does in, say, Mexico (34 percent of income), China (39.8 percent) Egypt (48 percent), India (49.5 percent) or Nigeria (73 percent).

If you don’t want to take Brown’s and the World Bank’s word for it, fabled investor and megatrend-spotter Jeremy Grantham wrote in a recent, passionate editorial in the preeminent British journal Nature: “Especially dangerous to social stability and human well-being are food prices and food costs. Growth in the productivity of grains has fallen to 1.2% a year, which is exactly equal to the global population growth rate. There is now no safety margin.”

What to do?

Brown has a few suggestions. Eat less meat. Boost water productivity. Promote family planning and the education of young women. Beat back poverty in the world’s poorest places. Zealously promote low-carbon energy and roll out renewable energy with national-security fervor. Back out ethanol mandates because anything converting grain to fuel (corn-based ethanol being the worst culprit) is exacerbating global hunger.

“Food is the weak link in our modern civilization—just as it was for the Sumerians, Mayans, and many other civilizations that have come and gone,” Brown writes. “They could not separate their fate from that of their food supply. Nor can we.”

Science writer Todd Neff was a speaker at TEDxMileHigh 2012: Risk and Reward and is the author many articles and books, including his newest acclaimed book: From Jars to the Stars

Top 4 Ways to Engage at TEDxMileHighWomen

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TEDxMileHighWomen is right around the corner!  We are excited to be hosting another event on December 1 and want to share some ways that you can help make the event not just a day of inspiration, but a day of action and dialogue. In the spirit of Ideas Worth Spreading, here are the Top 4 ways to Engage at TEDxMileHighWomen- before, during, and after the event.

1. Twitter. We will be using the hashtag #TEDxMHWomen before, during, and after the event.  For the larger TEDxWomen (livestreamed from Washington DC), you can use #TEDxWomen to participate in the broader conversation.  To connect with our speakers, use the following handles:

AnnJannette Alejano-Steele – @lab2cht
Kristen Race – @KristenRacePhD
Tracy Mackenzie – @reworkjobs
Lynn Gangone – @lynnmgangone

2. Instagram. Your photos will be streamed onto our website on the day of the event using the same hashtag: #TEDxMHWomen.  That page will be live starting on Saturday morning.

3. Facebook. Connect with us and find all the information you need at facebook.com/tedxmilehigh or facebook.com/tedxmilehighwomen. We encourage you to post comments, photos, links, and other content to get the conversation rolling!

4. Your Blog. Feel free to post, share, discuss during the event!  We welcome dialogue–that’s what TEDx events are all about!

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Q+A with Eva Holbrook of SHEL

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What makes a good musician?
I think it has a lot to do with character. It’s those traits that are easy to identify–like endurance, diligence and perseverance.  It takes so much work to perfect your craft and, I think, it makes some nearly insane.  But that insanity just means that they’re really into their art. I mean, insanity isn’t a good quality to have when relating to people, but the best artists are nearly there.  The ones that rise above can strike a balance between that passion and relating to people, creating and finding joy in their art, and finding a huge amount of joy in bringing it to other people.

Do you remember the first song you wrote?
The first song I wrote was horrible, so I don’t really remember it. When I think about the first songs I wrote, when I was fourteen, they were all bad.  I didn’t give up though—I loved it.  But I do remember the first few good songs I started writing when I was 16.  I can distinguish between the early work and those breakthrough times.  I guess I knew it was something different when I felt the joy of bringing art to people that really liked and enjoyed it with me.  I had never felt true joy at that caliber until I felt the joy of others listening to my music.

What’s the least exotic place you’ve played? 
Actually in Denver. Some small diner. I can’t remember the name, but we played in the basement of some converted apartment building/restaurant. They promised us a packed house, and I was 14 at the time so I was very excited.  The ended up overcharging us for food that made me sick, and only three people were there, and I think one left during the performance.  I was throwing up between songs.  Definitely the worst show, and the least exotic moment I can remember.

What instrument do you wish you could play?
Uilleann Pipes

You’re on the road with three sisters all the time. How would you describe the experience in seven words?
Joyful. Challenging. Amazing. Adventurous. Always strange. Magical.

If you weren’t a musician, you’d be…
A farmer. A small-scale poly-culture farmer.  Hannah and Liza would open up a restaurant that I would provide food for and my Sarah would be making films.

Why do you think people listen to SHEL?
Our uniqueness. Similar to the reasons why you enjoy a particular person.  If that person is true to themselves and living passionately, it can be disarming in the best kind of way.  My hope, or what I’ve heard from fans, is that people are inspired by SHEL because we’re living it that way—staying true to ourselves, living passionately, doing what we love.

Eva (holding mandolin above) is a member of SHEL along with three of her sisters—Sarah, Hannah, and Liza.  They are Colorado natives (of Ft. Collins) and will be playing at TEDxMileHighWomen. 

Q+A with emcee Lynn Gangone

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What do you do when you’re not being ‘the Dean?’
I don’t know if I’m ever not “the Dean.”  I was riding my pink Vespa through Stapleton the other day and I ran into someone I knew from the Women’s College.  I saw a student a couple nights ago shopping.  I can’t escape it, but I love it.  It one of the reasons I love Denver and my job—the community and the connectedness.

Who is your hero?
I have many heroes—Hillary Clinton certainly comes to mind and has been a longtime hero. Currently, I’m reading this book called “Victory” about the LGBT movement and there’s a lot of Colorado folks represented.  Many of whom I know on a personal level.  I think the people in the book who have stood up for what they believed in, at a huge risk and cost, have definitely become my current heroes.

What makes you laugh?
A lot of things make me laugh.  Let’s see…my new puppy makes me laugh. Puppies are good for that.  I also like to laugh at myself—I have a loud laugh so when I do laugh, I laugh also at my loud laugh—I think that’s pretty funny.  I think life’s too short not to laugh loud.

Describe Colorado in 7 words. 
Open. Welcoming. Innovative. Inclusive. Progressive. Unique. Mountains.

What was your career aspiration as a 20 year-old?
I wanted to be the head of a women’s college. It’s a little scary, huh? But I think it shows that when you really have a clear, defined vision and set your mind on it, you can achieve so much.

Why are you involved with TEDxMileHighWomen?
I believe in elevating women’s thought leadership.  I was looking at a stat recently that stated that men are seven times more likely to be quoted in the news/media about women’s reproductive health. I mean, there’s a number of reasons, but I know that there’s still a gap in women speaking to the real issues all around us.  This event, this program, does what I’m after as dean of the Women’s College—creating voices, elevating women’s thought leaders.

 

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