TEDxSedona Speakers & Performers

TEDxSedona Speakers & Performers from our October 2017 event

Florotica: Revealing the Sensuality of the Micro World
Gary Greenberg, Ph.D.

Scientist, inventor, author, Gary Greenberg exposes the sensual architecture of the microscopic world of flowers. In the first half of the twentieth century, Georgia O’Keefe showed the world the inherently sexual nature of flowers. Now nearly 100 years later, Dr. Greenberg takes us on a dramatic three-dimensional journey through the amazing world of flowers from the insect’s point of view. He shows us the magnificence of flowering plants using his unique 3D microscopes, displaying images magnified hundreds of times, with a clarity and depth never before seen. All of us love to behold the awesome beauty of flowers; and now for the first time, an entirely new dimension of appreciation is offered.

 

Advocating for a Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet
Miriam Kalamian, EdM, MS, CNS

You can’t hide from cancer. It touches every one of us in one way or another. While the march goes on to find a cure, over 4600 people a day – in the US alone- are handed a cancer diagnosis. What if you or a loved one become a statistic? And what if you learned that there was something you could do- right now- to take back some control? Enter the ketogenic diet. The concept of food as medicine is nothing new. What’s different now is that cancer research has given us a deeper appreciation of the changes that drive cancer at the cellular level. This information gives each of us the opportunity to shape indifference to diet into a new paradigm for cancer treatment that extends beyond clinic walls

 

 

Low Cost, Eco-Friendly Aircrete Homes
Hajjar Gibran

The high cost and vulnerability to the forces of nature makes conventional stick houses foolish. The 3 little pigs taught us that in kindergarden. How about we build solid Aircrete brick homes that aren’t damaged by water or high winds? A fabric reinforced AirCrete dome home is much more durable yet costs only a small fraction of conventional housing.

 

Synthetic Materials for Artificial Photosynthesis
Fernando J. Uribe-Romo

Global warming and climate change are directly caused by the carbon dioxide emissions as result of human activity. New advanced and cost-effective materials that remove CO2 from the atmosphere are an imminent need. In our laboratory, we design and create materials known as metal-organic framework (MOFs) that can capture large amounts CO2 and transform it into high value chemicals using sunlight (a.k.a solar fuel). Our MOFs are constructed from inexpensive and abundant elements (titanium, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen), and can transform CO2 with efficiency similar to photosynthesis (2%). Large-scale application of MOF photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis can help reduce the carbon footprint of powerplants and fight global warming.

 

How We Rebuild Trust
Denise Brosseau

Denise Brosseau is the author of Ready to Be a Thought Leader? and the CEO of Thought Leadership Lab. Denise teaches thought leadership skills at Stanford Business School and she is on a mission to cultivate and galvanize more thought leaders and thought leading companies everywhere.

Study after study has shown us that trust in the media, banks, big business, government, institutions, and even academia is on the wane. Rebuilding that trust takes more than creating great products and services or establishing a recognizable brand. Thought leadership strategist  Denise Brosseau offers a three-part framework, based on her research into emerging best practices from Deloitte, Change.org, AARP and Vistage, for how organizations and leaders can build and re-build trust and credibility with their customers and communities.

 

Food as Medicine
Michael Greger, M.D.

According to the Global Burden of Disease study (the largest study of disease risk factors in history; funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) the #1 cause of both death and disability in the United States is our diet. Cigarettes now only kill about a half million Americans every year, whereas our diet appears to kill hundreds of thousands more. The good news is that means we have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity. Healthy eating has the potential to not only prevent, but reverse some of our leading causes of death including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. Why, then, is nutrition not the #1 thing taught in medical school?

 

Charity to Solidarity:  From Crisis to Progress
Zoe Wild

Many of us feel the world is falling apart and feel powerless to do anything about it.

But what if a few small shifts could take us from desperation to inspiration?  What if there is a new way of looking at the world and ourselves that could turn disasters into possibilities and ordinary people into a community of heroes?  The old charity paradigm is unsustainable in a world where crises are accelerating so quickly and the challenges we face are shared by all.  When we work together from a framework of solidarity and innovation, incredible possibilities can emerge for a new approach to the humanitarian sector. Zoe is Founder and Executive Director of One Light Global, an NGO dedicated to global humanitarian aid and innovative long term solutions for a more sustainable and egalitarian world.

 

Be Recovered: Breaking free from Addiction
Dean Taraborelli

Addiction continues to permeate our society and our lives in increasing numbers and new ways. The traditional addiction treatment paradigm insists that addiction is an incurable and chronic disease requiring lifelong symptom management. Thanks to advances in neuroscience and epigenetics, we now know that when underlying issues are resolved, addictions, depression, PTSD and anxiety can also be fully resolved. For over a decade, Dean Taraborelli has challenged traditional models head-on with a revolutionary Integrative Addiction Recovery program that combines the latest advances in science with ancient healing modalities to treat the whole person and has helped hundreds of clients to be recovered from addiction and to live full, meaningful lives. This provocative talk will challenge fundamental, underlying assumptions about addiction and paint an exciting path to a cure for what was previously thought to be incurable.

 

Thriving Community Solutions
David Armistead

Introducing archaic revival of community that is organized to provide for the local thriving of people instead of simply providing for the thriving of globalized industrial/governmental organizations.

 

Inspire Girls Out Of Marginalized Communities Through Travel
Deesha Dyer

Girls growing up in low income communities often live in a world that is only a few blocks wide. Providing girls the opportunity to travel challenges them to think beyond their neighborhood, dream bigger than their city limits and create possibilities outside their country’s borders. When Deesha Dyer dropped out of college at age 17 and went back at age 30, the last place she thought she would end up is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Nonetheless, she rose through the ranks at the White House to become the Social Secretary for President and Mrs. Obama. Her storied career is unconventional at best, with themes of reinvention, drive and a commitment to community service integrated throughout. Deesha’s TEDx talk will use themes from her own story to create a framework for her broader passion for helping girls in impoverished communities reach their full potential and have a tremendous impact on the world – once they have seen more of it. Using specific examples and big ideas for the future, Deesha will create a compelling case to help ALL girls to fulfill their dreams. One cannot dream of possibilities if one does not know they exist.

 

Doing Philosophy in Nature
Andrea Christelle

We often find ourselves thinking through the most difficult questions of our personal and professional lives inside geometrically shaped buildings, sitting at desks. Philosopher Andrea Christelle explores what happens when we go outside to think things through and talk them over on our feet.

Four values that can help us understand the meaning and purpose in our lives and organizations, and that are connected in surprising ways, are: nature, judgment, authenticity, and love.

 

Small Acts of Immeasurable Benefit: Harnessing Our Magnificent Creative Power
Sherab Shey Khandro

The power to uplift our world and all the people in it lies in the palm of our hands. Like the power found in a single atom, the ability to create great change can be found in the smallest of acts. Each one of us is a vibrant, pulsating center of creation, every thought, every word, every deed setting energy in motion. How do we harness this magnificent creative power to pave a path to Peace? Drawing on my experiences as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition and the practice and study of meditation and mindful-awareness, I share tools for creating lasting change.

 

Singer, Songwriter Adalia Tara Middleton

Adalia Tara bares her whole heart when she performs. Her style is distinct and versatile, from resonating, deep, bluesy lows to sweet, ethereal highs, her voice commands the space. Her evocative lyrics are at the center of her soulful sound, offering insight into her personal truths and aspirations.  Her writing style has been influenced by classic artists such as John Lennon, Neil Young, and Billy Holiday, to more modern artists like Radiohead and Feist.

Tara performed her latest release “Mother of Exiles”.

 

Cups of Inspiration: “Gongfucha” Tea
Ken Cannata

The potency of tea does not lie only in the liquid.  A moment of stillness to taste tea is a chance to become new.  To refresh one’s senses entirely, including our habituated sense of time and space, leads to a taste of boundlessness.  A certain freedom can be found in a small cup.  Sharing that freshness of sense and potential with others gives incredible space for inspiration to emerge organically and with clarity.

Ken Cannata guided participants through the tasting of artisan teas that express the harmony between humans and nature.  From the raw and rich soil of the Big Island, to the birthplace of the tea plant in Yunnan, China, this TEDx tea event delivered an extraordinary experience of tea.

This was accompanied by scheduled select tea tastings throughout the day.

 

Guitarist Anthony Mazzella

Anthony Mazzella is a professional recording artist, concert guitarist and producer.

BILLBOARD Magazine describes him as “the new generation of guitar hero” and GUITAR ONE magazine voted him “one of the top ten guitarists in the country”

 

Musician, Healer, and Creative
Porangui

Poranguí is a musician, healer, and creative, residing amidst the red rocks of Sedona, AZ.  Steeped in music and ceremony since birth, Poranguí was raised between the lands and cultures of his native Brazil, Mexico, and the Southwestern United States.  Carrying on his lineage, he offers uplifting music and deep transformational bodywork and sound healing designed to awaken the body, mind, and soul.