Environmental activist Laurie David resumes her hosting duties again for the second TEDxManhattan "Changing the Way We Eat" conference and webcast.
After hearing about last year’s overwhelmingly successful event, we were excited to find out that this Saturday, Jan. 21, TEDxManhattan is hosting its second “Changing the Way We Eat” conference and webcast. The speakers will explore the many issues facing the sustainable food movement and to try to make connections between the diverse parties involved in responsible eating and farming practices. With a combination of video and live speakers, TEDxManhattan hopes to spark discussion between attendees, as well as among its much larger virtual audience.
This year’s conference will feature an array of voices with an interest in the sustainable food movement. Speakers include Fred Kirschenmann, a farmer and president of the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture; Mitchell Davis, food writer and executive vice president of the James Beard Foundation; Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, and Wayne Pacelle, CEO and president of The Humane Society of the United States. The event is being hosted by environmental activist Laurie David, a producer for An Inconvenient Truth and author of such bestselling books as Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You! (Fulcrum Publishing, 2006) and The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time (Grand Central Life & Style, 2010), which she spoke to us about last year.
The conference is being held at the Times Center in New York and is already sold out. However, those in attendance will be only a portion of the “Changing the Way We Eat” audience; last year more than 14,000 people from all over the globe logged into the event’s live simulcast. This year it will be webcast via Livestream from 10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. ET, and viewers can take part in the discussion by utilizing the Livestream chat function and connect via TEDxManhattan’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. For those still wanting to engage in face-to-face discussions, viewing parties will be held around the country. (Check out the viewing party map to find one in your area.)
TED started 25 years ago as a four-day conference in California with the goal of supporting world-changing ideas. TEDx is a program of independent events loosely associated with TED. While the national non-profit, whose tagline is “Ideas Worth Spreading,” provides some guidance and the events are often “TED-like,” each event is self-organized.
Do you plan to tune into the “Changing the Way We Eat” webcast or attend a viewing party?
Photo credit: Courtesy TEDxManhattan