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Climate Crisis Speakers 

 

Greenhouse gases. Rising sea levels. Extreme weather conditions. Our climate crisis speakers ask hard questions: How have human beings influenced the earth’s temperatures? How will these changes affect communities and species across the globe? And, importantly, is there still time to change our ways?
 

 
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Climate Crisis
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David Wallace-Wells

Author of the Instant New York Times Bestseller The Uninhabitable Earth

The future is being transformed by climate change, faster and more dramatically than we realized. In his critically-hailed instant New York Times bestseller The Uninhabitable Planet, David Wallace-Wells tells the epic story of our time. He asks key questions—how will the map of global power shift as coastlines are redrawn?—and reminds us that everything is within our control, so long as we resist complacency. 
 
Naomi Klein

Author of On Fire, No Is Not Enough, This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, & No Logo

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and the #1 international bestselling author of seminal books The Shock Doctrine and No Logo. Her newest book, On Fire, takes on the global climate justice movement and makes an urgent case for a Green New Deal. In powerful new talks, she exposes the myths of the climate debate—and the urgency to act.
 
Bill McKibben

Author of New York Times Bestselling Falter and The End of Nature | Leading Environmental Speaker and Founder of 350.org

Of all the challenges the planet faces, none is as large as its fast-heating climate—and no one has worked longer or harder than Bill McKibben both to document and fight that ever-growing crisis. The author of the first book about global warming—1989’s The End of Nature—McKibben went on to found 350.org, which has become the biggest grassroots climate campaign in the world. 
 
Edward Burtynsky

World-Renowned Photographer, Winner of the TED Prize

World-renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky creates stunning photos—“reflecting pools of our time”—that explore large-scale social, political, and economic issues, including water, oil, and the upheaval caused by rapid industrialization and climate change. On stage, he talks about the connection between art and social transformation, human nature and consumption, and industry and environment. 
 
Jared Diamond

Pulitzer Prize Winning Author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and Upheaval

Jared Diamond is a celebrated scientist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and a dauntless explorer of the world. Likewise, his keynotes take audiences on a journey through some of the most profound evolutionary questions of our time: Why do some societies prosper while others die? 
 
Danielle Wood

Director of MIT’s Space Enabled Research Lab | Assistant Prof. of Media Arts and Sciences

Danielle Wood is taking on the imperative task of using space technology to save Earth. Director of MIT’s cutting-edge Space Enabled Research Lab, Wood uses tools that typically orbit us to advance social good on our home planet. In her talks, Wood takes audiences behind-the-scenes of her projects—like pairing African teens with space technology and empowering them to improve their water sources.
 
Michael Green

Award-Winning Architect & Founder of Michael Green Architecture | Co-Author of The Case for Tall Wood Buildings

There is nature and there is architecture. Must the second come at cost of the first? Through his radical, beautiful, and sustainable construction of tall wood buildings, award-winning architect Michael Green works to solve worldwide housing demand while also reducing carbon emissions. His talks offer innovative and sustainable ideas that you can apply to how you work, live, and heal the planet.   
Shalini Kantayya

Award-Winning Filmmaker | Director of Coded Bias | TED Fellow

Clean tech has to start locally. And it has to happen now. Filmmaker and eco-activist Shalini Kantayya shows us that sustainable energy isn’t just right for the environment, but also promises untold economic opportunities. In her film Catching the Sun, she tells a modern story of innovation—one that’s disrupting outmoded industries and putting power into the hands of those who need it most.
 
Laurence C. Smith

Brown University Climate Scientist | Author of Rivers of Power

How will the combination of a booming global population, global warming, and rising sea levels transform the world? To Dr. Laurence C. Smith, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, the North is set for major gains. In sweeping talks covering demographics, climate science, and economics, Smith outlines the changes our world will face in both the distant and immediate future. 
 
Britt Wray

Science Writer and Broadcaster | TED Speaker

Science storyteller, broadcaster, author—in total, Britt Wray’s work is about life and what we make of it: past, present, and future. Author of the astonishing book Rise of the Necrofauna, Wray’s talks show audiences what’s happening at the forefront of biotechnology, climate change, and how it affects us. Incisive and realistic, Wray frames the questions we need to ask, and the answers we must consider. 
Eric Klinenberg

Author of Palaces for the People and Going Solo

Why wasn’t the Eastern Seaboard better prepared for Hurricane Sandy? Why did seven hundred and thirty-nine people die in Chicago’s 1995 heat wave? Instances of natural disasters are on the rise, and few places are ready. In talks, sociologist Eric Klinenberg draws on his New Yorker article “Adaptation” and his book on the great Chicago heat wave to explore the concept of “climate-proofing” our cities.
Kavita Shukla

Founder & CEO of The FRESHGLOW Co.

Kavita Shukla is the groundbreaking social entrepreneur behind FreshPaper, a biodegradable paper that creates a brilliant solution to the global issue of food waste. Shukla’s ingenuity makes her an inspiration for young entrepreneurs, women in business, and social innovators alike.  
 
Charles Fishman

Author of The Big Thirst and One Giant Leap

Charles Fishman, author of the most influential water book in a generation, The Big Thirst, has become one of the most provocative and inspiring voices on water issues in the last few years. He takes audiences on a lap of the world to show what water problems look like, how they happen, and most important, what the most innovation solutions to those problems look like.
Edward O. Wilson

One of the World’s Most Distinguished Biologists

E.O. Wilson has made a tremendous contribution to our understanding of biodiversity and his insights on social and group behavior have changed our perception of ourselves. Stirring keynotes from this legendary Harvard biologist are both majestic overtures to all life on earth as well as eloquent pleas to government, corporate, and religious leaders to address the damage we have done to our planet. 
 
Lucianne Walkowicz

Astrophysicist | TED Fellow | Blumberg Chair in Astrobiology

Lucianne Walkowicz is an astrophysicist and multimedia artist. Her work delves into a question both scientific, and fundamentally human: what is the nature of life in the universe? In passionate and electrifying talks, Walkowicz sheds light on how the thousands of newly-discovered planetary systems might lead to the discovery of life beyond planet Earth, and how the future of our home world depends on our personal connection to science.
 
Jer Thorp

Author of Living in Data | Former Library of Congress Innovator in Residence | Former NYT Data Artist-in-Residence

When Twitter, Microsoft, and Facebook need an expert to analyze their data, who do they turn to? Jer Thorp—the most respected Data Artist in America. By creating multi-dimensional, visually stunning projects, often using hundreds of square feet of imagery and billions of pieces of data, Thorp makes data visible—and changes the way we think and act.
 
LaToya Ruby Frazier

Photographer | Associate Professor at School of the Art Institute of Chicago | MacArthur Genius

For LaToya Ruby Frazier, art is a weapon—a catalyst for social justice. Her photographs and videos document today’s America: post-industrial cities riven by poverty, racism, healthcare inequality, and environmental toxicity. Bridging the personal with the social, her gorgeous work amplifies the voices of the vulnerable and transforms our sense of place and self.  
 
Jessica Green

CEO of Phylagen, Inc. | TED Senior Fellow

How can we create sustainable cities and healthier buildings—including classrooms, hospitals, offices, and homes—by studying microbes? TED Senior Fellow and science speaker Jessica Green explains how in visually rich talks that chart the frontier of bio-inspired design.   
George Kourounis

Former Host of Angry Planet | Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer-in-Residence

Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer-in-Residence George Kourounis travels to the most remote and inhospitable places on Earth to document extremes of nature and climate. Best known for his international TV smash, Angry Planet, Kourounis is a fantastic speaker and a vivid storyteller.