TEDxSantaCruz has been highlighting and amplifying regional and national ideas worth spreading for nearly a decade. See the list of speakers here.

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As global alliances shift, technology continues to move at the speed of light and climate change accelerates, TEDxSantaCruz sets our sight on 2019: The Art of Hope. Defined as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” So what is it we’re collectively hoping for? And are those hopes realistic, or beyond our reach? As the challenges of our time appear to move beyond our capacity to solve them, can we pivot? How? How do we define hope? Does hopelessness drive change too? Hope is uniquely human, and we are surely in need of the ideas, successes, and wins that express this essential element of the human experience.

Watch the following speakers this Saturday:

• Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times best-selling author.
• Lara Love Hardin, 4-time New York Times bestselling writer, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Designing Your Life by Dave Evans and Bill Burnett, and recent Oprah Book Club pick.
• Ryan Coonerty, Chair of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and former Mayor of Santa Cruz.
• Sandy Skees, EVP / Innovation & Impact Practice Global Lead at Porter Novelli, and Founder of 100 Women Who Care and Breaking the Glass Ballot organizations in Santa Cruz.
• Sara Nelson, Executive director and Co-founder of the Romero Institute
• Mariah Roberts, Executive Director of Friends of Santa Cruz County Parks, will share an incredible story of hope and perseverance.
• Bradford Loomis, Musician
• Sylvanna M. Falcón, Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies, Director of the Research Center for the Americas, and Founder of the Human Rights Investigations Lab at UCSC
• Barry Sinervo, Evolutionary Biologist & Professor at UCSC
• David Deamer, Research Professor of Biomolecular Engineering at UCSC
• Hamza Al Haidari, America Scores Program Director.
• Roxanne Beltran, Postdoctoral fellow in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at UCSC
• Finian Makepeace, Co-founder of Kiss the Ground and a renowned presenter, media creator, and thought leader in the field of regenerative agriculture and soil health.
• Abigail McFarlane Makepeace, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, the founder of Makepeace Therapy
• Kyle Robertson, Co-Founder, The Center for Public Philosophy at UC Santa Cruz
• David Lee, Assistant Professor of Computational Media at UC Santa Cruz
• Karelle Siellez, Ph.D., Astrophysicist at UCSC
• Philip Hammack, Chair of Psychology and Director at The Sexual and Gender Diversity Laboratory at UCSC
• Tim Goncharoff, Zero Waste Programs Manager for Santa Cruz County.
• Addi Somekh, Balloon Artist, Entertainer

Join us for an all-day live and live-streamed event on December 7th, 2019 at the Rio Theatre. Turns out we’re swimming in solutions!