TEDx Comes to Orcas to Inspire and Motivate

 — by Cara Russell —

Four generations of Lummi Nation open the TEDx Talks

TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks are short, powerful, and nearly always create a feeling of inspiration and a desire to take action in the viewer. At the very least, we feel that we have gained a better perspective on the human condition and the world. We can’t help but take what we have learned and pass it along to others in the form of discussion.

TED has been around since 1984. Some of the most innovative minds have presented, and many of them are available to view for free online. Most of the talks run no longer than 18 minutes.

A more recent development is TEDx — the little “x” tacked onto the name stands for ‘“Independently organized TED event,” a branch of TED that extends into small communities like ours. On Saturday November 8^th, Orcas Island TEDx came to the Orcas Center with the intention to create a venue for people to come together on a local level: to listen, learn, be entertained, feel inspired, perhaps get involved, and then see what happens from there.

TED talks are usually no more than 18 minutes, and with more than a dozen passionate presenters, from Orcas Island, Lopez Island, and across the United States, it was a full day’s event. Most of the speakers had slides and photos adding to their topic. Projected against a large screen behind them, the added images and data created an illustrated story for the viewer.

Every talk called to our emotions, as the speakers are not only professionals in their respective fields, they are also good storytellers. Before they inspired us, they found a way to touch our hearts, and add the human element to their topic. TED talks both observe some of the serious problems we are facing in our world, and offer that human glimmer of hope that we can all make a difference on a community level. We can’t help but catch their infectious passion as we listen.

Saturday’s event was curated by Adam Farish, and assisted by many volunteers. With the theme “This IS America,” the talks invoked the idea that one island can change the world. “It will be a day of information, ideas, wonder and amazement,” offered Farish in his opening speech.

Four generations from the Lummi Nation sang a song and gave a blessing at the beginning of the event.

Norm Stamper interviews Ben Nunez for the TEDx talks

There were quite a few key speakers and moments that really stuck out. Ben Nunez, interviewed by Norm Stamper, offered insight to his life as an “illegal,” what it took for him to come to America, and his fight to stay. Listening to his story, you couldn’t help but place yourself in his shoes.

Gianna Toboni explained the current state of news providers, aspiring to good ratings rather than telling effective news. Lopez resident, Reah Miller offered three words; Emergence, Resonance, Self-organizing. “When we change the way we look at things. The things we look at change.”

Orcas Resident Paul Freedman discussed his opinion that what is missing in public education is depth. “Happiness is learning, and we are missing depth in a culture of surfaces and racing places,” said Freedman. Filmmaker Nic Askew surprised us without planning a talk at all. He brought no slides, and spent his time just ‘seeing what happens’, making eye contact with the audience, and allowing himself to enter into an “unprotected conversation.” While story seeker Mike Bosworth discussed the power of storytelling and story tending. “In tending stories, one has to learn how to listen with their entire self, not just waiting for their chance to speak again,” said Bosworth.

Donna Gerardi Riordan speaks about the expansion of the Cherry Point Coal terminal

Jeremiah “Jay” Julius of the Lummi Nation talked of past, present, and future. Where in Washington, you could once walk across a river on the backs of salmon, now we are fighting to stop the ever increasing pollution of our Salish Sea. “We don’t want 52 tons of coal sitting on the edge of the Salish Sea,” said Julius. Donna Riordan has seen the changes from her own home with the plans for the Gateway Pacific Terminal that will bring 54 million tons of coal per year at Cherry Point. The gaps that Riordan saw between available scientific evidence and what was actually taken into account in local policy led her to create “Research Now,” a non-profit organization that uses crowd-funding to enable further studies into how Cherry Point will have negative effects on the environment.

Eric Morris, Orcas Islander and Founder of Orbis World Globes expressed his love of our Earth the way it actually appears from space. “We forget that there are not boundary lines, no labels…Zimbabwe isn’t even purple,” Morris joked. Newer Orcas resident, John Vechey, a futurist, spoke of his infant daughter and the future he expects she will live in. So what is the next new thing? “Our world will shrink,” said Vechey. “Virtual reality will feel so real, that you will feel almost like they are actually in another place, and commuting will be no more.”

Musical performers included locals Kellen Comrie, who played piano before the presentations, and Edward Artemus Wordsworth, or “Ed Word,” who came in like a whirlwind and left like one, shattered the audience with his in-your-face voice, as he stomped his heavy boots on the stage so hard that dust rose from the red carpet. Behind him, displayed on the overhead projector, were wrinkled pages of handwritten lyrics. Pianist Christine Anderson, briefly spoke of “the song of the island,” and then played it. Her fingers trickled over the keys, and what came out sounded much like water and like the ever-changing mood of the weather on Orcas.

Lunch was provided in the Madrona Room, giving many the opportunity to talk with other attendees as well as the speakers. And following the event, everyone was invited to continue the discussion at Random Howse.

TED has been described as a ‘global community’ and that is exactly what Saturday felt like. Good ideas are worth spreading, and TED talks not only reminds us to stay passionate, they encourage us to seek to gain perspective. Hopefully this last weekend is only the first of many TEDx Orcas talks to come.

TED Talks has the mission to spread great ideas. TED is owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation. Our agenda is to make great ideas accessible and spark conversation.