Theme: Planet Action

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

MIT Stata Center
32 Vassar Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139
United States

Desirée Plata

Civil + environmental engineering

Desirée Plata’s research seeks to maximize technology’s benefit to society while minimizing environmental impacts in industrially important practices through the use of geochemical tools and chemical mechanistic insights. A central tenant of Plata's work for over a decade has been that academic researchers in environmental science should be partnering with industry to solve important environmental challenges. She is a co-founder of two climate and energy related startups: Nth Cycle and Moxair. Plata earned her doctoral degree in Chemical Oceanography and Environmental Chemistry from the MIT and the WHOI’s Joint Program in Oceanography (2009). She previously served as Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University and Associate Director for Research at the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale. Plata is now Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and director of the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium.

Jean Oelwang

Coalition builder

Jean Oelwang is the founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite, an entrepreneurial foundation that builds collectives, incubates ideas and re-invents systems for a better world. She has supported the incubation and growth of 22 leadership collectives – from The Elders, to the B Team, to the Planetary Guardians. Jean is also the author of the book "Partnering: Forge the deep connections that make great things happen".

Laney Siegner

Agroecology + education

Laney Siegner is the founder and co-director of Climate Farm School, a program offering experiential farm-based education on regenerative agriculture and climate action. She brings together her passion for teaching, developed while working as an 8th Grade Academy teaching fellow in Boston for Citizen Schools, and her love of farming, learned during summers working as a farm intern on Lopez Island, in her current work. Laney earned her Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from U.C. Berkeley and now lives on a farm in Sonoma County, CA.

Natasha Zarine

Socio-environmental development

Natasha Zarine is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of EcoSattva Environmental Solutions, a social impact company based out of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra - with a vision to build sustainable, inclusive, and climate resilient cities, towns, and villages. As the Director of Center for Applied Research and People's Engagement (CARPE), Natasha has leveraged her experience in the socio-environmental and climate sectors, as well as the waste management industry, to bring systems level solutions to complex, pervasive civic challenges. Natasha is celebrated as an Acumen Fellow, winner of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment, and a WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities finalist.

Paula DiPerna

Author, Philanthropic Policy Advisor

Paula DiPerna is a widely published author, strategic policy consultant, and executive. She has traveled globally, and worked closely with explorer and environmental pioneer, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, writing and co-producing numerous documentary films based on the expeditions of the legendary ship, "Calypso." She has written non-fiction books on diverse subjects, including the book "Cluster Mystery: Epidemic and the Children of Woburn, Mass." (C.V. Mosby) the first book written about an infamous leukemia cluster possibly associated with contaminated drinking water, which has become a touchstone of environmental epidemiology. DiPerna has also been widely published on subjects ranging from traveling in the Amazon to the pleasures of analog time in global newspapers and magazines such as Forbes.com, Womens E.News and the New York Times. She has served in several key executive roles in the philanthropic, non-profit and private sector, including the pioneering Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

Pedro Henriques da Silva

Pedro Henriques da Silva is a passionate advocate for everyone's right to a healthy planet and the role of capital in entrenching harmful systems, or in transforming them. His work has been featured in Forbes, ImpactAlpha, Reuters Sustainable Investing, and Semafor, and he was the 2023 recipient of the Intentional Endowments Network’s General Sustainable Investing Leadership Award. Pedro currently serves as the Director for Shifting Trillions at the Sierra Club Foundation (SCF), the independent fiscal sponsor of the Sierra Club. In this capacity, he provides strategic direction for the Foundation’s leadership role in shifting trillions of dollars towards an economy that benefits people and the planet. Rooted in his current role and formative personal background, Pedro works to help move capital toward a healthy planet for all. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Reed College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and completed the General Course at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Shanna Swan

Environmental + reproductive epidemiologist

Shanna H. Swan, PhD, is an award-winning scientist based at Mt. Sinai (New York, NY). Dr. Swan has published more than 200 scientific papers and has been featured in extensive media coverage around the world. Her appearances include ABC News, NBC Nightly News, 60 Minutes, CBS News, PBS, BBC, PRI Radio, NPR, and The Joe Rogan Experience as well as in leading magazines and newspapers, including; Financial Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, Time, US News & World Report, The Guardian, Bloomberg News, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Daily News (New York), Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Daily Mail (London), New Scientist, Mental Floss, Mother Jones, New Telegraph, and Euronews.