Featured Talk: Save What You Love by Jonathan Franzen
TEDxSantaCruz is excited to announce the release of local resident and renowned writer and essayist Jonathan Franzen’s TEDxSantaCruz 2019 talk about climate crisis and the urgent need for humanity to adapt to current realities of the Anthropocene, including the sixth mass extinction. Entitled Save What You Love, he invites us to acknowledge harsh facts of the climate crisis, and to work fiercely and urgently to preserve as much of the planet’s biodiversity even as efforts to mitigate the crisis continue.Featured Talk: Thieves of Hope: Moving Past Your Worst Mistakes by Lara Love Hardin
Lara Love Hardin shares her story of redemption and brings to attention "Thieves of Hope."
Choices
Illustrating her own personal story, Nahara will challenge youth to consider the consequences of choices made by youth and for youth. Nahara's will be joined by Watsonville High student John Anthony Murillo who will set her message of Choices to rap.
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Off the Wall
Andrew is an artist with an idea worth spreading: Let's use a particular kind of art to cover the walls of our cities, one that graffiti won't stick to. It is a way to beautify our community and it allows youth to participate in a way that is fun and environmentally friendly.
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Why Not Choose Your Own Religion?
Casey has read the Koran, the Bible and the Talmut cover to cover and will encourage youth to make their own personal choices when it comes to religion, spirituality or faith (whatever you want to call it!) And, he just might entertain us with some banjo, too.
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Peer to Peer, We Can Change the World
Using both statistics and anecdotes, Austin will show that peer to peer programs can turn communities around. He will question why youth are reluctant to become leaders, and give practical methods for spreading leadership through the community's youth.
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Why not renew?
As societies develop renewable energy generation methods, Melissa is asking: Why not find a way to store this energy for use during peak hours?
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Why Not Listen to the Voices of Women?
Although committed to her home town of Watsonville, Rebecca is passionate about improving the lives of oppressed women around the globe.
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Silverstruck
The Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre will present "Silverstruck" a modern piece inspired by the life and work of Shel Silverstein.
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Why Not Use Love to Heal?
Through a journey to India Amber saw children in horrific circumstances discover themselves as vibrant human beings without the help of modern pills or therapy. Amber came to the conclusion that love is the best therapy and asks why it tends to be ignored in the western healing systems.
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I am not contagious!
Spending most of her high school years in and out of the hospital, bald and exhausted from treatment, Jessica learned what true friendship means when many of her friends gave up on her or feared they might "catch her cancer."
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