Penn State hosts sixth annual TEDxPSU conference

A great movement can start with a single idea, but a single idea can become nothing without the decision to act.

Ideas and choosing to act on them can shape our own lives and the worlds of those around us. To encourage these ideas, Penn State hosted its sixth annual TEDxPSU conference Sunday featuring 16 speakers from within and around the university community.

The talks were guided by the theme of Drive Y(our) Reality, seeking to recognize the full potential of a single idea. While pushing to understand new perspectives, said TEDxPSU curator and second-year MBA graduate student Alex Murdoch, attendees were encouraged to drive their own ideas while realizing their reality is connected to everyone else’s as well.

“We’re showcasing people who have taken the opportunity to see something in their life they wanted to change, or showing something that was an issue in a new perspective,” he said, “and using that as a call to action.”

Speakers covered a myriad of topics, including ethics, physics, marriage and computer security. Speakers weren’t afraid to address current, hot-button topics either.

“I have a confession to make,” said one speaker. “My name is Richard Alley, and I’m a climate scientist.”

The geosciences professor’s humorous admission about himself kicked off a story of how Alley was trained as a geologist, but a trip to study ice formation in Greenland led to a shift in study. While he said he never intended to study climate, he said it’s been an “absolutely fascinating ride.”

In a call for environmental change, he outlined a brief history of energy usage in the State College area, saying how trees and whale oil gave way to fossil fuel use. The switch from lumber and whales came at the right time, as resources had begun to dwindle by the time ground oil came on the scene.

Now, he said, we find ourselves in a similar place. Humanity is burning fossil fuels “fantastically” faster than nature can replace them.

“We’re headed to that next great crisis with high confidence,” he said.

In a push for sustainable energy, Alley explained that humanity uses an average of 0.035 watts per square meter across the world, while the sun can produce 240 watts per square meter. Wind power placed in the windy parts of plains and deserts can also produce more energy than all of humanity uses.

“We know how to build a sustainable system now — the sun shines and the wind blows,” he said. “It helps the economy as well as the environment and as well as ethics.”

Social justice educator Keith Edwards addressed an even more forward topic: ending rape.

“We really want to think rapists are deviant people in our normal culture,” Edwards said, “but when we look closely, we discover most are normal in our deviant culture.

“What if this didn’t absolve them of any responsibility or accountability for their actions,” he continued, “but meant that we all shared in that responsibility.”

By addressing only rapists and their actions and not the roots of sexual violence, he said, those roots will continue to produce rapists. This is one of the keys to ending rape.

Because of this reactive approach, society has framed it as a women’s issue, he said. A proactive approach can be reached by understanding who a large percentage of the perpetrators are — men.

“The greatest challenge isn’t learning, it’s unlearning,” Edwards said. “What’s different between rape and sex is informed consent at every step of the way — clear, unambiguous, informed consent that is freely given.”

But it wasn’t all heavy topics; many talks covered personal growth and appreciation of the world around us.

Museums are often compared to libraries and churches, said Palmer Museum of Art Curator of Education Dana Carlisle Kletchka. It’s a fair comparison, she said, as all three are repositories of culture, inspiration and represent the richness of culture.

But often these are also places of stillness, quiet and boredom, she said, with no talking, touching or photography. Museums tend to alienate, but she was out to change that perspective.

“I’m here to argue that museums can’t exist without you,” she said. “And I would say, because we live in a world where people seek new experiences and connections with people, you can’t exist without museums.”

Studies show people are engaging with culture as much as they have ever been, she said — through technology. But there is no replacement for actually going to a space with other people and having an experience.

“Museums inspire us,” Kletchka said. “They help us to consider our place in the world.”

The show was live streamed on YouTube, Murdoch said. Within the next two weeks, the talks will be posted on YouTube.

“With any luck, a few will be picked up by ted.com and boost the viewership,” he said. “We’ve had other talks in the past get posted, they’ve gotten upward of 1 million views.”

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 1:53 AM with the headline "Penn State hosts sixth annual TEDxPSU conference."