Theme: Countdown

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).

TEDxUSN
Gullbringvegen 28
Bø, Telemark, 3800
Norway

Jørn Viumdal

Founder of «Biophilia Indoor Design» and «Skogluft» + author

Jørn Viumdal wants to reach out and touch people, and he wants to challenge his audience understanding of nature. He points to the great challenges that humans face as individuals and societies after having moved so far away from our original habitat and way of life. He also wishes to share his simple model for bringing «life» back in their everyday lives, which provides a better quality of life (research-based), and in the longer term, a biologically sustainable society.

Knut Vågsæther

Explosion researcher

Knut is a professor in combustion at USN. His main research work is on the technical aspects of safety of alternative fuels and energy carriers. For the last 20 years he has been studying fundamental behavior of explosions and safety issues related to hydrogen as a green energy carrier. Hydrogen is a possible carrier of renewable energy where most transport sectors view this as a potential solution for decarbonization. Introducing new renewable energy carriers in society require that the new technology is as safe or safer as the traditional fuel. Since hydrogen can be explosive if mixed with air, safe design of new technology will be a critical step for any introduction of this fuel in society or else it will never get public acceptance.

Knut Ivar Bjørlykhaug

Social worker, writer & PhD-candidate

Knut Ivar Bjørlykhaug is from the North-Western coast of Norway and feels especially connected to the bird mountain Runde. Knut Ivar is currently working on a PhD project in Social work and Social Policy at the University of South Eastern Norway and Oslo Metropolitan University. He is also working hands on with the environmental crisis, being a part of the environmental movement for many years, and recently edited a book with philosopher Arne Johan Vetlesen, exploring ecological sorrow through different personal stories and popular science. The links between mental health, public health, social problems (and solutions), and the nature- and climate crisis are important aspects in his work.

Lars Ueland Kobro

Project manager + social entrepreneurship and collaborative social innovation researcher

Lars U. Kobro is an intrapreneur. From his position inside large organisations he often challenge conventional praxis questioning organisational conducts and incorporated habits. His present position is as researcher and leader of the Centre for social entrepreneurship and collaborative social innovation (SESAM) at the University of South-Eastern Norway. He has interviewed lots of social entrepreneurs, and been working over years to understand the concept of social and environmental innovation in a Norwegian political framework. Lars is an individual member and SESAM, and an institutional member of EMES.net: a global research network regarding social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Lars has work experience from private, public and voluntary sector, and often combines perspectives and rationality from all of them, introducing original thoughts and suggestions.

Michel Wolfstirn

Mechanical engineer + co-founder of BiomimicryNorway and SquareRoot

Michel Wolfstirn is the co-founder of BiomimicryNorway, a non-profit focused on education related to nature inspired innovation. He also co-founded SquareRoot in 2020, a data-driven digital platform helping real estate developers and landscape architects design, implement and maintain resilient urban green spaces. In his past career, Michel was a mechanical engineer in the oil industry. Since 2015 he has left this path to work on balancing his karma by contributing to sustainability related initiatives. In 2018 he contributed to the creation of Oslo’s first farm cultivating oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds. In this talk Michel shares what in his experience could be game changers for a positive future: telling better stories, improving our empathy skills and taking inspiration from nature.

Stefanie Reinhardt

Biological conservation researcher

Stefanie Reinhardt works as an associate professor at the Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences at the University of South-Eastern Norway. She is a great lover of nature and her main interests lies within botany and conservation biology. This interest has led her to Guatemala, a country with rich biodiversity which today is threatened by human activities. Stefanie is doing research on sea turtles in Guatemala and the effect posed on them by climate change. Above a certain pivotal temperature, only females hatch. By studying the temperature conditions on sea turtle nesting beaches at the Pacific coast of Guatemala, the researchers have discovered that high temperatures potentially can lead to an all-female sex ratio in sea turtle hatchlings and even be critical for the eggs to survive.

Torgeir Straand

CEO Telemark Technologies + Telemark fiddle player

With his company, Torgeir Straand’s main role since 2005 was as a supplier to the subsea oil- and gas industry on great ocean depths. But after participating at the Paris climate conference in 2015, realizing the huge role technology will play in solving issues related to climate and environment, the company decided to reorganize and sell the main part of their oil and gas division. They have since then been using their expertise together with professors at the university to develop technology to accelerate the transition to a greener society. One of their solutions is a patent for capturing the methane in manure, the cow farts. This technology help improve soil health and global warming as well as the farmers climate positive new income.

Veronika Glitsch

Sustainable fashion researcher + eco fashion designer + tailor + educator

Veronika Glitsch is a sustainable fashion researcher and educator at the University of Southeastern Norway. She also runs her own eco fashion label ‘Rethink’ and works as a tailor. Her main research is related to reducing garment disposal. The fit of ready-to-wear clothing of today is usually not shaped for representative bodies from the target group of a clothing production company. This often makes the user unable to wear well-fitting clothing to his or her body shape. The fit of ready-to-wear clothing today is usually not shaped for representative bodies from the target group of a clothing production company. This often makes the user unable to wear clothes that are well-fitted to his or her body shape. Thousands of tons of hardly worn clothing is disposed every year. Our favourite clothing items are worn until they are worn out and we do like how they fit our bodies. That makes good fit one of the top solutions to how clothing potentially can be worn until they are worn out.