The transition to clean, pollution free energy is a dynamic, global undertaking impacting people, politics, and profit. In the United States, the energy transition is driven by political power with the profits of utilities taking the top spot for decision-making priority. In this reality, building an energy economy that provides equitable benefits for all people, especially communities that have carried the most burden, we must explore the political power of the most dependable voting bloc in the nation, Black women. Exploring the intersection of Black women’s political power and the clean energy transition is why Chandra Farley created the good energy project, to connect the transformational power of Black women to the movement for clean energy. Chandra Farley serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Atlanta. Chandra sets direction for the City’s sustainability and resilience goals and leads the interdepartmental, and community-wide, engagement necessary to address the inequitable effects of climate change. Chandra’s is in charge of a comprehensive climate resilience strategy that will address energy insecurity, healthy housing, food systems, waste diversion, building decarbonization, workforce training, while advancing the City’s goal to achieve 100% clean energy for all Atlantans by 2035. Chandra is also developing the strategy to leverage the historic federal investment in clean energy and the Justice40 Initiative to advance these goals through a lens of environmental justice. Chandra founded ReSolve Consulting, an energy justice consulting firm and the “Good Energy Project,” a social space connecting the transformational power of Black Women to the movement for an equitable clean energy economy. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Imagine if you were asked to harm your pet in the name of scientific progress. This scenario exposes the contradictions in how we treat other animals: some we cherish as pets, some we consign to the feedlot and others we design for research. Entrenched in scientific tradition, academic culture teaches students to view animal use as a necessary evil for scientific progress. But how much of it is truly necessary? This talk explores the hidden costs of our reliance on animal models—from the emotional distress they cause students and researchers to the missed opportunities in developing alternatives with greater relevance to public health. Emphasising the role of students and the rise of cutting-edge techniques like organoids and organ-on-chips, the talk offers an optimistic vision for a future of research where scientific and medical breakthroughs are achieved without the toll of animal suffering. Caius Gibeily is fascinated by how our brains shape who we are. Now pursuing his PhD at Emory and the Marcus Autism Center, Caius uses neuroimaging and machine-learning techniques to explore the intersection of brain development, behavior, and autism. His scientific journey has taken him from studying locomotor neural circuits in Drosophila at the University of St Andrews, to investigating how serotonin shapes early brain circuits at the University of Oxford, where he gained his masters in neuroscience. There, he also contributed to piloting an organ-on-a-chip model of Parkinson’s disease. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx