This weekend: Manhattan local-food TED talks come to the Catskills

Officially, TED stands for "Technology, Education, Design." But the growing video talk series is much more than an acronym. It's a movement of smart ideas, fascinating thinkers, and free access to innovation -- and this weekend, a Manhattan TED event dedicated to local food comes to the Catskills, via the wizardry of live broadcast.

Locavorism has spread like wildfire over the past decade or so, fueled in our region with the ample tinder of agricultural heritage, culinary brilliance, and hunger for overall sustainability. The possibilities for thinking global and acting local radiate in so many directions: planetary health, personal health, open space preservation, economic viability. Fresh, local and farm-to-table have become the standard by which many people judge their eating choices.

Come to the Catskill Art Society in Livingston Manor on Saturday to celebrate, network and check in on the state of the local-food world. Regional experts from Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Hudson/Catskill chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, and the Slow Food Upper Delaware Chapter will be hosting a live viewing of a TEDx webinar taking place in Manhattan, “Changing the Way We Eat.”

Besides the seed exchange, local snacks, presentations and chance to schmooze with local experts, activists, and farmers that’ll be gathered, the TEDx webinar on the big screen will feature sixteen nationally prominent folks who’ve devoted their lives to various aspects of the food situation: policymakers, activists, a forager, a permaculturist, top chefs. The celebration and viewing is free, and runs from 10am to 5:30pm; you’re welcome to come for any or all of it.

"Changing The Way We Eat: A TEDx Manhattan Webinar." Catskill Art Society, 48 Main Street, Livingston Manor. Saturday, 2.16.2013, 10am-5:30pm. No admission fee. For more information, see catskillmountainkeeper.org.

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