The 2020 TEDx Big Sky speakers, Outlaw team members, and community members pose for a photo at the conclusion of the event on Jan. 25. PHOTO BY JENNINGS BARMORE
BIG SKY – Whitney Petty strummed a
chord on her guitar while Molly Sides lightened the mood with a few jokes that
paired well with her technicolored suit. Sides and Petty are the founding members
of the Seattle based all-female rock n’ roll band Thunderpussy, and were the
final speakers of the TEDxBigSky speaker series that took place last Saturday,
Jan. 25.
If you were in the audience of the
Warren Miller Performing Arts Center five minutes prior, the mood was a bit
heavier, but that’s the power of “Connection,” the theme of this year’s
fourth-annual event put on by Outlaw Partners, publishers of this newspaper,
featuring 10 passionate talks by those looking to connect and spread their truth.
“If I threw a piece of string out to one of you tonight who I know really well, it wouldn’t take long for us to work that piece of string around the room, because we’re all connected,” said Outlaw Partners CEO and Founder Eric Ladd—also the publisher of this newspaper—motivating listeners with a powerful call to action, which he says is an essential follow-up to events like TEDxBigSky. “We could create this big, beautiful, powerful web, but let’s do something with it.”
“Dammed to Extinction” Director Michael Peterson (left) and Writer Steven Hawley (right) present at the 2020 TEDx Big Sky conference on Jan. 25. PHOTO BY JENNINGS BARMORE
Outlaw Partners Media and Events
Director Ersin Ozer, who introduced each speaker throughout the night, emphasized the
importance that TEDxBigSky maintain a larger impact beyond the local
stage.
“At Outlaw we tell stories … but this event is bigger than
Outlaw,” Ozer said. “Our company was founded on the Code of the West, and a couple credos stand out: ‘Always finish what you start ’ because our job is not done; ‘When you make a promise keep it ’ because everyone in the audience made a
promise to take action; and ‘Do what has to be done
’ because we all have an opportunity to help, so why not?
“While people are still inspired from the event, I
encourage everyone to pick one speaker that they feel a connection with and
take action to help them with their cause,” Ozer added.
Speakers included Kate Atwood, founder of Kate’s Club, the Atlanta, Georgia-based nonprofit that supports children through the grieving process after loss; Chris Adams whose positive life view (and obsession with Pearl Jam) has helped him share his story about living with Crohn’s Disease; Steven Hawley and Michael Peterson spoke of their recent project, “Dammed to Extinction,” a film that screened at Lone Peak Cinema the previous night and highlights the effects plummeting salmon populations have on Orca whales.
Christine Baker encouraged us to
“speak our truth” in order to spread compassion; Bobby Gill, talked about his
work with the Savory Institute and their efforts to regenerate the world’s
grasslands through holistic management; and Riley Becker, a young advocate
whose passion for climate change was sparked after counting the steps it took
to reach the Mer De Glace glacier in Chamonix, France, only to find that they
had increased upon a later visit.
“Every new experience you have in life you’re probably underqualified for,” said speaker Bob Hall, who kicked off the second half of the series with a theme adopted by his late father, whose words “You’ve got this” served as a driving force in his life. “That’s a liberating thing,” he added, “that you don’t have much to lose.”
Amanda Stevens speaking about her husband’s battle with ALS, and the steps in getting people affected necessary, ground-breaking treatment. PHOTO BY JENNINGS BARMORE
Hall was instrumental in securing
funding for the new Big Sky Community Center, an accomplishment in good company
on his lengthy resume. He spoke of life’s “second mountain” – the concept,
based on David Brooks’ eponymous bestseller, that after securing our own
stability and success, and in order to lead the most fulfilling life, your
ambitions should involve helping others.
Following Hall was Olympic skier
Bode Miller with a talk on the power of emotion, and Amanda Stevens, who spoke
on behalf of her husband Eric Stevens who was diagnosed with ALS last August at
the age of 29. Together, they are raising awareness about the effects a tedious
bureaucratic process has on patients fighting terminal illness.
In the audience, a woman in the second row pulled out a full-size box of tissues. “I took this from the hotel room,” she said, offering them to her surrounding seatmates. “I heard we might need them tonight.” By the time Amanda Stevens finished her talk, the tissues were spent.
ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s, is a motor
neuron disease that robs the body of its ability to function. More than 30,000
Americans die of ALS annually and a patient’s life expectancy is just 2-5
years. Although it was diagnosed 150 years ago, only two treatment options
exist and they do nothing substantial for the quality of life of the patient as
they slowly revert to a state hauntingly described as a “glass coffin.”
NurOwn, a treatment produced by a
small biotech company in Israel called Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, has been
shown to slow, stop and even reverse symptoms of ALS for the first time in
history. Although it passed phases 1 and 2 of testing, it has been stuck for
more than 10 years in the FDA trial process. This means a life-changing treatment
for ALS, a fatal disease, is on the same pathways as acne and migraine
medication, Stevens said. Each day without treatment is a day lost, a
frustrating predicament you can hear in Stevens’ voice as she addressed the
audience.
“At what point does the scientific
method surpass human compassion, decency and common sense?” Stevens asked. She
paused, taking deep, steading breaths and fighting back tears. “If we allow
people to die while waiting on science, then we have failed as human beings to
help those facing an unimaginable hell.”
Amanda and Eric are traveling to
Washington, D.C. to advocate for ALS patients across the country.
“We have a term at the fire department that says ‘You risk a lot, to save a lot,’” Stevens said, speaking on behalf of her husband. “I think the FDA needs that same approach. People are dying, and there is treatment showing promising results. You have to risk a little bit more to give these people a chance.”
The 2020 TEDx Big Sky speakers, Outlaw team members, and community members pose for a photo at the conclusion of the event on Jan. 25. PHOTO BY JENNINGS BARMORE
Between speakers, audience members
were already living up to the night’s theme, making connections of their own.
“I saw you guys in Copenhagen over a decade ago,” said one man frantically,
reaching two rows down to shake the hand of Peal Jam guitarist Mike McCready,
who was featured in Adams’ talk earlier in the night. “Your music changed my
life.”
Being one of 280 learning about
grief, the extinction of animals, chronic diseases and climate change, you can
feel a bit underqualified to do much about it, which, as we learned from Hall,
is how we’re supposed to feel when we’re taking on something new.
Maybe the most powerful thing we can
do to keep the momentum going is talk about these amazing moments, encourage
action and ensure
that this event impacts lives beyond the stage.
“It’s
going to happen from this room,” Ladd said. “It’s good place for it to happen –
we’re at the top of mountains, we’re at the headwaters of streams—let’s do it.”