As a photographic artist, Chris Jordan explores the detritus of contemporary mass culture, from photographs of mountains of garbage to photo-based conceptual works that visually connect the viewer to otherwise abstract statistics associated with the things we waste. In his Running the Numbers series, millions of plastic bottles become an ocean, the ocean plastic pollution becomes a tsunami, and so on.

With large-scale prints held in public and private art collections around the globe, Jordan has been featured in magazines, newspapers, blogs and documentary films around the world, and has published three of his own stunning books of photography.

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)