4 speakers we’re most excited to hear at TEDxGowanus

TEDxGowanus, an independently organized TED event, will take place this Sunday at the Green Building (in Gowanus, naturally). Like all TED events, it has a strong line up of presenters going from noon to 8 pm.

Here are some of the people we are looking forward to hearing from:

Kate Orff, Founding Partner, Scape.

Mark our words here: you are going to hear a lot more in the coming years about startups working on different aspects of green infrastructure. Look for innovative metrics, design and more botany talk than you ever thought you’d hear in the tech scene. Kate Orff is a leading designer in this field and has worked in the past with the legendary Rem Koolhaas. She’ll be speaking on marine gardening at TEDx.

Coney Island River Rats

These research divers dive into the waters around New York and, especially, Coney Island, to create educational programs. Their “talk” at TEDxGowanus is billed as a live dive of the Gowanus. We think that’s a little crazy, but we’re looking forward to it out of, we admit, morbid curiosity.

Natalie Loney, Community Involvement Coordinator for the EPA’s Gowanus Superfund Site

Loney is scheduled to speak on looking inside an EPA superfund site. There are all kinds of designs out there for a greener environment around the Gowanus, but it’s just so polluted. Worse, some small businesses nearby the site are getting even more polluted. Yet it has a new neighbor: Whole Foods. So you can guarantee that there are big changes ahead for the area, but will the Canal ever change? We’ll be eager to hear what the EPA has to say about that.

Rachel Fershleiser, Books and Nonprofits Community Manager at Tumblr

Fershleiser is ubiquitous online if you are at all interested in books. She has a lot of opinions and a lot of generosity for writers that have impressed her. She’s going to be talking about why she loves the “bookternet.” It’s a little different from the other items on this list, but that gives the event some diversity. [Disclosure: this reporter is one of the many, many she has graciously given some bookternet pointers to over the last year or so].