This week CEOs, celebrities, politicians, microbiologists, dancers, and engineers converge in Long Beach, California, for the super innovative and highly exclusive TED conference. If you weren’t on the guest list (or couldn’t afford the $6K ticket), no worries, the talks make their way online as TED Talks, and besides, there are lots of other great events…

going on across the country this month.

In New York City? Check out Foodprint NYC, the first in a series of international conversations about food and the city. Where else could you learn about the cultural impact of the ice-box, and discover opportunities to transform the edible landscape through technology, architecture, legislation, and education? Speakers include William Grimes, the former restaurant critic for the New York Times, Joel Berg, author of “All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America,” and artist/scientist Natalie Jeremijenko.

Kitchen Table Talks in partnership with the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) will host “Produce to the People: New Ideas for Local Distribution” in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  The panel discussion will focus on alternative models for local produce distribution.

And in Chicago, in conjunction with the exhibit, Actions: What You Can Do With the City, artist/activist/farmer Amy Franceschini presents, “The Revolution Will Be Cultivated” on March 10 at the Graham Foundation.

Photo by Franceschini, courtesy of Future Farmers