Inspiration Lecture Series Speakers
Dr. Irminne Van Dyken, MD
Born in the Netherlands and raised in Montana, Dr. Irminne Van Dyken is a general surgeon in practice at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. She is a member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Van Dyken is a passionate advocate of a whole foods, plant-based diet, seeing it as a way to prevent and treat many common maladies in Hawaii and the world. In this entertaining presentation, Dr. Van Dyken shares her experiences as a surgeon treating many of these preventable and reversible diseases, and explains why the Standard American Diet is the biggest threat to American health today.
Dr. Victoria Anderson, PhD
Dr. Victoria Anderson is Associate Professor of Linguistics at UH Manoa, where she teaches a course on Animal Communication. Her curriculum examines the breadth and depth of animals’ ability to think and communicate — oftentimes with senses and modalities that humans don’t have. Her talk will illustrate a few ways in which different animals communicate, with the goal of helping us appreciate and cherish them more. Victoria is an advocate for animal welfare and sustainable ecosystems.
Michael Kramer
Michael Kramer is a Managing Partner and registered Investment Advisor at Natural Investments LLC, the only firm in Hawaii exclusively dedicated to helping clients make investments that are sustainable and socially responsible. A resident of Hawaii Island since 1999, he founded the Kuleana Green Business Program of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce as well as the Hawaii Island Earth Festival. Michael is co-author of the firm’s third book, The Resilient Investor: A Plan for Your Life, Not Just Your Money. Michael’s unique presentation will encourage you to align your choices of what you buy and the assets you own with your ethical and lifestyle priorities. He will show how you can steer clear of practices you don’t believe in while supporting the sustainable, responsible, and high positive impact sectors that can transform capitalism and humanity.
Nick Buettner
Nick, the Community and Corporate Program Director for the Blue Zones Project, has taken the Blue Zones’ lessons to 27 communities, impacting 1.6 million people’s health across the U.S. He will share firsthand knowledge of the Blue Zones — places in the world that have the greatest life expectancy where more people reach age 100. Using National Geographic photography and a dynamic, storytelling delivery, Nick will take you to these longest-lived cultures, sharing his observations from the field, and will provide you with ideas to immediately increase your own healthy longevity and well-being.
Keegan Kuhn
Keegan Kuhn is the Co-Director of the documentary Cowspiracy. He is a videographer, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and professional musician living in San Francisco. He has worked with nonprofit organizations and been involved in social justice movements for virtually his entire life. As a filmmaker, he helps organizations reach an ever-greater community of supporters with the highest possible quality films and videos. His film career has taken him as far as the remote interior of Alaska to document modern homesteaders, to the high deserts of the American west filming the nation’s remaining wild horses, to rural agricultural communities and dirty urban streets. He is motivated by a deep desire to shed light on untold stories of the most downtrodden in our society, and to raise to awareness through greater visibility of social justice issues.
