Mikey, the Bear, and a Happy Solar Car Story: Marcelo da Luz at TEDxTrentUniversity

Marcelo turned the environmental degradation he witnessed while growing up in Brazil into inspiration to power a dream. From a resigned attitude of "I am only one person, what can I do?" to a powerful determination of "The only obstacle between you and your dreams is yourself". He built his own solar powered vehicle and embarked on an incredible quest to inspire the world.

He became the first person to drive an electric vehicle to the Arctic, where he had an astonishing up close encounter with a wolf, a brush with a black bear, watched the midnight sun and was dazzled by the northern lights. He braved adverse terrain and weather. He crossed the longest ice road in the world, broke world records and set world firsts using only sunshine as fuel. Permitted to drive his solar powered vehicle virtually anywhere in the world, except his home province of Ontario, he pulled the solar car by hand 160km from Niagara Falls to Toronto to inspire regulatory changes. He then pulled the solar car 503km on secondary roads from Toronto to Ottawa to challenge the public to change something, anything for 28 days to help the environment. Marcelo continues to create new challenges for himself and to inspire everyone to follow their own dreams.

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)