Alvaro Cedeno Molinari | TEDxTokyo 2013
Alvaro Cedeno believes that social innovation can and should bypass governments to solve public woes. Costa Rica’s ambassador to Japan, Alvaro studied law at the University of Costa Rica and holds master’s degrees from the University of Tromsø (Norway) and Carnegie Mellon University (Australia)—including one in peace and conflict transformation—and has published a blog on the latter since 2006. Alvaro’s current passion is to heal our planet’s wounded ecology, and he’s intent on implanting a green growth agenda in our minds as a comprehensive solution to climate change. Conservation, he declares, can become a source of income. Costa Rica’s national business model proves that, generating greater income as its natural habitat expands, and the nation is on track to generate 95 percent of its power needs from renewable resources by 2015.