Sustainable development has been the red line in Kitty van der Heijdens'carreer. After working for the UN, she is now director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ambassador for sustainable development. She will represent the Netherlands in the upcoming Rio plus 20 earth Summit in June 2012. An international conference organised by the UN 20 years after the first UN conference on sustainable development in Rio. At TEDxHaarlem Kitty van der Heijden will take us on a journey through international sustainable development conferences.

The dilemma that politicians face is that they find it hard to be themselves under the gaze of the press and public. Journalist and broadcaster Steve Richards provides some humorous insights into how the public's inability to see politicians as human beings is the perfect breeding ground for comedy and tragedy to collide. 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.