TED Talks
Eric Sanderson: New York -- before the City
400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta's fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife -- accurate down to the block -- when Times Square was a wetland and you...
TED Talks
TED: A vision of sustainable housing for all of humanity | Vishaan Chakrabarti
By 2100, the UN estimates that the world's population will grow to just over 11 billion people. Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti wants us to start thinking about how we'll house all these people -- and how new construction can fight climate...
TED Talks
TED: Lessons on leaving the world better than you found it | Sophie Howe
Sophie Howe is the world's only future generations commissioner, a new kind of government official tasked with advocating for the interests of generations to come and holding public institutions accountable for delivering long-term...
TED Talks
Stuart Oda: Are indoor vertical farms the future of agriculture?
By 2050, the global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion. How are we going to feed everyone? Investment-banker-turned-farmer Stuart Oda points to indoor vertical farming: growing food on tiered racks in a controlled,...
TED Talks
TED: The race to a zero-emission world starts now⇥ | António Guterres
If we don't act now on climate change, this coming century may be one of humanity's last, says António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Guterres urges us to use this...
TED Talks
TED: How we can make crops survive without water | Jill Farrant
As the world's population grows and the effects of climate change come into sharper relief, we'll have to feed more people using less arable land. Molecular biologist Jill Farrant studies a rare phenomenon that may help: "resurrection...
TED Talks
Marjan van Aubel: The beautiful future of solar power
The Sun delivers more energy to Earth in one hour than all of humanity uses in an entire year. How can we make this power more accessible to everyone, everywhere? Solar designer Marjan van Aubel shows how she's turning everyday objects...
TED Talks
TED: A sci-fi story of climate optimism | Vandana Singh
The world is a living tapestry ... As the weave of life is torn apart in one place, the threads unravel in another, says author and physics professor Vandana Singh, acknowledging humanity's interconnectedness with the planet -- and the...
TED Talks
Kristie Ebi: How climate change could make our food less nutritious
Rising carbon levels in the atmosphere can make plants grow faster, but there's another hidden consequence: they rob plants of the nutrients and vitamins we need to survive. In a talk about global food security, epidemiologist Kristie...
MinuteEarth
Are Plastics Too Strong?
The same chemistry that makes plastic tough, light and flexible also makes it nearly impossible to get rid of, because it’s hard to break those resilient chemical bonds.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can we create the "perfect" farm? | Brent Loken
About 10,000 years ago, humans began to farm. This agricultural revolution was a turning point in our history and enabled the existence of civilization. Today, nearly 40 percent of our planet is farmland. Spread all over the world, these...
TED-Ed
The sharks that hunt in forests | Luka Seamus Wright
Forests don't usually come to mind as a habitat for sharks. But marine forests provide a home for 35% of the world's sharks. Mangrove forests in particular function as an essential bridge between land and sea and have evolved various...
TED Talks
Taylor Wilson: My radical plan for small nuclear fission reactors
Taylor Wilson was 14 when he built a nuclear fusion reactor in his parents' garage. Now 19, he returns to the TED stage to present a new take on an old topic: fission. Wilson, who has won backing to create a company to realize his...
TED Talks
Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting
With wisdom and wit, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India's Golden Desert to harvest water. These ancient aqueducts and stepwells are still used today -- and are often...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Which bag should you use? | Luka Seamus Wright and Imogen Ellen Napper
You've filled up your cart and made it to the front of the grocery line when you're confronted with yet another choice: what kind of bag should you use? It might seem obvious that plastic is bad for the environment, and that a paper bag...
TED Talks
Jennifer Vail: The science of friction -- and its surprising impact on our lives
Tribology: it's a funny-sounding word you might not have heard before, but it could change how you see and interact with the physical world, says mechanical engineer Jennifer Vail. Offering lessons from tribology -- the study of friction...
TED Talks
TED: Europe's plan to become the first carbon-neutral continent | Ursula von der Leyen
With the ambitious goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the European Union has committed to creating a greener world for future generations. In this bold talk, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of plastic | TED-Ed
For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five years, he...
TED Talks
TED: Where do your online returns go? | Aparna Mehta
Do you ever order clothes online in different sizes and colors, just to try them on and then send back what doesn't work? Aparna Mehta used to do this all time, until she one day asked herself: Where do all these returned clothes go? In...
TED Talks
TED: The future of fashion -- made from mushrooms | Dan Widmaier
Your closet is likely full of all kinds of materials -- leather, cotton, nylon and polyester, to name a few -- that contribute to fashion's sustainability crisis. Biomaterials investigator Dan Widmaier explains how we could look to...
TED Talks
Bruce Friedrich: The next global agricultural revolution
Conventional meat production causes harm to our environment and presents risks to global health, but people aren't going to eat less meat unless we give them alternatives that cost the same (or less) and that taste the same (or better)....
TED Talks
TED: This is the moment to take on the climate crisis | Al Gore
Lighting up the TED stage, Nobel laureate Al Gore takes stock of the current state of climate progress and calls attention to institutions that have failed to honor their promises by continuing to pour money into polluting sectors. He...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Which type of milk is best for you? | Jonathan J. O'Sullivan and Grace E. Cunningham
If you go to the store in search of milk, there are a dizzying number of products to choose from. There's dairy milk, but also plant-based products such as almond, soy, and oat milks. So which milk is actually best for you? And which...
TED Talks
Wolfgang Kessling: How to air-condition outdoor spaces
During the hot summer months, watching an outdoor sports match or concert can be tantamount to baking uncomfortably in the sun -- but it doesn't have to be. At the TEDxSummit in Doha, physicist Wolfgang Kessling reveals sustainable...