TED Talks
Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food
The wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a vast treasury buried within a frozen mountain in Norway, that stores a diverse...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The microbial jungles all over the place (and you) - Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter
As we walk through our daily environments, we're surrounded by exotic creatures that are too small to see with the naked eye. We usually imagine these microscopic organisms, or microbes, as asocial cells that float around by themselves....
SciShow
How Earth's Rotation Affects Our Oxygen | SciShow News
Oxygen is crucial for life as we know it, but before it could build up in our atmosphere, earth had to slow down.
TED Talks
TED: 5 transformational policies for a prosperous and sustainable world | Johan Rockstrom
In a talk about how we can build a robust future without wrecking the planet, sustainability expert Johan Rockstrom debuts the Earth3 model -- a new methodology that combines the UN Sustainable Development Goals with the nine planetary...
TED Talks
Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing
Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with...
TED Talks
Tim Flannery: Can seaweed help curb global warming?
It's time for planetary-scale interventions to combat climate change -- and environmentalist Tim Flannery thinks seaweed can help. In a bold talk, he shares the epic carbon-capturing potential of seaweed, explaining how oceangoing...
TED Talks
Kotchakorn Voraakhom: How to transform sinking cities into landscapes that fight floods
From London to Tokyo, climate change is causing cities to sink -- and our modern concrete infrastructure is making us even more vulnerable to severe flooding, says landscape architect and TED Fellow Kotchakorn Voraakhom. But what if we...
TED Talks
Charles Moore: Seas of plastic
Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The life cycle of a pair of jeans | Madhavi Venkatesan
The first pairs of jeans were designed for durability; denim was constructed as a sturdy weave worn by sailors and miners. But over the course of the 20th century, as the demand for jeans has gone up, their durability has gone down....
TED Talks
Harvey Fineberg: Are we ready for neo-evolution?
Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg shows us three paths forward for the ever-evolving human species: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally -- or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make...
TED Talks
TED: Intelligent floating machines inspired by nature | Anicka Yi
Taking cues from soft robotics and the natural world, conceptual artist Anicka Yi builds lighter-than-air machines that roam and react like autonomous life forms. Her floating "aerobes" inspire us to think about new ways of living with...
TED Talks
TED: A new economic model for protecting tropical forests | Nat Keohane
To solve the climate crisis, we need to make tropical forests worth more alive than dead, says environmental economist Nat Keohane. Highlighting the urgent need to stop deforestation and the carbon pollution it brings, he details the...
TED Talks
Colette Pichon Battle: Climate change will displace millions. Here's how we prepare
Scientists predict climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100 -- a crisis of "climate migration" the world isn't ready for, says disaster recovery lawyer and Louisiana native Colette Pichon Battle. In this...
SciShow
Secrets of Life from A Giant Pool of Asphalt | Weird Places: Pitch Lake, Trinidad
Trinidad's Pitch Lake is a huge, oily, and filled with millions of tons of asphalt. It may not sound like a great place to live, but the lake is teeming with microscopic life! And learning more about these organisms could give us insight...
TED Talks
TED: How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty and art - Theaster Gates
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Theaster Gates, a potter by training and a social activist by calling, wanted to do something about the sorry state...
TED Talks
TED: Apple's promise to be carbon neutral by 2030 | Lisa Jackson and Liz Ogbu
Under the leadership of Lisa Jackson, Apple's environment and social VP and former head of the EPA, the company is already carbon neutral within their own corporate and retail boundaries. By 2030, Apple hopes to extend carbon neutrality...
TED Talks
TED: How China is (and isn't) fighting pollution and climate change | Angel Hsu
China is the world's biggest polluter -- and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it affect the global environment? Data scientist Angel Hsu describes how the most populous...
SciShow
Why Don't Humans Have a Mating Season?
Unlike lots of other animals, there’s no such thing as the “mating season” for humans, and it might have to do with how we raise our kids.
TED Talks
TED: The unexpected, underwater plant fighting climate change | Carlos M. Duarte
Once considered the ugly duckling of environmental conservation, seagrass is emerging as a powerful tool for climate action. From drawing down carbon to filtering plastic pollution, marine scientist Carlos M. Duarte details the...
TED Talks
TED: The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | Will Potter
In 2002, investigative journalist and TED Fellow Will Potter took a break from his regular beat, writing about shootings and murders for the Chicago Tribune. He went to help a local group campaigning against animal testing: "I thought it...
TED Talks
Rachel Armstrong: Architecture that repairs itself?
Venice is sinking. To save it, Rachel Armstrong says we need to outgrow architecture made of inert materials and, well, make architecture that grows itself. She proposes a not-quite-alive material that does its own repairs and sequesters...
TED Talks
TED: This country isn't just carbon neutral -- it's carbon negative | Tshering Tobgay
Deep in the Himalayas, on the border between China and India, lies the Kingdom of Bhutan, which has pledged to remain carbon neutral for all time. In this illuminating talk, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country's...
TED Talks
TED: We can reprogram life. How to do it wisely | Juan enriquez
For four billion years, what lived and died on earth depended on two principles: natural selection and random mutation. Then humans came along and changed everything - hybridizing plants, breeding animals, altering the environment and...
TED Talks
TED: A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels | Monica Araya
How do we build a society without fossil fuels? using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean...