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À partir d’avant-hierTED Blog

The most popular TED Talks of 2023 — and inspiration for 2024

Par : TED Staff

As 2023 draws to a close, join us in reflecting on a year brimming with inspiring ideas and transformative insights from the TED stage. Our end-of-year playlists feature talks that capture the essence of the year’s challenges and triumphs — and offer glimpses of hope for 2024.

From AI and the future of learning to a mysterious, millennia-old pattern and a radical way to repair your relationships, these TED Talks took off the quickest in 2023:

Dive into one of the most buzzed-about topics of the year with these must-watch TED Talks on AI, showcasing groundbreaking advancements and thought-provoking perspectives on the future of this world-changing innovation:

From the science behind stretching muscles and crooked teeth to the everyday mysteries of food expiration dates and airplane mode, these TED-Ed animations captured our attention in 2023:

Uncover the unexpected and enlightening with this selection of TED Talks from 2023 that you didn’t know you needed. From the value of thinking about your mortality to the quirky world of Wikipedia and beyond, these talks offer an intellectual adventure and a captivating blend of education, inspiration and wonder:

As we look with hope toward a new year, these TED Talks offer inspiration from speakers addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues — from sustainable living and justice reform to breakthrough technology and the power of grassroots movements.

Embark on a journey of self-improvement with this selection of TED Talks on personal growth. From innovative parenting strategies and mental health support to fostering self-confidence and sustainable habits, these ideas offer practical advice and fresh perspectives for a transformative year ahead:

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Head of TED Chris Anderson publishes new book, “Infectious Generosity”

Par : TED Staff

In the face of the world’s daunting problems, our kindness can seem pretty inadequate. But what if there were a way to turbocharge it? We live in the connected age. What would it take for kindness to go viral? This is the question Head of TED Chris Anderson explores in his new book, Infectious Generosity, on sale January 23, 2024. Under the radar, countless heroic individuals have discovered how to give in a way that inspires others. This book is filled with their stories, creating a playbook that can help usher in a more hopeful view of human possibility in the 21st century.

As the curator of TED for more than 20 years, Anderson has seen first-hand how ideas can spread. Through the power of the internet, he has helped the world’s boldest thinkers share their most uplifting and world-changing concepts. With Infectious Generosity, he encourages all of us to harness the internet as a force that brings people together instead of driving them apart. Through a combination of inspiring stories, cutting-edge psychological research and practical guidance, Infectious Generosity serves as both a manifesto and a playbook for embarking on a journey of generosity.

Learn more and preorder your copy of Infectious Generosity here.

As part of the publication and its larger mission, Anderson will donate his proceeds from Infectious Generosity to TED, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation dedicated to discovering and spreading ideas that spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. For every copy purchased in the US, the Crown Publishing Group will also donate a portion of its proceeds to TED-Ed in support of its missions to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Finally, Aevitas Creative Management will be donating a portion of its proceeds to The Peace Studio, an organization that gives artists and journalists the tools to transform conflict in the US.

As Anderson shows, each of us as individuals can be a catalyst for the amplification of human kindness — in sometimes surprising ways. Through acts of generosity great and small, we have within us the power to create a ripple effect that could truly transform the world. Learn more at InfectiousGenerosity.org.

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Flipside futures: The talks of TED@BCG 2023

Helen Walters and Francois Candelon speak at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Today is good, but tomorrow can always be better. There are new possibilities for our future if we use our uniquely human creativity. In a day of talks and performances, 16 leading minds gathered to flip expected thinking on its head and map out how we might build a brighter future.

The event: TED@BCG: Flipside Futures is the fourteenth event TED and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have co-hosted to uplift forward-thinking speakers from around the globe. Hosted by TED’s head of media and curation Helen Walters.

When and where: Thursday, November 16, 2023 at the BCG office in Paris, France

Speakers: Catalina Lotero, Adam Whybrew, Jessica Apotheker, Diarra Bousso, Hanjo Seibert, David Kwong, Sylvester Chauke, Annalee Newitz, Adriann Negreros, Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju, Slava Balbek, Paul Hudson, Beth Viner, Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Sagar Goel, Bonnie Hancock

Opening and closing remarks: Francois Candelon, the global director of the BCG Henderson Institute and TED@BCG 2018 speaker, welcomes the audience while Olivier Scalabre, the head of BCG France and TED@BCG 2016 speaker, closes out the day.

The talks in brief:

Catalina Lotero speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Catalina Lotero, purposeful designer

What might Latin America look like if colonization hadn’t broken the evolution of its ancient iconography? Catalina Lotero presents stunning images of “Pre-Columbian futurism” that infuse Latin American design with Indigenous symbolism — a testament to the power of aesthetics to rewrite historical narratives and envision new futures.

Adam Whybrew speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Adam Whybrew, depression truth-teller

We can’t get rid of anxiety and depression, so we might as well talk about it, says Adam Whybrew. He shares how talking about his own debilitating mental health struggles with his coworkers created unexpectedly positive outcomes, offering a comforting message of hope for those in need of support. 

Jessica Apotheker speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Jessica Apotheker, marketing expert

Research shows AI is poised to explode marketers’ performance — but there’s a problem, says Jessica Apotheker. AI may make marketers more productive but, if not harnessed correctly, it might also homogenize and clog the marketing landscape.

Diarra Bousso speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Diarra Bousso, designer, mathematician

Growing up in Senegal, getting a new outfit for Diarra Bousso was never an impulse purchase; her clothes were made to order by local artisans and designed to last. Through her brand, Diarrablu, she’s working to bring this sustainable fashion model to modern e-retail, using digital tools to crowdsource designs, limit excess inventory and reduce overconsumption and waste.

Hanjo Seibert speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Hanjo Seibert, economic crime fighter

Hanjo Seibert spends his time fighting economic crime, a wide field ranging from drug trafficking and human trafficking to fraud, cybercrimes, tax evasion and more. He explains how gangsters, criminals and terrorists launder their money through this shady underground economy — and how all of us can take small steps to make it harder for them to do so.

David Kwong (left) recruits an audience member for his talk and performance at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

David Kwong, magician 

“We live in a time that’s more wondrous than our ancestors ever could have imagined, and technology isn’t the barrier to unlocking that wonder: it’s the key,” says David Kwong. He explores how tech elevates our capacity for bewilderment — and invites an audience member to the stage for some ChatGPT-powered magic.

Sylvester Chauke speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Sylvester Chauke, branding disruptor

After years of brand building, marketing veteran Sylvester Chauke realized that his industry had sold the world on overconsumption, with devastating consequences. He shares how marketers could instead promote sustainability and responsible consumerism with “honest ads.”

Annalee Newitz speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Annalee Newitz, journalist, sci-fi author

“Escapist stories allow us to reimagine our relationship with the places we live,” says Annalee Newitz. Inviting you to the whimsical world of sci-fi, cosplay (short for “costume play”) and goblincore (an internet-born aesthetic that celebrates the “ugly” side of nature), Newitz shares why, sometimes, the best way to solve our problems is to escape them.

Adriann Negreros speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Adriann Negreros, change management expert

Nearly three billion people have frontline jobs: work that requires them to be in person, whether it’s as baristas, Uber drivers, factory floor workers or anything else. Adriann Negreros is on a mission to make these jobs more rewarding by getting employees what they need but often lack – like respect, better pay, more flexibility and safety gear that actually fits.

Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju, food systems advocate

Sub-Saharan Africa needs more meat consumption to solve its nutrition challenges, says Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju. Instead of building feedlots, she makes a case for scaling meat and milk production in the region by supporting its millions of nomadic livestock herders. 

Slava Balbek speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Slava Balbek, architect, humanitarian

The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced architect Slava Balbek to rethink the nature of his craft. From a tool that develops localized blueprints to rebuild your home to the construction of comfortable, stylish temporary housing, Balbek and his team are exploring the healing power of architecture with a simple motto: “Dignity no matter what.”

Paul Hudson sits down with Lindsay Levin for an interview at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Paul Hudson, healthcare innovator, in conversation with Lindsay Levin, the head of TED Countdown

Rather than resisting AI, Paul Hudson has welcomed the opportunity to let it completely disrupt Sanofi, the healthcare and pharmaceutical company he leads. In conversation with Lindsay Levin, he discusses how AI can propel daily decision-making, its impact on data transparency and the role it might play in decarbonizing the pharmaceutical industry.

Beth Viner speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Beth Viner, culture strategist

We often venerate dreamers: the innovators who smash through barriers. But for every dreamer, says Beth Viner, a team of doers works hard to transform that vision into reality. The best companies succeed by harnessing this synergy.

Philipp Carlsson-Szelzak speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, economist 

Economic models always seem to predict disaster, creating financial losses that could have been avoided if shoppers and business owners were more rationally optimistic, says economist Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak. He calls for everyone to be their own judge, evaluate the doomsday narratives with a careful eye and embrace the inevitable uncertainty.

Sagar Goel speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Sagar Goel, skill-building strategist

People are worried that AI will replace them at work — but upgrading skills and lifelong learning can help. Sagar Goel shares insights from a partnership with the Singaporean government on a digital reskilling program that helped people gain experience for jobs for which they previously wouldn’t have qualified.

Bonnie Hancock speaks at TED@BCG: Flipside Futures at the BCG office in Paris, France, on November 16, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Bonnie Hancock, Ironwoman, paddler, record breaker

In 2020, Bonnie Hancock began paddling her sea kayak in a clockwise loop around Australia. It took her 254 days to circumnavigate the continent, breaking the previous world record by more than two months. She shares the ups and downs of her 12,700-kilometer journey — including brushes with crocodiles, sharks and hypothermia — and how she learned to find resilience and beauty in the toughest moments.

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Moving on up: Talks from day 3 of TEDWomen 2023

Activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn, TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters host Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

For the final day of TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia, a multidisciplinary group of experts took on the challenges and opportunities of navigating change — from reimagining migration for political power and addressing the real threats of AI to championing inclusivity, celebrating nature’s wildness and pondering life’s myriad complexities through art.

The event: Sessions 4 and 5 of TEDWomen 2023, hosted by TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, TED’s head of curation Helen Walters and activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn

When and where: Friday, October 13, 2023, at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Speakers: Charles M. Blow, Sasha Luccioni, Ruha Benjamin, Melonie D. Parker, Sherrell Dorsey, Mary Ann Sieghart, Dyhia Belhabib, Rebecca McMackin, Lucy McBath, Valerie Montgomery Rice, Maira Kalman, Freada Kapor Klein, Sheila Ngozi Oparaocha, Chantale Zuzi Leader

Darkwave artist Abra performs at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Music: Darkwave artist Abra captivated the TEDWomen audience with her signature blend of gothic, R&B and electronic music.

Writer Charles M. Blow speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

Societal progress often feels like two steps forward, one step back — how do we change that? New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow calls for a peaceful, reverse migration of Black Americans to southern US states, to write over legacies of oppression and wield political power to change history.

AI ethics researcher Sasha Luccioni speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We’ve all heard it recently: “AI could kill us all.” Instead of catastrophizing, AI ethics researcher Sasha Luccioni wants to address AI’s more pressing risks — like carbon emissions, copyright infringement and biased data — by creating tools and legislation that promote transparency.

Innovation and equity researcher Ruha Benjamin speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

In the era of superintelligent AI, are health care and housing for all really beyond reach? From the outcry against Atlanta’s “Cop City” to tech-driven democracy in Barcelona, researcher Ruha Benjamin imagines a future where tech and people-power work in tandem, not in opposition.

Google’s chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker and TED Tech podcast Sherrell Dorsey speak at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

How can we create safe and inclusive work cultures for all? Google’s chief diversity officer Melonie D. Parker joins journalist and host of the TED Tech podcast Sherrell Dorsey in a nuanced conversation about creating a sustainably inclusive company where every employee can thrive.

Author, journalist and broadcaster Mary Ann Sieghart speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We still take women less seriously than men, says author, journalist and broadcaster Mary Ann Sieghart. She explains how we can tackle what she calls the “authority gap” by questioning our biases against women’s intelligence (like judging a woman by the pitch of her voice) and actively promoting female experts.

Maritime crime fighter Dyhia Belhabib speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

Criminal groups use sophisticated technology to perpetrate crimes on the ocean: drug smugglers pilot autonomous submarines; pirates use satellites to detect ships they plan to capture and ransom. Maritime crime fighter Dyhia Belhabib introduces Heva, a tool that uses AI to aggregate international criminal records with the goal of detecting and stopping maritime crime.

Ecologically obsessed horticulturist Rebecca McMackin speaks at Session 4 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin explores the beauty of letting your garden run wild, surveying the success she’s had increasing biodiversity on the piers of Brooklyn Bridge Park and offering tips for creating wildlife-friendly habitats at home.

US Congresswoman Lucy McBath speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Following the death of her only son, US Congresswoman Lucy McBath was elected to office with one major goal: pass comprehensive gun safety legislation. She shares the power of a personal story to bridge divides and make real, impactful change.

President and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine Valerie Montgomery Rice speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“There are challenges and fears that catapult us to become the greatest versions of ourselves, to become great leaders,” says health equity advocate and president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine Valerie Montgomery Rice. She shares three lessons in leadership and shows how they can guide anyone hoping to break through fear, stand up for what’s right and build opportunity for all.

Multidisciplinary artist Maira Kalman speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

Multidisciplinary artist Maira Kalman delivers a delightfully wry, sneakily profound reflection on time, death, work, art, family, dreams and more. Backed by her wise, witty illustrations, her talk seems to embody the entirety of life itself, in all its absurd glory.

Impact investor Freada Kapor Klein speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Impact investor Freada Kapor Klein is building fairness into the core of tech companies. Her VC fund, Kapor Capital, only invests in businesses that commit to hiring diverse teams, fostering inclusive workplaces and creating products and services that close opportunity gaps.

Energy equity expert Sheila Ngozi Oparaocha speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

The dominant narrative of energy transition has a problem, says energy equity expert Sheila Oparaocha: it ignores the billions of people without energy access. For just and inclusive climate solutions, Oparaocha says we must empower women and prioritize universal access to sustainable energy.

Refugee advocate Chantale Zuzi Leader speaks at Session 5 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 13, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

After surviving devastating violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chantale Zuzi Leader found safety in the US. She urges everyone to consider the problem of displacement with curiosity and compassion — and offers refugees like her a powerful message of hope: “It is possible to break through.”

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Life, love and finding a path: Talks from day 2 of TEDWomen 2023

Activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn hosts Session 3 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Day 2 of TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia featured an interdisciplinary array of ideas from speakers who are disrupting poverty, creating bold art, restoring Indigenous rights, exploring bioluminescence in nature and much more.

The event: Sessions 2 and 3 of TEDWomen 2023, hosted by TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell and activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn

When and where: Thursday, October 12, 2023, at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Speakers: Tracie Revis, Diana Greene Foster, Aisha Nyandoro, Andre Dickens, Rosita Najmi, Esha Chhabra, Paige Alexander, Jay Bailey, Karinna Grant, Laetitia Ky, Glenn Close, Laurel Braitman, Wan Faridah Akmal Jusoh, Gary Barker, Lindsay Morris, Reed J. Williams, Maria E. Sophocles

A warm welcome: From Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who shared how the city has partnered with the Carter Center on a campaign called Inform Women, Transform Lives, which is aimed at raising awareness about women’s right to information.

Buzz performs at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

Music: An enchanting, genre-bending performance of her songs “Universe,” “Statues” and “Liberation” by singer-songwriter and producer Buzz.

Cultural preservation advocate Tracie Revis speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Tracie Revis’s ancestors were forcibly removed from their homeland in what is currently known as Georgia. Now, she’s working to reclaim part of that land, the Ocmulgee Mounds, and turn it into Georgia’s first national park and preserve, which would be co-managed by the Muscogee Creek tribe — tapping into the immense power of their ancestral homeland to heal generational trauma.

Demographer Diana Greene Foster speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Does having an abortion negatively impact a woman’s life? Demographer Diana Greene Foster’s research, known as The Turnaway Study, shows that women who want abortions and get them experience better mental and physical health and socioeconomic well-being than those who are denied.

Poverty disruptor Aisha Nyandoro speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

For Black mothers receiving guaranteed income through the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, a first-of-its-kind guaranteed income program in the US, a steady check meant having the power to uplift those around them. Inspired by their example, poverty disruptor Aisha Nyandoro wants people to redefine wealth in terms of the good it can create.

Global development economist Rosita Najmi speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Don’t fret about your leadership style, says global development economist Rosita Najmi — focus instead on your leadership languages. She explains why the best leaders are “multilingual,” fluent in the languages of business, philanthropy and public policy.

Environmental business journalist Esha Chhabra speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

“Sustainability” has become a business buzzword, but environmental business journalist Esha Chhabra thinks it’s time to dig deeper. She outlines the growing wave of regenerative companies — which take a far more holistic approach to operations, with every aspect of business driving towards solving a social problem — and shows how many of them are already making big changes in fashion, energy, food, agriculture and beyond.

Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Access to information is the key to unlocking human rights for all, says equality champion Paige Alexander. Leading The Carter Center, she and her team are connecting women to vital resources to get educated, start businesses and transform lives around the world.

Entrepreneur whisperer Jay Bailey speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

When creating an incubator for Black entrepreneurs, Jay Bailey drew inspiration from Motown and HBCUs — two great models for economic mobility. What do they have in common? Bailey says both cultivate belonging and give people the freedom to believe.

Digital fashion entrepreneur Karinna Grant Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What if you could buy the latest fashions without crowding your closet or growing your carbon footprint? Digital fashion entrepreneur Karinna Grant says that future is already emerging: NFTs and augmented reality are expanding possibilities for creative consumption while decreasing waste.

Hair sculptor Laetitia Ky speaks at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Artist Laetitia Ky creates incredible sculptures using the hair on her head (and a bit of wire), transforming it into surprising forms — an umbrella, a sunflower, wings, a raised fist — that promote bodily autonomy and self-acceptance.

Actor Glenn Close and TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell speak at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

In 2009, Jessie Close confessed to her sister, actor Glenn Close, that her son’s struggle with schizophrenia had filled her with thoughts of suicide. She recounts how this revelation inspired their mental health advocacy organization, Bring Change To Mind, which is seeking to transform society’s negative perceptions of mental illness.

Writer and secular chaplain-in-training Laurel Braitman speaks at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

“Life is just one endless sushi conveyor belt of things that are going to test you and teach you at the same time,” says writer Laurel Braitman. Sharing the story of growing up as her dad battled cancer, she shares wisdom on why you can’t have joy without sorrow, bravery without fear.

Firefly scientist Wan Faridah Akmal Jusoh speaks at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

There are more than 2,000 firefly species that we know of, and they’re found on every continent except for Antarctica. Wan Faridah Akmal Jusoh explores the mysteries of these luminous beetles — which are an essential part of a healthy ecosystem — and details her quest to discover new firefly species and safeguard them as their habitats disappear.

Global troublemaker Gary Barker speaks at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

From childhood, boys have violent impulses imbued in them by a society that emphasizes independence at any cost. Unsurprisingly, most violent crimes are committed by men. Gary Barker shares ways to overcome violence by cultivating male empathy.

Trans youth advocate Reed J. Williams and photographer Lindsay Morris speak at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

After bringing her son to a summer camp for gender-nonconforming children, photographer Lindsay Morris launched a project to share the kids’ stories with the world. One of them, Reed J. Williams, is now a powerful advocate for transgender youth. Together, Morris and Williams reveal two sides to the LGBTQ+ experience — one as a mother, one as a trans woman — and offer poignant insight into the power of community.

Menopause emissary Maria E. Sophocles speaks at Session 3 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Erin Lubin / TED)

Gynecologist Maria E. Sophocles explains the science behind menopause — and its unsexy impacts in the bedroom. From estrogen to advocacy, she offers some solutions for women to bridge “the bedroom gap” and get back to comfortable, pleasurable sex.

TED’s head of conferences Monique Ruff Bell speaks at Session 2 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 12, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: TED)

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A world view: Talks from day 1 of TEDWomen 2023

TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters host Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

TEDWomen 2023 kicked off in its new home of Atlanta, Georgia with a moving and wide-ranging session of talks and performances about the future of global democracy, the pursuit of freedom in Russia and Ukraine, the path to recovery for survivors and more.

The event: Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023, hosted by TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, TED’s head of curation Helen Walters and activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur Maya Penn

When and where: Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Speakers: Yordanos Eyoel, Irina Karamanos Adrian, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Jane Ferguson, Dasha Navalnaya, Ava DuVernay, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Chris Anderson

The Merian Ensemble performs at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Music: Introduced by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Nathalie Stutzmann, chamber music group The Merian Ensemble open the week with an evocative and transporting performance of Nicole Chamberlain’s “Atalanta” for flute, oboe, bass clarinet, harp and viola.

Democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

It’s not news that democracy is under attack globally. In order to encourage new democracies (and protect established ones), we need more than robust institutions — we need grassroots action, says democracy entrepreneur Yordanos Eyoel, who explores innovative ways to nurture nascent pro-democracy groups wherever they’re threatened.

Former First Lady of Chile Irina Karamanos Adrian speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

As a feminist, Irina Karamanos Adrian was not thrilled to become Chile’s First Lady. She shares how she overturned the position’s institutionalized responsibilities in an effort to make them more transparent, asserting that it’s undemocratic for an unelected position to have such power.

Human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

How do we defend people’s freedom and dignity against authoritarianism, asks human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk. In the face of Russian troops occupying Ukraine, she emphasizes the extraordinary capabilities of ordinary people — and urges us all to stand together.

War reporter Jane Ferguson speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Women journalists shape the way the world sees wars, says war reporter Jane Ferguson. Illuminating the historic impact of female-led reporting, she highlights the perspective-broadening power of humanizing stories from war zones.

Corruption fighter Dasha Navalnaya speaks at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Dasha Navalnaya is the daughter of an important man: Alexey Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition and one of Vladimir Putin’s top critics. She shares the story of her father’s poisoning and imprisonment — and why Russians need your help to bring down Putin’s authoritarian regime.

TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell and writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay speak at Session 1 of TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In conversation with TEDWomen editorial director Pat Mitchell, writer, producer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay discusses how she turned Caste — Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning nonfiction analysis of race in the US — into Origin, a gripping narrative film exploring both the book’s thesis and the author’s life story.

Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver speaks at SESSION 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward. October 11-13, 2023, Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver shares how her organization, City of Hope, is modeling a new recovery program for women survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one that allows women to reclaim their bodies while developing skills to become future community leaders.

Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We’re well aware of how quickly hate and misinformation go viral. But in a one-of-a-kind preview of his upcoming book, head of TED Chris Anderson argues generosity can be infectious as well — creating powerful ripple effects that help us thrive.

Dance group Mahogany-N-Motion performs at Session 1 at TEDWomen 2023: Two Steps Forward on October 11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Closing performance: Mahogany-N-Motion, a student-run women’s dance group from Spelman College — a historically Black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia — close out the session with an energetic, drumline-infused performance that brought the TEDWomen crowd to its feet.

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Are men welcome at TEDWomen?

Jimmie Briggs speaks at TEDWomen 2021. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Many people hear TEDWomen and wonder: Are men welcome? The answer is an unequivocal “yes!” TEDWomen is a platform for progress, where we amplify ideas that build a better, more equitable future for all. It’s a space for all people — including men — to actively contribute to the global pursuit of equity.

Let’s explore the ways men are welcome at TEDWomen and break down the barriers that might prevent them from joining.

Attendees arrive at the welcome dinner at TEDWomen 2021. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

Why men should come to TEDWomen

TEDWomen fosters an environment of learning, collaboration and collective action that transcends gender barriers and empowers everyone to be part of the solutions. After all, we’re all in this together. Men actively contribute to our mission by leading and participating in workshop sessions, and of course, giving TED Talks. This year we’ll be hearing from Jay Bailey, Gary Barker, Charles M. Blow and more!

Seize opportunities to learn, grow and elevate your work 

TEDWomen is a unique environment for cross-collaboration and learning, where individuals from diverse backgrounds come together to share luminous new thinking, stories and ideas in ways that will enchant, uplift and inspire us all. Participants elevate their understanding of equity issues, so we can all break down barriers and practice dismantling unconscious biases. Our programming fosters a profound appreciation of the contributions of women, non-binary and trans individuals AND men who are building a more inclusive society.

Diversify your network 

TEDWomen helps you grow one of your most valuable assets: your professional network. By participating in our Discovery Sessions, networking receptions, dinners and exhibits, you’ll build deep connections with like-minded leaders, trail-blazers and catalysts across all industries. This is your opportunity to form new partnerships and collectively imagine different ways forward.  

Access a rich talent pool of visionaries 

Looking for your next board member, cofounder or c-suite executive? TEDWomen attendees have remarkable resumes and an impressive commitment to making a positive impact on the world. Half of all attendees hold senior executive positions such as CEO, CTO, CMO, president, founder, partner, chairperson and more. 

Strategize around your role in the fight for equity 

TEDWomen is all about building a better, more equitable future for all. As a result, the conference attracts individuals with a deep commitment to social impact and equity. Men who choose to align with this mission elevate their influence in the world by gaining insights from diverse perspectives and experiences. They can walk away as effective advocates for change.

Have a kickass time 

Prepare for way more than just mind-blowing TED Talks! You’re in for a dazzling celebration of the complicated, messy, rich reality of humanity. From dynamic networking breaks to captivating musical performances and unexpected surprises, we’re packing every moment with excitement. Join us for an unforgettable experience filled with inspiration, deep connection, transcendent joy and delight. 

Audience members chat between sessions at TEDWomen 2019. (Photo: Stacie McChesney / TED)

So, are men welcome at TEDWomen? 

YES! The notion that TEDWomen is exclusively for women is a common misconception — one you can help to change. 

Men have a critical role to play in the quest for a more equitable future. If you’re a man who sees himself at the TEDWomen conference, ready to work toward new models of equity and help build a brighter future for all, apply now

TEDWomen will take place in Atlanta, GA on October 11-13, 2023 at the Woodruff Arts Center. Join a welcoming community dedicated to fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment to inspire positive action and drive meaningful change for all.

Apply for TEDWomen today!

Attendees enjoy the welcome dinner at TEDWomen 2019. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)

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Momentum: Notes from Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

Journalist Orlando P. Bailey hosts Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

TED Countdown Summit 2023 concluded with a wide-ranging session featuring eight inspiring takes from around the world on how to ensure a fast, fair transition to a clean energy future.

The event: Talks from Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s David Biello and Lindsay Levin with journalist Orlando P. Bailey.

When and where: Friday, July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Kala Constantino, Rebecca Collyer, Rich Powell, Zainab Usman, Amir Nizar Zuabi, Sims Witherspoon, Ramón Méndez Galain, Mike Posner

Clean energy advocate Kala Constantino speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

There’s a green energy wave swelling in the Philippines. Kala Constantino, director of the ecology advocacy group Tara Climate Foundation introduces us to a cross-section of the actors working to build a grid for cheap and clean renewable power throughout Asia. Electricity consumers in the Philippines pay one of the highest bills in Southeast Asia due to imported fossil fuels. Yet, as an island nation, the country also loses hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the impacts of climate disasters aggravated by carbon emissions. Activists have already encouraged the government to set aside funds for renewables and slow down the construction of coal-fired plants. With their help, Constantino hopes to see the Philippines become energy independent through solar and wind power, which will not only reduce electricity costs but also create jobs in a new, profitable sector.

Renewable energy strategist Rebecca Collyer and TED’s David Biello speak at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Rebecca Collyer is the executive director of 2023 Audacious Project grantee ReNew2030, a global coalition to scale the use of wind and solar energy. In conversation with TED science curator David Biello, Collyer explores how to ensure the transition to renewable energy is fast and fair — a crucial task, as the power sector produces more carbon emissions than any other sector in the world. She shows how, by mobilizing governments, businesses and local communities around the world, ReNew2030 aims to scale wind and solar power capacity by 2030 and set the world up for a climate-secure future — all while creating local jobs and clean air.

Climate innovation leader Rich Powell speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

We’ve all heard of the dangers of NIMBY-ism (“not in my backyard”). Climate innovation leader Rich Powell takes it a step further, saying that the true barrier to immediate implementation of clean energy projects is BANANA-ism: “build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything.” This means that critical infrastructure like windmills, nuclear plants and flexible power grids can get bogged down for years in the permitting process — or killed by wealthy lobbyists seeking to keep wind farms or solar panels away from their property. Powell believes that the quickest way to solve our clean energy crisis is to remove these barriers, while keeping environmental protections like the Clean Water Act. If voters and regulators can find common ground, then he says we’ll be well on our way toward replacing our existing power grid with one focused on renewables.

Political economist Zainab Usman speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Solving the climate crisis requires collective action on a global scale, but today’s economy is becoming fractured between four regions: the US, China, Europe and the rest of the world. Political economist Zainab Usman says the solution lies with policymakers, business leaders and activists. Working together worldwide, they can distribute low-carbon technology globally; prioritize consumer welfare to make green tech more accessible; and set global standards to govern the sourcing of strategic, nonrenewable materials (such as the minerals in solar panels and other green products). With these goals, Usman says, we don’t have to live out the divided, dystopian future predicted by George Orwell and other such writers long before.

Theater writer and director Amir Nizar Zuabi speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Tapping into the power of theater and its ability to turn pressing issues into human stories that spark hope, theater director and playwright Amir Nizar Zuabi shares the journey of Little Amal — a 10-year-old refugee girl (who is actually a 13-foot puppet) that went on an epic, 5,000-mile migration across eight countries in a globe-trotting art piece called “The Walk.” She embodied the broken global refugee system that has left so many people vulnerable and displaced. Inspired by the impact Little Amal had on the communities she passed through, Zuabi unveils for the first time his next piece: “The Herds,” a massive migration of animal puppets that will start in West Africa and end in Norway, set to begin their travels in 2025. Evolving as they move, the herds will take on new species native to each country they encounter, raising awareness about climate change and the threat it poses to animals and humans alike in a devastating, powerful and beautiful way.

Applied AI climate scientist Sims Witherspoon speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Sims Witherspoon wants to use artificial intelligence to tackle climate change. When building a sustainable future, she believes AI can help us better understand the impact of climate change on Earth’s ecosystems, accelerate the breakthrough science we need to create a carbon-free energy supply and speed up the transition to renewable energy sources. Witherspoon explains how she and her team recently partnered with Google to develop an AI that accurately predicts wind availability on one of Google’s wind farms. They trained a neural net on weather forecasts and Google’s historical turbine data and then deployed it on the wind farm to test its accuracy. Their AI ultimately performed 20 percent better than Google’s existing system, and Google has since decided to scale the technology — a win for the company and the planet.

Just energy transition leader Ramón Méndez Galain speaks at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Fifteen years ago, Uruguay was experiencing an energy crisis; today, the tiny nation produces 98 percent of its electricity from renewable sources — and even exports extra energy to countries like Argentina and Brazil. Former particle physicist Ramón Méndez Galain charted the country’s transition to renewables as head of the country’s National Energy Agency. He shares how they achieved energy stability with widespread political support by shifting away from fossil fuels toward clean energy sources like wind, solar and sustainable biomass made from rice hulls, bagasse and pulp. Uruguay also developed technologies to predict the availability of intermittent sources, like wind and solar, to determine which energy sources to rely on and when. Although the transition required massive effort, coordination and innovation, the country can now depend on a stable, sustainable and, yes, profitable energy sector.

Singer/songwriter and producer Mike Posner performs at Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Singer-songwriter Mike Posner performs two hit songs, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” and “Could You Do the Same,” and delivers an inspiring talk about how he walked nearly 3,000 miles across the United States. A lot happened along the way, he says — including a life-threatening rattlesnake bite — but the journey left him with five crucial life lessons and a sense of deep, true happiness.

The TED control room during  Session 7 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

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Community: Notes from Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s Logan McClure Davda and Lindsay Levin host Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From innovative technologies upgrading our buildings to age-old Aboriginal wisdom on fire management and more, the five speakers of Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit 2023 offered transformative insights on how we can redefine our relationships to both our stuff and the world, with a focus on sustainability and resilience.

The event: Talks from Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Logan McClure Davda and Lindsay Levin

When and where: Friday, July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Josephine Philips, Aruna Rangachar Pohl, Oral McGuire, Donnel Baird, Gopal D. Patel

Sustainable fashion entrepreneur Josephine Philips speaks at Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

The fashion industry emits more carbon than travel from all airlines worldwide, combined. And all those clothes we toss in the charity box to make room for new ones? Many end up in landfills in Ghana or buried in a pile in the Atacama Desert so big astronauts can see it from space. To make fashion more sustainable, Josephine Philips says we need to buy less and value more the clothes we already own. When a shirt is torn, we should repair it, not toss it. Before giving away that old sweater, we should recall every experience we’ve had while wearing it, plus the time, labor and resources that went into making it — from the field that grew its cotton to the hands that stitched it together. When we value things correctly, she reminds us, we’re less wasteful, which reduces our negative impact on the planet.

Sustainable development leader Aruna Rangachar Pohl speaks at Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Sustainable development leader Aruna Rangachar Pohl takes us on the long journey of one of India’s most beloved snacks: biscuits — revealing how the production of these treats and other highly processed goods that rely on industrial farming are hurting the planet and our health. Armed with a vision to rejuvenate productive landscapes in India equitably and sustainably, Rangachar Pohl established the India Foundation for Humanistic Development, and she shares stories of small-scale farmers in their incubator who are joining forces, acting as shareholders and purchasing resources in bulk together. Training farmers to adopt natural practices and calculate their carbon sequestration with a focus on revenue, Rangachar Pohl shows how green production really pays off. By creating a climate-resilient agricultural sector where people’s rights are protected, farming can mean a greener, tastier and healthier future for everyone.

Fire practitioner Oral McGuire speaks at Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

“I acknowledge fire as a friend, as a part of my being and my spirit,” says Oral McGuire, a fire practitioner and member of the Mangarda Balladong Nyungar First Nations in southwestern Australia. A professional firefighter for 18 years, McGuire acknowledges the threat uncontrolled fire can pose to our natural environment. Connecting Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and practices, he shares the importance of applying the right kind of fire in a sacred practice known as “kaarl-ngariny,” to maintain the health and balance of the land. By protecting and preserving nature through proper fire management, McGuire says can heal the spirit of the land and promote biodiversity at the same time.

Energy upgrader Donnel Baird speaks at Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Powering the United States’s 125 million buildings accounts for 30 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. To make matters worse, older ovens, furnaces and hot water heaters have been found to leak benzene, methane and nitrogen dioxide into homes, threatening the health of those inside. Energy upgrader Donnel Baird aims to solve this problem by moving buildings off of fossil fuels and onto renewably sourced electric power. His company BlocPower has trained thousands of people to install tech like solar panels, electric induction ovens and heat pumps. The company also works with financing to plan electrification costs into a home’s mortgage in an effort to make it more affordable, and with data accessibility so homeowners can understand the electrification plan they need.

Environmental activist and campaigner Gopal D. Patel speaks at Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

To tackle the climate crisis, we’ll need to keep building resiliency and momentum. Gopal D. Patel is here with some good news: there’s already a time-tested, millennia-old framework to do just that. As cochair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council, Patel mobilizes faith communities for environmental advocacy and action around the world. He explains how the ideas and wisdom of faith traditions can apply to the climate movement, namely in three areas: nourishing and uplifting community; finding rituals and tradition that give a sense of belonging; and working with purposeful action. You don’t have to be religious to take advantage of these learnings, Patel says: they’re guides for anyone looking to advance climate action with a sense of renewed purpose and intention.

The attendee town hall during Session 6 of TED Countdown Summit on July 14, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

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Renewal: Notes from Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s Logan McClure Davda and journalist Orlando P. Bailey host Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

For Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, seven speakers underscored the urgency for collective action, highlighting the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events; insights on the electric vehicle revolution; the interconnectedness of deforestation, pandemics and climate change; the crucial role of leadership in climate justice and more.

The event: Talks from Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Logan McClure Davda and journalist Orlando P. Bailey

When and where: Thursday, July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Al Roker, Cynthia Williams, Neil Vora, Ludmila Rattis, Louise Mabulo, David Lammy, Justin J. Pearson

Performing artist Tunde Olaniran performs at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Music: Multidisciplinary artist, musician, creative producer and Flint, Michigan native Tunde Olaniran explores themes of identity, injustice and empowerment across the worlds of music, dance, film, literature and performance art. Joined on the TED Countdown stage by four incredible dancers, Olaniran smolders through a set of songs powered by experimental electronic beats.

Environmentalist and weatherman Al Roker speaks at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Al Roker is known as “America’s weatherman,” and he’s been in the weather business for a long time, reporting live from some of recent history’s worst storms and natural disasters. All this has made one thing abundantly clear to him: extreme weather is increasing in frequency and severity, and the consequences will be devastating. Offering a comprehensive overview of the knock-on effects of extreme weather, Roker encourages all of us to take small collective actions and unite in our efforts to address climate change in order to create a more sustainable, hopeful future for all.

Sustainability executive Cynthia Williams speaks at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Cynthia Williams‘s family has long worked in the auto industry — her grandfather started with General Motors during the 1940s boom, followed by her father a generation later along with nearly all her uncles. They witnessed a total transformation in the era of transportation, and today, as a sustainability executive for Ford, Williams is seeing another: the electric vehicle revolution. She explains how the car industry is already advancing towards a sustainable future by building new carbon-neutral manufacturing plants and training hundreds of thousands of workers. They’re also investing in supportive infrastructure (making sure EV charging stations are as plentiful and convenient as gas stations) and developing products that consumers want. Electric vehicles are sustainable, says Williams; they should be desirable, too.

Disease detective and conservationist Neil Vora speaks at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

The first rule of physicians is to do no harm — and that extends to trees, says actor and activist Rainn Wilson as he introduces Neil Vora, who leads pandemic prevention at Conservation International. Having worked at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more than a decade previously, Vora shares his unique journey of transitioning from treating patients to protecting forests and the species in them. Highlighting the importance of preventing pandemics (not just reacting to them), Vora exposes three crucial ways deforestation impacts human health: (1) Animals living alongside humans are more likely to carry germs that can infect us; (2) When people move into deforested areas, there is more exposure to new viruses; (3) And animals are more likely to spread illness when their homes are threatened. “We have solutions to address deforestation. And if we implement them wisely, we can prevent outbreaks and mitigate climate change,” Vora says.

Ecologist Ludmila Rattis speaks at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Ecologist Ludmila Rattis reveals the surprisingly fruitful benefits of letting nature take care of business, sharing how the digestive habits of tapirs in Amazonia spread seeds throughout the region, regenerating the forest. As tapirs walk, they eat fruit, slowly digest them and then poop, transporting the fruit seeds to new land. In a single tapir dropping, Rattis’s lab found an average of 733 seeds belonging to up to 24 different species. Creatures like dung beetles help reduce the competition in this concentrated pile of life — spreading the seeds as they roll, tunnel and bury the poop — and show how the somewhat undignified parts of nature are intertwined with our planet’s future more than we realize.

Farmer, chef and entrepreneur Ludmila Rattis speaks at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Louise Mabulo grew up on seemingly strange advice from her parents and grandparents about planting toward a full moon or burying a rock under root crops for a better yield. While others tended to regard her family’s beliefs as superstitious, Mabulo has since discovered the profound wisdom in them. She works in restorative agroforestry, and through her initiative, The Cacao Project, which works to build sustainable and climate-resilient livelihoods for farmers, she’s seen even the most bizarre stories proven true. Crops planted during a full moon do bear more fruit; root crops do thrive when planted with rocks because rocks keep the soil loose enough for air pockets to form and encourage growth. Invisible knowledge, Mabulo says, might hold the key to helping us adapt our ecosystems to a changing climate. It also affirms our spiritual and cultural connection with nature and our place in it.

Tennessee state representative Justin J. Pearson and Member of Parliament in the UK David Lammy speak at Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

In a wide-ranging and inspirational interview, Tennessee state representative Justin J. Pearson and British MP David Lammy discuss the pressing issue of climate justice and the nuances of leadership within the movement. Pearson shares his journey in the movement that began with a fight against a pipeline project in Memphis, Tennessee, emphasizing the significance of empowering the most affected communities and acknowledging the interconnectedness of different social issues. Lammy explains the need for a collective focus on large-scale issues and the role of climate justice as a unifying objective that transcends identity politics. They collectively emphasize the necessity for unifying and authentic leadership — and the need to hold powerful nations accountable for environmental action.

Session 5 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Magnitude: Notes from Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s Lindsay Levin and systems innovator Ryan Panchadsaram host Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

To rise to the challenge of climate change, we need big, bold, gigaton-scale solutions. Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit 2023 focused on the clean technologies that need to scale fast — and made space for ideas on radical climate leadership, the use of art for environmental activism and the push for climate-friendly alternatives to the world’s most-consumed foods.

The event: Talks from Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Lindsay Levin and systems innovator Ryan Panchadsaram

When and where: Thursday, July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Olivia Breese, Jim Snabe, John O’Donnell, Isabella Kirkland, Marcelo Mena, Jim Whitaker, Jessica Whitaker Allen, Tao Zhang

Energy innovator Olivia Breese speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Energy innovator Olivia Breese imagines a “love story” between green electrons and water molecules, the result of which is a molecule that can store and release energy without emitting carbon dioxide — a flexible and vastly more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Similar to how wind energy has scaled up to become affordable and efficient, Breese calls for global investment in green molecule production. “A world which runs entirely on green energy, it’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity,” she says.

Jim Snabe, chairman of Siemens and Northvolt, speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Throughout his career, Jim Snabe has helped lead companies working to accelerate decarbonization. Now, he’s also serving as Vision Council chair for the TED Future Forum (TFF), a new initiative focused on the role of business in advancing solutions to the climate crisis. He outlines TFF’s plans to be a catalyst and community for companies committed to stepping up with greater climate ambition, issuing an invitation for anyone interested in joining the massive, collaborative effort to transform the global economy. “If we want to avoid a climate disaster, we need much more radical leadership,” he says.

Energy entrepreneur John O’Donnell speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Electrified industrial heat is the next trillion-dollar market, but manufacturing needs constant heat, requiring a way to store energy when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Engineer John O’Donnell offers a solution: his company, Rondo, produces heat batteries consisting of thousands of bricks stacked in a grid, heated with renewable energy. When heated, a brick can store as much energy as a lithium battery per pound, but costs less and lasts longer. O’Donnell proposes that this “boring” (his word) but effective system could scale fast, helping to green industrial processes worldwide.

Artist Isabella Kirkland speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Investigating humanity’s relationship to nature, artist Isabella Kirkland paints species that once lived along the Hudson River in her work “Palisades,” showcasing the profound beauty and rarity of the diverse life that once inhabited our planet — and advocating for the conservation of that which is still here. “I think of my paintings as alarm clocks,” she says. “They’re reminders of what’s at stake; the only problem is we keep pushing the snooze button.” Using art as both a poignant record of loss (like her painting “Gone,” which depicts extinct flowers, fish and snails) and discovery (like her painting “Canopy,” which shows mosses, insects and tiny orchids all new to Western science), Kirkland highlights the danger that wildlife trade poses to nature. Creation is her form of activism, and she uses it to celebrate and advocate for all living creatures that were, are and will be, inviting us all to do the same.

Biochemical engineer Marcelo Mena speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Deadly and polluting methane that forms in massive landfills in places like Ghazipur, India, or Santiago, Chile, often causes fires — and heatwaves are only making the issue worse. Reducing these emissions is the most efficient way to lower Earth’s temperature within our lifetime, says biochemical engineer Marcelo Mena. But time is running out and this harmful gas needs to be cut in half by 2050 in order to effectively combat global warming. Working in more than 10 cities, Mena’s team created the Waste MAP (Methane Assessment Platform), which uses satellite information to pinpoint pollution sources ranging from organic waste, food production and enteric fermentation (a fancy way to say cow farts). Mena also introduces the enteric fermentation R&D accelerator: an ambitious, 200-million-dollar research effort to reign in livestock emissions and point the way toward a cleaner, safer future for everyone.

Conservation coordinator Jessica Whitaker Allen and sustainability advocate Jim Whitaker speak at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Rice is the world’s most consumed food source — and it accounts for 10 percent of the world’s methane emissions. Jim Whitaker (a fifth-generation rice farmer) and his daughter Jessica Whitaker Allen (a builder of conservation solutions) are seeking to grow sustainability awareness within the agricultural communities where they live in southeast Arkansas. Together, they’ve defined farming protocols that could slash rice’s environmental impacts, cutting water use, methane production and the need for fertilizer. While her dad works literally on the ground to refine irrigation methods, Jessica (a waterfowl conservationist by day) pursues funding to spread green practices — and SmartRice, a sustainable grain hybrid — first to their neighbors and, eventually, to the rest of the world. While it’s not easy to convince struggling farmers to invest in new methods, Jim and Jessica make strong arguments that the best way to preserve a farm’s bottom line is to preserve its land for future generations.

Impact investor Tao Zhang speaks at Session 4 of TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

A Chinese saying goes: “There is no pleasure in eating without meat.” Every year, China consumes 26 percent of the world’s meat, 43 percent of its pork and 45 percent of its seafood. But unlike other major meat-eating countries like the United States, China has yet to embrace more climate-friendly alternative proteins because, as Tao Zhang explains, consumers there regard mock meat as a cheap, unhealthy and flavorless substitute. Since the world can’t solve climate change without China, Zhang sees swaying Chinese eaters towards these new proteins as a climate-positive business opportunity. He discusses the potential impact of investing in food innovation in China, emphasizing why more research and development are needed to create, market and distribute tasty, affordable, regionally appropriate and meat-free proteins.

The attendee town hall at Session 4 of the TED Countdown Summit on July 13, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Dilemmas: Notes from Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s David Biello and Lindsay Levin host Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit 2023 tackled some of the knottier issues related to climate change — from the massive amount of money needed to finance the global green transition, to the struggle for energy access in developing nations and the ecosystem effects of fast fashion — and offered glimpses of the world-changing solutions already underway to lead us into a clean, prosperous future for all.

The event: Talks from Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Lindsay Levin and David Biello

When and where: Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Nili Gilbert, David Blood, Avinash Persaud, Tombo Banda, Steve Presley, Amy Powney, Payton M. Wilkins, Xiaojun “Tom” Wang

Sustainable investing leader David Blood and investment decarbonization expert Nili Gilbert speak at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

How much money is required to decarbonize the world? Sustainable investment experts Nili Gilbert and David Blood provide both macro and on-the-ground perspectives on the kinds of finance flowing to climate solutions. While some progress has been made, hard-to-abate sectors and the Global South are still being left out of solutions. The good news? There’s certainly enough capital; there are no legal barriers to allocating capital to sustainable solutions; there are amazing entrepreneurs and business people doing the work; and public policy is on the move (like the Inflation Reduction Act in the US). The key is to get money moving to the right places and, as Gilbert says, to see this moment for what it is: a massive, multigenerational opportunity for sustainable growth — greater in scale than the Industrial Revolution and on pace to transform the world in less than 30 years.

Economist and professor Avinash Persaud speak at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

After Hurricane Maria decimated Dominica in 2017, the country declared its intention to become the first climate-resilient nation in the world. But as they sought to organize their response to future climate disasters, economist Avinash Persaud says, they quickly realized that the only real solution was to halt climate change entirely. For the developing world, the path to a greener, more sustainable future looks different than for wealthier countries. Developing nations can’t ban emissions, tax carbon or shift to renewables without hurting their growing economies and leaving large portions of their workforce unemployed. Persaud introduces the Bridgetown Initiative, a proposal to finance the green transformation of global systems, as a solution. Beginning with reducing barriers to private investment in green technologies in developing nations, the initiative also calls for more generous lending policies for resilience investments and a revenue stream created by taxing emissions from the shipping industry.

Energy access innovator Tombo Banda speak at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

When electricity arrived in Zomba, Malawi in 1994, energy access innovator Tombo Banda says it brought her village significant changes to the health, comfort and happiness of its residents. But the reality is that 500 million people still lack access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on highly polluting materials like diesel and firewood. How do we get more people access to clean electrification quickly? Enter mini-grids, or localized renewable energy systems. By making the mini-grid business model more profitable, these systems can become more scalable — and enticing for private investors. Innovative approaches like using less expensive batteries and appliance financing to increase revenues can also accelerate electrification, Banda says, ultimately making electricity more accessible — and creating better lives for millions of people.

Nestlé North America CEO Steve Presley speaks at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

In conversation with TED’s Lindsay Levin, Nestlé North America CEO Steve Presley discusses how one of the world’s largest food companies aims to reach net zero by 2050. Their efforts include sourcing ingredients from regenerative farming, improving packaging to contain less plastic, powering manufacturing with renewable energy and offering financial incentives to local farmers who use sustainable practices. Presley shares where Nestlé has made progress and where it’s still investing for change, encouraging transformation at every step of the food production process.

Fashion designer Amy Powney speaks at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Fashion designer Amy Powney designs for sustainability first, ensuring all aspects of the clothing made by Mother of Pearl, where she is creative director, are environmentally friendly and ethically produced. That ethos stands in contrast to the fast fashion garments that are often produced by underpaid workers with materials sourced from fossil fuels, endangered forests or plastics. She delves into the problems surrounding our pursuit of cheap clothing, from health and pollution to landfills that are visible from space, calling for everyone to reconsider the value of each item of clothing they own, its connection to the Earth and the lives touched by its creation.

Environmental justice advocate Payton M. Wilkins speaks at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Shutting down the fossil fuel industry means cleaner air and healthier citizens in the long term. But in the short term, it also means fewer jobs and shrinking livelihoods. While green jobs could, in time, supply a needed paycheck, the immediate impacts of closing a mine or refinery are devastating. We can protect both workers and the environment with an age-old solution: unions. As union leader and environmental justice advocate Payton Wilkins tells it, the multi-generational, multi-ethnic and multi-gender trade union movement could become a formidable force in the fight against climate change — and in places like Denmark, where unions spearhead the ascendance of clean energy, they already are. By showing workers that environmental justice and workplace equity are not mutually exclusive, Wilkins hopes to lead US unions to the front lines of the fight against climate change.

Hiker, biker and storyteller Xiaojun “Tom” Wang speaks at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Xiaojun “Tom” Wang grew up in the Chinese province of Shanxi, the world’s largest coal producer. Each year, more than a billion tons of coal are dug out from underneath Shanxi’s mountains, helping heat and power at least 24 other provinces in China. Wang narrates the devastating impacts of coal mining — accidents in coal mines, massive landslides, damage to cultural sites — and calls for Beijing to ease the pressure on Shanxi’s coal industry. Shanxi needs support in breaking free from its coal addiction, he says, not only to transition to a clean economy, but also to protect its rich cultural heritage.

Attendees applaud at Session 3 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

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Lessons: Notes from Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

TED’s Lindsay Levin and MP David Lammy host Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

What lessons are already available to us as we tackle climate change? For Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, science, solutions and the role of industry in stemming the threat of the climate emergency took center stage.

The event: Talks from Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Lindsay Levin and David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England and Shadow Foreign Secretary

When and where: Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Jonathan Foley, Emma Nehrenheim, Cedrik Neike, Susan Lozier, Morten Bo Christiansen, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Mike Duggan, Laprisha Berry Daniels

Climate solutions scientist Jonathan Foley speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

To solve climate change, the International Monetary Fund estimates that the global community needs to invest between three and six trillion dollars annually in climate solutions. Where should that money go and which projects should we fund? Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, uses a science-based framework to outline a plan for investing with maximum impact. First, we need to prioritize immediate actions with cumulative benefits, like stopping deforestation and cutting methane leaks. Next, we should focus our spending on cutting carbon emissions now over investing in distant high-tech solutions. Third, we must prioritize geographical hotspots with an outsized effect on climate change, like the Amazon rainforest or high-emission factories. And finally, we should invest in solutions that benefit people’s well-being, promote food security and increase access to clean water and sanitation.

Battery recycler Emma Nehrenheim speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Batteries will be fundamental to powering a sustainable world — but only if we don’t repeat the same mistakes of past industrialization, says battery recycler Emma Nehrenheim. She outlines the environmentally intensive impact of battery production — particularly from the extraction of minerals for lithium-ion batteries, which provide energy for electric vehicles and other key aspects of life — and proposes a shift towards a circular battery economy that uses and reuses already existing materials, vastly reducing the industry’s carbon footprint and need for mineral extraction.

Sustainable business leader Cedrik Neike speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We are running out of time to save our planet from climate change — and the metaverse can help. Using virtual tools like AI to cheat time in the real world, Cedrik Neike explains how “digital twin technology” (think simulated giga factories that are one-for-one digital copies of real ones) can help solve real-world problems more efficiently by providing a digital space to test solutions, without pollution. Using the example of virtually ideating the production of safer and faster-charging batteries and then bringing those learnings to the physical world, Neike points to the potential of industrial metaverses to revolutionize industries and redesign entire cities — from transportation, agriculture and housing — addressing massive challenges and avoiding the creation of excess waste at the same time.

Oceanographer Susan Lozier speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Oceanographer Susan Lozier dives into the importance of the ocean’s natural circulation, which overturns water in a way that naturally captures carbon and regulates global temperatures. She shares the incredible research being done internationally to track changes in this overturn, as warming global temperatures could slow the circulation, lessen carbon uptake and increase the rate of climate-related disasters. While a collapse in this age-old system isn’t likely until 2100, Lozier warns of the dangers faced by future generations if we don’t change course now, calling for climate action to lower temperatures within the next 10 years.

SVP of A.P. Moller – Maersk Morten Bo Christiansen and TED’s Lindsay Levin speak at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

As leader of the decarbonization team for A.P. Moller – Maersk, Morten Bo Christiansen is drawing an organizational roadmap to net zero that could help transform the global shipping industry. In conversation with TED’s Lindsay Levin, Christiansen shares his company’s ambitious goal to decarbonize their heavy-emitting business by 2040, highlighting how they’ve started implementing solutions like using green methanol as fuel in their container ships and deploying electric trucks in the US. He also points out the challenges in scaling green fuel production, price issues due to the high cost of green fuels and the need for collaborations across the value chain to manage these obstacles. Despite these challenges, Christiansen remains optimistic, making the case that the added cost to consumers for using green shipping methods is far outweighed by the urgently needed environmental benefits.

Shipping decarbonizer Bo Cerup-Simonsen speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In conversation with TED’s Lindsay Levin, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, discusses the essential role of their center in orchestrating systemic, global collaboration to tackle large-scale environmental challenges. Discussing the center’s origins, purpose and the strides it’s made in technological, commercial and regulatory spaces, Cerup-Simonsen highlights the push towards green alternatives, like green methanol and ammonia, in global shipping. Through tangible initiatives like “green corridors,” which enable end-to-end zero-carbon shipping between selected ports, they’re fostering cross-industry collaboration to accelerate the green transition and sharing lessons learned in combating the uncertainty hindering decisive action from companies and nations.

Mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Mike Duggan is serving his third term as mayor of Detroit, and he’s dead set on building the city’s climate responsiveness. His proposal is a unique one: to transform blighted, vacant lots into solar farms throughout the city. He describes how, with the buy-in of Detroiters themselves, he plans to start building these farms in different neighborhoods with the aim of powering all of Detroit’s municipal buildings and cleaning up dilapidated, vacant land from the city’s manufacturing past.

Public health social worker Laprisha Berry Daniels speaks at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Nick Hagen / TED)

Like many cities, Detroit is already feeling the effects of climate change. In the past 10 years, two major floods have cost the city more than a billion dollars in damages. The challenge of climate change may be daunting, but human beings have moved from place to place and adapted to changes in climate (both environmental and social) throughout history. For inspiration, public health social worker Laprisha Berry Daniels mines the survival strategies her grandparents learned after leaving the Jim Crow South to settle in Detroit. The climate crisis may be unprecedented, but Daniels says we can still prepare for it by embracing the lessons of the past. First, we must accept the reality of climate change and prepare for it. Second, we should embrace the power of mutual aid. Lastly, we should empower communities to adapt through community-led planning.

SVP of A.P. Moller – Maersk Morten Bo Christiansen and TED’s Lindsay Levin speak at Session 2 of TED Countdown Summit on July 12, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED )

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Compass: Notes from Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit 2023

Journalist Orlando P. Bailey and TED’s Lindsay Levin and David Biello speak at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

TED Countdown Summit 2023 kicked off in Detroit, Michigan, with a wide-ranging, solution-filled session of TED Talks and performances meant to inspire action on the world’s toughest challenge: climate change. Over the course of four days, the Summit seeks to change the conversation on climate change and tell a new, true story about how a bright, clean, just, environmentally bountiful world isn’t just possible — it’s already here.

The event: Talks from Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit 2023, hosted by TED’s Lindsay Levin and David Biello with journalist Orlando P. Bailey

When and where: Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan

Speakers: Simon Stiell, Julio Friedmann, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Changhua Wu, Paul Hawken, Anika Goss, Al Gore, Maxim Timchenko

The Detroit Youth Choir performs at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Music: Detroit Youth Choir rocked the house with an energetic performance of “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” by Panic! At The Disco and “Believer” by Imagine Dragons, putting their creative skills and talents on full display.

Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Transformational climate action is closer than we think, says Simon Stiell, who leads the UNFCCC — the UN’s entity supporting the global response to climate change. Drawing a parallel to the meteoric growth of text messaging in the 1990s and 2000s, Stiell outlines why climate action is set up to transition from a linear to exponential pace — so long as each of us applies our particular skill sets to push the world towards its “green tipping points.” “If you act, the exponential change that is needed will happen,” he says.

Scientist, writer and carbon wrangler Julio Friedmann speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

How do we meet the energy needs of 10 billion people — sustainably and affordably? According to carbon removal expert Julio Friedmann, there are three key ingredients to cooking up a bright, clean future for everyone: infrastructure (think: transmission lines, roads and seaports) to make energy accessible; globally aligned (and actually affordable) innovation, like turning electricity into fuel; and more systemic, multi-tiered investment strategies on a global level. “Collective action, building together, is what makes the difficult possible and nourishes the soul through mission and purpose,” he says.

Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy Asmeret Asefaw Berhe speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

The Biden Administration has set the ambitious goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. But the US still gets 80 percent of its energy from fossil fuels. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s famous “moonshot” speech in 1962, the Biden Administration is now funding “Earthshots” to accelerate breakthroughs in abundant, affordable and reliable clean energy solutions. If the US is going to meet its climate goals, slashing emissions isn’t enough, says soil scientist and national science leader Asmeret Asefaw Berhe. That’s why her team at the Department of Energy is working to employ new technologies, inspired by organic carbon-capture, to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

Policy analyst Changhua Wu speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Policy analyst Changhua Wu says that today China is undergoing a green revolution. The country has accelerated electric vehicle adoption, increased usage of solar and other renewables (with the goal of producing one kilowatt of solar energy per capita by 2030) and is promoting a circular economy that recycles raw materials to enable sustainable growth. To avoid climate catastrophe, Wu says, the US should moderate its foreign policy and learn from China’s efforts to promote sustainability on a massive scale.

Environmentalist Hong Hoang’s TED Idea Search: Southeast Asia submission video plays at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Activists are leading the charge into a sustainable future, but their work is never easy and rarely fully appreciated. After being invited to speak at TED Countdown Summit, environmental activist Hong Hoang (a winner of TED Idea Search: Southeast Asia 2022) was detained in her native Vietnam for her efforts to call global attention to Vietnam’s environmental abuses. Before a moment of silence in her honor, TED shared Hoang’s Idea Search submission video, where she emphasized the need her create climate activism in politically challenging contexts.

Environmentalist and author Paul Hawken speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We pay plenty of attention to the role industry plays in the destruction of our ecosystems and in the emission of greenhouse gasses. But what about the role of industrial agriculture? According to environmentalist Paul Hawken, industrial agriculture (the “fossil food industry,” as he calls it) is the world’s biggest culprit in environmental degradation. Modern factory farms reduce the nutritional content of soil, encourage erosion, ooze toxic runoff and kill off microbial fungi that naturally sequester carbon. Hawken paints a picture of a transition to regenerative agriculture: farming that embraces ancient techniques to renew the soil and insure fertility for generations. He explains how it would create farms that soak up more water, nurture healthier crops and recreate habitats for indigenous species — restoring biodiversity and mitigating the worst impacts of climate change.

City visionary Anika Goss speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Climate change tests the social and economic fabric of cities like Detroit with rising temperatures that stretch power grids and “500-year” floods that leave mold and destruction in their wake. City visionary Anika Goss says financial stability is critical for Detroit’s survival in the face of the mounting climate crisis, and that the city must rebuild resilience in order to protect its citizens, who are overwhelmingly people of color already facing social inequity. By fostering entrepreneurship, restoring infrastructure and reviving abandoned urban spaces, she believes Detroit can overcome the unique challenges posed by the collapse of its manufacturing sector, creating thriving neighborhoods that embrace justice, sustainability and social connectivity.

Nobel Laureate, climate advocate and TED legend Al Gore speaks at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Fossil fuel companies claim to be in favor of climate-friendly solutions, but do their efforts have any real impact? Nobel Laureate and climate advocate Al Gore returns to the TED Countdown stage to break down the data proving that the greed of fossil fuel executives has thwarted their attempts to support climate action. He reveals two obstacles to lowering global emissions — namely, how oil and gas companies deliberately slow down global efforts to move capital away from fossil fuels, and the ineffectiveness of carbon capture technology — and reminds everyone that “the will to act is itself a renewable resource.”

Ukrainian energy executive Maxim Timchenko shares how DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, has diversified the country’s power structures to survive Russian attacks, highlighting the resilience of renewable energy (such as wind turbines, which are a smaller, more difficult target for bombers). He outlines how they’ve expanded renewable energy production throughout the war with Russia, becoming a testing ground in the global fight against climate change and the future of energy independence.

Attendees at Session 1 of TED Countdown Summit on July 11, 2023, at the Fillmore Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot delivers powerful message to Vladimir Putin at TED2023

In an electric talk at Session 4 of TED2023, Pussy Riot founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova delivered a powerful message to Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding his war in Ukraine: “You have already lost. You know it … The world is with Ukraine.”

Courage is contagious, and it’s a strength we all have inside us,” Tolokonnikova says. In 2011, she cofounded the Russian protest and performance art group Pussy Riot in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s oppressive regime. After a string of protests and arrests, she and her fellow members were sentenced to two years in prison for their “Punk Prayer,” performed in a central Moscow cathedral. She was 22 years old at the time, wondering, “Can one person change the world? … Am I going to be able to achieve my dreams, or am I inevitably going to be smashed by the system?” 

Since her release from the Siberian penal colony in late 2013, Tolokonnikova has continued her fight. She founded the investigative news agency Mediazona, a rare independent media organization in Russia. Her other initiative, UnicornDAO, is supports female artists. Now living in exile, Tolokonnikova stands as a leading voice in the fight for freedom in Russia and was named a top enemy of Putin simply because, in her words, “Courage is contagious.” She calls for everyone to embrace the courage within themselves.

Nadya Tolokonnikova speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Behind her is a photo of the Pussy Riot protest “Punk Prayer,” performed in a central Moscow cathedral in 2012. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Nadya Tolokonnikovaspeaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

Nadya Tolokonnikova speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

Nadya Tolokonnikova speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Behind her is a photo of her sentencing in 2012. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

Nadya Tolokonnikova speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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The dots finally connect: Notes on Session 12 of TED2023

TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers (left), Chris Anderson and Helen Walters host Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

After a jam-packed week of ideas, connection and wonder, the remarkable closing session of TED2023 connected the dots, with deep thinking on purpose and the power of self-belief as well as some much-needed challenges to conventional wisdom.

The event: Talks from Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson, Helen Walters and Whitney Pennington Rodgers

When and where: Friday, April 21, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Krista Tippett, David McWilliams, Emmanuel Acho

Genre-bending musician Jacob Collier performs at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Performance: Jacob Collier‘s music makes spirits soar. No stranger to the big stage, Collier brings his signature “audience choir” to TED, inviting the whole audience to test out their pipes and create haunting harmonies that prove anyone can make beautiful music.

Actor and comedian Julia Sweeney speaks at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Conference wrap-up: Sending up the conference with her signature wit, actor and comedian Julia Sweeney observes the TED tradition of closing out a sometimes serious week with a hilarious set of jokes that celebrate the speakers who took the stage.

Emmy-winning actor Sheryl Lee Ralph speaks at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“The greatest relationship you will ever have is with yourself,” says actor Sheryl Lee Ralph. As soon as she steps on stage, Ralph sings a powerful rendition of Dianne Reeves’s “Endangered Species,” as she did when she won her Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy for her role as Barbara Howard in the series Abbott Elementary. Sharing her own journey (and challenges) with self-belief, Ralph gifts us with three life-altering pearls of wisdom that can help us muster the confidence to take up the space we deserve: 1) See yourself for who and what you truly are. 2) In order to believe in yourself, reframe your experiences in ways that empower you. 3) Act like you believe in yourself. Ralph urges us all to start a meaningful practice of looking in the mirror. “Believe in what you see,” she says. “If you can’t love it, then respect it. If you can’t respect it, then encourage it. If you can’t encourage it, empower it. If you can’t empower it, please be kind to it.”

Deep thinker Krista Tippett speaks at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Journalist and host of the On Being podcast Krista Tippett dives into the spirit of a post-pandemic world and offers three tips for cultivating a happier, more meaningful life. First, she suggests, see the “generative story of our time.” Human brains are naturally inclined to notice threats, but if you retune yourself to notice the goodness around you, that can influence your worldview, too. Second, in the tradition of Rainer Maria Rilke, learn to “live the questions.” Ask high-quality questions that can deepen and guide you in the present moment; don’t fixate only on the answers. Finally, reconsider the matter of your “calling” and the possibility of wholeness. You are more than your job. Participate in your relationships and your community to discover and embrace your role in the wider story of society.

Economist David McWilliams speaks at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Economists get paid to think about the future — so why are they so often wrong? David McWilliams believes the answer lies in how our society discourages unconventional thinking. Take the consensus among economists after World War I, for example. Most predicted a return to the gold standard and a “war to end all wars.” It took a poet, William Butler Yeats, to anticipate the great tipping point ahead: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,” Yeats wrote in “The Second Coming.” McWilliams says the system that produced so many overconfident economists in the 1920s remains fundamentally unchanged. Our schools reward a narrow range of intelligence and, after formal education, we unwittingly create echo chambers that constrain our understanding of the world. To fight confirmation bias, we must embrace unconventional thinkers: “If you want to understand the world more clearly, listen less to the economists and more to the poets,” McWilliams says.

Emmy-winning host and producer Emmanuel Acho speaks at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Content about the power of goal-setting is inescapable. Almost anyone will tell you: if you want to achieve something, set a goal. But Emmanuel Acho, former NFL linebacker and Emmy-winning host and producer, has a different story to tell. Goal-setting, Acho says, is a symptom of our insatiable desire for feedback. We crave affirmation and the feeling that we’ve achieved an end, but whether or not you achieve your goals, Acho believes they carry a hidden cost. Goals damage your self-worth and prevent you from exploring unexpected possibilities. The most fulfilled people pursue growth with no endpoint. Take Kirk Hammett, lead guitarist of Metallica, for example. Hammett never set out to sell 125 million records: he “just wanted to play his guitar a little better every day.”

TED community members discuss the issues that matter to them most during the Town Hall at Session 12 of TED2023: Possibility on April 21, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Celebrating the unbridled power of imagination: Notes on Session 11 of TED2023

Poet Sarah Kay co-hosts Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Session 11 of TED2023 was a celebration of the unbridled power of imagination. What is imagination, exactly? According to poet and session co-host Sarah Kay, it’s the ability to notice, see and observe what is — and then to dream, build and expand on what is not but could be. Eight speakers and one performer led the way in doing just that for this classically eclectic evening session.

The event: Talks from Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by poet Sarah Kay and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters

When and where: Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Lonneke Gordijn, Vinu Daniel, Misan Harriman, Melissa Villaseñor, Imran Chaudhri, Lucas Rizzotto, Ersin Han Ersin

Opening poem: Poet Sarah Kay shares some of the amazing things she sees “wandering the streets of Bewilderville” in New York City, encouraging us all “to pick up when the universe calls.”

Performance: A self-described “dance floor demon,” singer-songwriter Tolliver rocks the house with a performance of “Say What” and “I’m Nervous.”

The talks in brief:

Experiential artist Lonneke Gordijn speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Nature is never static, says experiential artist Lonneke Gordijn, whose work with creative partner Ralph Nauta is informed by that principle. Together they’ve created artworks that evoke nature and border on magic, founding Studio Drift to tap into the world’s mysteries. Gordijn describes Shylight, an installation of lights that float down from the ceiling, opening and closing, interacting like flowers, and how it became an ongoing art piece exploring different mechanisms and rhythms that spark different reactions in their audience. Fascinated by murmurations (creatures going places, leaderless, moving together), Gordijin shares the evolving process of their research-backed, software-driven environmental art piece made of a building-sized swarm of drones that flew across the desert at Burning Man, enchanting all. Unexpectedly, she reveals a massive block of concrete hiding in the shadows of the TED Theater, as — like magic — it becomes weightless and begins to float over Gordijn … over the audience … almost like it came to life and was trying to find its way back home.

Vinu Daniel speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What if we could put waste to work building a better world? Climate-responsive architect Vinu Daniel is doing exactly that, having developed new, natural building techniques that utilize local, discarded materials such as plastic, tires and mud to create magnificent yet utilitarian spaces. His design firm, Wallmakers, builds dreamlike homes, schools and more that blend with the landscape, showing what’s possible when we build with our planet in mind.

Misan Harriman speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Given a warm video introduction by his friend, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, arts advocate Misan Harriman‘s love for rich cultural experiences was ignited in his youth by the internet. It was an “endless library of the extraordinary,” he says, especially for a dyslexic Nigerian boy like himself who felt under-stimulated in his boarding school classes. Harriman went from observer of content to artist after he saw an image of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her late husband Martin Luther King Jr. — it showed him that photography had the power to expose the work we need to do in this life. When George Floyd was murdered, Harriman took his camera to the protests that erupted in London and captured one of the greatest civil rights movements in our lifetimes — and Martin Luther King III shared one of his images on social media and millions saw what his work illuminated. Pointing to the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, he urges us all to take an unflinching look at what needs to be done in the world around us — and then do something.

Melissa Villaseñor Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

While Saturday Night Live alum Melissa Villaseñor earned comedic success through her uncanny celebrity impressions, too often she felt the laughs weren’t for her but rather for the characters. She shares how she learned to combine personal vulnerability with her classic voice bits (think: Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears, Dolly Parton and many more), centering her identity and family story on stage. Through her touching, hilarious journey, Villaseñor encourages everyone to be themselves and believe in their dreams — even if you don’t know what to do after you achieve them.

Imran Chaudhri speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From the desktop computer to the laptop to the smarthphone to the smartwatch, in recent decades our devices have grown smaller and more powerful. User experience visionary and Humane cofounder Imran Chaudhri says the next step in this progression will be far more radical. Using the power of AI, our devices will disappear completely, and the human-technology relationship will become “screenless, seamless and sensing.” To make his point, Chaudhri previews his company’s unreleased device, which sits in his breast pocket and can translate his words — and voice — into French, ask for local shopping suggestions and assess if a chocolate bar meets his dietary restrictions. He forecasts a future where AI-powered tech will do away with screens, helping us to be more present and efficient in our everyday lives.

Lucas Rizzotto speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What is the relationship between art and technology? In the past, says mixed reality experiential artist Lucas Rizzotto, artists often imagined new realities that engineers later built (think of the influence of sci-fi writers, for instance). But as powerful technology grows more accessible, Rizzotto wants to reverse this formula by encouraging artists to express themselves through technology — because it’s perspective, even more than technical skill, that leads to a vision worth creating. He shares how his own free-ranging exploration has led to various unexpected and delightful innovations: a suit you can play like an instrument and a game for lonely people now being adapted as group therapy. “When you take the technology we don’t understand and approach it as an artist, you do things a conventional engineer would never do,” Rizzotto says.

Ersin Han Ersin speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

What’s it like to be a tree — to host a vast web of relationships that anchor an entire ecosystem? In a mind-blowing talk, artist Ersin Han Ersin asks us to step into a giant sequoia tree, peering through its bark into the tapestry of life within. He gives a tour of his multisensory, mixed-reality installations — co-created with the art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast along with teams of scientists, programmers, structural engineers and more — and shares how they explore the concept of umwelt, or the unique sensory world of different organisms. The work is an effort to rethink the primordial relationship between plants, animals and fungi — and to dismantle the myth of human separation from the natural world. “We are as much trees as trees are us,” he says.

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The TED Theater at TED2023, in photos

Par : TED Staff

For one special week each year, a cavernous wing of the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada is transformed into the TED Theater: a custom-made, hand-built, 1,200-seat theater that plays host to mind-boggling, world-changing ideas meant to spark conversation, connection and wonder. Below, just a sampling of the incredible photography from this year’s event, TED2023. Also, check out our live coverage of the conference and watch TED Talks from TED2023.

TED2023 Photo Team: Leandro Badalotti, Ella DeGea Truelove, Tracy Gitnick, Ryan Lash, Erin Lubin, Jason Redmond, Gilberto Tadday, Jasmina Tomic, Elizabeth Zeeuw

The red circle before Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

TED attendees in the theater before Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers (left), Chris Anderson and Helen Walters host Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Photo: Ryan Lash)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Photo: Ryan Lash)

 

The red circle before Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

TED attendees in the theater during Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Photo: Ryan Lash)

 

Doris Mitsch speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

Ali Hajimiri and Helen Walters at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

Garry Cooper speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

 

Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

 

Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

George T. Whitesides speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

 

The TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater during Session 9 at TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

TED’s Chris Anderson speaks with Bilawal Sidhu, Eileen Isagon Skyers, Refik Anadol and K Allado-McDowell at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater during Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Ersin Han Ersin speaks at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater at Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

 

Alua Arthur speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

 

TED CEO and Executive Director Jay Herrati (left) and head of TED Chris Anderson during Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility onApril 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

The TED Theater at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the TED Theater during Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater during Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Alua Arther exits the TED stage during Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

 

Attendees in the theater during Session 11 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

 

The TED Theater at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

 

TikTok CEO Shou Chew and head of TED Chris Anderson speak at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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New levels of AI creativity … and some hard questions: Notes on Session 10 of TED2023

Head of TED Chris Anderson hosts Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

The uses of AI are seemingly limitless, a fact perhaps most easily apparent in the world of art. While some artists fear their skills could be replaced by computer-generated creations, others have embraced machine learning collaborations, spawning mind-boggling works of the imagination. In Session 10 of TED2023, five speakers explore the creative possibilities opened up by AI and discuss the pros and cons of a world where everyone — even computers — can create.

The event: Talks from Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson

When and where: Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Shou Chew, Eileen Isagon Skyers, Bilawal Sidhu, Refik Anadol, K Allado-McDowell

Hot on the heels of his congressional testimony, TikTok CEO Shou Chew sits down with head of TED Chris Anderson to discuss the roots of TikTok: what it does, how it works and what it’s doing to protect its users. Chew reaffirms his platform’s dedication to offering creativity, inspiration and fun to millions, while addressing the privacy concerns that have led many in the United States to call for a ban. Far from being a potential data gold mine for the Chinese government, Chew says, all new information on US users harvested by the app’s revolutionary interest-predicting algorithms is housed in servers within the US — although he admits it will take the rest of 2023 to delete old data stored in servers elsewhere. Meanwhile, TikTok continues to prioritize safety, particularly for its youngest users, by limiting access to sensitive material, gently offering suggestions to reduce screen time and moderating content (a Herculean task performed by AI algorithms in tandem with 10,000 human moderators).

Media art curator Eileen Isagon Skyers speaks at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From bizarre lifeforms to imaginary influencers, we’ve seen AI create all sorts of images, says media art curator Eileen Isagon Skyers — but how do we engage with art made by machines? She points to artists, metaphors and narratives that are pushing the boundaries of AI, including Mario Klingemann’s “Memories of Passersby I”: a machine that uses neural networks to generate a seemingly infinite stream of portraits trained on images from the 17th to 19th centuries. Isagon Skyers shows how AI can be a gateway beyond the human imagination (and physical reality), like artist Sophia Crespo‘s AI-generated “Neural Zoo” which depicts chimeras that don’t exist. She points to Sara Ludy’s multi-media digital art that explores immateriality, Ivona Tau’s AI-generated images that could be mistaken for photographs and Claire Silver’s collaborative paintings she creates with machines. In order to grapple with an increasingly technological future, we need to see what’s being made at the intersection of human and machine creativity, says Isagon Skyers.

Creative technologist Bilawal Sidhu speaks at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Creative technologist Bilawal Sidhu is on a lifelong quest to blur the lines between reality and imagination. As a kid, this meant making videos manipulated with computer graphics and visual effects. Now, with advances in AI, this quest is getting supercharged, he says. He offers a tour of the techniques he’s been playing with, including Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), which create volumetric 3D scenes based on 2D images, and ControlNet, which lets users guide an AI image generation process and essentially re-skin reality. The end result? Young creators no longer need to master expensive tools and esoteric knowledge, he says. Creation will be democratized, and all that’s required is a vision and a knack for co-creating with AI models.

Media artist Refik Anadol speaks at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Vividly colorful images of artificial coral reefs ripple on a massive screen behind media artist and director Refik Anadol as he describes his project “Coral Dreams”: AI-generated imagery of corals, created by an algorithm trained on more than 100 million images. Anadol uses machine learning algorithms by harnessing large, publicly available data sets and transforming them into visualizations that tap into humanity’s collective memories — essentially preserving the disappearing parts of nature while also creating artificial realities. With data as his paintbrush, Anadol evokes the feeling of being digitally immersed in nature: projects like “Floral Dreams” use AI trained on 75 million floral images, while “scent of our dreams” uses an algorithm trained on more than half a million scents. As the lines between physical and virtual, nature and technology blur, generative AI helps us create new multi-sensory realities and reflect on the world we live in. Deeply inspired by the leaders of the Yawanawá tribe in Brazil, Anadol asks, “Could we use AI to preserve and learn about ancient knowledge about nature?”

AI collaborator K Allado-McDowell speaks at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“Are we at risk of losing what makes us most human? How can we preserve and even enhance the best in ourselves with AI?” asks writer, musician and AI collaborator K Allado-McDowell. They believe the answer lies in creation, collaboration and care. Having written three books with the aid of AI, Allado-McDowell says nurturing creative relations with these programs can help open the mind, bringing to life ideas that could never have been born of a single creator. Collaboration is important for shaping a well-rounded and diverse future of AI, as the voices that are fed into machine learning help shape its output, too. Finally, Allado-McDowell believes AI should most prominently be used to discover new ways to help people heal, through both art and science, emphasizing care as a north star.

Head of TED Chris Anderson (left) speaks with Bilawal Sidhu, Eileen Isagon Skyers, Refik Anadol and K Allado-McDowell at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In a fascinating discussion on the state of art in the age of AI, artists Eileen Isagon Skyers, Bilawal Sidhu, Refik Anadol and K Allado-McDowell share how they’re using tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and DALL-E to fuel their creativity. With questions from head of TED Chris Anderson, the four creators dig into a range of topics: the repercussions of a market flooded with people who can now make art within seconds, the potential need for new copyright rules, and the role of creative constraints when working with AI tools. They end by sharing what excites them most about this novel, exploratory phase of artistic creation. The field is wide open, says K Allado-McDowell: it’s up to anyone to become a genre-defining mastermind of the form.

Head of TED Chris Anderson and TikTok CEO Shou Chew speak at Session 10 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

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Preparing for the inevitable chaos ahead: Notes on Session 9 of TED2023

TED’s head of curation Helen Walters speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

As we barrel into the future at breakneck speed, there can be a sense of perilous vertigo. How do we prepare for constant upheaval and change? The answer may lie in a combination of close listening, careful thought and inspiration from people committed to creating peace and progress. In Session 9 of TED2023, seven speakers and performers took up this mantle, exploring topics ranging from reproductive justice and the future of girls’ education to rethinking parenting and the end of life.

The event: Talks from Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED’s head of curation Helen Walters

When and where: Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Angeline Murimirwa, Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor, Mark Edwards, Jessie Reyez, Sean Goode, Becky Kennedy, Alua Arthur

Education activist and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Angeline Murimirwa speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

We’ve all heard the story of how girls’ education is as close as we may get to a silver bullet for making the world a better place. But there’s more that needs to be done beyond putting a diploma in a girl’s hand, says education activist and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Angeline Murimirwa. Asking so much of young girls places an unimaginably heavy weight on them to beat the odds on their own and make the world a better place without radically reshaping the systems and environment that oppress them. That’s where Murimirwa’s organization CAMFED comes in, helping to lift the burden and ease the pressure by providing a strong social and financial network of 250,000 women mentors and supporters who have made the same difficult journey. A sisterhood, if you will, that not only works but also pays it forward to those who walk alongside them. Murimirwa is living proof, she shares, as one of the first in Zimbabwe helped by the organization years ago — and look where she is now, as its CEO.

TED business curator Corey Hajim (left) and Intercorp founder Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor speak at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

If Peru is to become a fully developed country, Peruvian businesses must lead the way, says Intercorp founder Carlos Rodríguez-Pastor, one of Peru’s financial icons. By partnering with companies across the nation, he’s implementing numerous programs to nurture the country’s growing middle class. In conversation with TED business curator Corey Hajim, Rodríguez-Pastor breaks down Peru’s problems into three barriers: education, health care and infrastructure. Working on the ground rather than in the boardroom, he’s found innovative solutions to these problems, partnering with companies to build better schools that are also profitable (which, he says, equates to sustainable), bolstering health care through Peru’s existing pharmacy system and leveraging Peruvian tax law to funnel improvement funds directly to local infrastructure projects.

Reproductive health advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Mark Edwards speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

According to reproductive health advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Mark Edwards, almost half of all pregnancies in the US are unplanned, and — astonishingly — six out of ten typical birth control pill users will become accidentally pregnant over a span of ten years. These jaw-dropping statistics underscore the sobering fact that many pregnancies occur not because women aren’t using birth control but because they aren’t using the most effective type for their particular circumstances.  In fact, there are 18 FDA-approved forms of birth control, all of which vary in effectiveness for different women and, more importantly, aren’t all available to the women who need it most. Edwards believes contraception is a basic health care right. With his organization Upstream USA, he’s improving birth control education and access for women who lack adequate health care in a post-Roe world where contraception has become critical for family planning.

Speaking during a break between powerful performances of her songs “STILL C U” and “Figures,” singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez tells us she’s “made a profound discovery: we’re born, we grow, we die, and life is suffering.” Indeed, her own struggles with suffering led her to write her music, with roots tapping both sadness and hope. She says we all need to create our own solace from the ruins at our feet — or more succinctly: “Life is what we make it.” Mirroring the message of her spoken words, Reyez’s songs illuminate their painful roots, showcasing her raw powers of creation in sparsely accompanied vocal vignettes that are direct, immediate and often incendiary.

TED community member Sean Goode speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

“Will you forgive me, no matter what I do, no matter what I say?” asked TED community member Sean Goode. He believes saying yes to this question provides the opportunity for greater connection, giving space to discuss different experiences and disagreements without harm. By providing grace, says Goode, we’re able to look past difficult histories and envision a more hopeful future together.

Parenting whisperer Becky Kennedy speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Every parent loses their temper, but what comes next? As with any relationship, clinical psychologist and parenting whisperer Becky Kennedy believes the best choice is repair: go back to the moment of disconnection, take responsibility for your actions and state what you’ll do differently next time. Where a parent’s lack of repair can force the child to form unproductive coping mechanisms seeped in self-blame, a 15-second intervention can foster healthy emotional regulation and teach effective communication. Kennedy offers straightforward guidance on how to repair, with tips on self-forgiveness, accountability and seizing the opportunity for growth in all relationships — no matter how big the obstacle may seem.

Death doula Alua Arthur speaks at Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Just as it’s healthy and helpful to think about our lives, so too is it healthy and helpful to think about how they’ll end, says death doula Alua Arthur. As someone who provides non-medical, holistic support for dying people as well as their friends and family, Arthur spends a lot of time thinking about the end of life. The central question she asks people through her work is this: “What must you do to be at peace with yourself so that you may live presently and die gracefully?” By encouraging people to view their present life from the vantage point of a graceful death, Arthur helps them retrofit their lives, seeing clearly who they want to be and what kind of legacy they want to leave behind. Humans are meaning-making machines, she says. Rather than waiting until our deathbeds to figure out our grand life purpose, why not make meaning and magic out of the daily mundane? “The greatest gift of mortality is the sheer wonder that we get to live at all,” she says.

The TED Theater during Session 9 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Delightedly and unapologetically nerding out: Notes on Session 8 of TED2023

TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers hosts Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

It wouldn’t be a TED conference without a session devoted to nerding out. Session 8 of TED2023 featured speakers covering the future of digital property rights and blockchain, new thinking on health and medicine, a deep look at the problems facing the oceans and how a few simple lines can evoke both life’s challenges and its wonder.

The event: Talks from Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED current events curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers

When and where: Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Yat Siu, Anna Greka, Jeff Chen, Amy Baxter, Nina Tandon, Tony Long, Liana Finck

Future-focused technologist Yat Siu speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

What does it mean to own something online? Most of us spend hours each day online, but we own very little there. You don’t own your Instagram account or the data your TikTok usage creates — data that generates profit and feeds TikTok’s superior algorithm. Future-focused technologist Yat Siu believes the “open metaverse,” a decentralized version of the internet also known as web3, is laying the foundation for a freer, fairer, more prosperous internet by ensuring robust digital property rights. Around the world, the freest, wealthiest countries enjoy strong property rights — so should we be concerned that more and more of our lives are being mediated by a version of the internet that doesn’t guarantee those same rights to its users?

Cellular (dys)function researcher Anna Greka speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Molecular scientist Anna Greka studies the world’s rarest diseases using advanced technology to analyze billions of cells via millions of images. With hypothesis-driven research, or “molecular sleuthing,” as she calls it, Greka and her team have been able to determine the cause of a previously mysterious string of kidney failures — and even developed a promising treatment. Their work could lead to treatments for more than 50 different diseases plaguing humanity, from ALS to Alzheimer’s, underlining Greka’s belief that studying the most niche medical cases could really help us all.

Health tech entrepreneur Jeff Chen speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

What if there was an easy way to prove the effectiveness of natural products? With AI-driven, crowdsourced clinical trials, health tech entrepreneur and TED community member Jeff Chen believes these supplements can have their chance to prove efficacy with a diverse dataset that includes populations historically excluded from trials — and that’s exactly what he and his team at Radical Science are doing. By sending products directly to a diverse grouping of consumers for testing and collecting that data, they offer an avenue to bypassing the slow-moving process of FDA approval — while giving some of nature’s oldest medicines the chance to be put to the test.

Pain management pioneer Amy Baxter speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

What is pain, really? If you whack your thumb with a hammer, you might think, “The pain is in my thumb.” But the reality is that nerves are sending an alarm to your spine, and then pain happens in your brain … somewhere. It’s kind of vague, says pediatric emergency physician and pain management pioneer Amy Baxter. What we do know is that pain’s not in one place, but rather is a symphony of connections. This includes connections to areas of the brain that trigger things like fear, memory, meaning and control. (“The same punch on the arm hurts more from a bully than a buddy,” she says.) Baxter has used this insight to find alternative treatments to pain, in an effort to reduce use of addictive opioids like oxycontin. She explains how methods ranging from vibration and cold to distraction, counting and relaxation can help block pain — without the potentially fatal side effects of opioid use. We have power over our pain, she says: it just takes some practice.

Bioengineer Nina Tandon speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

As humans injure earlier and live longer than ever before, we need our implants to last as long as we do, says bioengineer and TED community member Nina Tandon. In both her 2011 and 2012 TED Talks, she championed the use of stem cells as an ingredient to grow spare parts for repairs on the human body. At TED2023, she gives an update on how far her organization has come in developing bone and cartilage replacements. (For the curious, it takes three weeks to engineer bone, and four for cartilage — plus they can do any of the 207 bones or 360 joints in the body.) As of 2021, they became the first biotech company greenlit by the FDA to use this approach. She asks: “Would we rather have spare parts made from metal, plastic and ceramic, or connect to our own internal fountain of cellular youth?”

Ocean conservation expert and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Tony Long speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

Today, a fifth of all seafood is thought to be caught illegally, a crime worth up to 23.5 billion dollars per year. Pirate fishing threatens the health of our ocean and the well-being of millions of people — and it’s not the only crime at sea that goes undetected. Oil spills go unpunished, oil and gas exploration unmonitored. Why are Earth’s oceans such a Wild West? The problem is they’re vast, says Tony Long, president and CEO of Global Fishing Watch and 2023 Audacious Project grantee. You can’t manage the entire ocean from the decks of ships — but you can from space. Using machine learning and GPS data, Global Fishing Watch has built the first-ever livestream map to track the movements of industrial fishing fleets and made it freely available to the world — part of a plan to illuminate all human activity in the ocean and transform ocean management.

Intuitive illustrator Liana Finck speaks at Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

In an illustrated journey through an often-baffling world, cartoonist Liana Finck‘s drawings hold our hands through life’s most confusing predicaments (large and small): pondering what to make for dinner, how to leave a party without being rude. She also takes on more complex things that take many drawings, like creating her own version of God; think more human, less confident. After a breakup, Finck realized drawing from her own life not only helped her understand herself better — but also helped her connect to other people. With the power of pen and paper, she shows us we can navigate life’s complexities together with levity, humor and line.

The TED Theater during Session 8 of TED2023: Possibility on April 20, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

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Breathing deep and embracing humanity’s full potential: Notes on Session 7 of TED2023

Head of TED Chris Anderson and Audacious Project Executive Director Anna Verghese host Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

In the soul-seeking Session 7 of TED2023 a group of extraordinary individuals considered counternarratives to the doom-and-gloom that pervades much of modern media and sought to recalibrate our thinking on what it means to be human.

The event: Talks from Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson and Audacious Project Executive Director Anna Verghese

When and where: Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Natalie Cargill, Sixto Cancel, Richard V. Reeves, Coleman Hughes, Anne Morriss, Kevin Stone, Sarah Jones, Sheena Meade

Singer-songwriter Maria Arnal performs at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Performance: Singer-songwriter Maria Arnal lit up the TED stage, weaving together folk and techno-pop to create a dazzling soundscape.

The talks in brief:

Philanthropic mastermind Natalie Cargill speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

What would you do with 3.5 trillion dollars? Philanthropic mastermind Natalie Cargill has used this thought experiment, grounded in thousands of hours of expert research, to investigate what it would take to actually solve some of our most pressing problems. With this amount of money, she says, we could tackle extreme poverty, pandemic prevention, climate change, nuclear war, runaway AI and more – with just one year’s worth of funding. Where would this money come from, you may ask? If everyone in the global top one percent of earners (i.e., people making $60,000 a year or more after tax) gave away just ten percent of their income for a year, we’d be there. Cargill’s point is that we’re not doomed to suffer through unnecessary and avoidable issues. “Huge problems can be solved, and philanthropy can be good,” she says.

Foster care transformation advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Sixto Cancel speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

As adults, foster youth are two times more likely than war veterans to experience and suffer from PTSD, says child welfare advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Sixto Cancel. He shares his story of entering foster care at 11 months old, being placed with a foster family at nine years old and then, at 15, collecting enough evidence to prove he was unsafe in that home and re-entering the system. Eventually, Cancel was reunited with relatives who happened to live only 58 miles away from where he grew up, and while he was grateful, he couldn’t help but think about how different his life could have been had he been raised by people who loved him all along. With this in mind, Cancel founded Think of Us: a nonprofit dedicated to engaging with youth, parents and relatives to redesign foster care into a system where children are raised by kin in supportive and safe environments. He shares three urgent messages: (1) Children should be raised by their families and the majority of foster care should be replaced with kinship care. (2) We need to center those who have been impacted by the system when redesigning it. (3) We all have a role to play in this cause. “Together … we can literally ensure that millions of children are living in a home where they can say, ‘I am loved,'” says Cancel.

Social mobility scholar Richard V. Reeves speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

While researching gender inequality in education, social mobility scholar Richard V. Reeves made a surprising discovery: when it comes to a school without barriers, girls have the academic advantage. It’s not a question of intelligence; it’s simply that the part of the brain associated with organization and impulse control develops later in boys than girls — meaning doing chemistry homework can be a lot more difficult for male students. Reeves suggests a more equitable school system would start boys a year after girls and makes the case for hiring more male teachers — particularly in English, where more young men struggle — to give boys role models in the classroom. “The future cannot be female. Nor of course, can the future be male. The future has to be for every single one of us … We have to rise together,” says Reeves.

Podcast host Coleman Hughes speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

The percentage of Black and white Americans who felt good about race relations nosedived from 2013 to 2021. Given this concerning trend, writer and podcast host Coleman Hughes thinks we need a new racial paradigm. Our current fixation on racial identity — where “we let racial essences define who we are” — does more harm than good, he says. He advocates for rehabilitating a now-controversial ideology: colorblindness. Far from being conservative or white supremacist, as some critics allege, Hughes says colorblindness has its roots in the US antislavery movement and is the “best principle with which to govern a multiracial, multiethnic democracy.” But wouldn’t a colorblind approach render us unable to fight racism, gutting key policies like affirmative action? Hughes thinks replacing race-based policies with class-based ones would both reduce inequality and ease racial tensions. Class is almost always a better proxy for disadvantage than race, he says, and class-based policies are less divisive because they “do not penalize anyone for immutable biological traits.”

Leadership visionary Anne Morriss speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Leadership visionary and cohost of the TED Audio Collective podcast Fixable Anne Morriss offers five steps to solve any workplace problem, starting with curiosity. First, she says, ask questions that get to the root of the issue, being open to the idea that it could be you. Next, formulate a “good enough plan,” and then talk to those with different perspectives to build trust and improve your plan. Finally, honor the past as you set a vision for the future, recognizing what people don’t want to lose. In the last step, take action with urgency, effectively putting into place everything you’ve learned in the previous steps. “The most effective leaders we know solve problems at an accelerated pace, while also taking responsibility for the success and the wellbeing of their customers and employees and shareholders,” says Morris. “They move fast and fix things.”

Orthopedic surgeon Kevin Stone speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

From synthetic embryos to lab-grown skin, we live in a brave new world of stem cell advances. So why can it still take years to recover from a knee injury? When you tear your ACL, the stem cells in your body produce daughter cells called progenitor cells that orchestrate the body’s healing response. But this response only activates after the initial injury and can prove insufficient over time. By strengthening this response, orthopedic surgeon and TED community member Kevin Stone hopes to make ACL injury recovery a matter of weeks, not months or years. 

Polymorphic filmmaker Sarah Jones speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

With chameleonic ease, polymorphic filmmaker Sarah Jones slips into and out an array of characters in a talk exploring cancel culture, which she defines as when people (both powerful and marginalized) are “silenced, excluded, disempowered and disinvited from the larger conversation.” Jones shares her own painful experience being canceled ahead of the release of her 2022 film Sell/Buy/Date, digging into the nuances of this much-discussed, often nebulous phenomenon. In her view, cancellation doesn’t improve the larger culture of inequality but instead creates more hurt and angry people. She thinks the solution to actually holding others to account is to start by being self-accountable — noticing any tendencies in ourselves that could be hurtful and trying to unlearn them — and then doing the hard work of trying to help others see the biases they may be blind to.

Second chance advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Sheena Meade speaks at Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“For many Americans, a criminal record — even for a petty offense — can hold them back forever,” says Desmond Meade, introducing his wife, Sheena Meade, CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative and a 2023 Audacious Project grantee. Like many, her future was heavily affected by a minor conviction (bouncing a check to pay for her family’s groceries), and this was enough to bar her from housing and education opportunities for years later. Around 100 million Americans — or one in three — have an arrest or conviction record. More than 30 million of them are eligible for clearance, but fewer than 10 percent pursue it because it’s expensive and many don’t even know it’s an option. Meade makes the case for clean slate laws that automate the sealing of arrest and conviction records after people have completed their sentence and remain crime-free for a set period of time. In the last three years, she and her team have helped pass laws in six states, helping millions move on with their lives. With the Audacious Project, they’re working towards passing these laws in 50 states, so an additional 14 million people get a true second chance.

TED community members applaud the speakers of Session 7 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Discovering how our brains might soon get upgraded: Notes on Session 6 of TED2023

TED’s head of curation Helen Walters speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In a mind-bending Session 6 of TED2023, neurotech, mental health and breakthroughs in brain-computer interfaces took the mainstage, with seven incredible speakers sharing ideas on how our brains may soon get an upgrade.

The event: Talks from Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED’s head of curation Helen Walters

When and where: Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Luis von Ahn, Andy Dunn, Francesca Hogi, Gus Worland, Maya Shankar, Nita Farahany, Conor Russomanno

The talks in brief:

Educational equity technologist Luis von Ahn speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We often think of education as an equalizing force, but unequal access to education actually worsens inequality. Motivated by his experience in his native Guatemala, educational equity technologist Luis von Ahn embarked on an ambitious mission: to boost access to education globally. The brainchild of that effort, Duolingo, now has hundreds of millions of users. But in designing Duolingo, von Ahn faced a big problem: How could an app designed to actually teach you something compete with platforms like TikTok and Instagram, some of the most addictive things humans have ever created? If Duolingo was the “broccoli” of smartphone apps, von Ahn decided he would have to “make broccoli taste like dessert.” The result: an app that harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games for a good cause.

Mental health truth-teller Andy Dunn speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Mental health truth-teller Andy Dunn began suffering from manic episodes due to bipolar I disorder in his early 20s, around the same time he was creating his immensely successful online retail company Bonobos. Such mental health issues have been shown to appear at higher rates among entrepreneurs, often applauded for their “crazy” ideas while their darker “shadows” are ignored. Dunn shares his journey to mental wellness and offers a vision of a future where entrepreneurs are “able to dream crazy dreams” while also being held accountable, in and out of the boardroom. He calls for more accessible, affordable healthcare for all and asks everyone to consider the truly conditional nature of love and leadership. “Entrepreneurs are not gods, even when we think we are,” says Dunn.

Love coach and podcast host Francesca Hogi speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

“You were born knowing how to love,” says love coach, podcast host and TED community member Francesca Hogi. She spent 10 years speaking to thousands of individuals about their romantic hopes and dreams, uncovering the pervasiveness of false marketing that claims “while you can’t buy love, you can buy your worthiness to be loved.” Hogi says this propaganda makes us believe love is external and scarce, instead of internal and infinite. To find true love, she says to begin with cultivating love for yourself within, and “transcend the shallow fantasy of love you’ve been sold for so long.”

Mental fitness advocate Gus Worland speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Lots of people talk about the need to be physically fit, but mentally fit? Not as much. Radio host Gus Worland is trying to change that by helping people develop the skills and “emotional muscle” needed to recognize when they’re struggling, learn how to talk about it and be vulnerable enough to ask for help. With his nonprofit Gotcha4Life, Worland is spreading this work in the hopes of ending suicide and breaking the stigma around mental health issues. He shares the story of his best friend and mentor, who took his own life years ago and issues a call to everyone to “look after their own villages” and check in on the most important people in their lives – today. Where to start? It can be as simple as sending this text message to the people that mean the most to you, Worland says: “I love you. I miss you. See you soon xoxo.”

Cognitive scientist Maya Shankar speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Who are you, and how do you transform in the face of change? Cognitive scientist Maya Shankar shares three questions you can ask to find out who you are when the world feels like it’s shifting under your feet. First: “How does this change change what you’re capable of?” Next, “How might this change change what you value?” And third: “How might this change change how you define yourself?” Shankar shares stories — and the science behind change — of people who stepped out of their comfort zones and rigid mindsets and found themselves changed for the better. Maybe through their experiences, and Shankar’s own story as well, a new, lesser-traveled yet more rewarding and expansive path rich with possibility awaits.

Neurotechnology ethicist Nita Farahany speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

While we can track the minutiae of our bodies (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and even whether we’re snoring too loud) via a host of wearables and other devices, there is very little technology that allows us to track our brain activity. All of that is about to change. Neurotechnology ethicist Nita Farahany demonstrates how we’re witnessing the dawn of technology that will allow us to record our most private data: the electromagnetic pulses that map our thoughts and desires. This information will then unlock (and, indeed, is already unlocking) the potential to self-program ourselves via brain stimuli that could help us treat everything from depression to epilepsy. There’s a catch, however. Who is collecting our brain data, and how will they use it? Farahany argues that without a recognized and protected “human right for cognitive liberty,” we could just as easily benefit from healing as we could also fall prey to microtargeting, surveillance and manipulation.

Neurotechnologist and inventor Conor Russomanno speaks at Session 6 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Years ago, when he was a student at Parsons, neurotechnologist and inventor Conor Russomanno dreamed of peering into the workings of his own brain and created a low-cost, single-channel EEG machine to do just that. From this initial breakthrough, Russomanno has developed technology that utilizes not only the brain but also neglected muscles of the human body to create mind-blowing human-computer interfaces. With the help of collaborator Christian Bayerlein, who is wheelchair-bound due to a motor disorder, Russomanno demonstrates a system that allows Bayerlein to fly a drone over the astonished audience, using vestigial muscle control coupled with an optical headset equipped with neurosensors. Russomanno’s work emphasizes that his ultimate dream — a two-way brain-computer interface — depends as much on our entire nervous system (cognition, or “the mind”) as it does on the brain itself.

Attendees make their way into the TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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Imagining a pathway to a sustainable future: Notes on Session 5 of TED2023

Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

How do we strike a balance between sounding the alarm about the devastation wrought by climate change and telling the story of an actual pathway forward? Session 5 of TED2023 sought to stem the despair and cultivate hope and action on the most pressing issue of our time.

The event: Talks from Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson

When and where: Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Hannah Ritchie, Garry Cooper, Nicole Rycroft, Shane Campbell-Staton, George T. Whitesides, Steve Long, Wanjira Mathai

The talks in brief:

Environmental data scientist Hannah Ritchie speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

According to a recent international survey, more than half of young people think humanity is doomed. But environmental data scientist Hannah Ritiche says that far from being the “last generation,” as some climate activists call themselves, today’s youth have the opportunity to be the first generation in human history to achieve true sustainability. For Ritchie, this would mean both protecting our environment and providing a good life for everyone alive today. In the past, improving human lives came with an environmental price tag, but Ritchie says that no longer has to be true. With technological advances, such as the rapid acceleration of solar power, we now have the capacity to improve life globally while also stewarding Earth for future generations. To do so, we must push for zero emissions and frame sustainability as an opportunity, not a sacrifice.

Circular economy builder Garry Cooper speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

Cities are a great place to initiate new economic models. Circular economy builder Garry Cooper cites Chicago, for instance, as a place already working to transform its traditional linear economy into a circular one. This means creating a system of sharing resources and repurposing items that are no longer needed, from basic materials to furniture and beyond. To transition any city toward a circular economy, Cooper lays out three main steps: first, establish a digital infrastructure (like universal access to internet) so that all can be involved; second, build a tried-and-true way to operationalize reusing and recycling materials (think Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, but expanded); and third, incentivize every person and business to participate through smart public policy. Circular economies can create a better future though reinventing economic opportunity, strengthening community ties, uplifting citizens and protecting the climate, says Cooper. “We’re all neighbors, not competitors, not strangers. We need each other and whatever city or town we reside in.”

Biodiversity champion and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Nicole Rycroft speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Every year, billions of trees are cut down for the production of paper packaging or fabrics like rayon and viscose. If we’re going to beat climate change, we need to make these supply chains more sustainable, says 2023 Audacious Project grantee and biodiversity champion Nicole Rycroft. Her organization, Canopy, partners with key industry leaders to overhaul their supply chains in favor of next-generation wood pulp alternatives, such as used cotton fabric, microbial cellulose or agricultural residues like leftover wheat straw. With these substitutes, Canopy has already shifted more than 50 percent of global viscose production out of the world’s ancient and endangered forests, setting a transformative precedent for the future of pulp production — and creating a sustainable playbook for other industries in need of reform. “For every sector, there is a more sustainable path forward,” says Rycroft.

Megafire fighter George T. Whitesides speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Wildfires like those in Santa Rosa in 2017 and Australia in 2020 are a large and growing global challenge — and fire experts say things are likely to get worse before they get better. Billions of dollars are being spent to fight this blazing issue, explains George T. Whitesides, who left a successful aerospace career to take on megafires, or those that burn more than 100,000 acres. Working with experts across disciplines, from firefighters and tribal communities to scientists and policymakers, Whitesides cofounded Megafire Action, an organization dedicated to building fire-adapted communities. He shares three emerging solutions to this alarming problem: (1) build resilient communities that design with fire safety in mind, (2) take measures to control fire spread, like reducing the amount of overgrowth in landscapes, and (3) innovate fire-management technologies that can rapidly detect and put out fires.

Evolutionary biologist Shane Campbell-Staton speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

We tend to think of evolution as a slow, gradual process playing out over thousands or millions of years. But evolutionary biologist Shane Campbell-Staton shows how evolution is now rapidly reshaping life in response to the world humanity has built. Small lizards in Puerto Rico have evolved longer limbs and larger toe pads to use buildings as perches, for example, while the genome of wolves living in the Chernobyl exclusion zone appears to be changing in response to decades of radiation exposure. “We live in a time when we are literally etching our decisions into the DNA of the species that live in, on and around us,” Campbell-Staton says. Now the question is: When we consider the story that we’re writing, what do we want our chapter in this grand book of life to say?

Crop sustainability scientist Steve Long speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Photosynthesis is one of the most important processes on the planet: it helps produce the air we need to survive. For more than a decade, crop sustainability scientist Steve Long has used genetic simulations and experimental farms to make this process more efficient. But why haven’t millions of years of evolution already optimized photosynthesis? Because our crops did not evolve to thrive in our now carbon-rich atmosphere, nor can they adjust to light fluctuations in densely cultivated fields, Long says. His team has genetically optimized crops like soybean to account for these human-driven changes, sometimes increasing yields by more than 20 percent. By boosting photosynthesis, Long hopes we can start a 21st-century green revolution: improving food access for the 10 percent of humanity experiencing food insufficiency — while also reducing carbon emissions. 

Environmental restoration champion and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Wanjira Mathai speaks at Session 5 of TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

2023 Audacious Project grantee Wanjiri Mathai recalls that her mother, Nobel laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai, used to tell her: “Nature is the source of everything good.” Today, the lush landscapes Wangari Maathai knew in Kenya have been denuded and degraded; overall, 60 percent of the soil in Africa is unproductive. But, relying on local leadership and local wisdom, a continent-wide coalition of stakeholders and entrepreneurs is working to revitalize Africa’s land. This coalition, AFR100, has an ambitious goal: the restoration of 100 million hectares on the continent by 2030. By re-greening Africa, Mathai said, AFR100 can help secure livelihoods, mitigate climate change and secure communities against the worst effects of our changing climate.

The TED Theater during Session 5 of  TED2023: Possibility on April 19, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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Ideas that are way, way out there: Notes on Session 4 of TED2023

Comedian Pardis Parker and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters speak at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

In a session that was by turns soul-stirring, uproariously funny, deadly serious and brilliantly colorful, seven speakers transported the TED audience to a solar engineering project in outer space, a 24-hour concert and performance, a movement to prove that birds aren’t real and more.

The event: Talks from Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by comedian Pardis Parker and TED’s head of curation Helen Walters

When and where: Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Yara Shahidi, Ali Hajimiri, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Tavares Strachan, Machine Dazzle, Doris Mitsch, Peter McIndoe

The talks in brief:

Actor and producer Yara Shahidi speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

You may know actor and producer Yara Shahidi from the hit shows black-ish and grown-ish. Sure, she may be in a unique position, but like anybody growing up, she juggles multiple interests, passions and jobs. From her vantage point, she sees that the best way to create a truly fulfilling life is to lead with curiosity — and she invites us all to join her in recommitting to wherever our minds and hearts take us. Don’t second-guess what “distracts” you, she says: that’s your curiosity coming through, an act of creation in itself. Denying your imagination only limits the infinite possibilities just over the horizon.

Space solar-power experimenter Ali Hajimiri speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From laptops to phones and AirPods, wireless technology permeates modern life. What if the energy powering these technologies was also wireless? Space solar-power experimenter Ali Hajimiri sees this future, once the stuff of science fiction, on the near horizon. By exploiting the interference property of waves, we can already direct energy from a generator to a wireless light bulb. Now imagine scaling up this capability: the generator becomes a solar panel orbiting Earth, the light bulb a remote village or a war-torn city with power outages. Recently, Hajimiri’s team made a key step toward this vision, launching a rocket that will unfold in space into an array of flexible solar panels designed to transmit energy to Earth. 

TED community member Terry Moore speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

In a quick, fascinating talk, TED community member Terry Moore discusses the mathematics behind what’s known as Penrose tiling, a type of design characterized by aperiodicity, where simple patterns expand infinitely in any direction without ever repeating. He shows how, when you take a closer look, this type of design shows up in human cultures across millennia (long before Roger Penrose “invented” it in 1974). The takeaway? This pattern is like life — complicated, impossible to predict, unfolding differently based on every decision — yet, underlying everything, there’s a hidden unity that holds things together. “When we see these amazing designs, we can know they’re not decorations,” Moore says. “They’re a statement, they’re a message. Look, listen. You can hear their voices.”

Conceptual artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In 2012, conceptual artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova and her resistance group, Pussy Riot, were sentenced to two years in prison for speaking out against Vladimir Putin’s regime. Since her release, she’s founded the independent investigative news agency Mediazona and organized support for a number of international art and women’s movements. While she now lives in exile, Tolokonnikova stands as a leading voice in the fight for freedom in Russia, named a top enemy of Putin simply because, in her words, “courage is contagious.” Now she calls for everyone to embrace the courage within themselves and delivered a powerful message to Putin himself: “You have already lost. You know it. … The world is with Ukraine.”

Conceptual artist Tavares Strachan speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Conceptual artist Tavares Strachan has always been hungry for uncovering and sharing novel experiences. On his journey to the Arctic, he learned about the lesser-known travels of African American explorer Matthew Henson, who was part of the first human crew to reach the North Pole, sparking a pivot in his artwork towards a quest to tell lost stories. Strachan created the Encyclopedia of Invisibility, a 3,000-page leather-bound book with more than 17,000 entries on things often left out of history courses, from Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the mother of rock and roll, to the Minos, an all-female military regiment from the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin), and many more. He also shares the story of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., the first Black astronaut, for whom Strachan worked with SpaceX to produce a satellite and blast a golden bust called ENOCH with the astronaut’s likeness into space — launching his legacy to the stars.. “If you really pay attention, you start to see these lost stories all around you,” says Strachan. “When you find them, you realize that they can speak with a very loud mouth.”

Unapologetic maximalist Machine Dazzle speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“My approach is maximal,” says Machine Dazzle, a self-described radical, queer, emotionally driven, instinct-based concept artist and thinker. He takes us on a stunning tour of his boundary-pushing work — including costumes such as a bouffant made out of metallic pipe cleaners, a dress made of hot dogs and barbwire and a headdress made out of dynamite and toilet paper (to name just a few) — and demonstrates the power of tapping into the full complexity of yourself. He’s joined onstage by his friend Matty Crosland, who undergoes a costume-fueled transformation as Machine Dazzle speaks.

Design-minded artist Doris Mitsch speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Have you ever been curious about what the world gets up to as it passes you by? Not the world you know, but the one outside human perception and awareness. Design-minded artist Doris Mitsch invites us into the wonder and awe of nature’s everyday feats — the ones that surpass humanity’s five senses — through her dazzling photography. Starlings in flight and formation, trout tracking their way by waves of light, bats that shriek louder than we can hear. Hidden, invisible intelligence that redraws the maps of our own understanding of the world when we stumble upon the truths of our fellow earthlings. In that spirit, Mitsch encourages us to embrace their otherness and revel in the experience. In the words of the poet and naturalist Jarod K. Anderson: “Bats can hear shapes. Plants can eat light. Bees can dance maps. We can hold all these ideas at once and feel both heavy and weightless with the absurd beauty of it all.”

Bird truther Peter McIndoe speaks at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In 2018, bird truther Peter McIndoe founded a movement behind a fake conspiracy theory claiming that birds aren’t real but are instead robots created by the government in the middle of the 20th century to spy on all of us. As he fed the lie — hiring actors to play retired CIA agents speaking out, holding rallies populated by thousands of “bird truthers” — McIndoe learned about the power behind a conspiracy theory and why people will go so far for a story others find completely, ridiculously false. He explores the loneliness and polarization that he believes leads people to find community wherever they can (even in movements defined by outrageous claims) and offers steps we can take as a society to increase our collective empathy, build constructive community and combat the growth of harmful conspiracies. “Let’s direct our attention to the crisis of belonging, and then maybe we’ll understand the crisis of belief,” he says.

Pussy Riot cofounder Nadya Tolokonnikova receives a standing ovation at Session 4 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

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Leaping boldly into new global realities: Notes on Session 3 of TED2023

TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington-Rodgers hosts Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

From climate change to aging to geopolitics, Session 3 of TED2023 surveyed big issues with worldwide implications.

The event: Talks from Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington-Rodgers

When and where: Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Jennifer D. Sciubba, Piyachart Phiromswad, Chip Conley, Ashif Shaikh, Barbara F. Walter, Keyu Jin, Ian Bremmer

The talks in brief:

Political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Despite decades of (justified) warnings against the dangers of overpopulation, the world is facing a once-unthinkable possibility: declining population growth, fueled by aging, lower fertility rates and depopulation. But the solution to an aging, shrinking world (and diminished economy) isn’t to have more babies. Instead, says political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba, we must learn to invest in the health and the welfare of the living, build a resilient global workforce and create sustainable systems that can survive dramatic demographic shifts.

Aging rethinker Piyachart Phiromswad speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Continuing with the theme of understanding and improving our relationship to aging, economist Piyachart Phiromswad explores the technology that can help seniors overcome the physical, mental and societal barriers to employment. Tools like full-body exoskeletons can support people as they lift heavy objects, while robotic arms can steady shaky hands, helping seniors with advanced training and knowledge continue their work with precision. Other technology can set reminders to aid a failing memory or allow seniors to work from home, avoiding strenuous travel. These tools would help the senior population remain active, reduce the financial burden on pension and aid programs, increase economic production and help to eradicate the false assumption that older people can no longer be productive members of society.

Chip Conley speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“What if we rethought midlife such that it’s not a crisis but a chrysalis?” asks entrepreneur and TED community member Chip Conley. Providing a fresh perspective on a time of life that’s often misunderstood, Conley suggests a new way to the way we think about our 40s, 50s and 60s, tracing the invention of the term “midlife crisis” back to the relatively recent date 1965 and offering an alternative narrative that paints midlife as a transitional stage between adulthood and new stage of life, the way a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

Courage sparker and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Ashif Shaikh speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

Hundreds of millions of migrant workers leave everything they know behind to seek out means of survival — and climate change will only exacerbate this movement. Migrant advocate and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Ashif Shaikh shares how he and his team at Jan Sahas’ Migrants Resilience Collaborative are building a social safety net by making benefits accessible to vulnerable groups and simultaneously establishing a feedback loop between communities and governments to improve existing systems and policies. He shares a video that shows the real-world impact that this two-pronged approach has had in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. “Without a safety net, one job loss, one health emergency, can undermine years of effort and keep [migrants] trapped in the cycles of poverty,” Shaikh says.

Civil wars expert Barbara F. Walter speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

We understand the playbook anti-democratic forces use to foment and ignite civil war. Why don’t governments have a similar playbook for preserving stable institutions, civic cooperation and diverse representation? Civil wars expert Barbara F. Walter looks at the United States, which is facing not only degradation to its democratic process through challenges to its elections but also attacks from the hostile demographic groups fading from power, and shares how to respond to these early warning signs of impending trouble.

Economist Keyu Jin speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

We associate innovation with big breakthroughs, but no one innovates new applications and processes for existing tech better than China, says economist Keyu Jin. American companies brought us the iPhone and the first mass-market electric vehicles (EVs), but China’s EV infrastructure has since vastly outpaced the US, and Chinese smartphone models now dominate in Africa and are gaining popularity across the globe. Jin explains China’s special sauce — political centralization, economic decentralization — and makes an impassioned case for viewing the US and China systems as complementary, not opposed.

Political scientist Ian Bremmer speaks at Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Ask political scientist Ian Bremmer who runs the world and he’ll tell you that today we live in a leaderless world. Bremmer chalks up current geopolitical tensions and conflicts to three things: Russia’s lack of integration into Western institutions and its residual anger as it declines; China’s integration into US-led institutions with the presumption that it’d make the country more American (spoiler: it did not); and finally, millions across the world in wealthy democracies feeling left behind by globalization. So what comes next for the world order? That can be broken into three categories: a global security order (the US and its allies), a global economic order (the US, China, the EU, India) and a new, up-and-coming digital order, run by technology companies (think of social media platforms already powering wars, spreading misinformation, promoting conspiracy theories). Bremmer sounds the alarm on the influence of these technology companies and the power they hold through the almighty algorithm, ending on a simple question aimed at those who run those companies: Are you fine with the fact that what you’ve created destroys democracies, or are you going to do something about it?

Attendees in the TED Theater watch Session 3 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

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The astounding new era of AI: Notes on Session 2 of TED2023

Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Whether you’re thrilled or terrified by it, there’s no question that the time of artificial intelligence has come. Session 2 of TED2023 looked at some of the reasons to get excited about this transformational moment — and gave space to those who have expressed concern about the future it may usher in.

The event: Talks from Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson

When and where: Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Greg Brockman, Yejin Choi, Gary Marcus, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Alexandr Wang, Sal Khan

The talks in brief:

In a talk from the cutting edge of technology, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman explores the underlying design principles of GPT-4 — the company’s most advanced large language model — and demos some mind-blowing new plug-ins for ChatGPT. Hooking up his laptop to the big screens in the TED Theater, he shows how ChatGPT could help you create a recipe for dinner, generate an image of the finished dish, draft a tweet about that dish and build the corresponding grocery list in Instacart — all without you ever leaving the chatbot. He also shares its new ability to fact-check its own work (with citations a human could triple-check) and interpret a data-intensive spreadsheet even when given relatively vague instructions. After the talk, head of TED Chris Anderson joins Brockman onstage to dig into the timeline of ChatGPT’s development and get Brockman’s take on the risks, raised by many in the tech industry and beyond, around releasing such a powerful tool into the world.

Yejin Choi speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

“Giving true common sense to AI is still a moonshot, and you don’t reach the moon by making the tallest building in the world one inch taller at a time,” says computer scientist Yejin Choi. The epic scale of many AI systems brings three big issues with it, she says: (1) AI models are expensive to train, (2) their power is concentrated to only a few tech companies and (3) the environmental impact is massive. She shares wisdom on how to give AI common sense by instilling the data it’s trained on with human norms and values (not raw web data) and explains why smaller tech can make for a more humanistic, democratic and sustainable AI future.

AI prognosticator Gary Marcus speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Misinformation poses a threat to democracies worldwide. How will the rise of AI systems like ChatGPT impact this trend? As a leading voice in artificial intelligence, Gary Marcus advocates for an international AI regulatory body and says we should find a way to integrate ChatGPT’s brute statistical power with more trustworthy, logic-based systems.

Decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky has a simple message: superintelligent AI could probably kill us all. Is an obedient, even benevolent, AI of superhuman intelligence possible? Yes, Yudkowsky says, but inscrutable large language models like ChatGPT are leading us down the wrong path. By the time the world realizes, he thinks it may be too late.

Alexandr Wang speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

War and AI. Two words that, when put together, might make you (and possibly the entire world) uncomfortable. But it’s a reality we must face, says AI technologist Alexandr Wang, as a new technological arms race with deep implications for national security and democracy is on our doorstep. Big international players like China are ahead of the game; meanwhile, the Ukraine War is demonstrating the changing nature of war in real-time, with digital tools proving invaluable to the defense of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. There are a lot of implications to account for, but artificial intelligence can only be as powerful as the data it uses to fuel its algorithms. Wang calls for fellow technologists to rise to the challenge against authoritarian regimes by supporting national security. “We must fight for the world we want to live in. It’s never mattered more.”

Sal Khan speaks at Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

The current general discourse has suggested that artificial intelligence, especially chatbots like ChatGPT, will lead to the death of education and learning. Not so fast, says education innovator Sal Khan; there is still so much opportunity to better education with these new advanced technologies. He reveals and demos Khan Academy’s education-first chatbot, known as Khanmigo. The chatbot can serve as a tutor for the student and a teaching aide for the educator, helping with lesson plans and more. Like this, artificial intelligence is not a gate, but a key that unlocks a new era of educational potential and acceleration.

“Excited or concerned, describe your predominant feeling on AI?” Audience members vote with their hands during Session 2 of TED2023: Possibility on April 18, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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Off with a bang: Notes on Session 1 of TED2023

Hosts Whitney Pennington Rodgers, Chris Anderson, and Helen Walters open Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

It’s time for TED! In an eclectic and interdisciplinary opening session, artists, scientists, activists, entrepreneurs and more explored the breadth of transformative possibilities that lie ahead of us, from understanding animal communication to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to the theory of the “adjacent possible.”

The event: Talks from Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility, hosted by TED’s Chris Anderson, Helen Walters and Whitney Pennington Rodgers

When and where: Monday, April 17, 2023, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Angus Hervey, Stuart Kauffman, Jennifer Doudna, Golshifteh Farahani, Tom Graham, Karen Bakker, Wangechi Mutu, Benjamin Zander

AI opera Song of the Ambassadors perform at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Opening performance: AI opera Song of the Ambassadors, created by Refik Anadol and K Allado-McDowell, kick off the session and beckon us into a new era of opera, co-created by humans and artificial intelligence, presenting a hymn to nature and existence.

The talks in brief:

Journalist Angus Hervey speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Why are we so good at reporting bad news and so bad at reporting good news? That’s a question journalist Angus Hervey spends a lot of time thinking about as the editor of Future Crunch, a newsletter that cuts through the usual doom and destruction we see on news channels and reports on stories of progress. Delivering a mock newscast from the TED stage, Hervey takes us on a whirlwind tour of the “good news” stories you might have missed from the past year — from the acceleration of the world’s clean energy transition to advancements in public health, human rights, astronomy and more — and clarifies why, if we want to change the story of humanity this century, we have to start changing the stories we tell ourselves.

“Adjacent possible” originator Stuart Kauffman speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

Theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman thinks we can explain the historical pattern of long periods of nothing happening followed by explosive growth (from the Cambrian explosion to hockey-stick growth of global GDP to the present computing revolution) through math — what he calls the theory of the “adjacent possible.” Tracing the arc of human history through the tools and technologies we’ve invented, Kauffman explains that humanity has so far used its creativity to bring about the Anthropocene and the destruction of the biosphere, and provides examples in soil regeneration for how we can reverse the damage and feed the world in the process.

Nobel Laureate, biochemist and 2023 Audacious Project grantee Jennifer Doudna speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

A brave new world is upon us, and in its dawn emerges a collaboration between two breakthrough technologies — metagenomics and the Nobel Prize-winning technology CRISPR — to birth a new field of science: precision microbiome editing. Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of CRISPR and a 2023 Audacious Project grantee with the Innovative Genomics Institute, details the deep potential of this new science and its focus on not just one organism but entire populations of organisms called microbiomes that exist in every living thing, influencing things like the development of asthma, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s in the human body and methane production in cows. The opportunities to improve the future health of humanity and the planet are here now, and precision microbiome editing is the way forward, Doudna says.

Live from Rome, actor, musician and activist Golshifteh Farahani speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

“I am the raised fist of young girls with their hair flowing in the wind,” says actor, musician and activist Golshifteh Farahani. In a moving tribute to individuals who have lost their lives during protests in response to the death of Mahsa Amini in her home country of Iran, Farahani draws connections between those fighting for freedom in Iran and the other places in the world where ignorance and fear separates instead of unites humanity.

Head of TED Chris Anderson and AI developer Tom Graham — face-swapped live with Chris — speak at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)Tom Graham, AI developer

In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, AI developer Tom Graham explores how AI-generated content that looks and sounds exactly like the real world (known as “deepfakes”) will come to permeate our lives over the next decade. He offers a proof of concept directly from the stage: a startlingly realistic deepfake of Tom Cruise outside TED2023 in Vancouver, and then a real-time demo of Anderson’s face overlaid first on Graham’s head and then on TED community member Sunny Bates, seated in the first row of the TED Theater. Together they discuss the creative and educational potential of this technology — along with its risk for exploitation — and explain the new legal rights we’ll need to ensure we maintain control over our photorealistic AI avatars.

Conservation technology researcher Karen Bakker speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Conservation technology researcher Karen Bakker uncovers how the animal kingdom communicates in ways as complex as our own human speech – from microscopic coral larvae listening for the sounds of their home reef to the varying dialects in the dictionary of elephants’ trumpeting. Much of nature’s acoustics are ultra- or infra-sonic, lying outside our natural ability to hear (consider a bat’s shrill speech or a hydrothermal vent’s deep hum), but technological breakthroughs are changing that, allowing us to tune into a world previously unheard. Scientists are even able to translate some variations of animal speech, while generative AI is able to imitate some of these sounds, allowing us to communicate with nature like never before – and bringing along some difficult challenges, too. “In nature, sound is everywhere and silence is an illusion,” Bakker says.

Visual artist Wangechi Mutu speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)

“We’ve left messages for each other using art. Messages that travel across vast expanses of time and culture, reminding us of where we came from,” says visual artist Wangechi Mutu. From ancient carvings deep in the Sahara to her own chimeric art, Mutu traces evolving representations of divine femininity and the presence of women in African art. She shares her otherworldy sculptures that merge nature, history and lore, pointing to how art gives voice to those rendered invisible — and reminds us of the freedom found in creation.

Conductor Benjamin Zander speaks at Session 1 of TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In a rousing talk and piano performance to close out the opening session, legendary conductor Benjamin Zander (watch his 2008 TED Talk) explains his view on the difference between “positive thinking” and “possibility,” saying, “Positive thinking is a fraud, and possibility is a language of creation.” And he waxes lyrical about Beethoven, asking us to listen a little deeper to the very familiar “Moonlight Sonata” and inviting the audience to a sing-along (in German) of the original words to “Ode to Joy.”

The entrance to the TED Theater at TED2023: Possibility in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

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More than $1B catalyzed for 2023 Audacious Projects

Par : TED Staff

Today, The Audacious Project, a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED, announced that more than one billion dollars has been committed to its newest cohort of projects. This is a significant funding milestone in the initiative’s five-year history and comes at a critical time on key issues such as climate change, migrant rights and criminal justice reform.

The 2023 Audacious Project grantees are:

“With our 2023 Audacious Project cohort, some of the most complex and challenging problems we’re facing right now – transitioning to renewable energy, increasing access to reproductive health care, transforming our foster care system and more – are being met by some incredible idea-makers,” said Anna Verghese, Executive Director of The Audacious Project. “Each one offers an approach to shift the status quo and the systems they operate in, and will hope to breathe possibility and transformation into these critical issues.”

Each year, The Audacious Project scours the globe for big, bold ideas and collaborates with social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to drive impact on a grand scale. It is an effort that goes beyond funding, pushing for transformative change, systems overhaul and collaboration across multiple sectors. This new cohort will present their big ideas onstage at TED2023, joining an existing portfolio of 39 Audacious projects. Since 2018, more than four billion philanthropic dollars has been catalyzed to support these projects’ visions.

“We started The Audacious Project five years ago as an experiment to see what could happen when we invite changemakers around the world to dream as big as they dare, and then shape their boldest ideas into viable plans,” said Chris Anderson, Head of TED. “It’s absolutely thrilling to see this much money raised for these projects. I’m in awe of the teams behind them — and of the donors who are funding them. Our experiment is gaining traction, and we believe it can achieve even more in the coming years.”

Read more about The Audacious Project and its five years of impact.


ABOUT THE AUDACIOUS PROJECT

 

Launched in April 2018, The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative that’s catalyzing social impact on a grand scale. Housed at TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, and with support from leading social impact advisor The Bridgespan Group, The Audacious Project convenes funders and social entrepreneurs with the goal of supporting bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. The funding collective is made up of respected organizations and individuals in philanthropy, including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ELMA Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, MacKenzie Scott, Skoll Foundation, Valhalla Foundation and more.

Each year The Audacious Project supports a new cohort. The 2023 grantees are CAMFED, Canopy, Clean Slate Initiative, Global Fishing Watch, Innovative Genomics Institute, Jan Sahas’ Migrants Resilience Collaborative, ReNew2030, Restore Local, Think of Us and Upstream USA.

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Experience TED2023 live from anywhere — with TED Live

Par : TED Staff

TED Live brings the excitement of our flagship conference, TED2023: Possibility, to you — wherever you choose to watch. 

Access a can’t-miss lineup of diverse thinkers, creators, scholars and changemakers unlocking new possibilities and creating a brighter future. Explore radical shifts in technology, art and culture through this global convening of builders and doers — right from your home.

With TED Live, you can watch the entire conference minute-by-minute as it happens (including talks and surprise moments that may not be posted online), or watch the on-demand archive when it’s convenient for you, year-round.

Register now »

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TED debuts “Fixable,” a new career advice podcast with leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Par : TED Staff

There’s a path forward from every problem at work — sometimes we just need some help finding the best direction to take. That’s where the TED Audio Collective’s newest podcast, Fixable, comes in — to guide career advice seekers towards getting unstuck.

Leading the way are hosts Frances Frei, a Harvard Business School professor, and Anne Morriss, CEO and best-selling author. This dynamic leadership power couple (yes, they happen to be married to each other) are taking real people’s career complications — no matter their industry or position — and setting them up for success. From addressing communication roadblocks to unproductive company cultures to uncertainty in how to scale up a business and more, Frei and Morriss share fast, actionable solutions to relatable issues in 30 minutes or less each week.

This isn’t your average “listen and learn” podcast experience. This show is built around participation.

True to its title, Fixable actively connects listeners with expert problem-solvers to steer them towards a thriving professional future. Do you have a work problem you’d like to solve? Call our hotline at 234-Fixable (that’s 234-349-2253) and leave a voicemail explaining your work woes for a chance to be featured on a future episode. 

The first episode drops April 3. Subscribe to Fixable on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. 

Fixable is made possible with the support of SAP. Learn more about how TED partners with best-in-class brands here.

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Announcing the speaker lineup for TED2023: Possibility

Par : TED Staff

TED has unveiled an exceptional speaker lineup for this year’s flagship conference, themed “Possibility.”

TED2023 is all about possibilities. It’s a space to explore, together, a strange and beautiful space called the adjacent possible. We’ll be guided there by dreamers, inventors and creatives. Innovators, entrepreneurs and builders. Explorers and change-makers. Visionary thinkers and doers from every field of human endeavor.

Here’s just a handful we can’t wait to watch live:

  • Yara Shahidi, actor, producer (Black-ish, Grown-ish)
  • Greg Brockman, AI pioneer (Cofounder, OpenAI — creators of ChatGPT)
  • Nadya Tolokonnikova, conceptual artist, activist (Founder, Pussy Riot)
  • Melissa Villaseñor, actor, comedian (first Latina cast member of Saturday Night Live)
  • Luis von Ahn, educational equity technologist (CEO, Duolingo)
  • And so many more!

Browse the full lineup here >>

Can’t make it Vancouver? Watch every talk, every speaker, live and unedited, right from your living room with TED Live. Learn more here.

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Open: The talks of TED@DestinationCanada

TED senior curator Cyndi Stivers hosts TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City on February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

When we come together with open hearts and open minds, anything is possible. It was in this spirit that TED partnered with Destination Canada for a day of talks and performances featuring new ideas on living, seeing the world and reimagining our shared future.

The event: TED@DestinationCanada: Open is the first event TED and Destination Canada have co-hosted to spotlight leading minds who embody the incredible breadth and depth of Canadian culture. The event was hosted by TED senior curator Cyndi Stivers.

When and where: Thursday, February 23, 2023, at the TED Theater in New York City

Opening and closing remarks: From the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance for Canada, and Gloria Loree, chief marketing officer of Destination Canada

Speakers: Alysa McCall, Azim Shariff, Normand Voyer, Matricia Bauer, Lori McCarthy, Paul Bloom, Cohen Bradley, Alona Fyshe, Rebecca Darwent, Michael Green, Cameron Davis, Jiaying Zhao, Kevin Smith and Kris Alexander

Throat singers Silla perform at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED World Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Music: In the verbal version of a dance-off, the Inuit duo Silla (made up of Charlotte Qamaniq and Cynthia Pitsiulak) perform the ancient art form of katajjaq, a type of Inuit throat singing found only in the Canadian Arctic. Later in the show, singer-songwriter Mélissa Laveaux delivers a musical treat, performing two mesmerizing songs alongside bassist Sébastien Richelieu.

The talks in brief:

Biologist and conservationist Alysa McCall speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

As Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are being forced on land – and they’re hungry. Biologist and conservationist Alysa McCall shares what to do when you find a polar bear digging through your trash and offers inspiring solutions for protecting both the bear’s shrinking habitat and their human neighbors.

Social psychologist Azim Shariff speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Why do we think people who work hard are “good” — even if they produce little to no results? Social psychologist Azim Shariff calls this “effort moralization”: the intuitive connection we make between hard work and moral worth, regardless of what the work produces. He explores how this mindset plays out in our work environments — leading to things like workaholism — and encourages a shift towards effort that produces something meaningful, rather than just work for work’s sake.

Chemist Normand Voyer speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Take a trip to Canada’s Arctic as natural product chemist Normand Voyer explores the mysterious molecular treasures hidden in plants thriving in frigid environments. These scarcely investigated organisms could hold the key to the world’s next wonder drug, he says — so long as we work quickly enough to discover them before their ecosystems are altered by climate change.

Indigenous artist and entrepreneur Matricia Bauer speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Adopted by a white family as a child, Indigenous artist and entrepreneur Matricia Bauer, or Isko-achitaw waciy / ᐃᐢᑯ ᐃᐦᒋᑕ ᐘᒋᕀ (she who moves mountains), lost touch with her Cree heritage. Beat by beat and bead by bead, Bauer reconciled lost parts of herself by exploring the songs, stories and crafts of her culture. On a decades-long journey of re-Indigenizing herself, Bauer recites a moving poem on the ways of eagles and hawks — and illustrates the power of embracing one’s true self.

Cultural storyteller Lori McCarthy speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In a love letter to her native Newfoundland and Labrador, cultural storyteller Lori McCarthy shares the secret magic of this Canadian province: the rich connection between the people, the land and the food. Sharing a glimpse of the tastes, sights and generations-old stories that thrive there, McCarthy invites you to become a part of wherever you go — which could start with something as simple as sitting with a local for a cup of tea.

Psychologist Paul Bloom speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Have you ever done something just because you knew it was wrong? In an invitation to examine your contrarian streak, psychologist Paul Bloom shares findings from “The Perversity Project”: stories he gathered from the public of harmless (but intentional) everyday misdeeds. From sticking a finger in your friend’s ice cream to a urinal that sparked the birth of conceptual art, Bloom makes the case that, sometimes, freeing yourself from the constraints of rationality and morality can be clever, creative and even beautiful.

Haida storyteller Cohen Bradley speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Haida storyteller Cohen Bradley, who holds the names of Taaydal (“coming in big”) and Gidin Kuns (“powerful eagle”) in his clan and nation, shares his culture’s perspective on legacy, weaving together stories passed on by his ancestors with his own recent story of raising a memorial pole in his ancestral village. He demonstrates the resilience of his people’s legacy despite the devastating impact of colonialism.

AI researcher Alona Fyshe speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Is AI really as smart as people give it credit for? Researcher Alona Fyshe delves into the inner workings of AI and the human brain, breaking down how talkative tech (like ChatGPT) learns to communicate so convincingly — or not.

Philanthropic adviser Rebecca Darwent speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Boxhand. Susu. Tontine. Potlatch. These are just some of the names from around the world for philanthropy centered on formal and informal ways of giving back. Philanthropic adviser Rebecca Darwent shares how community-led practices can revolutionize and overcome the systemic racism of the financial industry — and offers lessons from collective giving that could change the ways good is done.

Architect Michael Green speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Architect Michael Green — a mass timber pioneer who helped spark a renaissance in constructing tall buildings out of wood — introduces a new material called “FIVE,” which is derived from natural materials and based on the structure of trees and vascular plants. FIVE could revolutionize the way we build buildings, providing a strong and organic alternative to the traditional materials of concrete, steel, masonry and wood.

Youth leader Cameron Davis speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

In a quick, inspiring talk, youth activist Cameron Davis explains why his generation — Gen Z, with its exposure to differing viewpoints online from an early age — is uniquely positioned to create meaningful change in the world by using their voices to challenge systemic biases, advocate for inclusivity and promote justice.

Behavioral scientist Jiaying Zhao speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Is it possible for climate action to make you feel happy? Behavioral scientist Jiaying Zhao believes that’s the only way we’ll create lasting, sustainable change. From treat meals to feng shui fridges, she offers eight tricks to lower your carbon emissions while increasing your happiness.

Coastal explorer Kevin Smith speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Coastal explorer Kevin Smith tells the story of how a group of eco-tourism businesses in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia collaborated to create one of the biggest marine debris cleanups in history. The initiative was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, when tours were temporarily shut down, resulting in these once-competitive businesses coming together to propose a solution to clean up the coast and protect their livelihoods.

Professor of video game design Kris Alexander speaks at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City. February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Where academia fails, video games often succeed, says professor of game design Kris Alexander. With high-quality audio, text and video focused with clear objectives, video games swiftly captivate minds and drive motivation — unlike a lecture hall. In an engaging display of the merits of digital play, Alexander calls for us to rethink the foundations of education and embrace the qualities of video games that can level up our learning.

Mélissa Laveaux performs at TED@DestinationCanada at the TED Theater in New York City on February 23, 2023. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

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TED is bringing its global climate conference, TED Countdown, to Detroit in summer 2023

Par : TED Staff

TED Future Forum: an initiative of Countdown

TED Countdown, a global initiative committed to accelerating solutions to the climate crisis, announces that its second Summit will take place in Detroit, Michigan from July 11-14, 2023. The Summit will also host the inaugural gathering of the TED Future Forum, an initiative of TED Countdown, focused on the role of business in accelerating solutions to the climate crisis.

The 2023 TED Countdown Summit will convene 700 leaders from the science, activism, innovation, business, finance, policy and philanthropic sectors. Hosted at Michigan Central, a newly opened innovation hub addressing the most pressing challenges at the intersection of mobility and society, and the historic Fillmore Detroit, the Summit will include TED Talks that highlight real-world solutions at scale; Breakthrough Sessions designed to explore the tools and partnerships we need; and immersive offsite experiences with local innovators to see how the city at the heart of the American auto industry is building an inclusive, sustainable future.

The four-day event will include:

  • Seven mainstage sessions, featuring 40+ TED Talks, interviews and performances
  • Offsite “field” experiences, from visits to state-of-the-art EV and battery production lines and factories upcycling waste to meetings with leaders building the “black to green” economy, climate migrants settling in Michigan and policymakers working to change the regulatory landscape
  • Breakthrough Sessions to scale collaboration, including working sessions on the transition to regenerative agriculture and how we fund climate adaptation as well as pitch sessions with entrepreneurs who are creating companies to solve the toughest climate problems

Featured themes and areas of focus to include:

  • The state of science + progress: Where are we for the UN’s global stock take on climate progress, and how does this reframe our understanding and actions?
  • Positive tipping points: Where are we making faster progress than we realize, and what are the most important breakthrough solutions to unlock now?
  • Adaptive innovation: What will improve the resiliency of 3.8 billion people who face shocks in a 1.5-degree world?
  • Bridging divides: How do we find unity in diversity and make progress despite our differences?

“Michigan Central is pleased to host Countdown and the TED Future Forum as we work to create a future that is more sustainable and equitable,” said Joshua Sirefman, CEO of Michigan Central. “Accelerating solutions to the climate crisis requires cultivating innovation that enables greater social, economic and physical mobility — the mission at the heart of Michigan Central’s work. Detroit is the perfect city to host these critical conversations and we are thrilled to welcome the world to the fully restored Book Depository Building.”

TED Countdown is collaborating with Detroit-based businesses, local leaders, arts organizations and the Office of the Mayor to both contribute to the Summit design and shape additional community activations. Speakers from Detroit will be prominently featured throughout the Summit program, and local organizations are partnering with TED to design experiences in the venues and throughout the city of Detroit. Existing partners include the Visit Detroit Bureau, Detroit Narrative Agency, Keep Growing Detroit, Real Times Media and Detroit Blight Busters.

“The last TED Countdown Summit was in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I’m thrilled the next one will be hosted in Detroit, Michigan,” said Carla Walker-Miller, CEO of Walker-Miller Energy Services. “Convening 700 global leaders here is an enormous opportunity to amplify amazing work across the city and foster mutual learning and sharing with a diverse audience.”

Since its launch in 2020 in partnership with Leaders’ Quest, TED Countdown has released more than 170 solutions-focused original videos and podcasts, including 140 climate TED Talks that have generated more than 230 million views, facilitated 1,000+ local climate events in 100+ countries and, with TED’s Audacious Project, generated more than $470M in philanthropic funding for climate solutions.

TED Future Forum

Convened by TED Countdown, The TED Future Forum is a community of companies committed to stepping up with greater climate ambition to help transform the global economy and create a healthy, prosperous future for all. The Forum will work with its founding companies to identify critical business-focused initiatives where we can accelerate progress. TED will then tell transformational stories of both successes and challenges at events and via TED platforms, with the goal of inspiring businesses across the economy to action.

TED Future Forum includes diverse industries with unique concerns — and all are seriously committed to the green transition for the long haul. The 13 Founding companies are: AB InBev, BCG, Bolt Threads, CEMEX, COFRA Holding, Ford, Google, Interface, Maersk, Mars, Nestlé, Ørsted and Siemens. We look forward to welcoming other companies into the Forum following the TED Countdown Summit in Detroit, Michigan, from July 11-14, 2023.

“We cannot tackle climate change without wholehearted engagement from business,” said Lindsay Levin, Countdown founding partner and head of partnerships + impact at TED. “The Future Forum is convening leaders who have the courage to change the way business operates — and to work across divides to do so.”

“I know from experience that transforming a company requires a combination of dreams and details. We need to dream big, before we have the answers, and then to work really hard on the details to figure it out,” said Jim Hagemman Snabe, TED Future Forum Vision Council chair, chairman of Siemens AG and vice chairman of Allianz SE. “TED Future Forum is about helping companies to find the courage and know-how to speed up their green transition because it makes good business sense — and it’s the right thing to do.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Countdown and the TED Future Forum to Detroit, where Ford is working to build the future of manufacturing and to revolutionize the way people move and connect,” said Cynthia Williams, global director of sustainability, homologation and compliance at Ford Motor Company.  “People everywhere are looking to businesses like Ford for solutions and urgency in responding to climate change. We look forward to putting our minds and resources together — in what we believe will be a powerful collaboration — to help shape a future for transportation that’s more inclusive, equitable and sustainable.”

“Every day we’re seeing the increasing impacts of climate change throughout local and global communities, supply chains and food chains. A more sustainable, equitable future will require meaningful action today across the business sector to deliver on commitments made in the fight against climate change,” said Shaid Shah, president of Mars Food and Nutrition. “By partnering with TED as a founding member of the Future Forum and joining cross-industry leaders and peers, we’re scaling up our efforts — and calling on others — through collaboration and uncommon partnerships to recruit new allies in the critical fight for a more sustainable future.”

“Information is the foundation of our company. Our founders set us an ambitious, almost audacious mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Kate Brandt, chief sustainability officer at Google.The challenge of climate change requires ambition on a similar scale. In many ways, it’s at the heart of how we realize our mission in the years ahead. A sustainable future depends on the decisions individuals, organizations and governments make every day. We know that businesses need to move faster, together, so we’re thrilled to be a part of a burgeoning community of businesses focused on pooling innovation and knowledge to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis — and hopefully inspiring others to join us.”

“Collaboration is key to solving the urgent climate challenges the world is facing,” said Ezgi Barcenas, Chief Sustainability Officer at AB InBev. “AB InBev is thrilled to partner with TED Countdown and the TED Future Forum and its partner companies to work toward redesigning global value chains with cutting-edge innovation to create a future with more cheers.”

A subset of uniquely positioned TED Countdown partners are supporting the TED Future Forum initiative. Partners include the B Team, Environmental Defense Fund, Fundação Dom Cabral​, Generation Investment Management, Global Warming Mitigation Project, Kite Insights, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Project Drawdown and Stand.Earth. A small cross-sector group of leaders provides guidance to the TED Future Forum as part of a Vision Council. This includes Jim Hagemann Snabe (Chair), Manish Bhardwaj, Habiba Ahut Daggash, Nili Gilbert, Rebecca Henderson, Wanjira Maathai, Roya Mahboob, Gonzalo Muñoz, Kim Stanley Robinson, Suzanne Simard and Nigel Topping.

Learn more about TED Countdown here, and learn more about the Detroit Summit here.

About TED

TED is on a mission to discover and spread ideas that spark imagination, embrace possibility and catalyze impact. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. We welcome people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and engagement with others, and we invite everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in your community.

TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged. Today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. Aside from the hundreds of TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated TED-Ed lessons and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages and distributed via partnerships around the world. Each year, more than 3,000 independently run TEDx events bring people together to share ideas and bridge divides in communities on every continent. Through the Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze nearly $3 billion in funding for projects that seek to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero emission future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives.

TED is owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation. Our aim is to help create a future worth pursuing for all. 

Follow TED on: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook

About Michigan Central

Michigan Central is a hub for advancing new technologies and programs that address barriers to greater social, economic and physical mobility. Catalyzed by funding from Ford Motor Company, Michigan Central is both an open platform and a call-to-action — for city, regional and international inventors and investors, academics and entrepreneurs, civil society voices and government leaders and business owners and corporate partners — to advance a more sustainable, equitable future through a community-based approach to mobility solutions. Building on Detroit’s rich history as an engine of change, the transformative Michigan Central project aims to strengthen the city’s existing fabric of community and electrify its economy while inspiring collective action on the most pressing challenges at the intersection of mobility and society worldwide.

Contact 

Allison Bartella | press@ted.com 

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TED Future Forum: an initiative of Countdown

Dare to discover: TEDinArabic hosts third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco

Par : TED Staff

TEDinArabic’s third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco. (Photo: Hmida Amouddah)

TEDinArabic brought together some of the world’s brightest minds to share ideas on the importance of outside-the-box thinking to change minds, embrace our shared humanity and shape the future.

The event: TEDinArabic, hosted by Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Errammach, included four talks centered on the theme “Dare to Discover,” a series of interactive workshops curated by partners at afikra, a performance by students of the Joudour Sahara music school and a series of interstitials by Arab artists. The event was attended by a number of dignitaries from Qatar, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, 50 students from across the region and more than 900 participants from Morocco. It was the third in a series of TEDinArabic regional events organized in the lead-up to the TEDinArabic Summit in March, 2023 in Doha, Qatar. The summit will feature 16 speakers from the Arabic-speaking world sharing their ideas for the first time with a global audience — all in Arabic.

When and where: Thursday, October 13, 2022 at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir, Morocco

Opening remarks: Moza Al-Hajri, a student at Georgetown University in Qatar and a youth advocate for the Education Above All Foundation, emphasized the importance of the Arabic language to Arab identity and upholding cultural heritage.

The talks in brief:

Charles Mouhannad Malek speaks at TEDinArabic’s third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco. (Photo: Qatar Foundation)

Charles Mouhannad Malek, molecular and cellular biologist 

Big idea: We can build bridges and increase empathy through science.

How? Dr. Charles Malek thinks the only way for the Arabic-speaking world to transition from a consumer to a producer market is through investing in scientific research and technology here at home. Many students decide to work abroad because their home countries don’t provide them with the necessary tools and infrastructure to pursue their scientific research. The key to solve this problem is to teach with the scientific method – which relies on empirical observation, information gathering, analysis, conclusion and critical thinking – as opposed to lectures and rote memorization. Malek emphasizes the need to develop and promote scientific content in the Arabic language as a vehicle to build knowledge across the region. “If we decide to prioritize science education and make that the compass of the north, change will come,” he says.


Aziza Chaouni speaks at TEDinArabic’s third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco. (Photo: Qatar Foundation)

Aziza Chaouni, civil engineer, architect, professor 

Big idea: A model for sustainable living and preserving cultural heritage lies in the desert.

How? The creation of oases, through careful land and building management, has made desert living possible for centuries. Increased tourism and climate change, however, are forcing local communities to leave, abandoning their cultural heritage as the desert creeps in. Aziza Chaouni is focused on reversing the damage by designing a new approach to sustainability and cultural heritage preservation. In her hometown of Fez, Morocco, the oasis of M’hamid Al Ghizlan was on its way to extinction until Chaouni established Joudour Sahara, a music school built with sustainable, local materials – such as rammed earth, stone, wood and bamboo – and powered by an autonomous, photovoltaic energy system. Thanks to the project, the desert has stopped trying to eat M’hamid, residents are staying in their homes and their cultural heritage is now thriving. She concludes her talk with a live performance by the students of Joudour Sahara.


Suzanne Talhouk speaks at TEDinArabic’s third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco. (Photo: Qatar Foundation)

Suzanne Talhouk, author, poet

Big idea: Embrace the vibration of the Arabic language to shape your life and the life of those around you.

How? Words carry a vibration that can affect your other senses, says Suzanne Talhouk. She makes an impassioned case to get in touch with your inner voice and to embrace a world that stays away from using inflammatory, charged words. “If you want to improve your life and the life of those around you, start by using words that express love, harmony and forgiveness,” she says. She concludes by exploring the power of the Arabic language, saying that words shape the way we think and act. Arabic is one of the many languages that has a myriad of words that carry vibrations and high energy – so why are we abandoning our mother tongue so easily?


Hayat Sindi speaks at TEDinArabic’s third regional event in Ben Guerir, Morocco. (Photo: Qatar Foundation)

Hayat Sindi, biotechnologist 

Big idea: A new model to foster innovation, address social challenges and build a bridge between possibility and hope.

How? Dr. Hayat Sindi has established a social entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem for scientists and innovators to address pressing issues in their communities in the Middle East and beyond. The i2 Institute – launched in partnership with Harvard Innovation Lab, MIT, National Geographic, Pop Tech, PWC and McKinsey – was the beginning of Sindi’s journey to bring tangible solutions to the most vulnerable. Through its flagship program “Transform,” Sindi and her team worked with a group of innovators around the globe to launch a number of projects: battery-powered refrigerators that use solar energy in the borders of Uganda and Mozambique to store and preserve produce (and, later, COVID-19 vaccines); solar-powered houses in refugee camps in Bangladesh; and an electronic medical platform that employs 60,000 female doctors in Pakistan, providing dignified medical assistance to 100 million women and children in the outskirts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq. “We can come up with amazing and visionary ideas,” she says. “However, they will become real and stronger only when they are connected to society.”

This piece was written by Lobna Hassairi and Doha Summaqah.

Hayat Sindi

In the Green: Visions of a sustainable future from TED Countdown and the Climate Pledge

What does it actually take to run a sustainable business?

Hear from trail-blazing business leaders on how they’re transforming their industries by committing to a net zero future. In the Green: The Business of Climate Action is a TED series presented by TED Countdown and The Climate Pledge where leaders share hard-won wisdom from companies addressing humanity’s most urgent mission: fighting climate change.

When it launched back in February, In the Green explored decarbonizing buildings, reducing the environmental impact of electronics and what nature can teach us about sustainable business. Back with new experts, the three latest episodes of the series explore industry-transforming solutions that tackle the wastefulness of standard freight truck logistics, the partnerships global businesses need to run on 100-percent renewable energy and a lightweight transportation alternative to cars.

Can we reduce the emissions of millions of freight trucks?

What are the steps to running a global business on 100-percent renewable energy?

What does it take to get more people to drive less?

InTheGreenArt

TEDWomen Presents: Women leading joy, with Angélique Kidjo and Femi Oke

Angélique Kidjo in conversation with Femi Oke at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

Joy is one of the most under-prioritized essentials to social progress. How do we reconnect to it during life’s hardest moments?

The fifth and final day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on the value of joy, with a conversation between Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo and international broadcaster Femi Oke.

Big idea: Women and girls across Africa need unfettered access to education — and safe, collaborative and inspiring spaces for their ambitions to thrive.

How? “When I am on stage, I am just trying to convey the happiness, the joy and the strength that we have as human beings to prevail in every circumstance,” says Angélique Kidjo. In a deep and expansive conversation with Femi Oke, Kidjo shares the different kinds of joys that weave together her experience as a musician and gender equality advocate. Growing up in Benin, she witnessed silencing limitations placed on girls from a young age, whether it was marriage at a young age or unwanted pregnancy. She founded Batonga — a foundation that provides education and resources to women and girls in the most hard-to-reach parts of Africa — to help give them a voice. By investing in the dreams, skills and ambitions of those who are often overlooked and marginalized, Kidjo found that education can create the space necessary to break harmful societal barriers. Whether she’s making an impact through her infectious, Grammy-award-winning music or creating safe, entrepreneurial spaces for girls to thrive, Kidjo wants us all to recognize our worth and know “you can fall beneath the Earth, but you always can rise.”

Q&A: After the interview, Kidjo joined TEDWomen Editorial Director Pat Mitchell live from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she’s just wrapped up the final show of her North American tour. Kidjo detailed practices that help her connect to joy even when life gets challenging, reminding us that “joy is endless.”

“When you are joyful, you are free,” Kidjo says. She’s eager to continue collaborating with organizations whose mission is to help cultivate the music and solidarity that empower women and girls to become leaders of their own lives. Kidjo talked about the ways in which her organization Batonga has positively impacted generations of women by supporting mothers, who in turn support their daughters. She highlighted the importance of honesty, accountability and hope when it comes to connecting with younger generations, equipping them for the challenges (and infinite possibilities) ahead.

Angélique Kidjo in conversation with Femi Oke at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

TED also invites you to join the BIG JOY Project — a one-week, seven-minute-a-day journey to discover what micro-acts of joy help you tap into your own happiness. At the end of this citizen science project, your very own joy superpower will be revealed to you.

And lastly, a bit of news! TEDWomen will have a new home in 2023: the exuberant and historically-rich city of Atlanta, Georgia. We hope you can join next year (whether it’s virtually or in person) and take part.

Join the TEDWomen Community newsletter list to be the first to hear updates from the community and announcements about TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia — October 11-13, 2023.

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TEDWomen Presents: Women leading the future, with Heidi Hammel and Nadia Drake

Heidi Hammel in conversation with Nadia Drake at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

Nothing says “future” quite like humanity’s quest to understand our cosmic surroundings.

The fourth day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on science and the future, with a conversation between astronomer Heidi Hammel and science journalist Nadia Drake.

Big idea: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most powerful ever built by humanity, has transformed the field of astronomy — and our search for life beyond Earth.

How? JWST has been orbiting Earth since late 2021; its highly sensitive, innovative instruments allow us to see new wavelengths of infrared light with incredible clarity. Beyond the beautiful photography it creates, this breakthrough telescope means we can learn more about the very origins of the universe. “Different wavelengths of light tell you different parts of the story,” says Heidi Hammel, an interdisciplinary scientist working on JWST. In conversation with science journalist Nadia Drake, she discussed the telescope’s construction and how scientists use tools called spectrographs to analyze the colors in the light it captures. Since certain molecules light up differently, they can use these colors to see which molecules are present in a far-off object — molecules like H2O, which could be a sign of circumstances suitable for life. More than this, “We don’t just have a static picture,” says Hammel. Studying the imagery can reveal the molecules’ temperature, pressure and movement, too. “That’s where the real deep science takes place,” she says. All this information will help us fill in gaps in the knowledge of the universe’s history, how our solar system formed and where else life may have evolved. For example, we’ve learned that one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, has more water inside it than Earth does on the surface, and that the dust, gas and existing stars of nearby galaxies interact to create new stars. “It touches us as humans. How did we come to be?” asks Hammel.

Q&A: Following the interview, the TEDWomen Presents audience had the opportunity to ask Hammel questions during a live Q&A, hosted by TED Current Affairs Curator Whitney Pennington-Rodgers. In her day-to-day work, Hammel says she experiences both the mundane and the awesome. While sometimes she can be so deep in analysis that she loses sight of the awe she’s experiencing, other times she’ll get to observe an image that shocks or amazes her. While working on the Hubble Space Telescope, she watched a comet crash into Jupiter, exploding into massive black clouds. And when JWST first launched, she saw Neptune (and its rings) glowing in the infrared. Looking towards the future, Hammel says scientists are already thinking about the next generation telescope — one even larger than JWST — to find another planet able to sustain life. Wherever it may be, Hammel says we might be able to answer the question of whether life exists beyond our planet within this lifetime.

Hammel also spoke on the evolution of gender equity in her field since she first began her career in the 1980s. At that time, there were less than ten women in her field. Now she attends conferences filled with women. “It makes me joyful,” she says, because the attention they’ve put towards including women has created a younger, more diverse generation of astronomers. Today, Hammel does outreach with a broad range of communities, working to change everyone’s understanding of what an astronomer looks like. Yes, a scientist can look “like an ordinary mom!”

Heidi Hammel in conversation with Nadia Drake at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

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TEDWomen Presents: Women leading on rights, with Jane Fonda, Vanessa Nakate and Mary Robinson

The basic human right to live on a sustainable, equitable planet is being threatened by a global climate crisis. How do we stop the loss of ecosystems, displacement of communities and destruction of livelihoods?

The third day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on environmental rights, with a conversation between climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate and Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders and former president of Ireland, as well as a live interview with actor and activist Jane Fonda and TEDWomen Editorial Director Pat Mitchell.

Climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate and Chair of The Elders and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson speak at TEDWomen Presents. (Photo Courtesy of TED)

Big idea: To mitigate the impacts of climate change, Africa needs climate financing to lift people out of energy poverty.

How? Capitalism plays a major role in degrading the environment. In a sprawling conversation surrounding the current state of the climate crisis, Mary Robinson and Vanessa Nakate explore the need for an intersectional approach that promotes racial justice and lifts people out of energy poverty; the urgent need for climate finance in Africa; and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls throughout the world. Despite the complexity of the climate crisis, Nakate says that, if we all act as one, “No one is too small to make a difference, and no action is too small to transform the world.”

Actor and activist Jane Fonda speaks at TEDWomen Presents on October 27, 2022. (Photo Courtesy of TED)

Big idea: To truly advance climate action, we need to change the people in power.

How? Building off her Fire Drill Fridays movement — a series of weekly climate demonstrations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC — Jane Fonda launched the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, aimed at electing climate champions (and defeating fossil fuel supporters) in the upcoming 2022 US midterm elections. In conversation with Pat Mitchell, Fonda clarifies why she’s bringing her climate activism into the electoral arena: after decades of marching, protesting and civil disobedience, the country was still not getting essential climate legislation passed because of the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on both sides of the aisle. For candidates to gain her PAC’s support, they must sign a pledge to not take money from the fossil fuel industry and demonstrate a commitment to holding oil and gas companies accountable for their environmental devastation. Two such candidates include Luke Warford, who’s running for the Texas Railroad Commission, and Lina Hidalgo, who’s running for judge in Harris County, Texas. “I believe the most important thing I’ve ever done is creating this PAC,” Fonda says. “I’m going to continue to do this until I die.”

Wondering what you can do to join the fight for change? Fonda encourages everyone to share stories of their own climate activism — whether it be drinking from a reusable water bottle or installing solar panels in your community — and invites anyone to join the next Fire Drill Fridays gathering on December 2, 2022, in Washington, DC. Climate activism is our “awesome responsibility,” she says: it’s time for all hands on deck.

Join the TEDWomen Community newsletter list to be the first to hear updates from the community and announcements about TEDWomen 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia — October 11-13, 2023.

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TEDWomen Presents: Women leading work, with Anjali Sud and Stephanie Mehta

Anjali Sud in conversation with Stephanie Mehta at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

How do we chart a path forward for the future of work during a time of unprecedented change?

The second day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on leading change in the workplace, with a conversation between Anjali Sud, CEO of Vimeo, and Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures.

Big idea: Agile leaders meet uncertainty with flexibility. 

How? As a leader, your workforce looks to you for certainty, says Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud. But amid a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and the start of a war, Sud couldn’t provide her 1300-plus employees with the assurance they sought — there were just too many factors outside her control. Her solution: to stay agile and change as circumstances change.

In conversation with Mansueto CEO (and former editor-in-chief of Fast Company) Stephanie Mehta, Sud shares what agile leadership looks like at Vimeo and why offering your employees flexibility makes for a happier, more productive workforce. Early in the pandemic, when everyone in the company felt so isolated, Sud enhanced face-to-face communication at Vimeo by promoting a video-first model. Instead of email and chat, company leaders used live video to communicate with their employees whenever possible. Sud also created a framework for people to discuss what’s not working in meetings so they could pivot when necessary. As for her changing workforce, Sud recognizes that newer generations of workers, specifically millennials and Gen-Z, have different preferences and priorities than previous generations. They’re more mission-driven and want to understand the “why” behind their jobs, not just the “what.” No matter the circumstances, Sud emphasizes that CEOs should respond to challenges with empathy and humanity: “I think the best leaders and cultures deliver results and treat people well.”

Q&A: Following the interview, the TEDWomen Presents audience had the opportunity to ask Sud questions during a live Q&A, hosted by TED Current Affairs Curator Whitney Pennington-Rodgers. This wide-ranging discussion covered the importance of honest, transparent communication in moments of turbulence and change; how companies can take a stance on social change issues; the future of video; how to create deep connections with virtual teams; the extra pressure women leaders face and much more.

Sud outlined how recent layoffs at Vimeo challenged her to rethink how leaders can be accountable to the people affected. “Careers are long, but relationships are longer,” she says. Sud also discussed how Vimeo — an open, user-generated content platform — has a responsibility to make sure that the content on their platform doesn’t create harm in the real world. She emphasized the need for companies like hers to recognize that the world is changing, and how the old rules of engagement may no longer apply. And she also shared some lessons for future generations: get used to the idea that your career path will be winding, not linear, and don’t shy away from hard decisions. “Leadership looks like whatever we want it to look like. So be yourself,” she says.

Anjali Sud in conversation with Stephanie Mehta at TEDWomen Presents. October 24-28, 2022. Photo Courtesy of TED.

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TEDWomen Presents: Women leading change, with Tamana Ayazi and Kat Craig

Filmmaker Tamana Ayazi speaks at TEDWomen Presents. (Photo Courtesy of TED)

If there’s a constant in our lives, it’s change.

The first day of TEDWomen Presents — an online festival featuring interviews with leading women, interactive workshops, specially curated film screenings and more — focused on change and the challenges that come with it, culminating in a moving conversation between filmmaker Tamana Ayazi and human rights lawyer Kat Craig.

Big idea: The women of Afghanistan need solidarity and global support more than anything. Hope for a brighter future remains — despite all odds.

How? One of the good memories Tamana Ayazi has of growing up in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, is playing soccer in the street with friends; another is of participating in a program for documentary filmmaking. Both memories inform who Ayazi is today, what she seeks to capture behind the lens of her camera and her hopes for her country’s future. Interviewed by Kat Craig — who was part of a team that helped to evacuate the women’s national football team from Afghanistan in 2021 — Ayazi discusses her feature-length documentary debut In Her Hands (which premieres on Netflix on November 16), which chronicles the harrowing reality of Afghanistan’s youngest female mayor months before the Taliban’s resurgence. Whether it be on long strips of desert road controlled by the Taliban, standing atop crags of mountainous expanse or nestled in a village room lined with stacks of books, Ayazi reflects the hearts and voices of the Afghan people fighting for their country — those who believe in making right the many wrongs that led to its takeover, even as they are ideologically opposed. (Among the subjects of her film, she threads the perspective of a Taliban commander named Musafer.) “When the government collapsed, it wasn’t just the government. It was the people, full of hopes and dreams,” Ayazi says. “The future collapsed in front of us. My biggest dream is to go back to Afghanistan and live the way I used to live.” Ayazi reaches toward a future where light overwhelms the current shadow that looms over her country, a future where she can once again embrace the loved ones she was forced to leave behind. She believes the way forward is female and calls for solidarity for all women, anywhere in the world. “We are the ones who can make change,” she says.

Q&A: Following the interview, the TEDWomen Presents audience had the opportunity to ask Ayazi questions during a live Q&A, hosted by TEDWomen Editorial Director Pat Mitchell. Ayazi spoke on the current Taliban-enforced gender apartheid in Afghanistan, lamenting how the pathways to knowledge have become restricted for women, as well as the dramatic rise of forced and child marriage due to poverty and lack of education. This taking of basic human rights has spurred protests comprised of brave, resilient and determined women within the country and around the world in solidarity — and Ayazi believes and feels these courageous efforts will lead to something positive. She’s hoping that her film In Her Hands will open a conversation about the situation in Afghanistan, amplify the voices in need of support, change policies and put pressure on the Taliban.

Naturally, however, Ayazi harbors deep concerns. Much has changed since filming, and everything has become more serious. She still has loved ones and colleagues in the country. But speaking with the women and girls still fighting back home gives her hope and drives her to keep going to do the most of what she can in her current position. To her, leaving is as difficult as staying because you lose everything in a single day — your home, job, identity, the certainty of the future. “I cry sometimes,” she admits. “But then I’m like: Tamana, if they can do this, you should be able to do this.”

Filmmaker Tamana Ayazi speaks with human rights lawyer Kat Craig at TEDWomen Presents. (Photo Courtesy of TED)

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Brighter future(s): The talks from TED@BCG 2022

Hosts Julia Dhar and Whitney Pennington Rodgers speak at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Predicting the future can sometimes feel impossible, but there are clear paths we can follow to take action on the issues of the day. In a day of talks and performances, 16 leading minds gathered to present promising and hopeful solutions to problems related to health care, the economy, modern leadership and more.

The event: TED@BCG: brighter future(s) is the thirteenth event TED and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have co-hosted to uplift forward-thinking speakers from around the globe. Hosted by TED current affairs Curator Whitney Pennington Rogers and BCG managing director and partner Julia Dhar (a past TED speaker herself!).

When and where: Thursday, September 15, 2022 at the TED World Theater in New York City

Speakers: Aparna Bharadwaj, Gareth Thomas, Tolu Oyekan, Dave Sivaprasad, Phnam Bagley, Tessa Clarke, Alex Koster, Gitte Frederiksen, June Sarpong, Zineb Sqalli, Will Guidara, Cristina Junqueira, Elena Crescia, Keenan Scott II, Veronica Chau, Nithya Vaduganathan, Paul Catchlove

KERA performs at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Music: Musician KERA performed their serene and soulful songs “Bright Future Ahead” and “Vitamin T” for the audience.

The talks in brief:

Aparna Bharadwaj speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Aparna Bharadwaj, global consumer strategist

Big idea: People can benefit from finding the hidden connections and secret similarities.

Why? Businesses tend to focus on what separates consumers in one country from another. Aparna Bharadwaj shows that it’s much more interesting for businesses to instead look for unexpected similarities across borders. Her research has revealed insights like: Chinese and Indonesians like to share snacks in groups, rather than eating alone; car-buying habits in China look similar to those in Nigeria, motivated by status more than utility; and Americans and Russians share similar motivations when shopping for clothes, looking for on-trend apparel instead of performance wear. “These are patterns where you least expect them,” Bharadwaj says, as businesses wouldn’t normally think to group consumers in these countries together. These commonalities go beyond commercial opportunities — they provide a message of hope for the world. “If only people knew that we are similar in the most profound ways, in our everyday activities … maybe we would understand and empathize with each other,” she says.


Gareth Thomas speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Gareth Thomas, former pro rugby player, stigma challenger

Big idea: Together, we can tackle stigma.

How? The tattoo on Gareth Thomas’s knee is dark, ghoulish and threatening — a skeleton that represents the imminent death he felt when he first was diagnosed with HIV. The wings beneath it symbolize the freedom he felt once he finally found his voice: “Like a dead man coming back to life,” he says. The crown atop the skull embodies leadership against discrimination and misinformation. Each adornment represents his journey living, celebrating and reclaiming his truth in the face of stigma and shame. Now he’s on a mission to fight for the same for others. Thomas demystifies and redefines what it means to live with HIV, urging us to normalize conversation around all vilified conditions. The more people who know the facts — and stand up against stigma — the more the truth can spread, reducing shame and giving the world more of a fighting chance to make right what has been wrong for so long.


Tolu Oyekan speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Tolu Oyekan, inclusive finance promoter

Big idea: To meet developmental goals on the African continent (and beyond), historically non-profit objectives must be treated with the same urgency that for-profit initiatives enjoy. 

How? In the for-profit sector, a business’s top priority is ensuring that the benefits of their efforts outweigh the investments. Tolu Oyekan believes that non-profits should borrow a page from their playbook. He sets up a crucial example of this approach: access to financial services across his native Nigeria is extremely scarce. Oyekan shows us how data-driven and scalable solutions can transform banking for rural and urban communities alike. Treating this critical lack of access with a lean approach that empowers citizens, Oyekan explains how agent banking — an individual acting on behalf of a bank and providing financial services from established local businesses — could be an affordable fix, as opposed to expensive solutions like adding physical ATMs and bank branches. This way, people can access banking resources at their local grocery store, barber shop or anywhere an agent sets up shop. “When we include the profit motive in the development work that we do, we can go fast and far, together, to address development challenges and change the world for the better,” Oyekan says.


Dave Sivaprasad speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Dave Sivaprasad, coastline resilience advocate

Big idea: When it comes to mitigating the impact of climate change on coastal areas, it’s not about finding a singular solution — it’s about finding the right mix of solutions.

Why? Around forty percent of humanity lives near a coast, and their livelihoods are dependent on the conditions of the environment. From flooding and ocean acidification to stronger storms and changes in wind patterns, Dave Sivaprasad lays out the ever-increasing risks climate change poses to these areas. To deal with these more intense conditions, he shares a multitude of approaches coastal populations can implement to brace themselves for the (metaphorical and literal) storm. Sea walls, stone barriers, mangrove restoration, land reclamation are all viable options, but the challenge is choosing the right mix to meet each community’s needs. “No two coasts are alike” says Sivaprasad — and neither are their respective paths to climate resilience.


Phnam Bagley speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Phnam Bagley, designer and creative director

Big idea: With creative thinking and innovative design, people traveling beyond Earth could eat nourishing, flavorful food reminiscent of home.

How? When astronauts are hurtling through space, they typically eat what Phnam Bagley kindly calls “goop-in-a-bag.” The lack of gravity, limited storage and distance from Earth make it difficult for an explorer to enjoy a fresh, delectable meal. Meal time becomes even more complicated when you plan to send astronauts to Mars, a roundtrip journey of 2.5 to 3 years. To take on the challenge of making better astronaut grub, Bagley and her team designed the Space Culinary Lab with flavor, nutrition and practically in mind. The system can mix coffee granules, hot water, ghee and collagen powder to make a coffee with both satisfying flavor and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. A hydroponic garden grows lettuce and microgreens for salad, while lasers cook rehydrated freeze-dried chicken with the same enticing pattern of grilled meats. For snacks, they grow carbon-negative microalgae like spirulina onsite, then mix it with oats, nuts, powdered berries and spices. Bagley’s designs have the potential to make space feel more human. They could improve life here on Earth as well, replacing non-regenerative agricultural methods with low-resource creative cooking.


Tessa Clarke speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Tessa Clarke, sharing economy entrepreneur

Big idea: There’s a super simple solution to the climate crisis – sharing.

Really? Household consumption is directly responsible for 65 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Tessa Clarke thinks the most effective solution is something humans have been doing for thousands of years: sharing more and wasting less. Globally, one-third of all the food we produce each year is thrown away, a trillion-dollar squandering that ends up in landfills, producing carbon dioxide’s deadlier cousin, methane. And half of that waste comes from households. According to leading scientists, solving the food waste problem is even more important than transitioning to electric cars, solar panels or plant-based diets. To take on the problem, Clarke cofounded Olio, a free app that connects local communities around giving food away before it’s thrown away. They’ve empowered people to share 66 million portions of food, and this is just a tiny fraction of what’s possible. Users can also share home items, books, appliances, toys and more. “Sharing instead of shopping needs to become the default,” she says.


Alex Koster speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Alex Koster, mobility and software visionary

Big idea: The automobile industry is busy building the “Software Dream Car.”

How? The future of the automotive industry goes beyond clean fuels software is poised to be a transformational force as well. If we take driverless cars as an eventual given, it’s time to dream up what their interior spaces will look like, says Alex Koster. As computer vision technology continues to advance, we’re moving towards what he calls the “Software Dream Car” an augmented reality vehicle that fuses science fiction and luxury into a real-world environment overlaid with information and entertainment. What we see out our window will be limited only by our imaginations, says Koster, as our cars pilot us through rich virtual worlds in addition to taking us from point A to point B.


Gitte Frederiksen speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Gitte Frederiksen, leadership champion

Big question: Modern organizations are complex, multidirectional organisms, so why are we so invested in hierarchical leadership structures?

Some thoughts: When it comes down to it, leaders are only human. And when there’s only a small group of leaders moving at their own speed, bottlenecks are inevitable, organizational decisions flounder and leaders lose sight of the great ideas that often lie unnoticed in the margins. Gitte Frederiksen offers an innovative solution: leadership networks without labels, replacing the power of the few with the influence of many by emphasizing sharing and kindness. These complex human networks not only increase feelings of ownership, reduce stress and create better products, but they’re also “more beautiful, more multidimensional, more dynamic, more like nature,” says Frederiksen.


June Sarpong speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

June Sarpong, diversity leader

Big idea: The next big disruption in business is in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

How? “Rock star” leaders are those that disrupt business as usual — and June Sarpong thinks the same strategy can be used to move us forward on DEI. It all starts with uncomfortable connections, breaking with the status quo and developing a vision for a better future. When it comes to the workplace, people in power need to make the big leaps first. Consider FX Networks, which disrupted its previously lily-white programming roster and invested significantly in diverse directors and writers. In the process, it created critically and commercially successful content – which Sarpong says is truly “rock star behavior.”


Zineb Sqalli speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Zineb Sqalli, gender and climate researcher

Big idea? The next few decades will see trillions invested in infrastructure improvement in the name of fighting climate change, but women will only benefit from these policies and programs as much as men if we are intentional about their inclusion.

How? Climate action has historically been designed with a “gender neutral” lens, but continuing in this manner could set gender equality back by fifteen years, says Zineb Sqalli. We need to consider women’s specific needs upfront, involve women in the design process and measure results so that we can correct course if needed. Cities like Vienna, Austria have already done this. With a diverse urban planning board, Vienna restructured its parks so teenage girls would feel more welcome; created a public campaign to educate the city on the new approach; and integrated a gender assessment into social housing and infrastructure contracts. These changes benefit everyone. By abandoning the gender neutral mindset and intentionally designing for women, Sqalli says, we could build both an environmentally sustainable and gender equitable world.


Will Guidara speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Will Guidara, restaurateur, author

Big idea: Unreasonable hospitality turns ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences.

How? What does it take to earn the title “best restaurant in the world?” Ask Will Guidara, and he might tell you that the secret is a two-dollar, off-menu hot dog. Guidara is the former owner of Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant that claimed this distinction in 2017 under his leadership by pursuing a strategy of “unreasonable hospitality.” It all started when Guidara overheard a table of out-of-town guests regretting that their trip to New York City hadn’t included a taste of one of the city’s finest (and cheapest) culinary classics: a New York City hot dog. Eleven Madison Park is an exceptionally fancy establishment, but Guidara decided that if his guests wanted a hot dog, he’d make it happen. He ran out to the street, bought a hot dog from a sidewalk vendor and persuaded his chef to serve it. This simple gesture gobsmacked his guests — and it forever changed Guidara’s approach to service. He recounts other incredible experiences the Eleven Madison Park orchestrated for their patrons and offers strategies for anyone to make their hospitality a little more “unreasonable” — whether it be serving a guest or buying a gift (and creating a memory) for a loved one.


Elena Crescia (left) interviews Cristina Junqueira for TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Cristina Junqueira, entrepreneur, in conversation with Elena Crescia, social entrepreneur

Big idea: To disrupt an industry’s status quo, take customers’ pain seriously. 

How? “It felt a little bit like going to prison,” says Cristina Junqueira, describing the heightened security and long wait times that were typical at Brazilian banks when she cofounded her online bank, Nubank. She was drawn to banking by this pain, which she identified as an opportunity to disrupt a stagnant industry in need of improvement. Fast forward nine years and Nubank has redefined how Brazilians access their money and participate in commerce. In conversation with social entrepreneur Elena Crescia, Junqueira discusses the transformative impact her decision to center customers’ experience has had in Brazil. According to Junqueira, Nubank serves more than five million people who had never previously engaged with the country’s financial system. The company’s efficient digital platform is imitable, she says, but what’s harder to emulate is Nubank’s customer-first mindset. As she puts it: “That’s where the real competitive advantage lies.”


Keenan Scott II speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Keenan Scott II, playwright, poet, TED Fellow

Big idea: As a kid, Keenan Scott Il loved words, stories and superheroes — a passion that fueled his journey to becoming a celebrated playwright, producer, director and actor.

How? In every superhero narrative, says Keenan Scott II, there’s always an event that pushes the superhero to realize their power. For Scott, it was a poetry assignment in his eighth-grade English class. He struggled with dyslexia as a kid, but he soared when it came time to write a poem. He discovered that he already understood advanced literary devices like simile, assonance and slant rhyme because he’d encountered these techniques in the music he loved by artists like Tupac Shakur and Lemon Andersen. Scott continued to develop his craft outside the classroom by paying attention to words and the world around him. He listened to speech patterns in different parts of the city and heard the stories of his neighbors; he explored the work of other artists, poets and jazz artists whose creativity inspired his own. On the TED stage, Scott performs three stunning spoken word pieces that testify to the superheroic talent he cultivated despite the obstacles (read: kryptonite).


Veronica Chau speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Veronica Chau, sustainable investment professional

Big idea: To improve financing for sustainable and equitable housing, we need policies that stimulate demand and create a favorable investing environment.

Why? Faced with the climate crisis, financial institutions have pledged trillions to transform the economy — but right now, says sustainable investing expert Veronica Chau, that money is not flowing at the speed it needs to. Taking the housing sector as a case study, Chau explains that the US is facing two challenges at once: housing is scarce and the buildings we live in are a major contributor to climate change. To reconcile and overcome these two challenges, we need to radically increase financing for sustainable housing. Banks want to reach net-zero, she says; the problem is that government housing policy is not doing enough to create a low-risk environment for investment. By creating robust investment incentives; strengthening requirements for energy efficiency; investing in programs that help low-income communities retrofit their homes; and offering permits for affordable, energy-efficient housing, local governments can create a favorable financing environment and ensure financing flows to areas where it’s needed most.


Nithya Vaduganathan speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Nithya Vaduganathan, talent strategy expert

Big idea: To find hidden talent, take a fresh look around.

How? Something interesting is happening in the labor market: there are lots of job openings, yet many employers are struggling to find the right people to fill them. Why is that? Nithya Vaduganathan thinks it’s in large part because employers are using outdated practices to retract and retain talent – for instance, by focusing on features like college degree or time in role, which are not necessarily predictive of success. Vaduganathan offers five tips that will actually help employers fill open positions — while also helping job seekers advance their careers. First: leaders and managers must figure out what actually needs to get done, as opposed to listing Frankenstein job posts searching for impossibly qualified candidates. Second: “screen in” candidates, as opposed to screening out based on certain criteria like college degrees. (Great candidates don’t need to check every box, she says.) Third: start with coffee – or, in other words, start small. Try out micro-internships: small-scale, paid projects that create a low-risk path to hiring, particularly of college and grad students from overlooked schools. Fourth: look beyond your floor – there may be talent hiding inside your organization, just a floor above you. And, lastly: let your people go so they can grow. Companies that allow their people to move around internally report more diverse, innovative and effective teams. 


Paul Catchlove speaks at TED@BCG: brighter future(s) at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 15, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Paul Catchlove, reflective leader

Big idea: Self-reflection can add value to your work life, increasing performance and helping you make better decisions and build better relationships.

How? Reflection is about learning, says Paul Catchlove: looking at our lives without judgment, but with a critical lens. So how do we do it? Catchlove recommends making reflection a habit, whether it takes the form of purposeful thinking, journal entries, audio notes or discussions with a mentor or friend. In the workplace, this would look like consistently setting aside time to distill learnings on what worked, what didn’t and why – and then making a personal commitment to do things differently next time. So next time a meeting leaves you feeling agitated, take some time to sit down, take a breath and reflect (whether it’s after work or the next morning). Over time, cultivating a habit of reflection will glean deeper insights as you begin to recognize patterns of behavior – whether it’s a problematic relationship with a boss or client or an aspect of your job that you begin to realize leaves you feeling happy and fulfilled.

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Future-facing ideas from emerging leaders: TED Talks from the Bezos Scholars

Lily James Olds and Leonie Hoerster host the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

The first-ever TED Salon co-created in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation featured incredible ideas from the Bezos Scholars — extraordinary young people thinking about the future of education, human rights, financial systems and more — as well as some special TED Fellows guests. The result of a years-long collaboration between the Bezos Scholars and TED Fellows, this energetic, future-facing TED session showcased the organizations’ shared belief in and commitment to socially engaged innovation and human ingenuity.

The event: TED Talks from the Bezos Scholars, hosted by TED Fellows co-director Lily James Olds and senior program manager Leonie Hoerster

When and where: Friday, September 9, 2022, at TED World Theater in New York City

Comedy: From TED Fellow and comedian Negin Farsad, who opened the salon with a stand-up set that hilariously tracked what’s happened over the last couple of pandemic-fueled years.

Joshua Roman and Matthew Garcia perform at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Music: From TED Senior Fellow, cellist and classical rockstar Joshua Roman and Bezos Scholar and violist Matthew Garcia, who closed out the session with a stirring rendition to the first movement of Beethoven’s Eyeglasses Duo.


The talks in brief:

Joel Baraka speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Joel Baraka, refugee education innovator

Big idea: Gamifying school curricula can help get students in refugee camps get excited about learning.

How? Going to school in a refugee camp is complicated: students encounter crowded classrooms, a rigid curriculum and limited access to teachers. Joel Baraka grew up in the Kyangwali refugee camp in western Uganda and remembers that what he liked best about his school years were the hours he spent outside the classroom playing soccer with his friends or the card game Spades. That’s why as an entrepreneur, Baraka wanted to find a way to “gamify” the learning experience for other refugee students. He presents the educational board game he created, 5 STAZ, that schools in Kyangwali now use as a daily part of schoolwork to help students master their curriculum – and have fun while doing it.


Meghan Hussey speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Meghan Hussey, disability inclusion advocate

Big idea: Despite the global conversation around inclusive societies and workplaces for all races and genders, people with disabilities are still routinely excluded from education and employment. Making up an estimated 15 percent of the world’s population, their potential contributions remain unknown and unexplored. It’s time to build an inclusive future for people with all different kinds of abilities.

How? Meghan Hussey, a disability inclusion advocate and Global Development and Government Relations Director for the Special Olympics, believes that everyone benefits when people with disabilities are allowed to thrive — and the only thing holding them back from that is our own attitudes towards “those people.” According to Hussey, an inclusive future is four steps away. First, we must re-examine our assumptions and stereotypes around disability. These arise from the lack of disabled people in our everyday lives, and that lack is largely due to a lack of accommodations. Second, we must actively remove barriers and invite people with disabilities into our lives and organizations. Third, we should recognize how other exclusion issues — gender-based violence, health care accessibility — intersect with each other. And finally, we must listen to the voices of people with disabilities, because they will tell us what’s needed to remove the barriers keeping them from mainstream society.


Matthew Garcia speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Matthew Garcia, education equalizer

Big idea: To break down racial, class and geographic barriers, nonprofits should think virtual.

Why? A Latinx son of immigrants from a small Texas border town, Matthew Garcia grew up loving to play the viola but living far away from classical music meccas like New York and Chicago. Through years of intense practice and community support, Garcia overcame the odds, traveling with other elite young musicians to tour four continents and play Carnegie Hall – but then he hit a wall. One of the best violists in the world told him he would never succeed as a professional musician: he hadn’t started early enough and hadn’t gotten the private lessons he’d needed, the violist explained. He had missed out on key resources that gave his peers an edge. Garcia never gave up the viola, but this devastating advice changed his life and spurred him to action. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he founded a virtual nonprofit that provides free virtual private lessons to thousands of youth outside of major US cities. By broadening our ideas about what nonprofits can accomplish in the digital age, Garcia says, we can break down geographic, economic and racial barriers to historically exclusive fields like classical music, art and research.


Miguel Goncalves speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Miguel Goncalves, impact investor

Big idea: Millennials and Gen Z are set to become the richest generations in history — inheriting 30 trillion dollars’ worth of economic rewards in the coming years. But they’ll also inherit climate change impacts, global instability and a huge and growing wealth gap. Investor Miguel Goncalves believes that wealth can be leveraged to solve these problems through ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investments, which weigh environmental and social costs and benefits in their return calculations. But how can investors overcome the inertia and bias that many old-guard investors hold towards ESG investments?

How? Recent data suggests that about half of institutional investors consider the benefits of ESG investing to be unproven at best, or unclear at worst. Goncalves thinks that institutional investors are guided by expectations as much as by data, and when it comes down to it, “expectations create reality” — in other words, ESG investing won’t work if people don’t believe in it. To change expectations, Goncalves believes analysts could alter financial metrics to focus on what really matters to each industry, rather than cherry-picking the data that makes companies look good. In addition, financial forecasts should weigh potential blowback from environmental irresponsibility, social scandal or wealth inequality. But what Goncalves believes we really need to make ESG investing work is trust: a belief that companies that do good will be around longer, perform better and, in the end, create sustainable wealth.


Okong’o Kinyanjui speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Okong’o Kinyanjui, pan-African LGBTQIA+ advocate

Big idea: In many African countries, outdated colonialist laws make it dangerous for LGBTQIA+ people to share their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. In response, online communities are becoming vital safe spaces to combat hate and help people find the support and resources they need to thrive. 

How? Okong’o Kinyanjui co-created the Queer African Network, an online platform aiming to provide every queer African with access to verified opportunities, mentorship, fundraising and support. Through a three-week probation period on the network, community leaders are able to authenticate account holders, keeping bots and blackmailers out of private group chats and events. Once safety is established, the community can offer connections and mentorship, moving people closer to financial stability, without sacrificing their identity. There’s also space for queer Africans to share their stories, creating an archive of their lived experiences that can be used to allocate resources. Through constructive online spaces, communities can challenge oppressive systems and create new structures that prioritize collaboration over discrimination.

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Why TED Countdown is staging climate “Dilemma” discussions

Par : TED Staff

Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

In June 2022, TED’s climate initiative, Countdown, convened in New York for its first Dilemma Series event, titled “Is there a role for carbon credits in accelerating a fair, net-zero world?”

Carbon credits are a very controversial topic, one that elicits decidedly contrasting reactions. One hundred people gathered over 36 hours of deep conversations and hands-on workshops to confront those positions and bridge divides in a constructive manner.

The Countdown team is now preparing to stage its second Dilemma Series gathering, in London this October, around the even thornier question: “What is the role of fossil fuels between now and 2050?” We asked Lindsay Levin and Bruno Giussani, two of the cofounders of TED Countdown, why they and their team decided to create this new discussion format.

What is the Dilemma Series?

It’s a string of carefully curated events designed to look at some of the “knots” in the climate change space, where diverging positions have solidified into an inability to dialogue and seek how to undo them. Climate change is the most pressing issue facing our planet. It is also prismatically complex, and exploring ways to unlock stalled progress is vital to ensuring a safe and just future for all.

Why “dilemma”?

Most of us intuitively think of problems in terms of “choices”: situations where we weigh alternatives and decide the way forward. But as our colleague Bill Sharpe would say, complex situations often need both-and thinking instead of either-or thinking. They require us to hold competing values together rather than make straightforward choices. That’s what a dilemma is about.

Give us an example.

Think of a company. There is an inherent tension, and sometimes a direct opposition, between short-term profits and long-term investments. But both are necessary.

Or consider energy. The same kind of tension exists between the foremost necessity to extricate ourselves from fossil fuels and decarbonize the economy – without which our future will be endangered – and the equally paramount necessity of a stable and secure supply of energy, without which our present will be endangered. This is the nature of a dilemma: if one idea prevails to the exclusion of the other, we will not succeed. As said, we can’t confront these issues as straightforward either-or choices.

What is the format of the Dilemma discussions?

When we are talking about highly charged topics like fossil fuels or carbon credits, positions can become as extreme and inflexible as “what you say is BS.” These may be, in some cases, legitimate positions, but it’s difficult to see how they can be conducive to progress. Thus, the key elements of the design of a Countdown Dilemma discussion are a broad and carefully balanced representation among participants, their willingness to engage in deep listening and collaboration, and a shared agenda of finding bridges so that we can make progress despite the differences.

Sessions last 36 hours and feature some TED Talk-like moments and on-stage conversations that set the scene and offer a 360-degree view of the topic. This may include speakers with polar opposite positions. Most of the work, though, happens in small-group, participant-led workshops and brainstorms designed to explore the problem and potential solutions. Significant time is also given to “white space” moments, where people give feedback, offer a counterargument, contribute new information or data, or share feelings and emotions.

The Dilemma Series events are invitation-only, and although they are filmed, they aren’t publicly livestreamed in order to create a safe space for everyone to be able to share deeply. Those who participated in the first gathering in New York by and large told us that they found this approach transformative and an antidote to the polarization of the current climate discussions.

Who is invited to the Dilemma discussions and why?

We seek to bring together people from all sectors who have relevant knowledge, expertise and backgrounds, from business and civil society to technology and climate justice. Participants include scientists, CEOs, activists, experts, politicians, artists, frontline communities, investors and more, and come from a variety of geographies and age groups. Given that our goal is to turn differences into productive ways of working together, we can’t succeed unless we bring about an elevated awareness of different perspectives.

Why are representatives from fossil fuel companies included and being given a platform?

We reject the binary logic of “giving a platform/deplatforming.” Inviting someone to a conversation where hard questions are asked is not akin to giving them an open microphone. Extending an invitation to representatives of fossil fuel companies or banks that invest in energy does not represent an endorsement of them or their activities.

However, we live in a world where our energy system is still more than 80 percent dependent on fossil fuels. We need to rapidly transition away from that, and it’s going to be very difficult because it means we must confront the dilemma we described earlier. Imagining that we can make real progress and generate system-wide solutions by talking in separate, exclusionary circles creates echo chambers and is unlikely to generate forward movement. We recognize that some may not feel comfortable with this, but we believe in systems change and in a big-tent approach, where every organization, company, city, group, community and individual has a voice and a role to play.

What informed the creation of the Dilemma Series?

It was inspired by the learnings from a very tense moment that happened during the TED Countdown Summit in October 2021 in Edinburgh. We hosted a discussion featuring an investor, the CEO of a major oil company and a climate activist, moderated by a globally recognized climate diplomat – and it didn’t go as we had imagined. It made very visible, and painful, the tremendous tensions that traverse – and cripple – the climate transition, the anxiety felt by young generations, the continued business-first approach of the fossil fuel industry and how we have run into an incapacity to discuss and take action in the common interest.

We founded TED Countdown almost four years ago intentionally as a space to hold difficult and candid conversations and to catalyze the solutions necessary to build a zero-carbon world — one that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone. That hour in Edinburgh and its ripple effects taught us that it was even more urgent to create spaces where these conversations can take place constructively.

How can people sign up to participate?

Dilemma sessions are, by necessity, invitation-only and not open to the public. There are two inherent practical limitations to their organization, which we strive to be thoughtful about. One is typical to all events: there are a limited number of seats. Because of the dynamics of the gathering, which is very hands-on and participative, the ideal number is between 100 and 150. The second is representation: we make every effort to create a balanced group representing a broad set of viewpoints and diversity of tactics. We also ask all attendees to commit to participate in the whole event.

What type of vetting/fact-checking process do these sessions go through?

We apply to the Dilemma Series – from preparation to post-production – the same rigorous processes we apply to TED Talks published on TED.com, including fact-checking.

The first Dilemma discussion took place in June in New York. What was it about and how did it go?

It focused on the question, “Is there a role for carbon credits in accelerating a fair, net-zero world?” The whole space of carbon credits/offsets/removals/markets is both very contentious and very confusing. Markets lack clear and shared principles and criteria, and they lack transparency. Offsets and credits have, by and large, a substandard reputation, and often deservedly so. Removals is a word that encompasses a range of things but is mostly used interchangeably. Opinions diverge wildly, including around the concept of “net zero,” which some find useful and others dangerous. So during the New York session we put all that on the table.

We believe that when credible people disagree on something, the way out is not to dismiss one side over another but to hold and value different points of view in the same space and see what can be generated together. And despite moments of discomfort and strong disagreement, the participants embraced the process.

What will the public get to see from these discussions?

The main aim of the Dilemma Series is to show the feasibility of a different approach to climate solutions and the different paths for creating change. We count on participants to return to their organizations, communities and spheres of influence with a renewed sense of the possibilities, and to become facilitators of dialogue on problems where dialogue has become uncomfortable.

Of course we also want to bring these discussions to a broader audience in order to increase mutual and nuanced understanding and introduce ways of navigating dilemmas. We are planning to release online both the full video recordings of the main sessions, as well as a mini-documentary retracing and summarizing the whole day. One of us, together with carbon removal expert Gabrielle Walker, also turned some of the thinking into an essay published shortly after the New York event.

How does the Dilemma Series fit into the overall TED Countdown initiative?

Countdown is a collaboration between TED and Leaders’ Quest to identify and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. We started in 2019, with a global livestreamed launch in 2020. The most visible part of our work has been about making essential ideas more visible. To date, we’ve created over 120 TED talks (seen by millions), hosted conferences and digital events and supported more than 1,000 local TEDxCountdown events in 99 countries. However, we also devote time and resources to championing climate leadership in every field. We do that by helping climate organizations attract hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to accelerate their trajectories, organizing retreats, and by exploring ways to turn the differences that stall progress into productive ways of working together, as embodied in the Dilemma Series. We don’t do this alone: we are accompanied on this journey by many engaged partner organizations and individuals who share similar aims.

You mentioned the Countdown Summit in Edinburgh in 2021. Part of that event was met with street and social media protests because of the presence of fossil fuel representatives. Aren’t you concerned about attracting more protest by choosing this theme for your London event?

Protests, social media organizing and engaged climate activism are necessary components of change. They express and organize demands that can’t be conveyed through dysfunctional political and institutional channels and create social pressure on decision-makers. We support and work closely with many activists and remain in constant dialogue with them. We see the work we are doing with Countdown and the Dilemma Series – an effort to find room for progress and open up pathways even when there are substantial differences – as complementary to engaged activism. We are fighting the same fight and we all want to contribute to creating a decarbonized, fairer world.

Is the Dilemma Series funded by corporate money?

No. TED Countdown and its activities are philanthropically funded, and we have deliberately avoided corporate sponsorships.

TED Countdown Dilemma Series

TED Courses are here! Introducing a new way to learn, imagine and grow

Par : TED Staff

Attention curious thinkers, knowledge-seekers, dreamers and doers! If you have a love for learning, you’ll love this.

From astrophysics to vulnerability, TED Speakers have taught us so much over the years. With lifelong learners like you in mind, we’re taking the informative power of the talk to another level. TED Courses are a new, interactive way to learn skills that matter from the speakers you love. Whether you want to improve your memory or tap into your imagination, each TED Course will give you a roadmap to turn ideas into action and help you jumpstart your growth journey. We invite you to join a community of people from around the world who will all learn with you, and see how your inspiration ignites and new connections take shape.

Choose from our four-week long virtual courses to learn …

How to nurture your imagination with Charlie Jane Anders and Wanuri Kahiu

How to connect in a divided world with Dylan Marron

How to become your best adult self with Julie Lythcott-Haims

How to take a life-changing journey with Pico Iyer

How to boost your brain + memory with Lisa Genova

How to reimagine your career with Manoush Zomorodi

Start learning today »

“TED is a community of curious people who want to engage with each other and with world-changing ideas. The experience that we’re offering is very much leaning into the idea of learning with others,” says Mary Kadera, the Director of TED Courses. TED Learners are already talking, too. Here’s what they have to say:

“Way more engaging than anything I’ve seen before.”

“I loved the activities and I loved how the topic was broken down into doable tasks.”

“The course is delightful to go through. It maintains the aesthetic, the high-quality content and the engagement that TED Talks provoke.”

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How are TED Fellows changing the world?

Par : TED Staff

The TED Fellows program grows in size and impact each year, welcoming 20 new champions of change into its global community after applications open. Now in its 13th year, with more than 530 Fellows from over 100 countries worldwide, Fellows are innovating within every field imaginable — climate change, biology, technology, education, human rights, the arts and more.

Every day, in every corner of the world, utterly original and potentially ground-shifting ideas are abandoned because the people attempting to activate these ideas are not supported. The TED Fellows program aims to change that, to shift the balance of power by supporting the whole human — both personally and professionally — through connecting people and networks, providing access to tools, professional development and resources, and providing a platform to amplify the work and efforts of these visionary individuals.

What kind of groundbreaking work are our Fellows doing in the world today? Read on to find how the ideas that the Fellows are advancing are the “tip of the spear” of what’s new, what’s coming, what’s needed and what’s possible. The TED Fellows program’s open application makes it possible to find innovators that might be otherwise undiscovered — innovators like you. 

Applications for the 2023 TED Fellowship are now open, and you can apply today through June 30, 2022*.

  • Director, choreographer, and dancer Camille A. Brown directed and choreographed the Obie-award winning musical for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf on Broadway this year, making history as the first Black woman in more than 65 years to serve as both director and choreographer of a Broadway production. The production was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including two for Best Direction and Best Choreography for Brown. Brown also made history in 2021, becoming the first Black woman director for the main stage at the Metropolitan Opera with Fire Shut Up In My Bones
  • Playwright, actor and director Keenan Scott II’s play Thoughts of a Colored Man opened on Broadway in 2021. Scott II is the youngest Black playwright to be honored with a Sardi’s portrait — one of the most enduring and coveted theatrical traditions.
  • Architect and urban designer Alison Killing won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize. Killing used her expertise in forensic analysis of architecture and satellite images of buildings to expose secret camps allegedly built by the Chinese state in the Xinjiang region to imprison Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities.
  • Writer Mitchell Jackson won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for his article in Runner’s World titled “Twelve Minutes and a Life.” The story was a deeply affecting account of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery that combined vivid writing, thorough reporting and personal experience to shed light on systemic racism in America.
  • Journalist, filmmaker and activist Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy directed two episodes of the Ms. Marvel series for Disney+, a show that introduces the world to their first Muslim superhero. The show premiered in June 2022 and features Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. Chinoy is also Disney’s first Pakistani director and, in 2012, became the very first Pakistani to ever win an Oscar.
  • Director, producer, and screenwriter Bassam Tariq will be directing the reboot of the 90s superhero vampire thriller Blade, starring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali. Tariq will direct from a script he wrote with Stacy Osei-Kuffour. In 2021, he brought a distinctive South Asian immigrant perspective to the screen in the film he directed, Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed.
  • Social entrepreneur, civil rights activist, and the CEO and founder of Rise, Amanda Nguyen was named a 2022 TIME Woman of the Year. Nguyen helped craft the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2016, legislation that reforms the handling of sexual assault evidence-collection kits on the federal level. Nguyen has gone on to help establish similar laws in more than 40 states and has taken her movement to the UN, where she’s leading an effort to pass a resolution that would protect survivors around the world. Nguyen was also named a 2021 BBC 100 Woman.
  • Filmmaker Nanfu Wang was also named a 2021 BBC 100 Woman. Her 2016 debut film, Hooligan Sparrow, was shortlisted for a “Best Documentary Feature” Academy Award. She also directed One Child Nation (2019) and In the Same Breath (2021), which looks at how the Chinese and American governments reacted to the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • Urogynecologist, researcher and the founder of ARMMAN, Aparna Hegde won the prestigious Elevate Prize by MIT in 2021. The maternal and child health NGO and its founder are among 10 winners from across the world who were awarded five million dollars to amplify their impact in driving world change. ARMMAN is a nonprofit that’s leveraging mobile technology to empower, inform and serve more than 24 million Indian women and children who are plagued by gaps in health care infrastructure, along with training 187,000 health workers. 
  • Musician, director and visual artist Blitz Bazawule is developing a limited series for FX. The six-episode series will be based on Bazawule’s upcoming debut novel, The Scent of Burnt Flowers, a story steeped in the history of Ghana, specifically the 1966 coup of then-president Kwame Nkrumah. Bazawule will write, direct and produce, with Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II starring. After co-directing Beyoncé’s Disney+ visual album feature Black Is King, Bazawule is also set to direct the Warner Bros. musical film The Color Purple, based on the Tony-winning Broadway musical.

*Note: Our application closes on June 30, 2022 at 11:59pm UTC. We invite you to read important updates about the Fellowship program and this year’s application, find answers to frequently asked questions, follow @TEDFellow and meet all the TED Fellows to learn more about the breadth of this global community.

Become a TED Fellow

What’s next for climate action? The talks from the TED Countdown New York Session 2022

TED Global Curator Bruno Giussani and Countdown co-founder Logan McClure Davda host the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Countdown, TED’s climate action initiative founded in partnership with Future Stewards, launched three years ago with a focus on accelerating solutions to climate change. The goal: to highlight possible pathways forward and weave a story of how we can help build a safer, cleaner, fairer and net-zero future for all.

After creating more than 100 climate-focused TED Talks, supporting over 1,000 TEDxCountdown events and attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in climate investments, Countdown returned to New York City to explore some of the innovative solutions bringing us closer to achieving a zero-carbon world. Eight speakers (and two performers) shared exciting developments, the challenges that lay ahead and how everything from decarbonization and biochemicals to TikTok and hip-hop can be vehicles for climate action.

The event: Talks from TED Countdown New York Session 2022, hosted by TED’s Bruno Giussani and Logan McClure Davda

When and where: Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York City

Speakers: Zahra Biabani, James Irungu Mwangi, Olivia Lazard, Samir Ibrahim, MyVerse, Kristen Warren, Patricia Villarrubia-Gomez, Miguel A. Modestino, Yuval Noah Harari, Peggy Shepard

The talks in brief:

Zahra Biabani speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Zahra Biabani, climate activist

Big idea: Using the power of social media, we can promote climate optimism and avoid the hopelessness that leads to climate inaction.

How? When Zahra Biabani learned that 56 percent of Gen Zers believe humanity is doomed, she began posting “Weekly Earth Wins” videos that combine feel-good TikTok dances with positive climate news. Her goal? To combat “climate doom-ism,” an obstacle she says now rivals climate denialism in the fight to save Earth’s climate. Her comments section quickly filled up with grateful messages from young people who were losing hope. Today, Biabani is part of EcoTok, an online activist collective that uses social media to break the cycle of doom and gloom. Climate optimism, Biabani says, isn’t about ignoring the existential threat the climate crisis poses to life on Earth. It’s a way to cultivate hope so people continue fighting for change and don’t give in to “the very entities that have gotten us into this mess.”


James Irungu Mwangi speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

James Irungu Mwangi, strategist, social entrepreneur 

Big question: By themselves, cuts in emissions will not mitigate the looming disaster of climate change — and while we might be able to accelerate Mother Nature’s innate abilities to scrub greenhouse gasses, that alone won’t save us either. As the climate clock ticks, James Irungu Mwangi sees increased investments in carbon sequestering technologies like DAC (direct air capture), BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) and BiCRS (biomass carbon removal and storage). But will these investments be enough to save us?

An answer: To date, carbon-sequestering tech has removed only 100,000 tons of CO2 from our atmosphere, a far cry from the billions of tons we must remove to reduce global warming. And scaling these technologies in places that already have a huge fossil fuel footprint will have no impact without a difficult transition to fully renewable energy. But there are places where we can sequester carbon and build a renewable power grid at the same time — places like Kenya, with plenty of forest and basalt rock, plenty of renewable energy potential and no current emissions that would need to be displaced. As humanity embarks on its biggest energy transition ever, Mwangi calls on the world to recognize and prioritize Africa’s climate action potential.


Olivia Lazard speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Olivia Lazard, environmental peacemaking expert

Big idea: A fossil-fuel-free future is crucial to world peace and the resolution of future conflict, and renewables are the path to this future. But they require materials — minerals such as lithium, which must be mined. The countries controlling these resources and their processing (such as China) will find themselves at the center of the global stage.

How? The nations sitting on the natural resources crucial to renewable development are at the epicenter of a new geopolitical reality, as the recent invasion of mineral-rich Ukraine highlights. And while countries in Central Asia, Latin America and Africa could reap great economic benefits from their resources, these resources also put them at risk for exploitation. To avoid this, we must extract resources safely, fight corruption and invest in sustainable economic models. Our ticket to green growth is hidden deep within the environment, Lazard says — this time, let’s make sure we don’t make the same mistakes that got us here.


Kristen Warren and MyVerse perform at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Samir Ibrahim, climate entrepreneur, with artists MyVerse and Kristen Warren

Big idea: Hip-hop can make climate action mainstream.

How? The climate crisis is urgent, says Samir Ibrahim, but talking about climate change is generally boring — not to mention depressing. As a climate-positive CEO and a lifelong hip-hop lover, Ibrahim’s got an off-beat idea for inspiring climate action through hip-hop. In 1993, Snoop Dogg’s hit “Gin and Juice” led to a 20 percent increase in sales of Seagram’s Gin (the brand named in the song). Ibrahim believes that future hip-hop artists can do for the climate crisis what Snoop Dogg did for his song’s eponymous mixed drink. He points to the long history of hip-hop artists leveraging their cultural capital to influence society’s views and engagement with topics like mental health and suicide. He says hip-hop can also bring climate vernacular to the masses. As a proof of concept, he invites MyVerse and Kristen Warren onstage to perform their original climate-focused rap.


Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Patricia Villarrubia-Gomez, plastic pollution researcher

Big idea: Swapping plastic grocery bags for canvas totes won’t solve our plastic problem. If we want to address the climate consequences of producing and consuming plastic, we need to consider plastic as more than a waste management issue.

How? Plastic now touches even the most remote areas of the planet — from the snowy caps of Mount Everest to the deepest sea trenches to unborn babies in the womb. According to Patricia Villarrubia Gomez, the total mass of plastics is now double the total mass of all living animals on the planet. And all of this plastic spells trouble for our planet’s future. Villarrubia Gomez breaks down the consequences of plastic production at every stage, from fossil fuel extraction to the disposal of single-use plastics in landfills, incinerators and our planet’s precious waterways. Even after it’s thrown away, plastic continues to wreak havoc, releasing greenhouse gasses and other toxins. To deal with this staggeringly complex problem, Villarrubia Gomez says, we need to address plastic’s entire lifecycle, including its production, design and disposal.


Miguel A. Modestino speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Miguel A. Modestino, sustainable engineering researcher 

Big question: Modern industry is the foundation of not only the world’s economies but also of the human way of life. Yet without crucial reforms to chemical manufacturing, global industry could be central to society’s downfall. Its massive carbon footprint (and that of the fossil fuels that lie at its heart) has already contributed to the loss of natural wonders such as the tropical glaciers in Miguel A. Modestino’s native Venezuela. How might industry contribute to a sustainable future?

An answer: Modestino’s research team at New York University studies electrochemical engineering — chemical reactions that source their energy directly from electricity, as opposed to fossil fuels. They’re working to develop new reactions that aim to increase efficiency and decrease the emissions impact of chemical manufacturing, supply chains and transportation. These innovations, in tandem with retrofitting chemical plants to run on renewables and sequestering carbon before it hits the atmosphere, could transform not only the chemical industry but also the face of the planet.


Yuval Noah Harari speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Yuval Noah Harari, historian, scholar 

Big idea: Nobody really knows how much it will cost to dodge the worst impacts of climate change. Yet Yuval Noah Harari’s research indicates that humanity might avert catastrophe by investing only two percent of global GDP into climate solutions. In other words, solving climate change will not require major disruption — we just need to change our priorities.

How? Researchers may quibble about the exact number, but the truth is simple — only a small amount of global GDP would be required to avoid the most apocalyptic climate change scenarios. And this money will not be sacrificed, but rather directed towards investments in new infrastructure and energy sources that will not only save the planet but also establish new (and sustainable) vectors of global posterity. A slight shift of political priorities spearheaded by citizens and politicians is all we need to redirect our resources. “As the climate crisis worsens, too many people are swinging from denial straight to despair,” Harari says. “But we should not lose hope. Humanity has enormous resources under its command, and by applying them wisely, we can still prevent ecological cataclysm.”


Peggy Shepard speaks at the TED Countdown New York Session on June 14, 2022, at the TED World Theater in New York. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

Peggy Shepard, environmental justice leader

Big idea: To achieve environmental justice, we must address the disproportionate impact of pollution and environmental hazards on Black and brown communities.

Why? Everyone has the right to live in a clean environment, says Peggy Shepard. But in the United States, the complex legacy of racism, housing segregation and zoning laws have long determined where people of color can live. As a result, many Black and brown families often reside in what Shepard calls “sacrifice zones”: communities on the frontlines of pollution and environmental hazards like landfills, incinerators or petrochemical plants. By raising awareness about the health consequences of contamination and mobilizing those most affected, Shepard explains, the environmental justice movement aims to turn high-risk areas into some of the world’s first “green zones.”

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Watch Bryce Dallas Howard’s new TED Talk: How to preserve your private life in the age of social media

Par : TED Staff

Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother’s steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal boundaries and savor the beauty of private moments. In this personal talk, she draws on three generations of family wisdom to remind us that “a private life makes a public life worth living.”

Watch the full talk from TED2022:

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Watch new TED Talks from the Audacious Project

Par : TED Staff

The Audacious Project is TED’s collaborative funding initiative to put ideas for social change into action. Today, we launched eight new talks from this year’s cohort, featuring some of the world’s boldest changemakers and their ideas to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges. Collectively this group has secured more than $900 million in funding from the Audacious Project, matching their transformative ideas with catalytic resources. Learn more at AudaciousProject.org, and watch the talks at TED.com/AudaciousProject.

Watch the talks from the Audacious Project’s 2021-22 cohort:

A safe pathway to resettlement for migrants and refugees
Becca Heller, International Refugee Assistance Project

Why Indigenous forest guardianship is crucial to climate action
Nonette Royo, Tenure Facility

How ancient Arctic carbon threatens everyone on the planet
Sue Natali, Woodwell Climate Research Center

Mental health care that disrupts cycles of violence
Celina De Sola, Glasswing International

An election redesign to restore trust in US democracy
Tiana Epps-Johnson, Center for Tech and Civic Life

A transparent, easy way for smallholder farmers to save
Anushka Ratnayake, myAgro

A bold plan for transforming access to the US social safety net
Amanda Renteria, Code for America

The most powerful untapped resource in health care
Edith Elliott and Shahed Alam, Noora Health

The billion-dollar campaign to electrify transport
Monica Araya, ClimateWorks: Drive Electric

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A New Era: Notes from Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022

TED Fellows director Shoham Arad and TED Fellows deputy director Lily James Olds host Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

The TED Fellows program is built around a deep belief in and commitment to socially engaged innovation and human ingenuity. The mission: to shift the balance of power by supporting whole individuals, both personally and professionally. At Session 1 of TED Fellows talks at TED2022, 11 speakers and two performers shared world-changing ideas and innovations from the fields of astrophysics, conservation, social change, art and so much more.

The event: Talks from Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022, hosted by TED’s Shoham Arad and Lily James Olds

When and where: Sunday, April 10, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Speakers: Jessie Christiansen, Adetayo Bamiduro, Gautam Shah, Micaela Mantegna, Ryan Gersava, Enzo Romero, Bree Jones, Lam Ho, Kyra Gaunt, Bektour Iskender, Constance Hockaday

Music: Visual artist and composer Paul Rucker put his strikingly masterful cello technique on display with a haunting yet meditative rendition. And musician “Blinky” Bill Selanga thrilled the audience with his Afrocentric beats and dynamic energy, performing “Kilamu” and “Ama Aje”.

The talk in brief:

Jessie Christiansen speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Jessie Christiansen, planet hunter

Big Idea: The discovery of 5,000 exoplanets (and counting) is more than impressive; their data could answer timeless questions about our very existence.

How? When Jessie Christiansen joined NASA’s Kepler mission in 2010, she’d already spent four years combing through 87,000 stars, searching for an exoplanet. On her second day of the mission, she’d found her first and second. As of March 2022, 5,000 exoplanets have been found, and the new data means we can finally ask bigger questions: Can planets exist without a star? Can they orbit each other? How many are like Earth? How are planets made? And perhaps most famously: Where do we come from, and how did we get here? “There’s a saying that this generation was born too late to explore the Earth and too soon to explore space. That’s not true anymore,” Christiansen says.


Adetayo Bamiduro speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Adetayo Bamiduro, motorcycle financing entrepreneur

Big idea: Africa is being left behind in the transition to clean mobility. Motorcycles are the secret to a cleaner, more profitable future for the continent.

How? By 2050, Lagos, Nigeria will outgrow many cities in the world including New York City and Mexico City, becoming home to more than 32 million people. Currently, Lagos and other African mega-cities like it suffer from inadequate road infrastructure, pollution, congestion and poor conditions. One of the many impacted by these issues is the African motorcycle taxi driver, who is excluded from the formal economy, left to the mercy of polluting vehicles and high costs due to exploitative loans sharks. At MIT, Bamiduro met his business partner, and together they embarked on a fix: an integrated approach to the design, manufacturing and financing operations targeted at highly vulnerable informal groups. Broken down into three parts, their solution provides motorcycle taxi drivers with access to electric vehicles and batteries, maintenance and insurance and emergency assistance, helping more than 15,000 drivers renew their livelihoods. By 2025, their goal is to provide electric mobility solutions to 150,000 drivers, paving the way towards a more sustainable and prosperous future for the world’s youngest and fastest-growing continent.


Gautam Shah speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Gautam Shah, conservationist

Big idea: Wildlife conservation efforts could be more successful if we create and strengthen our relationships with other species. Advanced technologies like the metaverse could play an essential role.

How? If we want to preserve all life on Earth, we need to create relationships with all life on Earth,” says Gautam Shah, whose combined passion for wildlife and technology makes him acutely aware of the disconnect between humans and other species. Technology has helped us collect lots of data about our fellow non-human inhabitants of Earth, but Shah observes that this data hasn’t been fully contextualized for the millions of people around the world who express interest in wildlife. His solution? A unique digital identity for animals that allows them to exist in virtual spaces like the metaverse, bringing their stories closer to us. By digitally recreating the events that happen in nature — from elephant migration to deforestation — Shah believes that humans could use the metaverse to feel less detached from and more engaged with their natural environment.


Micaela Mantegna speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Micaela Mantegna, video game lawyer

Big idea: How do we save the metaverse from becoming a bad internet sequel? Basic human qualities of kindness and connection.

How? “The metaverse is here and is already on fire,” says Micaela Mantegna. At a cross-section between augentmented and physical reality, the metaverse has the frightening potential of inheriting the worst traits of the internet, with VR and neurotechnology using involuntary data to create, as Mantagna puts it, “a capitalism of corporeal surveillance.” To save us from this fate, a coordination of engineering and law, based on kindness and connection, must be implemented to ensure content portability across different software environments and identical legal standards throughout. “It’s not every day that humanity has the chance to create new a reality, so, my invitation to you: let’s make it a good one,” she says.


Ryan Gersava speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Ryan Gersava, social innovator, educator

Big idea: Building a world where all people — including those with disabilities and chronic illnesses — can find belonging starts with healing. 

How? Social innovator, educator Ryan Gersava is one of the nearly billion people worldwide living with a disability, which often leads to chronic illness and decreased chances of employment, lack of social protection and extreme poverty. His healing journey led him to start an online vocational school in the Philippines, Virtualahan, which provides training to people with disabilities, recovering addicts and others who struggle to find employment. So far they’ve graduated hundreds of people in more than 60 cities and provinces all over the Philippines, setting them up to earn an average of 40-60 percent above minimum wage. Now he’s calling on organizations to invest in talent with disabilities, and for all of us to investigate our biases around disability and chronic illness, which makes it difficult and painful for people to disclose their conditions. “There’s no need to suffer in silence anymore,” Gersava says. “I invite you to be part of this movement.”


Enzo Romero speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Enzo Romero, bionic innovator

Big idea: Prosthesis for developing nations should be designed locally, with the needs of the communities they are built for in mind.

Why? As a child born without his right hand, Enzo Romero was astonished and inspired by the prosthetics he would see his favorite movie characters (like Luke Skywalker) wearing. But in his home country of Peru, they are far too expensive for the majority of amputees. With the intent of creating functional and affordable options, Romero and his team at LAT Bionics isolated the most used occupational gestures: pinch, cylindrical and lateral, and designed mechanical and myoelectric prostheses around them. Their devices, such as the Maki, which runs on mechanical activation, and the Pisko, which runs on electronic activation, cost a fraction of what imported tech does. Why? The parts are 3D printed with materials mainly sourced from recycled plastic bottles. “We have the capacity to develop our own technology, having the necessities of our people in mind, so then people with disabilities and limited resources can live life again,” Romero says. 


Bree Jones speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Bree Jones, equitable housing developer

Big idea: Development and homeownership opportunities in overlooked neighborhoods are possible — without the displacement of existing residents.

How? Systemic barriers like redlining have (and continue to) keep Black communities from building wealth through real estate and other assets. Housing advocate Bree Jones explains how developing neighborhoods often are subjected to two trajectories: people move away and the area is deemed a risky investment, so either the quality of life there decays or the neighborhood is gentrified and new residents capitalize off of the distress of legacy residents by scooping up undervalued real estate and selling it back at a higher price. To end these toxic cycles of the racial wealth gap, Jones founded Parity, a nonprofit that creates upfront demand for homeownership in neighborhoods experiencing hyper vacancy by tapping into existing social networks. They’re doing this by leading the purchase and construction of vacant homes and selling them at affordable prices; helping people attain creditworthiness; and preventing displacement, allowing current residents to accrue wealth they can pass on to the next generation. “We’re healing the social fabric of the neighborhood as we’re rebuilding the built environment,” Jones says.


Lam Ho speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Lam Ho, legal aid activist

Big idea: The way the American legal system works needs to change. Clients deserve to have agency over their own cases in court – and lawyers should support them with their knowledge of the law. 

How? As a lawyer, Lam Ho witnessed the same thing happen in courtrooms across the US: clients aren’t given the chance to contribute their perspective during their own legal proceedings. Ho’s mother didn’t have a say in her divorce because she didn’t have an attorney and Ho thought by becoming a lawyer he could help people like her but instead, Ho realized he became a part of the problem. Instead of forcing families with limited resources to accommodate lawyers and their voices being silenced, Ho wants the dynamic of the US legal system to flip. He founded Beyond Legal Aid so lawyers can change the system from within by allowing clients to be participants in the process –  rather than be subjected to it. By inviting clients to tell their own stories in court, their own way, justice can be created – even when the law is wrong. “We can give advice and empower them to navigate the law, but ultimately follow their lead and defer to their decisions.” says Ho. 


Kyra D. Gaunt speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Kyra Gaunt, ethnomusicologist

Big idea: Musical play could be an empowering experience for young Black girls through which they can learn to love their own voices and disrupt the trends of anti-Black, patriarchal music.

How? As an ethnomusicologist, Kyra Gaunt studies the consequences of intimate bedroom musical play in Black girls, trying to understand how they could preserve the integrity of their own voices while technology and the media often misrepresent them. After years of viewing thousands of viral dance videos posted to the internet, she has made a few disturbing realizations, like the fact that many girls perform to songs that are produced, engineered and written by men, singing along to lyrics that often express anti-Black, patriarchal sentiments. Music and dance are therapeutic in many ways, particularly for Black girls whose musical play happens during their formative years, but many songs topping today’s charts are peppered with musical mansplaining that can have damaging implications for girls as they grow up to navigate situations like dating. Gaunt believes that Black girls could disrupt the stereotypes and stigmas created by algorithms on online platforms by learning to love their own voice. Whether this means producing their own dance songs or supporting female musicians, they could chart their own revolution in sound.


Bektour Iskender speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Bektour Iskender, independent news publisher

Big idea: Journalism is a sword and shield against international crime and its leaders.

How? What makes criminal organizations strong? Their strong cross-border connections. They operate over long distances, build efficient logistics and hide their wealth across man jurisdictions. Iskender is one of the founders of Kloop, a self-described, very unusual media organization that reveals these secret operations. Initially a new website and journalism school, Kloop evolved as its students grew older and more ambitious alongside the stories they sought to cover — and became part of an expansive media network reporting on international organized crime. Their investigations put Central Asia on the map like never before. His organization’s work uncovered a corruption scandal that rocked his home country of Kyrgyzstan and sparked protests that eventually forced the president himself to resign, among several other revelations. The story Iskender shares only exemplifies the takeaways he’d like the world to understand. First, journalism networks are incredibly efficient, important and provide safety. Two, support local media organizations all around the world for their unique insights and connections. Recently, Kloop had started to branch out, making a second home in Ukraine. Highlighting his points, Iskender posits that a better linked and funded local journalism collaboration could have saved many lives preceding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Which leads to his third and final point: We must expand the cross-border networks outside of the media world, too. Because every exposed corrupt official, every organized crime leader is a chance to protect our world not only from smugglers and thieves, but also dictators and warmongers.


Constance Hockaday speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

Constance Hockaday, artist

Big idea: To achieve our hopes and goals individually and as a society, we need to fundamentally remodel our leadership styles to be more inclusive, collaborative and compassionate.

How? Though we live in a diverse and ever-changing world, our leadership models are archaic, narrow-visioned and stagnant. To illuminate new modes of leadership, Constance Hockaday invited artists from various backgrounds to design, write, create and perform public addresses as part of her Artists In Presidents project. She learned that leadership begins when one can express their autonomy, agency and desires: we need to be able to believe that our hopes and ambitions for a better world are possible. Belief does not form in a vacuum and it cannot be sustained alone—it’s crucial that we come together to share and build our interconnected dreams. Leadership, Hockaday says, is the ability to listen to these hopes and goals, however fragmented or vague, and guide people towards the truth of what they want and how they can achieve it. Leadership is a commitment to people; it is a way to help those around us understand how their individual dreams for the future are aligned with community-created, shared visions for a better world.

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