TED talks are a great way to understand more about a topic or concept. Especially for subjects such as environmental sciences, a brief overview simplified for the general public can be important in covering topics that can seem too complicated or overwhelming. Last year in school I took a class based on watching TED talks focused on the environment in which the class voted the best to the worst out of 16 different TED talks. To help you save time in searching for good TED talks on this topic, I decided to share the results with everyone. Below are the top 5 ranked environmental TED talks:
1. How To Make Radical Climate Action the New Normal | Al Gore
Al Gore is a politician and environmentalist who in this talk expands on the immediacy of action needed to be taken involving climate change. This talk is worth a watch especially if you want to understand more about how climate change is affecting us. Al Gore is also a great speaker and uses quite a share of visuals making it an easy video to follow.
2. Why Plastic Pollution is Personal | Natalie Fee
Natalie Fee is an amazing speaker introducing simple solutions to reducing plastic pollution. She is an environmental activist and the founder of City to Sea, a non-profit organization running campaigns to stop plastic solutions at the source. She is a great example of how anyone can involve themselves and make a change in the environmental movement. Her talk is also very engaging and humorous so if you want to learn more about plastic pollution and toilets give this talk a watch.
3. The Mysterious Microbes Living Deep Inside The Earth and How They Could Help Humanity | Karen Lloyd
Microbiologist Karen Lloyd explains how the microbes living deep on the Earth might have a possibility of saving humanity in its struggle with climate change. This may be one of my favourite talks out of the five just because it exemplifies how impressive nature truly is. If you are looking for a talk to learn more about a subject or on a more hopeful note facing climate change, this is definitely worth the shot.
4. Why Climate Change Is A Threat To Human Rights
We often forget about how others might struggle in the face of climate change as it can be easy to get caught up in our own issues and worries. Mary Robinson is the former president of Ireland who shares her magnificent story on why she chose to join the climate change movement after never having paid much attention to it in her career. This talk explores the human rights issue arising because of climate change and is delivered in an engaging way as Robinson shifts your perspective on what other great issues matte as we face the reality of climate change.
5. The Dawn Of De-Extinction. Are You Ready? | Stewart Brand
This last one on the list is also another science focused talk exploring how advanced technology is becoming. Stewart Brand is an environmentalist and a futurist who uncovers the topic about bringing extinct species back to life. With technology advancing faster than ever, using de-extinction to bring back organisms such as the dodo bird may be a possibility that Brand explores further in this talk. If you like science fiction and the possibility of seeing mammoths roam the Earth again check this talk out.
