Wisconsin is an environmentally aware place. A Wisconsinite founded Earth Day. My local university is known worldwide for its natural resources focus and studies. Anyone interested in the unfolding story of the human-Earth relations will probably get both information and inspiration from the Al Gore TED talk linked below.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
This week on TED.com <no_reply@ted.com>Date: Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 8:29 AM
Subject: Al Gore's electrifying, optimistic (!) take on climate change
To:
olderkirby@gmail.com  | This week on TED.com February 27, 2016 | |
 25:20 minutes · Filmed Feb 2016 · Posted Feb 2016 · TED2016 Last week, Al Gore rocked TED with one of the most electrifying talks on our planet's future you'll ever hear. He asks three questions about climate change: Do we have to change? (Oh, yes we do; stunning stats and some jawdropping footage help make his case.) Second question: Can we change? And here's the surprising part: We've already started. So then, he asks the big question: Will we change? In this challenging, inspiring talk, Gore says yes: "We're going to win this." If you've got climate-change fatigue, feeling helpless and hopeless -- take the time to watch this rousing talk on the state of Earth right now. | |
It's not the end of the world, but it never hurts to be prepared. 10 talks on surviving worst-case scenarios. Watch » 10 TED Talks • Total run time 2:38:28 | |
 When you look at Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed, what do you see: a woman of faith? a scholar, a mom, a sister? or an oppressed, brainwashed, potential terrorist? In this personal, powerful talk, Mogahed asks us, in this polarizing time, to fight negative perceptions of her faith in the media -- and to choose empathy over prejudice. A jawdropping look at what it's like to be Muslim in the United States right now. Watch »  Can global capital markets create social change? Yes, says investment expert Audrey Choi. Private individuals own almost half of all global capital, giving them (us!) the power to make a difference by investing in companies that honor social good and sustainability. "We have more opportunity today than ever before to make choices," she says. "So invest in the change you want to see in the world." Watch » |  In Zimbabwe in the 1980s, Dr. Mary Bassett treated patients stricken by the AIDS epidemic. But looking back, she regrets not sounding the alarm for the real problem: inequality. Because, she says, it's inequality that makes marginalized people ever more vulnerable. Now, as New York City's Health Commissioner, Bassett takes every chance she gets to talk boldly and bluntly about equity. "We don't have to have all the answers to call for change," she says. "We just need courage." Watch »  There are a few things that we all need: fresh air, water, food, shelter, love ... and a safe place to pee. For trans people who don't fit neatly into the gender binary, public restrooms are a major source of anxiety and the place where they are most likely to be questioned or harassed. In this poetically rhythmic talk, Ivan Coyote grapples with complex and intensely personal issues of gender identity and highlights the need for gender-neutral bathrooms in all public places. Watch » | | |
| " | It is difficult to predict the impact of nascent technology. And for folks like us, the real reward is the journey and the act of creation. It's a continual reminder of how wonderful and magical the universe we live in is." | | |
|
| Explore the work of "space archeologist" Sarah Parcak, who finds archeological mysteries hidden in satellite images. (See the blob in this satellite photo below? What do you think it might be? Sarah has a guess...) | |
| |
| |
