TED Global Issues

Vicki Arroyo: Let's prepare for our new climate

Set aside the politics: Data shows that climate change is happening, measurably, now. And as Vicki Arroyo says, it's time to prepare our homes and cities for the new climate, with its increased risk of flooding, drought and uncertainty. She illustrates this inspiring talk with bold projects from cities all…

3 Oct 2012 10 min

Bahia Shehab: A thousand times no

Art historian Bahia Shehab has long been fascinated with the Arabic script for ‘no.’ When revolution swept through Egypt in 2011, she began spraying the image in the streets saying no to dictators, no to military rule and no to violence.

1 Oct 2012 5 min

Vikram Patel: Mental health for all by involving all

Nearly 450 million people are affected by mental illness worldwide. In wealthy nations, just half receive appropriate care, but in developing countries, close to 90 percent go untreated because psychiatrists are in such short supply. Vikram Patel outlines a highly promising approach -- training members of communities to give mental…

21 Sep 2012 12 min

Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China's workers

In the ongoing debate about globalization, what's been missing is the voices of workers -- the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other emerging countries to make goods sold all over the world. Reporter Leslie T. Chang sought out women who work in one of China's…

17 Sep 2012 14 min

Stephen Coleman: The moral dangers of non-lethal weapons

Pepper spray and tasers are in increasing use by both police and military, and more exotic non-lethal weapons such as heat rays are in the works. At TEDxCanberra, ethicist Stephen Coleman explores the unexpected consequences of their introduction and asks some challenging questions.

1 Sep 2012 17 min

Ivan Krastev: Can democracy exist without trust?

Five great revolutions have shaped political culture over the past 50 years, says theorist Ivan Krastev. He shows how each step forward -- from the cultural revolution of the ‘60s to recent revelations in the field of neuroscience -- has also helped erode trust in the tools of democracy. As…

15 Aug 2012 14 min

Mark Forsyth: What’s a snollygoster? A short lesson in political speak

Most politicians choose their words carefully, to shape the reality they hope to create. But does it work? Etymologist Mark Forsyth shares a few entertaining word-origin stories from British and American history (for instance, did you ever wonder how George Washington became "president"?) and draws a surprising conclusion. (From TEDxHousesofParliament…

14 Aug 2012 6 min

Cesar Harada: A novel idea for cleaning up oil spills

When TED Senior Fellow Cesar Harada heard about the devastating effects of the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, he quit his dream job and moved to New Orleans to develop a more efficient way to soak up the oil. He designed a highly maneuverable, flexible…

1 Jul 2012 14 min

Marc Goodman: A vision of crimes in the future

The world is becoming increasingly open, and that has implications both bright and dangerous. Marc Goodman paints a portrait of a grave future, in which technology's rapid development could allow crime to take a turn for the worse.

1 Jun 2012 19 min

Jamie Drummond: Let's crowd-source the world's goals

In 2000, the UN laid out 8 goals to make the world better by reducing poverty and disease -- with a deadline of 2015. As that deadline approaches, Jamie Drummond of ONE.org runs down the surprising successes of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, and suggests a crowdsourced reboot for the…

1 Jun 2012 12 min

Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China

Michael Anti (aka Jing Zhao) has been blogging from China for 12 years. Despite the control the central government has over the Internet -- "All the servers are in Beijing" -- he says that hundreds of millions of microbloggers are in fact creating the first national public sphere in the…

1 Jun 2012 18 min

Noah Wilson-Rich: Every city needs healthy honey bees

Bees have been rapidly and mysteriously disappearing from rural areas, with grave implications for agriculture. But bees seem to flourish in urban environments -- and cities need their help, too. Noah Wilson-Rich suggests that urban beekeeping might play a role in revitalizing both a city and a species. (Filmed at…

1 Jun 2012 13 min

James Stavridis: How NATO's Supreme Commander thinks about global security

Imagine a global security driven by collaboration -- among agencies, government, the private sector and the public. That's not just the distant hope of open-source fans, it's the vision of James Stavridis, the Supreme Commander of NATO, who shares vivid moments from recent military history to explain why security of…

1 Jun 2012 16 min

Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness -- from the inside

"Is it okay if I totally trash your office?" It's a question Elyn Saks once asked her doctor, and it wasn't a joke. A legal scholar, in 2007 Saks came forward with her own story of schizophrenia, controlled by drugs and therapy but ever-present. In this powerful talk, she asks…

1 Jun 2012 14 min

Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes

What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the…

1 May 2012 13 min

Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth

A skyrocketing demand for food means that agriculture has become the largest driver of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction. At TEDxTC Jonathan Foley shows why we desperately need the begin "terraculture" -- farming for the whole planet.

10 Apr 2012 17 min

Bart Knols: Cheese, dogs, and pills to end malaria

We can use a mosquito's own instincts against her. At TEDxMaastricht speaker Bart Knols demos the imaginative solutions his team is developing to fight malaria -- including limburger cheese and a deadly pill.

1 Apr 2012 10 min

Wolfgang Kessling: How to air-condition outdoor spaces

During the hot summer months, watching an outdoor sports match or concert can be tantamount to baking uncomfortably in the sun -- but it doesn’t have to be. At the TEDxSummit in Doha, physicist Wolfgang Kessling reveals sustainable design innovations that cool us from above and below, and even collects…

1 Apr 2012 11 min

Rebecca Onie: What if our healthcare system kept us healthy?

Rebecca Onie asks audacious questions: What if waiting rooms were a place to improve daily health care? What if doctors could prescribe food, housing and heat in the winter? At TEDMED she describes Health Leads, an organization that does just that -- and does it by building a volunteer base…

1 Apr 2012 16 min

Melinda Gates: Let's put birth control back on the agenda

Contraception. The topic has become controversial in recent years. But should it be? Melinda Gates believes that many of the world's social change issues depend on ensuring that women are able to control their rate of having kids. In this significant talk, she makes the case for the world to…

1 Apr 2012 25 min