TED

Geniuses Among Us: There Is A Way Humans Can Live Gracefully On This Planet

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What if we humans looked to nature, and considered how nature solves design problems before we build or design? For TED Talk Tuesday on 350orbust, Janine Benyus discusses biomimicry in action and reminds us of the wonder of  existence on this “blue planet”. In this 2009 talk, Ms Benyus reminds us that no other species on earth lives in a way that produces toxins that will impact their future generations because the whole point is to ensure the survival of our progeny. How different that is from the current situation, where we doing the opposite; our children are inheriting a toxic waste dump and a destabilized climate.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/k_GFq12w5WU]

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Ask Nature.org

The Theft Of Our Children’s Future Is A Crime

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This week, the world lost a leader in sustainable business practise. Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface Carpets, passed away on August 8th.  After reading Paul Hawkens’ The Ecology of Commerce in the mid 1990s, Mr. Anderson felt conflicted as a “plunderer of the earth”, and  went on to become a leader in sustainable commerce. At his carpet company, Ray Anderson increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head.

It is Ray Anderson who said:

“For theft of our children’s future to be a crime, there must be a clear demonstrable alternative to the take-make-waste industrial system that so dominates our civilization,and industry is the major culprit, stealing our children’s future, by digging up the earth and converting it to products that quickly become waste in a landfill or an incinerator. In short, digging up the earth and converting it to pollution.”

In this 2009 TED talk, in a gentle, understated way, Mr. Anderson shares a powerful vision for sustainable way of doing business:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9QF_lBOyA]

More links:

Remembering Ray Anderson: A Tribute

Interface Founder and Chairman Ray Anderson, Visionary Entrepreneur and Champion For The Environment, Has Died At Age 77

Chasing Ice: A Treasure Worth Saving

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CHASING ICE is a feature-length film that follows Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, a historic documentation of retreating glaciers in some of the most remote regions on the planet. Balog and his team have devised revolutionary time-lapse systems to capture monumental geological transformations in action. Their cameras compress years into seconds to show landscapes disappearing at a breathtaking rate.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/8107060]

*via Climate Denial Crockof the week*


More links:

Extreme Ice Survey.com: Seeing is Believing

See James Balog’s 2011 TED talk