TED: Ideas worth spreading TED Global Issues

TED Global Issues

TED: Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Edinburgh, bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less). This section contains talks generally related to global issues.
Weekly English United States Society & Culture
197 Episodes
40 – 60

Bill Gates: The next outbreak? We’re not ready

In 2014, the world avoided a horrific global outbreak of Ebola, thanks to thousands of selfless health workers — plus, frankly, thanks to some very good luck. In hindsight, we know what we should have done better. So, now's the time, Bill Gates suggests, to put all our good ideas…
7 Apr 2015 8 min

Ismael Nazario: What I learned as a kid in jail

As a teenager, Ismael Nazario was sent to New York’s Rikers Island jail, where he spent 300 days in solitary confinement — all before he was ever convicted of a crime. Now as a prison reform advocate he works to change the culture of American jails and prisons, where young…
12 Mar 2015 11 min

Ilona Szabó de Carvalho: 4 lessons I learned from taking a stand against drugs a

Throughout her career in banking Ilona Szabó de Carvalho never imagined she’d someday start a social movement. But living in her native Brazil, which leads the world in homicidal violence, she realized she couldn’t just stand by and watch drugs and guns tear her country apart. Szabó de Carvalho reveals…
9 Mar 2015 14 min

James A. White Sr.: The little problem I had renting a house

Fifty-three years ago, James A. White Sr. joined the US Air Force. But as an African American man, he had to go to shocking lengths to find a place for his young family to live nearby. He tells this powerful story about the lived experience of "everyday racism" — and…
24 Feb 2015 14 min

Bruce Aylward: Humanity vs. Ebola. The winning strategies in a terrifying war

“Ebola threatens everything that makes us human,” says Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization. With calm measure, he walks us through how the Ebola epidemic exploded — and how international alarm only fed the exponential growth of the problem. He shares four strategies critical to beating Ebola — and…
5 Feb 2015 19 min

Severine Autesserre: To solve mass violence, look to locals

Severine Autesserre studies the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is in the middle of the deadliest conflict since World War II; it's been called "the largest ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world.” The conflict seems hopelessly, unsolvably large. But her insight from decades of listening and engaging: The conflicts are…
5 Feb 2015 16 min

Khadija Gbla: My mother’s strange definition of empowerment

Khadija Gbla grew up caught between two definitions of what it means to be an “empowered woman.” While her Sierra Leonean mother thought that circumsizing her — and thus stifling her sexual urges — was the ultimate form of empowerment, her culture as a teenager in Australia told her that…
30 Jan 2015 18 min

Severine Autesserre: To solve mass violence, look to locals

Severine Autesserre studies the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is in the middle of the deadliest conflict since World War II; it's been called "the largest ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world.” The conflict seems hopelessly, unsolvably large. But her insight from decades of listening and engaging: The conflicts are…
29 Jan 2015 16 min

Matthieu Ricard: How to let altruism be your guide

What is altruism? Put simply, it's the wish that other people may be happy. And, says Matthieu Ricard, a happiness researcher and a Buddhist monk, altruism is also a great lens for making decisions, both for the short and long term, in work and in life.
21 Jan 2015 16 min

Robert Swan: Let's save the last pristine continent

2041 will be a pivotal year for our planet. That year will mark the end of a 50-year agreement to keep Antarctica, the Earth’s last pristine continent, free of exploitation. Explorer Robert Swan — the first person to walk both the North and South Poles — is on a mission…
16 Jan 2015 16 min

Robert Muggah: How to protect fast-growing cities from failing

Worldwide, violence is on the decline, but in the crowded cities of the global south — cities like Aleppo, Bamako and Caracas — violence is actually accelerating, fueled by the drug trade, mass unemployment and civil unrest. Security researcher Robert Muggah turns our attention toward these “fragile cities,” super-fast-growing places…
16 Jan 2015 14 min

Fredy Peccerelli: A forensic anthropologist who brings closure for the “disappea

In Guatemala’s 36-year conflict, 200,000 civilians were killed — and more than 40,000 were never identified. Pioneering forensic anthropologist Fredy Peccerelli and his team use DNA, archeology and storytelling to help families find the bodies of their loved ones. It’s a sobering task, but it can bring peace of mind…
9 Jan 2015 8 min

Aziz Abu Sarah: For more tolerance, we need more ... tourism?

Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian activist with an unusual approach to peace-keeping: Be a tourist. The TED Fellow shows how simple interactions with people in different cultures can erode decades of hate. He starts with Palestinians visiting Israelis and moves beyond …
8 Jan 2015 4 min

Asha de Vos: Why you should care about whale poo

Whales have a surprising and important job, says marine biologist Asha de Vos: these massive creatures are ecosystem engineers, keeping the oceans healthy and stable by ... well, by pooping, for a start. Learn from de Vos, a TED Fellow, about the undervalued work that whales do to help maintain…
7 Jan 2015 5 min

Verna Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them

Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Verna Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all…
6 Jan 2015 17 min

Mundano: Pimp my ... trash cart?

In Brazil, "catadores" collect junk and recyclables. But while they provide a vital service that benefits all, they are nearly invisible as they roam the streets. Enter graffiti artist Mundano, a TED Fellow. In a spirited talk, he describes his project "Pimp My Carroça," which has transformed these heroic workers'…
6 Jan 2015 5 min

Jose Miguel Sokoloff: How we used Christmas lights to fight a war

Colombia is a country of exceptional beauty and promise, and it’s also a country where the F.A.R.C. guerrilla movement has incited violence for 50 years. “In my lifetime, I have never lived one day of peace in my country,” says Jose Miguel Sokoloff. This ad executive and his team saw…
10 Dec 2014 14 min

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz: What veterinarians know that doctors don't

What do you call a veterinarian that can only take care of one species? A physician. In a fascinating talk, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz shares how a species-spanning approach to health can improve medical care of the human animal — particularly when it comes to mental health.
5 Dec 2014 15 min
40 – 60