TED Talks Daily (HD video)

An unnoticed industry worth two trillion dollars a year is influencing almost every carbon emission. Sustainability solution seeker Solitaire Townsend calls this sector the "X industry" (where "X" stands for influence), and it includes professional services like advertising and PR firms, management consultancies, corporate law firms, lobbyists and more. In this eye-opening talk, she exposes the industry's massive but largely invisible influence on the environment -- and proposes ways they can use their creativity, inventiveness and knowledge to fix climate change instead of contributing to it.

For smallholder farmers in India, agriculture has long been an unreliable source of income -- crops that flourish one season can fail the next, thanks to heat, pests and disease. But climate risk is now making the profession nearly impossible. TED Fellow Sathya Raghu Mokkapati is determined to change that with "greenhouse-in-a-box": a small, low-cost, easy-to-build structure aimed at helping farmers weather sizzling summers, increase monthly revenues and grow more food with less water.

We can't rely on those who created climate change to fix it, says climate justice organizer Ozawa Bineshi Albert. An Indigenous woman living in the heart of oil and gas country in the US, she's observed an alarming disconnect between empty promises made by corporations and the actual needs of communities on the ground. In this call for urgency and a shift in values, she advocates for climate policy to center frontline leaders and outlines some grassroots-led projects -- from water protection efforts in Minnesota to off-grid solar power in Arizona -- that have already sparked real change.

To thrive in today's competitive economy, you need to constantly reimagine your business. So what's the secret to sustained success? Strategist Martin Reeves makes a pitch for embracing play to spark innovative business ideas -- and invites you to try out a series of imagination games that he uses to get leaders to stretch their thinking and dream up new possibilities.

Why is China appointing thousands of judges to environmental courts and training prosecutors to bring cases to them, even if it means suing the government? Eco-lawyer James Thornton takes us inside the country's growing effort to use the power of the courts to address environmental problems -- a little-known story that indicates China could become a champion of legal action on climate.

"Breathing clean air is every child's human right," says grassroots campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, sharing the heartbreaking story of her seven-year-old daughter, Ella Roberta, whose asthma was triggered to a fatal point by air pollution. Now, Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is on a mission to raise awareness about the harmful effects of unsafe air on our health and the planet. In this moving talk, she details why governments have an urgent responsibility to take action on air pollution -- and ensure that all children have a chance to live full and healthy lives.

A self-declared "repair geek," Gay Gordon-Byrne is a driving force behind the right-to-repair movement, which aims to empower people to fix their stuff. She describes how the movement is gaining legislative momentum and breaks down how the global shift away from "throwaway society" can literally turn trash into treasure in a circular economy -- so we can all experience that "Yes! I fixed it!" feeling.

From glue alternatives inspired by gecko's feet to factories that produce a net benefit to the environment, Interface's VP and chief sustainability officer Erin Meezan explains how we can look to nature to learn how to make business more sustainable. Detailing the innovative solutions this fresh approach has unlocked for her company, she invites us to imagine what we can redesign in our own lives, with nature in mind.

Sex therapist Ian Kerner hears about a common problem from his patients: "failure to launch," or the inability to build and maintain sexual momentum. What's the solution? Whether you're looking to reignite the spark in your relationship or reconnect with your own desire, Kerner shares advice on how to cultivate your erotic imagination and get back on the "arousal runway." (Note: This talk contains mature content. In order to protect patient privacy, the speaker has combined or adjusted several patients' experiences.)

Regret is one of our most powerful emotions -- and also one of the most misunderstood. Over the past two years, author Daniel H. Pink has collected a trove of more than 16,000 regrets from people in 105 countries in an effort to better understand this mysterious emotion. He shares the key patterns that emerged (it all boils down to the same four core regrets, he says) and explains how to transform your own regrets in order to create the life you've always wanted to live. (This talk and conversation, hosted by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. Visit ted.com/membership to become a TED Member.)

Lucas Joppa, Microsoft's first chief environmental officer, thinks about climate change through the lens of coding, and he says the world's current net-zero approach simply won't compute. So how do we create a system that actually accounts for all the world's carbon emissions -- and helps us get to zero (as in zero additional carbon added to the atmosphere by 2050)? Joppa shares three "bugs" in our current net-zero code, a four-point plan for fixing them – and how logic can help us change the current course of climate change.

When Lebanon was rocked by a massive explosion at the port of Beirut, filmmaker Mounia Akl came face-to-face with chaos -- and the power of art to create some sense of order. In this poetic, moving talk, Akl shares the story of how she and her crew finished their film as the city recovered from disaster, discovering the truth that comes out of us in times of crisis and creating a new understanding of home in the process.

The ocean is often thought of as a victim of climate change, in need of human protection. But ocean expert Susan Ruffo says that mindset needs to shift. From storing carbon to providing protection to coastal communities, Ruffo highlights the ocean's ready-made solutions to the climate crisis and asks: With more than eighty percent of the ocean still unexplored, what new solutions are waiting to be discovered?

If you're wondering why blackface -- mimicking people of African descent via stereotypes and makeup-darkened skin -- is a big deal, then perhaps a little history lesson can help demystify the outcry. Dwan Reece, curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, explains how this practice permeates the American psyche and culture (in theater, music, books and beyond) and why it's not simply harmless fun, but a legacy of oppression.

The seemingly mundane electronics you use every day -- your stove, dishwasher, TV and much more -- have a cumulative effect on the climate, says Best Buy's director of environmental affairs Tim Dunn. He shares how the company is helping people reduce their carbon impact through energy-efficient products, considering the full life cycle of everything they sell and designing for circularity -- as well as their commitment to get to net-zero by 2040.