Inspiration: TED Talks On Green Issues

TED, an organization whose motto is ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’, is dedicated to generating high-level conversations led by visionaries in their respective fields. They talk about a variety of issues and green technology is often in the program as well.

The editors of a website called Online College Courses have compiled a list of TED Talks related to chemistry. As it happens, two of them are related to energy and fuels.

The first is delivered by biologist and futurist Juan Enriquez, who talks about the potential of bioenergy. “Our current energy sources – coal, oil, gas – are ultimately derived from ancient plants – they’re “concentrated sunlight.” He asks, Can we learn from that process and accelerate it? Can we get to the point where we grow our own energy as efficiently as we grow wheat?”, says the description of the lecture. Apparently less than a month after this talk, Enriquez’s company announced a process that could just that.

The other talk is about the worrying aftermath of the BP Gulf spill. Marine toxicologist Susan Shaw presents evidence that the clean-up process designed to spare beaches may have had a devastating effect on the health of the deep sea.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.