Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize and other TED news

The TED community is brimming with new projects and ideas. Below, a few highlights.

The TED community is brimming with new projects and ideas. Below, a few highlights.

Youth climate change protests kick off across the world. Students from 112 countries skipped school in mid-March to join climate activist Greta Thunberg’s School Strike for Climate demanding government action on climate change. The global event was part of the Fridays for Future movement ignited by Thunberg in August 2018 when she protested in front of Sweden’s parliament for three weeks. Thunberg was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by members of Norway’s parliament for her work spearheading youth climate action. “Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace,” said MP Freddy André Øvstegård, one of the nominators. Thunberg was also recently nominated for France’s Prix Liberte (Freedom Prize) and was awarded Germany’s Golden Camera award. (Watch Thunberg’s TED Talk.)

How many questions do kids ask in a day? Writer Emma Marris considers the effects of decision fatigue — by sharing every question her two kids asked her in a single day that required a decision. “My modern American lifestyle with its endless variety of choices … breeds decision fatigue. But it is my kids that really fry my brain,” she writes. From breakfast music choices to food requests, Marris notes how each seemingly inconsequential ask adds up — totaling a full 108 decisions! Read her piece on The Last Word on Nothing. (Watch Marris’ TED Talk.)

Six TED speakers featured at TIME 100 Summit. Chef José Andrés, civil rights activist Tarana Burke, mogul Arianna Huffington, artist JR, investor Kai-Fu Lee and biologist Pardis Sabeti will speak at the TIME 100 Summit in New York City on April 23. Alums of the TIME100 list in years past, they will introduce this year’s honorees at the Summit, which celebrates the 100 people named on TIME’s annual World’s Most Influential list. “The TIME 100 is not just a list of the world’s most influential people — it’s an opportunity to connect them,” said TIME’s editorial director, Dan Macsai. “And when you connect extraordinary people, they can do extraordinary things.” (Watch TED Talks from Andrés, Burke, Huffington, JR, Lee and Sabeti.)

A new coalition for ocean protection and prosperity. Alongside a number of leading environmental organizations, marine ecologist Enric Sala is a launch partner of the Blue Prosperity Coalition, a new coalition devoted to conserving at least 30% of the ocean and using marine spatial planning to develop and safeguard ocean economies. “We don’t need to choose between the economy or the environment,” said Sala. “By providing the right level of protection, we can restore marine environments and the local economies and livelihoods that depend on them.” (Watch Sala’s TED Talk.)

 

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