15 April 2010

Five Webby nominations for TED.com, TED Prize. Vote for us!

We’re thrilled to report that TED.com is nominated in five categories for the 2010 Webby Awards. Log in and vote for us!

Best Copy / Writing: http://on.ted.com/8GGD
Best Visual Design – Function: http://on.ted.com/8GGL
Best Event: http://on.ted.com/8GGM
Best Radio / Podcast: http://on.ted.com/8GGN
Best Religion / Spiritual, for the Charter for Compassion: http://on.ted.com/8GGU

The field of five nominees in each category is so strong, and we wish our fellow nominees the best of luck. Voting starts now and ends April 29, so log in this weekend and let us know how you feel.

15 April 2010

Hooked by an octopus: Mike deGruy on TED.com

Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. A consummate storyteller, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement — and his fears — about the blue heart of our planet. (Recorded on the Mission Blue Voyage, April 2010 on the National Geographic Endeavor, the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Duration: 16:10)

Watch Mike deGruy’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

14 April 2010

Building green: Catherine Mohr on TED.com

In a short, funny, data-packed talk at TED U, Catherine Mohr walks through all the geeky decisions she made when building a green new house — looking at real energy numbers, not hype. What choices matter most? Not the ones you think. (Recorded at TED University 2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 6:13)

Watch Catherine Mohr’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

13 April 2010

Happy birthday, TEDx!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of TEDx, our program to support independent TED-style events in local communities around the world. The very first TEDx event happened this time last year on the campus of the University of Southern California — and right now in Southern California, the second annual TEDxUSC is happening, a day-long event for 1,000 attendees, produced by USC’s Stevens Institute for Innovation. On this day in April a year ago, who could have predicted the way the numbers would stack up one year on:

Total number of TEDx events to date: 500

Total number of TEDx events planned for 2010: 500 +

Total languages at TEDx events: 35 +

Total number of countries TEDx events are held in: 70 +

Estimated number of people who have attended a TEDx event to date: 50,000 +

Estimated number of people projected to attend a TEDx event through end of 2010: 100,000

Number of colleges that have hosted TEDx events to date: 100 +

Number of colleges that are currently signed up to host an upcoming TEDx event: 80 +

Find a TEDx happening near you, or learn how to produce your own TEDx event, right here >>

Watch TEDx talks from our amazing YouTube archive right here >>

13 April 2010

Ocean hope at Mission Blue: A collaboration experiment comes good

ABOVE: Sylvia Earle welcomes us to Mission Blue Voyage.

How to describe what happened last week? A Galapagos sea-voyage of 100 people (including Sylvia Earle, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, Steve Case, Ted Waitt, Bill Joy, Jackson Browne, Damien Rice, Chevy Chase, Jean-Michel Cousteau and 30 of the world’s leading marine scientists) turned into an epic event that may have significant impact on global efforts to save our oceans. It happened because the individuals and organizations on board chose to abandon the obstacles that often engulf nonprofit work, and engage in a process of emergent collaboration that I, for one, found truly thrilling.

Eight separate initiatives were kickstarted, aided by $15m in commitments from the individuals on board. These included:

$1m to complete a package to protect the waters around Galapagos themselves
$1.1m to launch a plan to protect the 1m-square-mile Sargasso Sea and commitments to raise a further $2.5m to see the plan through to success
$350k to boost ocean exposure in schools
$3.25m to commence a campaign to end fishing subsidies
$10m to kickstart a new partnership to fund longer-term ocean projects

Not bad for 4 days’ work, especially as these commitments were not pre-planned. They emerged organically from the discussions on board in an untried process that worked better than anyone dared hope for.

In addition, we recorded more than 20 fabulous talks on ocean issues that are to be shared with the world on TED.com in the coming months, and which will end up being seen by literally millions of people.

So how did this come about? Here’s the story:

her blockbuster acceptance speech at TED, she declared her wish “to ignite public support for a global network of Marine Protected Areas, hope spots large enough … to restore the blue heart of the planet.” The speech inspired hundreds of offers of support, including a $1m pledge from investor/philanthropist Addison Fischer.

TED Prize team, headed by Amy Novogratz, worked intensively with the most promising offers, and plans were drawn up to embark on a new global awareness campaign. The agency Razorfish, working for us pro bono, came up with superb branding — active, exciting and ambitious. Mission Blue was born. But to mark the launch we decided to do something bold to kickstart interest. With Addison’s underwriting, and the confirmed availability of a perfect ship operated by Lindblad Expeditions, the Mission Blue Voyage to the Galapagos was born. The vision was referred to internally as “TED-at-sea.” By bringing together leading marine scientists with philanthropists and with thoughtful celebrities interested in this issue, we thought we could at a minimum:

record memorable TED talks to boost understanding of — and passion for — the oceans
give a transformative experience to people in a position to act
raise money by charging passengers $20,000 to come

Three months before the scheduled departure date, things were not looking good. No famous names were signed up, and we had yet to sell our first ticket. In late January, in a conference call of interested parties, we had three options: postpone, cancel, or redouble our efforts. We decided to go for it. By the time TED2010 was held three weeks later, Chevy Chase and Jackson Browne had confirmed their interest, along with a few leading members of the TED community. And the speaker lineup was looking fantastic. We presented the trip as an epic voyage for those willing to engage in one of the biggest challenges to our future. By the end of TED, we knew our boat would be full.

But the question remained whether anything other than awareness-raising could be achieved.

TEDx program is the latest evidence of this, spawning 1,000 TED-like events in little more than a year.) So we decided to go for a different approach, and two weeks ahead of the trip, we invited all of our participants to consider influencing the outcome of the trip by becoming an “Idea champion.” This meant proposing an idea around which a group could form to plan specific action for the oceans.

WildAid, which has been working successfully in Galápagos for many years. Plus there was a clear sense from everyone that given the shocking threats to the ocean, this could not be just a pleasure trip. The celebs played a key role here. For example, on the very first evening, Ed Norton argued passionately to me that it was critical we came away with something concrete for Galápagos itself. And from the stage, Chevy Chase interrupted his own hilarious monologue with an eloquent plea for action.

http://mission-blue.org. Instead she agreed to a bold alternative. Let the support go directly to the organization leading each initiative. This massively multiplied the potential for action. By allowing the idea champions to work out their own plans with their groups, and then secure their support directly from individuals on board, real action plans snapped into place with astonishing speed. And it was done largely in a spirit of collaboration not competition. The participating organizations — including WildAid, Conservation International, Oceana, National Geographic, the Nature Conservancy, NRDC, IUCN — acted respectfully toward potential funders, and I overheard several celebrating each others’ successes. Hard to believe, but for some reason last week, that happened.

13 April 2010

New on TED.com: Find TEDTalks by length

Only have three minutes for a video snack? You can now find TEDTalks by length: 3, 6, 9, 12 or the classic 18-minutes …

Visit http://www.ted.com/talks and use the pulldown menu on the left-hand side:

13 April 2010

Photos that changed the world: Jonathan Klein on TED.com

Photographs do more than document history — they make it. At TED University, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation sees an image so powerful it can’t look away — or back. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 6:02)

Watch Jonathan Klein’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

12 April 2010

The danger of science denial: Michael Specter on TED.com

Vaccine-autism claims, “Frankenfood” bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public’s growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 16:29)

Watch Michael Specter’s talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 600+ TEDTalks.

10 April 2010

Hope: Roundup of Mission Blue Session 7

Just before Session 7, Ecuador’s vice president, Lenín Moreno, boarded the Endeavor to address the Mission Blue gathering.

Lenín Moreno: “The animals of Galapagos have learned to live in peace. This small island should be an example to the world.”

Greg Stone has been called the “Indiana Jones of the Pacific.” He talks about how he helped set up the Phoenix Islands marine protected area in the nation of Kiribati, the largest MPA in the world (or at least until last Friday, when Chagos was announced). He says: “Setting up the Kiribati marine protected area took patience, trust, collaboration, and an understanding of market forces.”

Cartoonist Jim Toomey, of the comic Sherman’s Lagoon, talks about how the oceans entertain him. “My lead character is a great white shark named Sherman. He’s kind of a Homer Simpson with fins. If you start with a talking shark, your readers will pretty much believe anything after that.”

Céline Cousteau: “Bring emotion to your conversations about the ocean. Share your caring, awe, anger, sadness.”

Fisher Stevens, fresh from his Oscar win for producing “The Cove,” says: “We all know a lot in this room. Let’s tell these stories.”

John Delaney: “This is the age of the oceans. We have a new powerful range of tools to understand the oceans. And we must try to understand them.”

Damien Rice admits he didn’t quite finish writing the Mission Blue song he’s been working on. “I spent too much time snorkeling.”

And Her Deepness, Sylvia Earle, closes the conference. “Onward and downward!”

09 April 2010

Shift: Roundup of Mission Blue Session 6

Session 6 of Mission Blue Voyage wasn’t a traditional TED speaker session — instead, it was a time for people in the audience to get up and champion their own ideas. Back on the first night of Mission Blue, seven “idea champions” stood up to pitch an idea. (An eighth champion came on board the next day.) Everyone in the audience chose a project, and for the next three days we met in working sessions, at meals and on hikes, to talk about how to move these ideas forward. At Friday’s Session 6, called “Shift,” each team reported on their progress. Look for news — lots of news — in the coming weeks as these plans start into motion.

Above, Arjun Gupta presents the results of a group working on pan-Pacific protection — linking small points of hope into a protected oceanscape. As he said: “How do you fund the protection of 56 thousand square miles of ocean? Mile by mile.”

Here, Chandra Jessee presents the results of her group, which is working on Arctic protection. The need is real right now, she says, because of the new opening of the Arctic pack ice across the Northwest Passage, allowing in ships, fishing fleets, hunters and drillers. “Basically, the Arctic’s parents are going out of town, and industry wants to throw a party and trash the place.”

As another audience member said after hearing these eight plans:

“Keep pumping up the audacity. We’ve got $18 billion worth of work to do in a very short while.”

Photos: TED / James Duncan Davidson