30 June 2010

Highlights from TEDxOilSpill

The WWF’s Darron Collins and team went to the Gulf to document stories missing from oil spill coverage: the daily life of a luckless, out-of-work flatboat captain; baby crabs beset by chemical dispersants; unreported oil spills around the world gushing any given day. (Photo: Kris Krug)

Lisa Margonelli talks about the “political chemistry of the oil industry.” She starts with the chemistry of oil, then widens the aperture to cover global oil reserves and how the relationship consumers have to big oil companies is mediated and tempered by the gas pump. (Photo: Kris Krug)

Jackie Savitz talks up the upsides of alternative energy (the ones big oil doesn’t want to talk about), including both environmental and economic savings. What if, in the early 1900s, “Big Horse” tried to stop cars from taking off? (Photo: Kris Krug)

Andrew Sharpless busts 10 myths about the oil spill. A sharp reality check including this gem: “Why haven’t we seen ocean wind power yet? Because it’s regulated by MMS, the same folks who regulate oil.” (Photo: Pinar Ozger)

Susan Shaw looks at growing evidence that the use of chemical dispersant Corexit may lead to a longer term — and far worse — catastrophe in the Gulf. Starting with coral blight and poisoned plankton, the outlook for the food chain is grim. (Photo: Kris Krug)

John Francis talks about his 17-year, cross-country journey of silence — and our shared responsibility for oil spills. (Photo: Kris Krug)

Ecologist and marine conservationist Carl Safina makes the case that the Gulf oil spill will have hemispheric — not just regional — consequences. An incendiary talk on the spill response’s “comedy of horrors.” (Photo: Kris Krug)

Mike Mendez and team at Sapphire have genetically engineered an algae that can produce fuel. He talks about the science behind the invention and his plans to open an algal bio-reactor by 2012. (Photo: Kris Krug)

“Leroy Stick,” anonymous humorist behind @BPGlobalPR, talks about the most important part of a company’s disaster response: public relations. (Photo: Kris Krug)

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