Al Gore warns on latest climate trends Al Gore, who has given three TED Talks in total, won Best Documentary for An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. Three years later, at TED2009, he showed the latest climate data, revealing that damage to the planet was accelerating more quickly than expected. He also offered a potential solution: clean coal.

Rob Legato: The art of creating awe Rob Legato has won multiple Oscars for Best Visual Effects — for Hugo, Titanic and Apollo 13. At TEDGlobal 2012, he gave the talk “The art of creating awe,” revealing snippets of how the memorable effects in each were created. He also shared his penchant for recreating moments that actually happened on film. (See Legato’s picks for the 5 movies that floored him visually.)

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story Director Andrew Stanton won Best Animated Feature for WALL-E and Finding Nemo. He also gave the talk “The clues to a great story” at TED2012. His bold idea: starting at the end and working back to the beginning.

James Cameron: Before Avatar ... a curious boy James Cameron has been nominated for six Academy Awards and won three. Known for his ability to create engrossing worlds, in the talk “Before Avatar … a curious boy” at TED2010, Cameron shares why he has long been enthralled by the fantastic.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Inside a school for suicide bombers The 2012 documentary Saving Face follows a plastic surgeon as he journeys through Pakistan, performing reconstructive surgery for women who’ve been the victims of acid attacks. The powerful film won the Oscar for Best Documentary. At TED2010, director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy — a TED Senior Fellow — shared footage from another project, taking us “Inside a school for suicide bombers.”

Jane Fonda: Life's third act Jane Fonda won her first Oscar for Klute in 1971, and her second for Coming Home in 1978. At TEDxWomen 2011, the actress and exercise video enthusiast shared her thoughts on “Life’s third act.”

Jeff Skoll makes movies that matter At TED 2007, Jeff Skoll gave us the one rule he has for picking projects to produce: that they must be movies that matter. Skoll’s film company, Participant Media, has made five Oscar winners, including Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth and The Help.

Don Levy: A cinematic journey through visual effects Don Levy took us through a cinematic journey of visual effects with the help of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at TED2012. The head of marketing and public relations for Sony Pictures Imageworks, he led the awards campaigns for the studio’s first win, for the short The ChubbChubbs in 2003, through their win for Best Visual Effects for Spider-Man 2 in 2005.

Other TED connections worth noting:

• Producer Jake Eberts — known for taking on bold projects like Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Dances with Wolves and March of the Penguins — has been involved with the making of movies that garnered 66 Oscar nominations, including nine Best Picture nominees. Eberts sadly passed away in 2012, but before his death, often showed film clips at TED — generally unposted because the footage was embargoed. Here, a recap of his talk from TED2009.
• Morgan Spurlock, who gave the talk “The greatest TED Talk ever sold” at TED2011, was nominated for his documentary Super-Size Me.
• Composer James Horner won two Oscars for his work in Titanic, including Best Original Song for “My Heart Will Go On.” Horner desconstructed a scene from the epic film at TED2005.
• Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, spoke several times at TED in the early days. His company made Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, and won Best Animated Feature Film in 2001 for Shrek.
• Producer Lawrence Bender, whose films have gotten 29 Academy Award nominations in total, has also spoken briefly at a TED.
• Ben Affleck, who created a playlist of his favorite TED Talks, directed and starred in Argo — nominated for seven awards this year, including Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay.
• Longtime TED community member Philipp Engelhorn got a Best Picture nod this year for Beasts of the Southern Wild, which he executive produced.

Al Gore: Averting the climate crisis

Al Gore posits an intriguing question in his newest book, on shelves tomorrow, January 29: can we change the future? But this book isn’t about peering into a crystal ball.  In The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, Gore — who’s spoken at TED multiple times — breaks down the factors that are changing our world at an unprecedented pace, leaving many of us feeling something akin to temporal whiplash. As Gore outlines, these forces are: ever-increasing economic globalization, the development of a “global mind” via instant communication, a global balance of power with multiple centers, an economic compass pointing toward unsustainable growth, Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisisrevolutions in the field of genomics and biotech, and a disruption of the relationship between people and the earth’s ecosystems.

“What do you think about when you hear the phrase ‘the future?’ Is it a hopeful place? Is it a little scary? Does it seem like things are speeding up more than in the past?” Gore asks in a trailer for the book, above. “Well, they are. There are large forces that are shaping and reordering the world we’ve always known.”

Al Gore warns on latest climate trends

But he promises that the tome isn’t all doom and gloom.

“No matter where in the world we live, we face a choice—either to be swept along by the powerful currents of technological change and economic determinism into a future that may threaten our deepest values. Or shape the future in ways that protect human dignity and reflect the aspirations of people and nations throughout the world,” he says. “Mapping the future is a risky undertaking. Perhaps the only thing riskier is doing nothing.”

The US cable channel Planet Green counts down their five favorite eco TEDTalks — with some great big visions to save the planet and the people on it. Some old favorites and some you might have missed. Watch the short video roundup linked above, and watch Planet Green’s five top eco TEDTalks right here:

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world >>

Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats >>

Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food >>

Al Gore on averting climate crisis >>

Michael Pritchard’s water filter turns filthy water drinkable >>

Download the “Behind the TEDTalk” documentary:

+ Zipped MP4
+ Unzipped MP4
+ Unzipped high-def (480p)

Our thanks to the m ss ng p eces team, and to the speakers, thinkers and doers whose interviews tell this story.

On Louise Fresco’s TEDTalk:How to feed the whole world (the case for white bread):
I am a fan of permaculture. However, I think the important thing to note is the shades of grey being discussed. Everyone has an axe to grind. she is not really promoting big agribusiness per se, (in fact she explicitly stated how destructive it is) but she is instead talking about the use of high and low tech. Most people only seem to listen for there own key words and hot buttons. Even though I actually had the privilege of learning about permaculture back in the early 90s by living and working on a collective farm and eating the incredible produce, I still think that saying RAH-RAH PERMACULTURE is still as pointless as saying GO GO AGRIBUSINESS. Think of it as mental monoculture. People are starving and that kind of narrowness is one of the main reasons. — Brock (+5)

On Al Gore’s TEDTalk: Alarming new slides depict a worsening climate crisis:
“I was simply pointing out that if the earth has been cooling for over 7 years, the term “global warming” is presently inaccurate.”
By that logic global warming is inaccurate every night and accurate every day. — Markku (+3)

On Tom Shannon’s TEDTalk: Gravity-defying sculpture inspired by the sun, the earth, the moon:
This guy is a genius, reminds me of a modern day da Vinci. I really like the idea of an artistic “conscious” orb. — Eli (+4)

On Mae Jemison’s TEDTalk: A bold vision for teaching arts and sciences — together:
Fabulous, my favorite quote from this, “Science provides an understanding of a universal experience, and arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience.” Love it! — Nathalie (+7)

On Sean Gourley’s TEDTalk: The mathematics of war:
My only comment as a first time TED poster is that he is strictly rating effectiveness of an attack based upon the casualty figures. Would an attack on power substation that causes no casualties be ineffective? Furthermore, major news organizations tend to share source data so I am not sure how effective using multiple media outlets would be. Without access to the original source data you will have no real idea on how many sources are really producing your base data. — Jason (+4)

Here’s to a new system and more conversation!

Watch Al Gore’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 400+ TEDTalks.

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It’s a potential game-changer. Yanko Design, in a blog post this week, calls the frogLight a Trojan horse, “ready to make the transition to LED bulbs invisible and a reality.” Frog design says, “We are currently in talks about how to bring it to market and make it available to consumers.”

Learn more about the frogLight >>

In other green lighting news, Greentech Media reports on a revolutionary dimmer switch for sports stadiums, big-box stores and other megabuildings that use ultrabright high-intensity discharge (HID) lights. The new digital ballast from HID Laboratories allows building managers to dim their HID lights by an unnoticeable-to-the-human-eye 10 percent — a move that could save megawatts of power, writer Michael Kanellos suggests:

Lighting consumes 22 percent of the power generated in the U.S., and the majority of the juice of that total goes to more than 100 million HID sockets in the country. Thus, if used universally, you’re talking a big whack in electricity consumption.

Get more details on the big-box dimmer >>

Image: aphasiafilms

Celebrate with us by suggesting your favorite TEDTalks over the past two years. Count down the Top 10 TEDTalks in a special Theme page, where you can discuss the talks and suggest your own hidden gems from the archive.

Watch the first six TEDTalks, posted two years ago today:
Al Gore on 15 ways to avert a climate crisis
David Pogue says “Simplicity sells”
Majora Carter’s tale of greening the ghetto
Ken Robinson asks, Do schools kill creativity?
Tony Robbins talks about why we do what we do
Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen

To celebrate this milestone, we’re releasing a never-before-seen list: the Top 10 TED talks of all time, as of June 2008.

With speakers like neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor and global health expert Hans Rosling, the list proves one of the compelling ideas behind TEDTalks: that an unknown speaker with a powerful idea can reach — and move — a global audience. Links to all 10 talks are found below — or browse through our Top 10 TED Talks Theme. Even if you’ve seen all the talks, the highlights video is darn fun.

Download the Top 10 TED Talks highlights video:
Video to iTunes (MP4)
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Hi-def video (480p)

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Download the Top 10 TED Talks highlights video:
Video to iTunes (MP4)
Video to desktop (Zipped MP4)
Hi-def video (480p)

Top 10 TED Talks of all time
1. Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
2. Jeff Han: Touchscreen demo foreshadows the iPhone
3. David Gallo: Underwater astonishments
4. Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo
5. Arthur Benjamin: Lightning calculation and other “Mathemagic”
6. Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
7. Hans Rosling: The best stats you’ve ever seen
8. Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better
9. Al Gore: 15 ways to avert a climate crisis
10. Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote