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 >>

On Emmanuel Jal’s talk: The music of a war child:
I’m on a soap box today and this link is on it! — Angie via Facebook

What a beautiful way to stir us out of complacency and to turn hard times to good ends. Wonderful, Inspiring, Moving & Worthwhile! — Tom

This is a moving talk. It calls for great courage to renounce hatred and violence despite growing amidst them and being a victim of these. Hats off! The call for education to counteract exploitation is a message worth spreading. — Srini

On Janine Benyus’ talk: Biomimicry in action:
This presentation warms my heart.. it seems there might be a future for us on this planet after all. — ehhhhhhhhhh via YouTube

fantastic talk. I hope that people like Janine Benyus are ushering in a way of living on the earth that will be the salvation of at least a few human beings. — Billie via Facebook

On Michael Pritchard’s talk: Turning filthy water drinkable:
Fabulous!! Is anyone thirsty? TED Michael Pritchard Invents Water Filter… — tokendesigners via twitter

lets see how fast world’s governments act to get this technology and help their people…….. Now they don’t have any excuses….. — Syed via Facebook

On Willard Wigan’s talk: Hold your breath for micro-sculpture:
I’m often amazed by the people I encounter on TED. Willard’s talent and perhaps even more, his sheer patience is simply astonishing. He is truly an artist. “Don’t sweat the small things”, has never really had a place in my lexicon and Willard just put’s a fork, I mean pin in it. :-) — Eric via YouTube

Do anyone of you TEDsters or any one out there in the TED community know of any surgeons. We need to hook Willard up with them. Surgeons are constantly battling with sewing together very small arteries, veins, ligaments etc and these are very difficult to do. They are also constantly cutting things at the micro level. Willard’s talents could be imparted to any types of surgeons, eye, heart, key-hole, transplant etc etc. … — Michael Pritchard

Don’t forget that you can influence our next interview by asking Sir Ken Robinson absolutely anything on Reddit. So go grab a Reddit account and start voting for questions or posing one of your own.

Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/29

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Inventor Michael Pritchard‘s talk involves a strange prop — a large aquarium filled with cloudy water. After being introduced, he explains that he’s here to talk about water. He asks how the water at the conference has been and points out that audience is probably sure it’s from a safe source. “But what if it wasn’t?” he asks. Then, he declares that half the conference would suffering from diarrhea. He thinks that its that scale of the problem that overwhelms governments and aid agencies. Since he’s been speaking, he tells us, 13,000 people in the world have been suffering with diarrhea and four children have died because of unclean water.

Pritchard says that he invented the Lifesaver bottle because he got angry while watching the tsunami in Thailand play out and watching people forced to drink contaminated water or face death. He points out that, months later, Hurricane Katrina hit and he hoped for the US to do better. It took five days to get water to the Superdome. So, he began spending a lot of time in his garage and kitchen over the next weeks and months to develop a product that could help.

Before the Lifesaver, he says, the best filters could only filter particles larger than 200 nanometers, which is the size of the smallest bacteria, so some bacteria got through. And, the smallest virus is 25 nanometers. The Lifesaver’s pores are 15 nanometers. Nothing gets through, Pritchard declares.

Then, he begins his demo. He points to the aquarium, which he says contains water from nearby rivers, like the Thames. Then, he pulls out another container and adds water from his pond at home. Then he adds run-off from a sewage plant, other “bits an piece” and a “gift” from a friends rabbit and gives it a stir. He scoops the filthy water up and pours it into the Lifesaver bottle, which looks quite like any regular plastic sports water bottle. He replaces the top, pulls out a hidden pump mechanism and gives it a few pumps. He pours clear water from the bottle into a glass and hands it to Chris Anderson to have a taste. Anderson does, and declares it completely potable.

Pritchard says that the filter in the Lifesaver is good for 6,000 liters. When it expires, the system will shut off to protect the consumer. In a crisis, he explains, we ship water and people are forced to got to camps to get water where diseases spread and the problem intensifies. By shipping these instead, people can stay put.

Now doesn’t require a natural disaster for this to work, he continues. We could use the Lifesaver bottle or the same technology on larger scale where people routinely have no access to clean water and it costs 1/2 cent per day to run. Mothers and children would no longer have to walk four hours to get their water. According to his calculations, with only $20 billion we can have safe water for all. Pritchard reminds us that the UK alone spends $12 billion on aid each year.

A thread runs through this session, captured best here:

@Thandelike When inventors “get mad” about the world’s disasters they get to work. Love that.

Economist Paul Romer unveils a plan for Charter Cities — brand-new places where the economic rules are reset. It could create opportunity for people now trapped in badly managed regimes (the people Paul Collier calls the bottom billion).

@lucadebiase: Paul Romer: building charter cities with the right rules that help sustainable development where people can opt-in

@citizenrobert Paul Romer’s Charter Cities reminiscent of New Lanark Mills

@citizenrobert Guantanamo can be the new Hong Kong – Romer

@tedtochina Paul Romer has a talk at the Long Now Foundation on the same topic some months ago: http://bit.ly/3SG4qq

Next, TEDster Marc Koska talks about the idea that got him mad: the plague of re-used syringes in poor regions. He plays undercover footage that shows a busy clinic where used syringes are dropped into a tray — and then picked right up again to inject another person.

@ruthannharnisch: People trust doctors, injections so valuable, people wiiling to risk the dirty re-used syringe.

@ruthannharnisch: People think u can stop spread of syringe-borne HIV by lighting a match and burning the spot where needle pierced skin.

@pangy_twit: New syringe whose plunger breaks after use to stop infection from reuse. 64% injections in India unsafe.

@CosmoCat: Marc Koska showing his invention: The one-use syringe! When you try to reuse it, it breaks!! Thank you Mark!

Water engineer Michael Pritchard got mad about the problem of dirty water in developing countries. So what did he do? Invent a portable device that turns the filthiest sludge into sterile drinking water. His short, peppy demo drew groans of horror from the audience as he stirred up a disgusting brew of dirty water:

@ruthannharnisch: Got water from River Thames, brought pond water (makes cameraman smell the stench), pours sewage runoff into river water. Ugh

@Mach3te: Pritchard demos bottle on stage: Dumps sewage, rabbit waste into tank, filters w/ bottle, produces clean, sterile water. Drinks it!

@pangy_twit: Michael Pritchard: new water bottle to filter 25mn (Polio virus is 50mn) at source costs just $0.05. World cost $20bn. UK spend $12bn

@jobsworth: Michael Pritchard keeps costs low by designing to process water at the point of use. A principle we should use in many other cases. #TED

@ruthannharnisch: People can make their own sterile drinking water and stay put to rebuild lives instead of bcmng refugees seeking water.

@ruthannharnisch: @tedchris tastes the water that comes from the LifeSaver bottle. If anything happens to him, we will hunt Pritchard down like a dog.

Photo: Paul Romer at TEDGlobal 2009, Session 7: “Radical development,” July 23, 2009, in Oxford, UK. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson