Adobe

Water is needed for development, production and consumption, yet we are overusing and polluting an unsubstitutable resource and system.

Eight safe and just boundaries for five domains (climate, biosphere, water, nutrients and aerosols) have been identified beyond which there is significant harm to humans and nature and the risk of crossing tipping points increases. Humans have already crossed the safe and just Earth System Boundaries for water.

To date, seven of the eight boundaries have been crossed, and although the aerosol boundary has not been crossed at the global level, it has been crossed at city level in many parts of the world.

For water, the safe and just boundaries specify that surface water flows should not fluctuate more than 20 per cent relative to the natural flow on a monthly basis; while groundwater withdrawal should not be more than the recharge rate. Both of these boundaries have been crossed.

These thresholds have been crossed even though the minimum needs of the world’s poorest to access water and sanitation services have not been met. Addressing these needs will put an even greater pressure on already-strained water systems.

AI’s potential

Technological optimists argue that artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to solve the world’s water problems. Supporters of AI argue that it can help achieve both the environmental and social Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for example by designing systems to address shortages of teachers and doctors, increase crop yields and manage our energy needs.

In the past decade, research into this area has grown exponentially, with potential applications including increasing water efficiency and monitoring in agriculture, water security and enhancing wastewater treatment.

AI-powered biosensors can more accurately detect toxic chemicals in drinking water than current quality monitoring practices.

The potential for AI to change the water used in agriculture is evident through the building of smart machines, robots and sensors that optimize farming systems.

For example, smart irrigation automates irrigation through the collection and analysis of data to optimize water usage by improving efficiency and detecting leakage.

A smart irrigation system for green oak lettuce in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Shutterstock)

As international development scholars who study the relationship between water, the environment and global inequality, we are curious about whether AI can actually make a difference or whether it exacerbates existing challenges. Although there is peer-reviewed literature on the use of AI for managing water and the SDGs, there are no peer-reviewed papers on the direct and indirect implications of AI on water use.

AI and water use

Initial research shows that AI has a significant water footprint. It uses water both for cooling the servers that power its computations and for producing the energy it consumes. As AI becomes more integrated into our societies, its water footprint will inevitably grow.

The growth of ChatGPT and similar AI models has been hailed as “the new Google.” But while a single Google search requires half a millilitre of water in energy, ChatGPT consumes 500 millilitres of water for every five to 50 prompts.

AI uses and pollutes water through related hardware production. Producing the AI hardware involves resource-intensive mining for rare materials such as silicon, germanium, gallium, boron and phosphorous. Extracting these minerals has a significant impact on the environment and contributes to water pollution.

Semiconductors and microchips require large volumes of water in the manufacturing stage. Other hardware, such as for various sensors, also have an associated water footprint.

Data centres provide the physical infrastructure for training and running AI, and their energy consumption could double by 2026. Technology firms using water to run and cool these data centres potentially require water withdrawals of 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic metres by 2027.

Microsoft data centers located in Noord-Holland, The Netherlands. (Shutterstock)

By comparison, Google’s data centres used over 21 billion litres of potable water in 2022, an increase of 20 per cent on its 2021 usage.

Training an AI at the computing level of a human brain for one year can cost 126,000 litres of water. Each year the computing power needed to train AI increases tenfold, requiring more resources.

Water use of big tech companies’ data centres is grossly underestimated — for example, the water consumption at Microsoft’s Dutch data centre was four times their initial plans. Demand for water for cooling will only increase because of rising average temperatures due to climate change.

Conflicting needs

The technology sector’s water demand is so high that communities are protesting against it as it threatens their livelihoods. Google’s data centre in drought-prone The Dalles, Ore. is sparking concern as it uses a quarter of the city’s water.

Taiwan, responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s advanced semiconductor chip production, has resorted to cloud seeding, water desalination, interbasin water transfers and halting irrigation for 180,000 hectares to address its water needs.

Locating data centres

As water becomes increasingly expensive and scarce in relation to demand, companies are now strategically placing their data centres in the developing world — even in dry sub-Saharan Africa, data centre investments are increasing.

Google’s planned data centre in Uruguay, which recently suffered its worst drought in 74 years, would require 7.6 million litres per day, sparking widespread protest.

What emerges is a familiar picture of geographic inequality, as developing countries find themselves caught in a dilemma between the economic benefits offered by international investment and the strain this places on local water resources availability.

We believe there is sufficient evidence for concern that the rapid uptake of AI risks exacerbating the water crises rather than help addressing them. As yet, there are no systematic studies on the AI industry and its water consumption. Technology companies have been tightlipped about the water footprint of their new products.

The broader question is: Will the social and environmental contributions of AI be overshadowed by its huge water footprint?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Joyeeta Gupta is a full professor of environment and development in the global south at the University of Amsterdam and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education.

Hilmer Bosch is a postdoctoral Researcher with the Global Commission on the Economics of Water at the University of Amsterdam

Luc van Vliet is a researcher for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW).

iStock

As scorching heat grips large swaths of the Earth, a lot of people are trying to put the extreme temperatures into context and asking: When was it ever this hot before?

Globally, 2023 has seen some of the hottest days in modern measurements, but what about farther back, before weather stations and satellites?

Some news outlets have reported that daily temperatures hit a 100,000-year high.

As a paleoclimate scientist who studies temperatures of the past, I see where this claim comes from, but I cringe at the inexact headlines. While this claim may well be correct, there are no detailed temperature records extending back 100,000 years, so we don’t know for sure.

Here’s what we can confidently say about when Earth was last this hot.

This is a new climate state

Scientists concluded a few years ago that Earth had entered a new climate state not seen in more than 100,000 years. As fellow climate scientist Nick McKay and I recently discussed in a scientific journal article, that conclusion was part of a climate assessment report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2021.

Earth was already more than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) warmer than preindustrial times, and the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were high enough to assure temperatures would stay elevated for a long time.

Earth’s average temperature has exceeded 1 degree Celsius (1.8 F) above the preindustrial baseline. This new climate state will very likely persist for centuries as the warmest period in more than 100,000 years. The chart shows different reconstructions of temperature over time, with measured temperatures since 1850 and a projection to 2300 based on an intermediate emissions scenario. D.S. Kaufman and N.P. McKay, 2022, and published datasets, Author provided

Even under the most optimistic scenarios of the future – in which humans stop burning fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions – average global temperature will very likely remain at least 1 C above preindustrial temperatures, and possibly much higher, for multiple centuries.

This new climate state, characterized by a multi-century global warming level of 1 C and higher, can be reliably compared with temperature reconstructions from the very distant past.

How we estimate past temperature

To reconstruct temperatures from times before thermometers, paleoclimate scientists rely on information stored in a variety of natural archives.

The most widespread archive going back many thousands of years is at the bottom of lakes and oceans, where an assortment of biological, chemical and physical evidence offers clues to the past. These materials build up continuously over time and can be analyzed by extracting a sediment core from the lake bed or ocean floor.

These sediment-based records are rich sources of information that have enabled paleoclimate scientists to reconstruct past global temperatures, but they have important limitations.

For one, bottom currents and burrowing organisms can mix the sediment, blurring any short-term temperature spikes. For another, the timeline for each record is not known precisely, so when multiple records are averaged together to estimate past global temperature, fine-scale fluctuations can be canceled out.

Because of this, paleoclimate scientists are reluctant to compare the long-term record of past temperature with short-term extremes.

Looking back tens of thousands of years

Earth’s average global temperature has fluctuated between glacial and interglacial conditions in cycles lasting around 100,000 years, driven largely by slow and predictable changes in Earth’s orbit with attendant changes in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. We are currently in an interglacial period that began around 12,000 years ago as ice sheets retreated and greenhouse gases rose.

Looking at that 12,000-year interglacial period, global temperature averaged over multiple centuries might have peaked roughly around 6,000 years ago, but probably did not exceed the 1 C global warming level at that point, according to the IPCC report. Another study found that global average temperatures continued to increase across the interglacial period. This is a topic of active research.

That means we have to look farther back to find a time that might have been as warm as today.

The last glacial episode lasted nearly 100,000 years. There is no evidence that long-term global temperatures reached the preindustrial baseline anytime during that period.

If we look even farther back, to the previous interglacial period, which peaked around 125,000 years ago, we do find evidence of warmer temperatures. The evidence suggests the long-term average temperature was probably no more than 1.5 C (2.7 F) above preindustrial levels – not much more than the current global warming level.

Now what?

Without rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth is currently on course to reach temperatures of roughly 3 C (5.4 F) above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, and possibly quite a bit higher.

At that point, we would need to look back millions of years to find a climate state with temperatures as hot. That would take us back to the previous geologic epoch, the Pliocene, when the Earth’s climate was a distant relative of the one that sustained the rise of agriculture and civilization.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Watch this TED-Ed video to learn more about how weather has been affected by climate change: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darrell Kaufman is a Regents’ Professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University. He has been researching the Quaternary geology and paleoclimatology of Alaska for over 30 years. He has a special interest in geochronology and in coordinating large collaborative science synthesis projects. His research group studies geologic records of environmental changes to understand how the Earth system responds to natural and anthropogenic forcings on millennial time scales. It focuses on lake sediments from Alaska, geochronology, and proxy climate syntheses.

Franz Lang

Sustainable gift-giving is on the rise.

From digital subscriptions to gifting experiences rather than stuff, buying secondhand, and more, changing how you gift can reduce waste and help the planet.

In 2021, the world saw the biggest increase in ship emissions in over a decade (along with endangered whales getting struck by congested cargo ships.) In the US alone, returned packages will generate around 15 million tons of carbon pollution (equivalent to 3.2 million cars driven on the road for one year). And then there are the environmental harms caused by the gifts themselves, which could include polluting fast fashion items, plastic toys made from fossil fuels, or sweet treats that are driving deforestation.

But it is possible to show your loved ones you care while also caring for our collective home. We asked TED speakers to share planet-friendly gift recommendations, and here are 16 ideas for more sustainable gift-giving:

1. Digital subscriptions for the mind, body and soul

I love the ritual of presents, and I’ve found that digital subscriptions are great gifts. Here are three:

1) An annual gift subscription to Duolingo (Plus or Family), because learning another language is a beautiful gift to ourselves and to the world. It creates stronger bonds and connects with other cultures.

2) An annual subscription to Body Groove. During the pandemic, I learned that dancing at home does wonders, physically and mentally. We need to keep strong!

3) An annual subscription to a magazine that will introduce you to great writing and emerging voices. Because in an age marked by existential struggles — climate, COVID, inequality — we need fiction and non-fiction. We need the power of stories to help us expand our imaginations and transcend our everyday lives.
— Monica Araya (TED Talk: How cities are detoxing transportation)

2. Sustainable alternatives to frequently purchased products

Some of the most impactful gifts are those that can replace “sleepwalk consumption” products — the things we buy repeatedly without much thought. Luckily, many of these products can be replaced with sustainable alternatives, and many companies have made delightful, whimsical and giftable versions of them. By giving a beautiful sleepwalking product as a gift, you could change one person’s — or one family’s — impact over the rest of their lives. Here are a few ideas: 100 percent Slave-Free Chocolate, “Give” Holiday Edition Toilet Paper, Oatly Chocolate Milk, Brew Dog Beer Advent Calendar, Bite Toothpaste or Dirty Labs Laundry.
— Mariana Prieto (TED Talk: Why animals need design)

3. Tree saplings

If you live in the UK, why not give your loved one a pack of 105 tree saplings to plant, thereby helping save the planet by removing more carbon dioxide from the air and providing valuable new habitats? They can be obtained from The Woodland Trust — and the best thing is that they’re free. I helped plant 210 saplings last week! And if you don’t live in the UK, there may be a similar scheme where you are, but even if there isn’t, give someone some trees anyway.
— Ian Firth (TED Talk: Bridges should be beautiful)

4. Outdoor gear

Being that change is certain but not predictable, I’ll suggest a gift from BioLite, which offers great products for outdoor adventures and off-the-grid and emergency energy. I love Biolite’s awesome commitment to serving both campers and people who still lack access to reliable power, and the company has also won the prestigious 2021 National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. I’m getting my pal who has frequent outages an Alpen Glow 500, so she can charge her devices with it too.
— Wendy Brawer (TED Talk: How green is my city?)

5. A parks pass

My planet-friendly gift recommendation for any Americans on your list is an annual pass to the US National Parks. It’s a great gift, because what could be more fun than spending time outdoors with your loved ones learning about the beautiful planet we live on? The money also goes towards the National Parks Service, which has conservation as an essential part of its mission (and has since its founding in 1916).
— Zoe Pierrat (TED-Ed Lesson: Earth’s mysterious red glow, explained)

6. Refurbished antiques

My favorite climate-friendly gifts are refurbished antiques. It’s a wonderful way to repurpose a once-functional item from the past into a beautiful gift. I am also an environmental science teacher, so every year I create a bulletin board that suggests other green holiday ideas to my students because there are so many ways to offset your carbon footprint.
— Kim Preshoff (TED-Ed Lesson: What’s a smartphone made of?)

7. A mushroom garden

My sustainable gift recommendation is a mushroom grow cube that allows you to easily grow a delicious, sustainable food source from your kitchen, basement, bathroom — wherever is convenient for you. It’s fun to watch them grow (quicker than you would expect!) with very little effort, and they come in several mushroom varieties. You can get them from a variety of sources online, but to make the gift more sustainable, you can look into a local mushroom grower online or get them in person at your local farmers’ markets. (For example, here is a local mushroom grower near me in Maryland.)
— Noah Bressman (TED-Ed Lesson: The fish that walk on land)

8. A giant of a plant

Most of us have enough stuff, so why not give a gift that will create a legacy? While the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive won’t sell you their certified champion Giant Sequoia seedlings, they will plant one for you — or even an entire forest. What better gift can you give than one that will be around for thousands of years?
— Camille Seaman (TED Talk: Connection and purpose: tales of polar photographer)

9. A vegan dessert

The Brave Robot cake mix uses a non-animal whey protein that replaces the equivalent of three eggs! It produces an animal-free yellow cake that doesn’t use aquafaba, flax seeds or other traditional egg replacements that can mess with flavor or texture. The protein is made by reprogramming microflora to produce the same whey found in cow milk — it’s cellular agriculture in action!
— Isha Datar (TED Talk: How we could eat real meat without harming animals)

10. A map of your town or city

Who doesn’t love a good map? Humans have been using them ever since our ancestors started drawing on cave walls. My planet-friendly gift recommendation is a map of your city or town. If you want, circle your favorite places that are accessible on foot, bicycle, bus and metro, such as parks, vistas, buildings and shops. You could give it in either digital or paper form — and bonus points if you can find an old map at an auction site or local map store and get it framed. Maps can help people rediscover the amazing diversity of their natural and built environment, support local business and help keep everyone’s footprint local.

— Robert Muggah (TED Talk: The biggest risks facing cities — and some solutions)

11. Support a local theater or bookstore

While we fight climate change, we can still do the things that are most important, like hugging grandmothers, meeting friends and celebrating holidays. A ticket to a local theater might be one of the most climate-friendly gifts, and it strengthens the community.

Here in Iceland, a book has been the most popular Christmas gift for the last century. We have what is called jólabókaflóð, or the Christmas book flood. Most books are published in November and December to become Christmas gifts, and for most people, there is no holiday without going to bed with a new book.

So I would recommend giving a book, perhaps by a local author from a local bookstore. The book can last decades, and it never becomes obsolete. You can pass it on; it is not run by evil algorithms; does not monitor your behavior; give you likes; or collect your data in energy-intensive data farms. A good book lets you dive into other people’s minds — and at best, it can change your life.
— Andri Snær Magnason (TED Talk: On time and water)

12. Wildflower seeds

Native wildflower seeds make a wonderful gift. As they bloom, they become the foundation of local ecosystems for pollinators and birds, while improving soil health and preventing erosion. They won’t break your bank, and your recipient will smile every time they see them.
— Jeff Kirschner (TED Talk: This app makes it fun to pick up litter)

13. Zero-carbon fashion

We know the fashion industry has disproportionately negative impacts on the environment — it is responsible for 20 percent of our water pollution, 10 percent of carbon emissions, and every time we wash synthetic fibers, we are contributing to microplastic pollution. That’s why I created a company that produces clothing made by hand with only three ingredients — sun, plants and mountain water — and without using any electricity, chemicals, plastics or fossil fuels. Another clothing and textile company that’s aiming to do things more sustainably is Rough Linen. They create beautiful linen products from natural fibers, including sumptuous bathrobes, PJs, aprons, tea towels and so much more, and all products are handmade in the US. With each gift, you can remind your cherished giftee that our consumer choices can impact industries.
— Angel Chang (TED Talk: How ancient textiles can help the future)

14. A local experience

Personally, I try to move away from purchased items for my giftees, as consumerism results in significant carbon emissions and awe-worthy amounts of waste. Instead, I try to spend money on shared local experiences that bring joy and create shared memories. These can be regionally specific and vary considerably in price; however, the plentiful availability of virtual workshops does make this a highly accessible gift idea. In the past, my giftees and I have learned the art of falconry as well as how to scuba dive, race sled dogs, zip line, blow glass, metalsmith, cook pasta, taste whiskey, bead jewelry and sew. Last but not least, we’ve visited baby goats and learned to make cheese and garden!
— Anne Madden (TED Talk: Meet the microscopic life in your home — and on your face)

15. A day out in nature

Give the gift of learning to reconnect with nature, which is at the heart of solving our environmental crisis. Create a homemade “nature experience gift card” to suit your loved ones’ interests — creating a personalized day out in nature that’s organized by you. Depending on where you live and what you enjoy doing with them, it could be a mountain hike, a walk on a quiet beach, a visit to a botanic garden, or a picnic in a local park. While you are there, invite them to sit quietly; observe the sounds, smells and feel of the surroundings and the visual beauty; and simply notice what happens.
— Carol Farbotko (TED-Ed Lesson: Where will you be able to live in 20 years?)

16. A workshop or course

How about giving a gift that gives back? I’m thinking of a gift that can build someone’s skills to pursue a life of purpose and dignity. These resources already exist in us today, but we don’t utilize them enough. Why not gift someone a workshop or course that enhances their skills so they can be confident, empowered and encouraged? I like to gift a basic survival skills course that will teach them to deal better when in crisis. Your giftee will thank you for it!
— Rumaitha Al Busaidi (TED Talk: Women and girls, you are part of the climate solution)

Can having less stuff, in less room, lead to more happiness? Writer and designer Graham Hill lays out three rules for editing your life:

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This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

Alamy

Even though cities have been centers of culture, ideas and industry since the Neolithic Revolution 12,000 years ago (!), today’s urban-centric global civilization is just a couple of hundred years old.

In 1800, six percent of humans were city dwellers; even in 1970, only New York City and Tokyo qualified as “megacities” that were home to more than 10 million residents.

Fast-forward to today: The planet supports some 34 megacities, and cities themselves — occupying just two percent of the Earth’s surface — house more than half of the global population. What’s more, urban residency is expected to rise to 68 percent in the next 30 years.

Of course, the migration towards cities means dense populations and concentrated CO2 emissions from traffic and transportation. For example, in the US, traffic is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and globally, transportation remains a top contributor in urban centers.

But there’s good news: Through intelligent urban planning, cities around the globe are working to improve the quality of life for residents while also tackling carbon emissions. How? According to C40, a global network of cities committed to addressing climate change, it starts with prioritizing “the movement of people rather than cars.”

For example, so-called “15-minute cities” and “complete neighborhoods” are two urban design strategies that operate on the same basic principle: They enable the majority of residents to access all their basic needs by foot or bike. This reduces gridlock and commute times, frees up space for walking paths and parks, and improves air quality — all factors that boost people’s wellbeing and physical health. (The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns gave us a glimpse of what urban life could look like with less traffic.)

While cities like New York City, Paris and Copenhagen are already renowned for their people-friendly layouts, these eight cities are taking noteworthy strides to create a more sustainable way for residents to move around:

Bogotá, Colombia’s ciclovia

Metro area population: 10.7 million

Bogotá, Colombia, is decreasing their emissions through two main ways: Bussing and biking. TransMilenio — an impressive network of rapid-transit bus routes — opened in 2000. Within 10 years, it reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40 percent, and today its 1,500 buses make around 1.5 million passenger journeys each day. The city is also renowned for its ciclovia — the regular conversion of roads into car-free biking thoroughfares on Sunday mornings — and boasts the highest rate of intercity trips made by bicycle among all Latin American cities.

Still, transportation continues to account for nearly half of Bogotá’s greenhouse gas emissions. To further encourage biking as a form of transport, Mayor Claudia López Hernández plans to permanently convert 84 kilometers (52 miles) of newly established road sections into bike lanes to help essential workers travel around the city more quickly. Currently, these temporary paths connect directly to the city’s existing 550 kilometers (340 miles) of lanes. This bigger  network of bike paths and lanes should help the city in raising its already-impressive seven percent of trips taken by bike to reach its ambitious goal of 50 percent. To put that into perspective, the average number of trips by bike in the US is around one percent.

Montréal, Canada’s active transportation network

Metro area population: 4.1 million

The Greater Montreal area already boasts some 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of permanent bike lanes and paths. In an effort to open up the city after months of COVID-19 lockdown, officials closed a handful of major city streets in June 2020 to cars and other motorized traffic through fall 2020. Spanning 327 kilometers (203 miles), this transportation plan was intended to encourage residents to travel actively by connecting bicyclists to city parks, major commercial arteries and existing bike paths (like the Express Bike Network). Many hope that these pandemic-inspired road changes will lead to the establishment of  permanent bike routes going forward.

To further reduce emissions and congestion in the city’s commercial center, the city has invested in bicycle and electric vehicle delivery services as well as new green spaces. For example, the Grand Parc de l’Ouest, slated to open in 2030, will be the largest municipal park in Canada at 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres).

Barcelona, Spain’s Superblocks

Metro area population: 5.6 million

With some of the highest traffic density in Europe, Barcelona has faced increasing pressure to curb air pollution and emissions. In 2013, it created an urban mobility plan to improve bus routes and expand biking and walking paths. In recent years, it established the Barcelona Low Emission Zone, which prohibits high-emissions vehicles from entering certain areas of the city during busy times.

But their revolutionary urban design concept — the Superblock — is one of the city’s most innovative projects. Each Superblock is an area composed of  nine city blocks in which traffic has been rerouted to go around the perimeter, speed limits are kept low (10km/h, or 6mph), and curbside parking is moved into underground lots. These Superblocks encourage cycling while creating pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares and wide swaths of green space. Though the city and nearby metro regions have only created a handful of Superblocks — six as of January 2020 –these areas have been wildly successful in reducing noise pollution, emissions and traffic, while boosting economic activity among local businesses. Barcelona has plans to establish 21 Superblock regions by 2030.

Taipei, Taiwan’s bicycle kingdom

Metro area population: 7 million

Taipei is known as “the bicycle kingdom” — not only is it home to top bike manufacturers like Giant and Merida, it’s also for its own cycling- and people-first infrastructure. In 2019, it became the second Asian city to make the Copenhagenize Index — an annual list of the world’s 20 most bikeable cities compiled by an international biking-focused urban design company. (Tokyo has been a mainstay on the list since 2011.)

A massive government-subsidized bike-share scheme, widespread availability of bicycle rentals, annual cycling conferences with sessions on urban planning, marked bicycle lanes on major streets, and scenic paved routes — like the Keelung River Bicycle Trail — have helped the city best other bike-friendly metro areas including Montréal, Canada, and Hamburg, Germany. While Taipei continues to struggle with air pollution created by fossil-fuel-powered transport, a biking-focused mindset could help the city improve its air quality and meet future urban development challenges.

Auckland, New Zealand’s electrified public transit fleet

Metro area population: 1.6 million

With its Low Carbon Auckland Action Plan in 2014 — which laid out a path to reduce emissions to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2040 through greening infrastructure and changing the way that residents travel and consume energy — Auckland declared its ambition to become the world’s most livable city, and it continues to adapt to emerging challenges. For example, when public transportation ridership increased 33 percent between 2010 and 2015, the Auckland Council invested billions of dollars to make the system more efficient and climate-resilient. It’s now on target to have a fully electric, zero-emissions public transit bus fleet by 2040.

Despite the city’s wildly successful carbon sequestration project, the Million Trees Program — which has already planted more than a million trees and will add  1.5 million more through 2022 to offset some of its emissions — Auckland hasn’t always been able to keep up with the pollution generated by its growing population. Between 2009 and 2016, it grew from a city of around 1.2 million to over 1.6 million residents, and emissions actually increased five percent. But that hasn’t stopped the city from aiming to be net zero by 2050. 

Hoi An, Vietnam’s vehicle-free roads

Metro area population: 120,000

Added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999, this historic city developed the “Hoi An Bicycle Plan” to increase the use of bicycles among  residents and tourists. To date, the city has improved biking routes and infrastructure, launched a public-private partnership to implement a low-cost bike-share program, and established car-free zones in an effort to encourage walking and bicycling.

In 2018, the city was awarded the Global Urban Mobility Challenge Award in Leipzig, Germany, which awards and assists bright ideas in sustainable urban mobility in emergent nations. Since then, the city has continued to make progress by banning vehicles from parts of the city center to create pedestrian-only streets and adding some 120 electric vehicles to its tourist transportation system.

Tshwane, South Africa’s accessible bike-share program

Metro area population: 2.6 Million

The sprawling city of Tshwane is working to improve urban living and accessibility for all of its residents. While walking is already a popular form of transit that makes up 29 percent of all trips, the city launched several initiatives to incentivize cycling.

These include car-free streets, cycle-to-work festivals and a pilot bike-share project with standard and electric bikes. The city also runs the Shova Kalula bicycle program, which provides free bicycles to people living in underprivileged areas outside of the city to improve accessibility and foster a biking culture.

Portland, Oregon’s complete neighborhoods

Metro area population: 2.5 Million

Portland was the first US city to create a Climate Action Plan in 1993, and it’s been outpacing US climate targets ever since by cutting its carbon emissions as much as 20 percent despite a population increase of nearly 40 percent. The city’s 2015 Climate Action Plan Summary laid out plans to reduce daily per-capita vehicle miles by 30 percent through smarter urban planning and complete neighborhoods.

According to a 2020 progress report, Portland decreased its per-capita vehicle mileage by 3.9 percent in 2018 and saw an increase in electric vehicle use. The city aims to increase the percentage of its residents living in walkable and bikeable complete neighborhoods to 80 percent by 2030.

City living often means long commutes, noisy streets and small spaces. Carlos Moreno wants to change that with the 15-minute city. Watch the full Talk: 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meghan Miner Murray is a freelance science and travel writer based in Kona, Hawaii. She once was rescued from a sinking ship in the North Atlantic. Read more about her and her work at meghanminermurray.com.

Shutterstock

For nine years of school, I was bullied due to my unique interest in STEM and my body weight. I was often classified as the unwanted kid and the class weirdo, thus being cut off from social groups. In those moments of discouragement and disappointment, I found inspiration and escape in TED Talks.

From Simon Sinek’s legendary How great leaders inspire action to Angela Duckworth’s Grit: The power of passion and perseverance and Adam Grant’s The surprising habits of original thinkers, each video helped me develop a strong sense of self, understand what truly matters to me, and create a vision for who I wanted to be. I decided to act on the hopes I have for the future, not the fears from yesterday, and I signed up for my school debate team.

Then, three years ago, I joined the first-ever TED-Ed Club in my area, where I had the chance to create my own TED-style Talk. For the first time, I was able to not only showcase my perspective and experience as a victim of bullying, but give advice to other students who struggled. Through speaking, I managed to heal my wounds and motivate other students to rise beyond their surroundings.

A year later, I used the TED-Ed Student Talks platform again to share the message of the power of never giving up. Then just when everything seemed like it was going perfectly, North Macedonia became trapped in endless quarantines and lockdowns. My journey to becoming a student in the United States was replaced by  Zoom screens. To receive a full college experience, I decided to take a gap year, or as I like to call it, a bridge year, before enrolling in an American university. Though this wasn’t an easy decision, I applied the message I shared in my Talk and asked myself: if I chose to take one lesson from an unusual and distinctive year like 2020, what would it be? I chose to embrace the discovery of my passion and purpose.

I tried to enroll in gap year programs but they were all so expensive, and then a TED-Ed newsletter changed my life when they shared the opportunity to apply to Global Citizen Year Academy, a semester-long launchpad towards a purposeful life. Leadership, global cohort, speakers, and motivation? It had everything I needed.

I registered for the Global Citizen Year Academy in June 2020 and a month later I received my acceptance letter with a full scholarship. From that night until today, it’s felt like I have the world at my fingertips. I’ve also received a strong community, delightful enthusiasm, and opportunity to embrace leadership as a practice, and not as a position on my resume.

Utilizing the resources and knowledge I’ve gained on project management, human-centered design, and empathy, I wondered how I could be the hero of my community. To break the misconception that living sustainably is an expensive and challenging commitment, I founded the organization and technology platform EnRoute, an upcoming personalized mobile application that lets users harness their transport, shopping, and household activities to reduce their carbon footprint, rewarding them with real-life prizes for every reduced gram of CO2.

Global Citizen Year Academy made me aware of the power and passion our generation holds and I’ve connected it to harness the small everyday actions and reduce their carbon footprint. EnRoute received the Social Impact Award of 2020 and won the Grand Prize on Girls Voices For Future Contest. And most importantly, EnRoute has reduced over 100,000 kg of CO2 emissions.

As for myself, I’ve learned how to share my voice, turn passion into purpose, motivate others, and create a new generation of climate heroes.

Check out Angela’s Talk on the power of never giving up:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Angela Busheska is a 19-year-old upcoming student at Lafayette College and a Macedonian social entrepreneur, researcher-innovator, and speaker. She is the Founder & CEO of EnRoute, uses the power of STEM to make a change and, as a victim of severe bullying, she shares her voice to motivate fellow teenagers. In 2020, she was recognized as a “Youth Talent” by the President of North Macedonia and took part in the Global Citizen Year Academy assisted by the Shawn Mendes Foundation. At the end of the day, she is an unshakable optimist and a big dreamer who believes that the power of never giving up is the only thing that can bring miracles in life. You can check the full bio on her website.

Interested in learning more about Angela’s venture EnRoute? Visit their website and sign up to join EnRoute’s beta-testing group here!

Thousands of years ago, the Maya people of Central America believed that chocolate was the food of the gods.

The Maya — who helped pioneer cultivation of the cocoa tree, along with the Toltec and Aztec peoples — even used cocoa beans as a form of currency.

Fast forward to today, and chocolate is considered less of a rarity and more of an anytime treat. “Somehow the ancients understood that chocolate was special,” says owner and CEO of Seattle Chocolate Company Jean Thompson in her TEDxBellevueWomen Talk. “Today, chocolate is the inexpensive darling of the candy aisle.”

Worldwide people consume over 7 million tons of chocolate each year, with North America and Europe leading the way. In the US, the average person consumes 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms) of the sweet per year, while the British, Germans and Swiss clock in at over 17 pounds (8 kilograms).

But while chocolate brings so many people so much pleasure, its widespread availability comes at a high price. Growing and harvesting cocoa harms the environment, farmers and farm workers — and as global temperatures rise and weather patterns shift, climate change will dramatically reduce the land where cocoa can be grown and hurt those who rely on it.

The hunger for chocolate and the desire to grow more cacao are helping drive climate change — and climate change is hurting cacao

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans which come from the pods of the Theobroma cacao, a tree that requires extremely specific climatic conditions to thrive. Africa is the leading  producer of cocoa, followed by South America and Asia. In fact, all chocolate is grown in a narrow band within 20 degrees north and south of the equator. This also means the land where cacao trees can flourish is limited.

Our ravenous demand for chocolate is driving people worldwide to clear forests for cacao farmland. In the Côte d’Ivoire, for example, more than 80 percent of the country’s forested areas have vanished between 1960 and 2010.

With suitable farmland dwindling and demand for chocolate projected to rise two to five percent each year, cacao plantations are also encroaching on protected lands. In the Côte d’Ivoire, an investigation by the environmental nonprofit Mighty Earth found that almost half of Mont Peko and Marahoue national parks were lost to cocoa plantations since 2000. In Indonesia, 1.7 million acres of forest — home to elephants and critically endangered orangutan, rhino and tiger populations — were cleared for cocoa plantations between 1988 and 2007. In Peru, which saw a five-fold increase in cocoa production between 1990 and 2013, satellite images revealed that thousands of acres of Amazon rainforest were cleared for cocoa trees.

What’s more, this deforestation is helping drive climate change, which in turn is hurting cocoa production. Tropical rainforests have some of the highest carbon storage capabilities of any ecosystem on Earth, so they release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere when they’re cut down. “A single dark chocolate bar made with cocoa from deforestation produces the same amount of carbon pollution as driving 4.9 miles in a car — an outsized impact for a small afternoon treat,” according to the Mighty Earth report.

As carbon emissions continue to rise, so will global temperatures and the incidence of extreme weather events. That’s more bad news for cocoa, which is highly sensitive to climate changes. According to current projections, the cocoa belt could see a 3.8°F (2.1°C) increase in temperature by 2050, and hotter temperatures and drier conditions will severely reduce cocoa yields.

During the 2015–16 season in Ghana, for example, the Harmattan winds that blow across Ghana from the Sahara Desert between late November and mid-March came early. The drying winds and low rainfall resulted in a poor harvest and withered cacao pods — a preview of how cocoa will respond to a drier, hotter world.

Other major threats to cacao trees are pests and diseases, which already account for 30 to 40 percent in annual cocoa losses. In 2018, for instance, the Côte d’Ivoire had to destroy 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of cocoa trees to stop the spread of swollen-shoot virus, an infection that can decrease yields by up to 70 percent and kill a tree within two to three years. Scientists predict that climate change-related weather patterns could increase the incidence of pests and diseases and further threaten cocoa harvests — and the people who depend on it.

The average cocoa farmer earns $.50-$1.25 USD per day, keeping them impoverished and fueling child labor

While the chocolate industry is worth more than $100 billion dollars (and growing), more than 80 percent of cocoa comes from 7 to 8 million small family farms who can barely afford basic necessities. “Smallholder cocoa farmers also have virtually no control over global market prices and are at the mercy of price volatility,” according to the Fairtrade Foundation. “Inequality in the cocoa chain means farmers are trapped in extreme poverty and can’t afford to invest in more progressive farming methods.”

Cocoa farmers in the Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana — thought to be responsible for about 60 percent of the world’s cocoa — earn only 3 percent to 6 percent of a chocolate bar’s retail value. That puts their average income between $0.50–$1.25 USD per day — well below the international poverty line, or less than $1.90 per day.

And even though the amount of farmable land continues to shrink and farmers’ costs have risen, their incomes have stayed the same. In fact, cocoa farmers in the West African cocoa belt are poorer now than they were in the 1970s and 80s. “Seventy-five percent of the people in the Côte d’Ivoire rely on chocolate, or cacao, for their livelihood,” Thompson explains. “With today’s chocolate prices, we ensure that they will remain poor forever.”

These financial pressures have led to abusive labor practices. “Child trafficking generally occurs when planters are searching for cheaper sources of labor for replanting,” writes Michael E. Odijie, a research associate at the University of Cambridge, in The Conversation. “The number of child laborers in the Ivorian cocoa industry increased by almost 400,000 between 2008 and 2013.”

The major chocolate brands have pledged to eliminate child labor and slavery in their supply chains, but in 2019, The Washington Post reported that Hershey, Mars and Nestlé couldn’t guarantee their chocolates were produced without child labor. In fact, The US Department of Labor estimates that 1.48 million children are still “engaged in hazardous work” in Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire. Reports from the University of Chicago research group NORC show that child labor has increased over the past decade despite companies’ pledges. As a result, many children in cocoa communities are working on farms instead of going to school because their families depend on their income.

We consumers have the power to promote industry change by increasing the demand for ethically-produced chocolate

Chocolate lovers have the purchasing power to push the industry to change, and their first step should be to take a critical look at companies’ labor and sourcing practices. “Capitalism depends on the demand and supply of a product in the food industry,” said Alastair Gower, founder of artisan chocolate maker Chocolate Tree, in a TEDxGlasgowCaledonianUniversity Talk.

In 2018, for example, US-based Mars Wrigley committed $1 billion to funding farming communities and protecting forests over a 10-year period. Similarly, Hershey Co. established Cocoa For Good, a program that aims to eliminate child labor and sustainably source their supplies. However, West African cocoa producers have accused the same companies of using unethical buying practices to avoid paying premiums that would boost farmers’ incomes, keeping farmers in poverty and perpetuating the cycle of child labor.

In addition to buying from chocolate companies that pay cocoa growers living wages, consumers can also protect farmers and their livelihoods by supporting companies that source their beans from sustainable farms. One promising method is agroforestry, or growing cocoa crops under a forest canopy rather than in large plantations of exclusively cacao trees. In agroforestry, cacao is planted amongst other rainforest trees, which provides them with shade, protects them from wind and soil erosion and allows for cultivation without deforestation.

“Cacao trees cultivated in this approach appear less vulnerable to pests, and the soil better retains its ability to support cacao over the long term,” according to the US NOAA. “[Agroforestry] offers one more advantage: Carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere when forests are cleared isn’t. It remains stored in the trees.” A 2009 study found that cocoa agroforests in southern Cameroon stored an average of 243 metric tons of carbon per hectare (2.5. acres).

Existing farmland can also be rehabilitated by improving soil health and replacing older trees with new seedlings — but these aren’t silver bullet solutions. “On some farms, even with rehabilitation, renovation and shade trees, cocoa’s days are numbered,” writes University of Edinburgh carbon management professor Dave Reay in the book Climate-Smart Food. “In these drier, already-marginal cocoa areas, many smallholders now grow food crops, such as maize and vegetables, in rotation with their cocoa to supplement incomes.”

But it’s important that environmental initiatives shouldn’t come at the cost of farmers’ livelihoods. For example, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million cocoa farmers live and work in protected forests in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Because new forestry policies that aim to protect these forests will likely result in the forced evictions of thousands of farmers and their families, who are left without shelter, food or education, HRW recommends compensating farmers for lost property and crops and assisting them in finding new occupations.

The next time you’re in the mood for chocolate, here are some tips to help you satisfy your sweet tooth while also looking out for farmers and the planet:

Don’t stop buying chocolate. Millions of people depend on cocoa farming to earn a living, and giving up chocolate will hurt them.

Shop smarter. Look for chocolate that is independently certified by the Rainforest Alliance, UTZ or Fairtrade, groups which monitor environmental and labor conditions. By changing your purchasing habits, you’ll also signal to companies that consumers want ethically-produced chocolate.

Get used to paying more for chocolate and eating less. Ethically produced chocolate is more expensive, so you’ll need to change how you view chocolate. Instead of viewing it as a cheap, plentiful commodity, think of it more like a good coffee or wine — something that’s worth paying a little extra for.

Avoid waste. In the UK alone, nearly 20,000 tons (18,000 metric tons) of chocolate and sweets are discarded each year by households, resulting in an estimated 90,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to deforestation.

Do your homework. Check chocolate company websites to see if they list their supply chains — but don’t take their PR and press releases at their word. Websites like The Good Shopping guide, Ethical Consumer and Shop ethical! can help you dig deeper.

“It’s going to take newfound and widespread respect, understanding and appreciation of chocolate to elevate cacao and give its farmers the sustainable and prosperous future that they deserve,” says Thompson. And it can all start with the chocolate that we buy.

Watch Jean Thompson’s TEDxBellevueWomen Talk here:

Watch Alastair Gower’s TEDxGlasgowCaledonianUniversity Talk here: 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gulnaz Khan is the Climate Editor at TED. Find her @gulnazkhan

This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

VultLab

Today, over 1.5 billion children are unable to go to school. Coronavirus’ impact goes beyond the health and economic crisis; it is also jeopardizing the education of students around the world.

Teachers are scrambling to offer students lessons online and parents are desperate for activities that will keep their kids engaged and connected to the outside world.

In response to this crisis, an unprecedented coalition of over fifty environmental and education experts are collaborating to launch The Earth School: 30 adventures for learners of all ages to discover, celebrate, and connect to nature. This global team came together under the guidance and support of TED-Ed and UNEP to design lessons for students of all levels and host Earth School at a time when it matters the most.

These experts have been supported by over 30 organizations including National Geographic, WWF, and the BBC who have offered top caliber videos, articles, and interactive resources that will be shared around the world. The initiative launches on Earth Day on April 22 and will conclude on World Environment Day on June 5. Earth School is comprised of daily adventures, or Quests, each organized around the theme: “The Nature of…” While the initiative is hosted online, the Quests are very much designed to encourage young people to connect with nature and their environment.

Covering real world concepts like the t-shirts we wear, the water we drink, the trees in our forests or the food on our plates, each Quest will consist of a discovery video and fun quiz combined with a series of interactive resources – including additional content to watch, read, teach, do, and share, with age-adjusted exercises built into each lesson.

The team behind Earth School is thrilled that it can help solve three major problems right now:

First, there are so many great environmental resources online that future environment experts don’t know where to begin. Earth School aggregates a wide span of lessons from trusted sources under a single platform. With these lessons, learners of all ages will be able to explore how to live greener and cleaner lives individually and in their communities.

Secondly, young people (in fact, all people!) are stuck inside, more disconnected from nature than ever before. Earth School encourages young people to understand how nature and our ecosystems provide the foundations for a healthy planet, and healthy people. We aim to inspire the awe and wonder of nature in Earth School students and help them finish the program with a firm grasp of how deeply intertwined we are with the planet.

And finally, the team at Earth School aims to help the parents of students around the world, many of whom are taking on their children’s education for the first time. Locating quality lessons and activities online is no easy task; we hope to support them in this unfamiliar moment of global pause and provide the spark of inspiration that will connect young people to nature.

Access to clean drinking water is a fundamental human right. But just why is it so important? To learn all about water and how it affects the human body, watch this playlist of original animated videos, curated just for you. Behold, 5 TED-Ed Lessons about water:

1. When is water safe to drink?

Water is refreshing, hydrating, and invaluable to your survival. But clean water remains a precious and often scarce commodity — there are nearly 800 million people who still don’t have regular access to it. Why is that? And how can you tell whether the water you have access to — whether from a tap or otherwise — is drinkable? Mia Nacamulli examines water contamination and treatment. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

2. What would happen if you didn’t drink water?

Water is essentially everywhere in our world, and the average human is composed of between 55 and 60% water. So what role does water play in our bodies, and how much do we actually need to drink to stay healthy? Mia Nacamulli details the health benefits of hydration. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

3. Where we get our fresh water

Fresh water accounts for only 2.5% of Earth’s water, yet it is vital for human civilization. What are our sources of fresh water? In the first of a two part series on fresh water, Christiana Z. Peppard breaks the numbers down and discusses who is using it and to what ends. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

4. Fresh water scarcity: An introduction to the problem

Fresh water is essential for life — and there’s not nearly enough of it for the world right now. Why is that, and what could we do? Christiana Z. Peppard lays out the big questions of our global water problem. And no, shorter showers are not the answer. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

5. Where did Earth’s water come from?

Water covers over 70% of the Earth, cycling from the oceans and rivers to the clouds and back again. It even makes up about 60% of our bodies. But in the rest of the solar system, liquid water is almost impossible to find. So how did our planet end up with so much of this substance? And where did it come from? Zachary Metz outlines the ancient origins of water on Earth. Watch this TED-Ed Lesson below.

To learn about the ancient ingenuity of water harvesting in India, watch this TED Talk.

Art credit: TED-Ed

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