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).

George Frey via Getty Images News

As the Moon casts its shadow across the Earth during the upcoming solar eclipse, cameras of all kinds will turn skyward.

While professional photographers with specialized equipment will aim to capture the perfect shot, others will reach for their smartphones to immortalize this moment.

While smartphone cameras can’t take a great picture of a solar eclipse itself, you can still create a memorable record of the moment with your smartphone.

Your smartphone camera has capabilities that lots of specialized equipment can’t match. It’s lightweight, has built-in orientation detection and can shoot well in darkness and light. Plus, thanks to its computational photography features, it focuses the image for you and provides image stabilization.

Be careful: Photographing the eclipse with a smartphone might damage the camera’s sensor and your eyes. If you want to look at the Sun or take a photo, wear eclipse glasses and get a lens filter.

Smartphones and optical cameras both bring unique strengths to photography. Smartphones excel in convenience, connectivity and computational photography. They are a simple choice for casual shooters and social media enthusiasts.

Optical cameras beat smartphones in terms of raw image quality, versatility and creative control. This is thanks to their larger sensors, which capture more light and detail, and their interchangeable lenses. They remain the ultimate tools for serious photographers who prioritize performance over portability.

Despite the advantages of optical cameras, a smartphone’s strengths still make it a great way to capture the eclipse.

What is computational photography?

I teach a yearlong course in computational photography that covers the technical aspects of optics and photography. Students make cameras and lenses and write software that duplicates smartphone features.

Computational photography uses computation together with data like location, time of day, personal preferences and other data to improve images. Most smartphones have these features, but very few cameras do.

Two computational modes you will want to try are HDR and night mode.

HDR and night mode

HDR, or high dynamic range, is a technique that combines multiple exposures of the same scene to capture a wider range of brightness levels, from deep shadows to bright highlights. By merging these exposures, HDR can help you create images with more balanced exposure and greater detail.

You can activate your phone camera’s HDR mode in settings.

Night mode is another feature you can use that will improve the photos you take in low light. Using a computational photography technique called stacking, night mode captures multiple images at varying exposure levels and combines them to create a single, well-lit photo with a wide dynamic range.

This process preserves an image’s highlights and the details in the environment, while keeping the shadows dark.

Keep the camera steady while taking night mode photos. You can lean against something solid, such as a wall or a tree. With this computational feature, your low-light images may rival professional-grade optical cameras.

Framing the eclipse

Thinking about how you’re composing your eclipse image will help you make it more visually interesting. Composition in photography refers to the arrangement of elements within the frame.

Elements are things like the subject – a person, place or thing – plus abstractions like patterns and textures – grass, sand, leaves and more. Elements with lines or elements oriented up or down can guide the viewer’s eye through the image, and elements can pull focus to or offset the subject.

Empty or negative space around the subject can give the photo a compelling composition, like the full moon in a black sky. Adjusting the depth of field, for example by using your phone’s portrait mode, can help emphasize the subject.

Using symmetry makes a visually appealing and balanced image, while incorporating complementary colors gives the shot a more dramatic composition.

Think about how a big-budget movie might cover the eclipse. It might have 60 seconds of footage showing the Moon covering the Sun. The remaining 89 minutes would probably show how the eclipse changed people’s lives. There’s a lot more to shoot than just the Sun’s corona.

For example, there’s more that might go into an eclipse image than the sky. Animals may react to the eclipse in interesting ways. Birds may settle down or grow quiet, and nocturnal insects may come out. People around you might have excited, emotional reactions worth capturing as they witness this rare celestial event.

With HDR and night mode active, you can look for dappled light and dark shadows. The light will take on an otherworldly atmosphere as the Moon moves in front of the Sun. The light may take on a peculiar, silvery quality and appear darker than usual. Light falling through gaps between leaves will project hundreds of tiny versions of the eclipse on the ground.

Crescent projections onto the ground from tree shadows during the August 2017 eclipse. B137/Wikimedia Commons

Never look directly at the Sun. Wear eclipse glasses if you look up while aiming your camera.

While your smartphone may not capture the intricate details of the eclipse itself, it can help you document the impact of the eclipse on your world. So, as you prepare to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event, don’t forget to look beyond the Sun and the Moon. Observe the shadows, the colors and the emotions that surround you. Let your curiosity guide you and allow yourself to be present in the moment.

The greatest photographs are those that evoke a sense of wonder, awe and connection regardless of the technology used.

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 the extraordinary celestial phenomenon of total solar eclipses:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Douglas Goodwin is a visiting Assistant Professor in Media Studies, Scripps College. His academic focus is computational photography, pigments and color and biosimulation.

iStock

Love picking up new skills that can enrich your daily life? If so, TED Courses is for you — it was created with all you forever learners and self-improvers in mind and taught by some of your favorite TED speakers. Neuroscientist and bestselling author Lisa Genova is the instructor for a course called “How to boost your brain + memory.” Go here to find out about it, and also read her advice below on common types of forgetting. 

To be human is to forget things. But you’ve probably wondered: “When is forgetting normal, and when is it not?”

Here are four examples:

1. Forgetting where you parked

Not remembering where you parked because you didn’t pay attention is normal and different than what happens with Alzheimer’s.

If you have Alzheimer’s, let’s say you park in a mall garage and shop for an hour. When you return to the parking garage, you’re not wondering if you parked on level three or level four, you’re thinking, “I don’t remember how I got here.” Or you’re standing in front of your car, but you don’t recognize it as yours.

2. Forgetting a person’s name or movie title

Having a word stuck on the tip of your tongue — that oh-what’s-their-name phenomenon called blocking — is normal and does not mean you have Alzheimer’s.

This is one of the most common experiences of memory retrieval failure. You’re trying to come up with a word and most often a proper noun, such as a person’s name or a movie title. You know you know this word, but you cannot retrieve it on demand.

Yet with that said, failure to retrieve words can also be an early sign of Alzheimer’s. So how can you know whether it’s an ordinary tip-of-the-tongue moment or a symptom of dementia? If it’s Alzheimer’s, you’re blocking on dozens of words a day. And instead of blanking primarily on proper nouns, people with Alzheimer’s will regularly forget common nouns such as pen, spoon, bicycle.

3. Forgetting where you put your keys or other objects

Losing track of where you left your keys is normal, and it’s probably just a result of your not paying attention to them.

But losing your keys and finding them in a place that keys shouldn’t be (like the refrigerator or microwave), or finding them and wondering who they belong to or what they’re used for is not normal. These could be symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

4. Forgetting how to do an activity like making coffee

This one has to do with your muscle memory, which is remarkably stable over time — we tend to remember how to do what we’ve learned to do, especially when it’s an activity we perform routinely.

So if you go to make a cup of coffee and don’t remember how to work the machine or you’re doing laundry but can’t remember how to use the washer or you’re stumped by any other tasks you’ve long known how to do and regularly do, this may be a sign of Alzheimer’s.

However, forgetting doesn’t always have to be due to Alzheimer’s. It could be due to mild cognitive impairment (which doesn’t necessarily progress to Alzheimer’s), a B-12 deficiency or not enough sleep, to name a few causes. Just as you do with your heart health or reproductive health, I encourage you to be in conversation with your doctor about your memory and realize you have a lot of agency over your brain health.

Interested in finding out more about how your memory works (and when it doesn’t)? Sign up now for Lisa Genova’s on brain and memory. And while you’re at it, check out our other TED Courses from some of your most loved speakers and learn more skills to boost your life. Among them: Podcast host Manoush Zomorodi offers insights in “how to reimagine your career”; writers Charlie Jane Anders and Wanuri Kahiu teach “how to nurture your imagination”; and educator and author Julie Lythcott-Haims tells you “how to become your best adult self.” 

Watch her TED Talk now: 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens and Every Note Played. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart. She graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. Genova travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases that she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN and NPR. Her TED Talk — called “What You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s” — has been viewed more than five million times to date. Her newest book is a New York Times bestseller and her first work of nonfiction.

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

Georgina Smith / CIAT

November’s UN climate conference, COP26, turned a spotlight on the climate crisis.

But in order to better understand the policies and impacts of global warming, it’s useful to understand the science behind it.

I’m an atmospheric scientist who has worked on global climate science and assessments for most of my career.

Here are six things you should know, in charts:

Chart 1: Since 1960, CO2 levels have been steadily climbing

The primary focus of the negotiations at COP26 has been on carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is released when fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — are burned, as well as by forest fires, land-use changes and natural sources.

The Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s started an enormous increase in the burning of fossil fuels. It powered homes, industries and opened up the planet to travel. That same century, scientists identified carbon dioxide’s potential to increase global temperatures, which at the time was considered a possible benefit to the planet. Systematic measurements started in the mid-1900s and have shown a steady increase in carbon dioxide, with the majority of it directly traceable to the combustion of fossil fuels.

NOAA Global Monitoring Lab

Chart 2: CO2 stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years

Once in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide tends to stay there for a very long time. A portion of the carbon dioxide released through human activities is taken up by plants, and some is absorbed directly into the ocean, but roughly half of all carbon dioxide emitted by human activities today stays in the atmosphere — and it likely will remain there for hundreds of years, influencing the climate globally.

During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, when fewer people were driving and some industries briefly stopped, carbon dioxide emissions from fuels fell by roughly 6 percent. But it didn’t stop the rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide because the amount released into the atmosphere by human activities far exceeded what nature could absorb.

If civilization stopped its carbon dioxide-emitting activities today, it would still take many hundreds of years for the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to fall enough naturally to bring the planet’s carbon cycle back into balance because of carbon dioxide’s long life in the atmosphere.

Pieter Tans

Chart 3: When CO2 levels go up, so do global temperatures

Multiple lines of scientific evidence point to the increase in greenhouse emissions over the past century and a half as a driver of long-term climate change around the world. For example:

- Laboratory measurements since the 1800s have repeatedly verified and quantified the absorptive properties of carbon dioxide that allow it to trap heat in the atmosphere.
- Simple models based on the warming impact of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere match historical changes in temperature.
- Complex climate models, recently acknowledged in the Nobel Prize for Physics, not only indicate a warming of the Earth due to increases in carbon dioxide but also offer details of the areas of greatest warming.

Salawitch et al., 2017, updated with data to the end of 2020, CC BY

When carbon dioxide levels have been high in the past, evidence shows temperatures have also been high. Based on Salawitch et al., 2017, updated with data to the end of 2020, CC BY

- Long-term records from ice cores, tree rings and corals show that when carbon dioxide levels have been high, temperatures have also been high.
- Our neighboring planets also offer evidence. Venus’ atmosphere is thick with carbon dioxide, and it is the hottest planet in our solar system as a result, even though Mercury is closer to the sun.

Chart 4: Temperatures are increasing on every single continent

The rising temperatures are evident in records from every continent and over the oceans.

The temperatures aren’t rising at the same rate everywhere, however. A variety of factors affect local temperatures, including land use that influences how much solar energy is absorbed or reflected, local heating sources like urban heat islands, and pollution.

The Arctic, for example, is warming about three times faster than the global average in part because as the planet warms, snow and ice melt makes the surface more likely to absorb, rather than reflect, the sun’s radiation. Snow cover and sea ice recede even more rapidly as a result.

NOAA Global Monitoring Lab

Chart 5: Rising temperatures = rising oceans

Earth’s climate system is interconnected and complex, and even small temperature changes can have large impacts – for instance, with snow cover and sea levels.

Changes are already happening. Studies show that rising temperatures are already affecting precipitation, glaciers, weather patterns, tropical cyclone activity and severe storms. A number of studies show that the increases in frequency, severity and duration of heatwaves, for example, affect ecosystems, human lives, commerce and agriculture.

Historical records of ocean water levels have shown mostly consistent increases over the past 150 years as glacier ice melts and rising temperatures expand ocean water, with some local deviations due to sinking or rising land.

Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level

Chart 6: If we don’t act, temperatures will keep increasing. So will rainfall

While extreme events are often due to complex sets of causes, some are exacerbated by climate change. Just as coastal flooding can be made worse by rising ocean levels, heat waves are more damaging with higher baseline temperatures.

Climate scientists work hard to estimate future changes as a result of increased carbon dioxide and other expected changes, such as world population. It’s clear that temperatures will increase and precipitation will change. The exact magnitude of change depends on many interacting factors.

Based on SSP3-7.0, a high-emissions scenario. Claudia Tebaldi, et al., 2021

But there are a few reasons for hope

On a hopeful note, scientific research is improving our understanding of climate and the complex Earth system, identifying the most vulnerable areas and guiding efforts to reduce the drivers of climate change. Work on renewable energy and alternative energy sources, as well as ways to capture carbon from industries or from the air, are producing more options for a better-prepared society.

At the same time, people are learning about how they can reduce their own impact, with the growing understanding that a globally coordinated effort is required to have a significant impact. Electric vehicles, as well as solar and wind power, are growing at previously unthinkable rates. More people are showing a willingness to adopt new strategies to use energy more efficiently, consume more sustainably and choose renewable energy.

Scientists increasingly recognize that shifting away from fossil fuels has additional benefits, including improved air quality for human health and ecosystems.

Are we on track to limit global warming to only 1.5 degrees Celsius? The Climate Action Tracker explains the good news and the bad news for the planet:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Betsy Weatherhead PhD is an atmospheric scientist who has received a number of awards for her scientific work on weather, climate, stratospheric ozone, UV radiation and unmanned aircraft. She is proud to share a number of awards, including the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for her contributions on understanding the Arctic climate. She has led a number of successful groups to develop programs and increase scientific activity in a number of areas (Arctic research, unmanned aircraft, renewable energy and weather forecasting). She has also brought together leaders from academia, public sector and private sector to identify a path for the U.S. to become significantly better at weather forecasting. She previously worked in the federal government and at Jupiter Intelligence, a company that advises on managing climate change risks. Currently she is working with the international community to understand trends in tropospheric ozone around the globe.

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

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We — Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson — are climate experts who focus on solutions, leadership and building community.

We are a natural and a social scientist, a Northerner and a Southerner. We’re also both lifelong inter-disciplinarians in love with words and the cofounders of The All We Can Save Project, in support of women climate leaders.

Our collaboration has led us to read widely and deeply about the climate crisis that’s facing humanity.

Here are 15 of our favorite writings on climate — this eclectic list contains books, essays, a newsletter, a scientific paper, even legislation— and they’re all ones we wholeheartedly recommend:

1. All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis coedited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson

We had the honor of editing this collection of 41 essays, 17 poems, quotes and original illustrations — so naturally we love it! But you don’t have to take our word for it. As Rolling Stone said: “Taken together, the breadth of their voices forms a mosaic that honors the complexity of the climate crisis like few, if any, books on the topic have done yet. … The book is a feast of ideas and perspectives, setting a big table for the climate movement, declaring all are welcome.” All We Can Save nourished, educated and transformed us as we shaped its pages, and we can’t wait for it to do the same for you.

2. Ghost Fishing: An Eco-justice Poetry Anthology edited by Melissa Tuckey

We count ourselves among those who can’t make sense of the climate crisis without the aid of poets, who help us to see more clearly, feel our feelings, catch our breath, and know we’re not alone. This anthology is a magnificent quilt of poems that are made for this moment and all its intersections.

3. “We Don’t Have to Halt Climate Action to Fight Racism” by Mary Annaïse Heglar

“Climate People,” as she likes to call us, should be grateful that Mary Annaïse Heglar decided a few years back to pick up her pen once more as a writer. All of her essays are necessary reading, but this one is especially so, crafted from Mary’s perspective as a “Black Climate Person.” It’s a powerful articulation of the inextricability of a society that values Black lives and a livable planet for all.

4. Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change by Sherri Mitchell — Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset

Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset means “she who brings the light,” and Sherri Mitchell does exactly that in this incredible tapestry of a book, which begins with Penawahpskek Nation creation stories and concludes with guidance on what it means to live in a time of prophecy. It is rare that a book so generously shares wisdom, much less wisdom about how we got to where we are, what needs mending, and what a path forward that’s grounded in ancestral ways of knowing and being might look like.

5. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown

How lucky are we to be contemporaries of adrienne maree brown? Very. This is a book that we come back to time and time again to ground and enliven our work. We love this line from her about oak trees: “Under the earth, always, they reach for each other, they grow such that their roots are intertwined and create a system of strength that is as resilient on a sunny day as it is in a hurricane.” That’s the kind of community we’re trying to nurture.

6. “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays” by Eunice Newton Foote

Eunice Newton Foote rarely gets the credit she’s due — and she deserves a lot of credit. In fact, we like to think of her as the first climate feminist. In 1856, she connected the dots between carbon dioxide and planetary warming, but science and history forgot (dismissed?) her until recently. This is her original paper, which was published in The American Journal of Science and Arts. Foote was also a signatory to the women’s rights manifesto created at Seneca Falls in 1848, alongside visionaries like Frederick Douglass.

7. The Drawdown Review by Project Drawdown

Full disclosure: Katharine is The Drawdown Review’s editor-in-chief and principal writer. But Ayana fully endorses this recommendation — it’s a valuable resource as we charge ahead toward climate solutions. We all need to know what tools are in the toolbox, and The Drawdown Review is the latest compendium of climate solutions that already exist. This publication is beautifully designed, grounded in research, and you can access it for free.

8. The Green New Deal Resolution by the 116th US Congress

It seems that almost everyone has an opinion about the Green New Deal, but few people have read the actual piece of legislation: House Resolution 109: Recognizing the Duty of the Federal Government to Create a Green New Deal, which was introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey. The big secret is that it’s only 14 pages! It makes a clear, compelling and concise case for what comprehensive climate policy should look like in the US. We’d love for everyone to read it so we can all have a more grounded discussion about what we might agree and disagree with and chart a course forward.

9. “Think This Pandemic Is Bad? We Have Another Crisis Coming” by Rhiana Gunn-Wright

Speaking of policy … this op-ed, penned by Rhiana Gunn-Wright, who is one of the policy leads for the Green New Deal, makes the connections between climate, justice, COVID-19 and our recession as clear as day. She lays out an ironclad case for the the need to address these issues together, and why. As she writes, “We need to design the stimulus not only to help the US economy recover but to also become more resilient to the climate crisis, the next multitrillion-dollar crisis headed our way.”

10. “How Can We Plan for a Future in California?” by Leah Stokes

In the midst of raging fires and continuing pandemic, UC Santa Barbara Professor Leah Stokes, who’s based in Santa Barbara, lays it plain in her piece: “I don’t want to live in a world where we have to decide which mask to wear for which disaster, but this is the world we are making. And we’ve only started to alter the climate. Imagine what it will be like when we’ve doubled or tripled the warming, as we are on track to do.” As she and others have been pointing out, journalists have been failing to make the critical connection: “What’s happening in California has a name: climate change.”

11. HEATED by Emily Atkin

This is the reading rec that keeps on giving, literally — it’s a daily newsletter that brings climate accountability journalism right to your inbox. It’s chock full of smarts, spunk, truth-telling and super timely writing that isn’t hemmed in by media overlords. If you’re pissed off about the climate crisis, Emily Atkin made HEATED just for you.

12. The July 20 2020 Issue of TIME Magazine

This entire issue, titled “One Last Chance”, is dedicated to coverage of climate, and it includes wise words from so many luminaries from politician Stacey Abrams to soil scientist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, with a lead piece by Time’s climate journalist Justin Worland. Ayana also has a piece in this issue called “We Can’t Solve the Climate Crisis Unless Black Lives Matter.” To see all of this collected in one place — insights on topics from oceans to agriculture to politics to activism — was heartening. We hope there’s much more of this to come, from many magazines.

13. “Wakanda Doesn’t Have Suburbs” by Kendra Pierre Louis

A pop-culture connoisseur and expert storyteller, Kendra Pierre Louis takes up the topic of climate stories in her essay — the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good, she explains, are all too rare, and that’s a big problem because stories are powerful. Black Panther may be our best story of living thoughtfully and well on this planet, not least thanks to an absence of carbon-spewing suburbs. It’s going to take much better narratives, and many more of them, if humans are to, as she puts it, “repair our relationship with the Earth and re-envision our societies in ways that are not just in keeping with our ecosystems but also make our lives better.” !

14. “We Need Courage, Not Hope, to Face Climate Change” by Kate Marvel PhD

This piece by NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel is, as the kids say, a whole mood. Hope is not enough, hope is often passive, and that won’t get us where we need to go. Pretty much everyone who works on climate is constantly being asked what gives us hope — how presumptuous to assume we have it! But what we do have is courage. In spades. As Marvel writes in this poetic piece: “We need courage, not hope. Grief, after all, is the cost of being alive. We are all fated to live lives shot through with sadness, and are not worth less for it. Courage is the resolve to do well without the assurance of a happy ending.”

15. Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

Admittedly, this last recommendation isn’t something to read, but to watch and listen to. This playlist of TED Talks by women climate leaders (who were all contributors to our anthology All We Can Save — read about it above) will inspire you, deepen your understanding, connect the dots and help you find where you might fit into the heaps of climate work that needs doing. It includes poignant talks by Colette Pichon Battle and Christine Nieves Rodriguez, which are respectively about communities in Louisiana and Puerto Rico recovering from hurricanes and rebuilding resilience and which broke our hearts open. We were so moved we invited them to adapt their talks into essays for All We Can Save. Christine’s piece — “Community is Our Best Chance” — is the final essay in the book and the note we want to end on here. It’s not about what each of us can do as individuals to address the climate crisis; it’s about what we can do together. Building community around solutions is the most important thing.

Watch Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s TED Talk here: 

Watch Katharine Wilkinson’s TED Talk here: 

Learn more about the global Countdown initiative, explore the lineup of speakers, and watch the event live on October 10th.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson PhD is a marine biologist, policy expert and Brooklyn native. She is founder of the nonprofit think tank Urban Ocean Lab, founder and CEO of the consultancy Ocean Collectiv and cocreator and cohost of the Spotify/Gimlet podcast How to Save a Planet. She coedited the anthology All We Can Save and cofounded The All We Can Save Project in support of women climate leaders. Her mission is to build community around climate solutions. Find her @ayanaeliza.

Katharine Wilkinson PhD is an author, strategist, teacher and one of 15 “women who will save the world,” according to Time magazine. Her writings on climate include The Drawdown Review, the New York Times bestseller Drawdown and Between God & Green. She is coeditor of All We Can Save and co founder of The All We Can Save Project, in support of women climate leaders. Wilkinson is a former Rhodes Scholar. Find her @DrKWilkinson.

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

This field went from dirt to dense forest in just two years. Courtesy of Afforestt

When you look at a row of empty parking spots, what do you see?

Many of us would see it for what it is — a place that could be filled with cars and trucks.

But to eco-engineer Shubhendu Sharma, it’s a space to be planted with trees and turned into a compact yet mighty forest.

What’s more, he believes these tiny forests can thrive anywhere, including our most crowded and polluted cities where they can help maintain clean air and water and provide habitat for animals and insects. “A forest is not an isolated piece of land where animals live together,” says Sharma, a TED Fellow. “A forest can be an integral part of our urban existence.”

Most of us know just how essential trees are to our health and to the planet’s. Yet millions of hectares of forest are cleared every year due to farming, ranching, logging and construction, making deforestation one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest and surrounding ecosystems have already been lost, threatening a vital carbon sink, and Brazilian president Jair Bolsinaro is opening up previously protected parts to commercial development.

A before-and-after from Afforestt.

After two years, they achieved this inviting patch of greenery.

Inspired by the work of Japanese scientist Akira Miyawaki, Sharma built a forest in the backyard of his family’s home in northern India in 2010. An industrial engineer at the time, he planted 224 spindly young trees and shrubs In the 75-square-meter (or 807-square-foot) plot. They grew and flourished, and a dozen species of birds came to check them out. The plantings created welcome shade, and their roots were able to absorb even the abundant monsoon rains. After a year, he had his own forest.

Since then, Sharma has founded a company called Afforestt. Its top priority is to bring back natural forests to places where they no longer exist. This means restoring stable ecosystems of plants and animals that used to exist in these spaces. Such systems ordinarily take hundreds of years to evolve, grow and mature together, but Sharma believes it’s possible to do this in as little as 10 years — and he has plenty of examples to prove it. He’s shown you can take a space the size of six or seven parking spots — and create a lush, verdant forest with over 100 trees and shrubs. So far, Afforestt has planted 144 forests in 45 cities around the world.

So, how do you build a complete forest ASAP? By aiming for two things: Density and planting native species.

In terms of achieving density, it’s all about filling a space with trees and shrubs of varying heights. “By making a multi-layered forest, we can fill up an entire vertical space with greenery,” Sharma says. “That way, we can have 30 times more green surface area compared to a lawn or a garden in the same area.” A tiny forest provides a long-term, cost-effective alternative to a traditional lawn. Not only are trees beautiful and great at taking in carbon dioxide, they act as an effective noise buffer and a sponge for air pollution and particulate matter.

Planting trees that are native to your region has specific benefits. Since they’re already adapted to the climate, they require significantly less maintenance than many other non-native species. Native trees also create a welcoming environment for the indigenous wildlife — birds and insects — to thrive. Early studies indicate that these dense forests may actually be able to restore biodiversity at levels comparable to natural forests.

Ready to create your own tiny forest?

Shubhendu Sharma breaks it down into 5 steps:

1. Identify your native species

When beginning a project, Sharma and his team first go to the nearest national park, protected grove, or nature reserve to search for patches of conserved forest. Paying close attention to the number and types of trees in a natural ecosystem will allow you to build your own, he says — for instance, noting the relative proportion of native species will give you an idea of how many to plant. “If you can, collect the seeds, germinate seedlings out of them; that’s the start of the physical work,” he says. (Editor’s note: This is not legal in some places, so please check first.)

If you can’t collect seeds or aren’t legally permitted to do so, you can also ask someone knowledgeable at a local nursery, garden, or agricultural or county extension agent to recommend native species to plant.

This compost tea is for trees to drink, not humans.

2. Nurture the soil

Healthy soil is the basis of a healthy forest. “Find different types of biomass, or organic matter, that can make your soil moist, full of nutrition, and so soft that roots can penetrate into it easily,” Sharma says. His team often uses coco-peat (also known as coco coir; it’s the fibrous husks from the outer layer of a coconut) because it’s highly absorbent and improves water retention in dry soil.

“To loosen up compacted soil, we use pear tree husk or any biomass, which is crunchy in nature,” Sharma elaborates. Peanut shells are OK too. He adds, “It has to have a spring-like property. When you crush it, it should come back to its original shape.” These characteristics are important to help support the roots of your trees.

Instead of adding nutrients or artificial fertilizers, Afforestt adds microorganisms. “We take soil from a natural forest, so we can get the native colonies of microbes and fungi and we multiply their number in what we call compost tea,” Sharma says. Compost tea is a microbe-rich nutrient broth, which is diluted and added to the soil. These fungi and microbes grow and support the root network to allow trees to grow quickly and collectively. While more studies are needed to better understand compost tea, you can add regular compost, which is known to support soil health.

Make sure to fill a space with trees and shrubs of varying heights.

3. Plant your seedlings — but don’t forget the mulch

The key to achieving a dense forest is to arrange the landscape in a beneficial ratio of layers. “We divide our trees into four different layers: a shrub layer, sub-tree layer, a tree layer, and a canopy layer,” Sharma explains. The exact ratio of these layers depends on where you live. For example, a rainforest environment like São Paulo will have a denser canopy layer, while a region with a desert-like climate will have more shrubs. The most successful forests will mimic the composition of the natural environments found in your area.

What really sets the stage for rapid growth is the density of your layers. As trees grow, they communicate through fungal networks that protect against disease and provide nutrients to one another. Mulch plays a vital role in protecting the ecosystem below the soil against harsh environmental conditions — like a breathable, protective blanket over the soil for all seasons. Sharma’s team usually uses straw, but he says the right mulch can be “anything that doesn’t allow water to evaporate back into the atmosphere but is open enough to let the water seep through and reach the soil.” Not only does mulch protect the soil microbiome, it also traps moisture when it’s hot and protects against frost and ice when it’s cold.

4. Tend for a few years

Once your seedlings are planted, you’ll need to perform routine maintenance — watering and weeding — during the first couple of years. But there’s one thing the Afforestt team never does in this time period: They never prune or trim the trees themselves. Since the ultimate goal is to create a lush forest, pruning will counteract that growth process.

Plus, after you reach a certain stage of growth, you’ll be able to stop weeding. “Eventually, the forest becomes so dense that sunlight won’t reach the ground any more. Once sunlight cannot reach the ground anymore, weeds also can’t grow because they need sunlight,” Sharma explains.

5. Let it grow!

Humus is the organic material that naturally occurs in healthy environments. Once it begins to form, then you’ll know it’s time to let your forest be. “Humus is the food for the forest,” Sharma says. “It can only be made on the floor of a natural forest, because it’s a combination of biomass, fungi, dead bodies of insects, microorganisms, earthworms, etc.”

How do you know when humus has formed? “Initially, you will see just leaves on the forest floor, then twigs, and then you’ll see old branches fall, termites coming in to convert that branch into powder. It gets more and more complex and rich,” Sharma explains. “This is the stage when we say, ‘Ok, now no management is the best management.’” Forests can typically be left alone after three years.

If you don’t have the space or time to build your own forest, you can participate in other ways. “What I’d really urge people to do is to go to their local natural forest and learn about their native trees,” says Sharma. Most of us can name multiple dog or cat breeds or the names of numerous fruits and vegetables, so add to your knowledge by learning the names of 25 native tree species. Then look for them in your community.

To expand the Afforestt network, Sharma is partnering with collaborators in other countries and developed a crowdfunding app called Sugi. This allows people to donate and fund forest projects, building a global network around rewilding urban environments. Sharma hopes that by planting seeds of inspiration, the reforestation movement will spread so that more and more land is converted back into forests. While the Afforestt team started in India, it has consulted with groups from many countries, including Cameroon, Australia and Japan. They’ve developed an open-source database with best practices that anyone to use and maintain an up-to-date guide on reforestation.

By planting tiny forests all around the world, Sharma and his team hope to open up people’s eyes to the variety and splendor of native plants. “The biggest challenge is that our perception of beauty has to change,” he says. “There is no one-size-fits-all formula, because Earth is extremely biodiverse. If you go to Dubai and Spain, you see palm trees and if you go to California, you see the same palm trees. That’s a boring world, you know? The beauty of a natural forest is that it’s different everywhere and there is so much to learn. There is so much to enjoy.”

All images: Courtesy of Afforestt. 

Watch his TED Talk now:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kara Newman is a science journalist currently based in New York City.

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.

Justin Tran

You don’t need to go to a national park to help your kids fall in love with nature; a walk around the block can be enough.

Technology also doesn’t have to be the enemy. Instead, use it as a tool to enhance their awe, says science communicator Scott Sampson. Growing up, Sampson— paleontologist and CEO of Science World in Vancouver, Canada— went on annual camping trips to the Rocky Mountains with his family.

However, “this was not where I fell in love with nature,” he recalls in a TEDxLangleyED talk. “That happened close to home — looking for rocks in the backyard, playing kick-the-can in the neighborhood, bushwhacking in the local forest. I still remember my mother kicking me outside on a Saturday and telling me to come back in when the street lights came on. I’m pretty sure I remember hearing the door lock behind me as I walked away.”

Even though he knows it’s not possible for today’s children to have that freedom, he encourages parents to help kids fall in love with nature just like he did: through direct experience. He recommends three steps that we — along with the children in our lives — can take to connect with nature.

Step #1: Notice

We don’t need to invest in outdoor equipment or an expensive vacation to get started, says Sampson, author of How to Raise A Wild Child. We just need to notice what’s around us, even if we live in a city. “Too often these days, we walk right past amazing natural events,” he says. “It could be a butterfly on a branch, a hawk hunting silently overhead, it could be a beautiful evening sky. Whatever the clouds are doing at any given moment, you can rest assured that they will never be exactly the same ever again. It turns out just taking a kid for a walk around the block… can be a powerful experience.”

E.O. Wilson first stumbled upon the complex society of ants as a child when he saw them emerging near a sidewalk in Pensacola, Florida, and he went on to become the world’s foremost expert in that insect and an eminent Harvard University biologist. When Sampson himself was a kid, his mother brought him to a nearby pond because she’d heard it had tadpoles. When they got there, he saw nothing. Then, he says, “I stepped into the water and I could see these little things move away, and I realized there was thousands of tadpoles in the water.” His mother urged him to stand in the pond up to his chest.

“Kids value what we value. And if you don’t value the natural world, it’s highly unlikely the kids will.”

Sampson says, “Now I promise you this is not something that most mothers would condone today. But it was a life-changing experience for me. In that pond surrounded by thousands of tadpoles, I had this experience of oneness with the pond, like there was no difference between the pond and me, and that experience has stuck with me my whole life.”

We can start by developing our own simple habit — and one that could open up our perspectives. Sampson suggests, “When you step outside the door in the morning, pause for 10 seconds.” Ask yourself questions like, “What does the air feel like? How many different kinds of birds can I hear? What are the clouds doing?” Most important, he says, “Do these with kids, because here’s the deal: Kids value what we value. And if you don’t value the natural world and show that you care about it, it’s highly unlikely the kids will.”

Step #2: Engage

We need to allow kids to interact with the natural world so they can learn from it. For little kids, a stick and a puddle — or their feet and a puddle — are enough. As they get older, “it’s great to find activities that allow them to demonstrate increasing competence — things like fishing or skiing or hiking,” Sampson says. “Too often these days, when it comes to engaging in nature, we hear the word ‘no’ from parents. ‘No, don’t throw that rock,’ ‘No, put down that stick,’ ‘No, get out of that tree.’ By preventing them from engaging in risky play, we are preventing them from learning how to navigate risk, a skill they will desperately need as teenagers and the rest of their lives. The bigger risk is not letting them engage in this kind of play.”

So rather than being a helicopter parent, “think about being a hummingbird parent,” suggests Sampson. “Sit on the periphery. Zoom in only when necessary, which isn’t very often, and zoom back out again. And as kids get older, increase the distance between you and them to give them greater independence.”

Another way to stoke kids’ interest in the outdoors: tell them about your own encounters — the time you saw an eclipse, went apple-picking, clamming or crabbing, collected daddy long-legs spiders, or grew an avocado tree after making guacamole. Then, provide them with opportunities to start collecting their own stories. Sampson says, “Parents are often nervous about taking kids in nature because they know that those kids are going to ask questions and they’re afraid they’re not gonna know the answers. But here’s the secret: you do not need to know any answers. Questions are far more powerful.”

“If people don’t spend any time outside, why are they going to care about these places let alone live sustainably?”

For example, Sampson and his daughter Jade, then 7, went on a hike one day. (He cautions: “Never go on a ‘hike’ with kids; it doesn’t end well.” Instead, he advises, call it an “adventure”.) He recalls, “We were a few minutes in, and we saw one of my favorite birds, a great blue heron. Jade saw it, turned to me and said, “Daddy, what’s that bird?” And it took every ounce of my biologist training not to give her not only the common name of the bird but the scientific name, its diet, and the habitat that it lives in. But on this particular day … I said, ‘I don’t know. What do you think it is?’ And she said, ‘I think it’s a heron.’ And I said, ‘Well, what do you think it’s doing?’ She said, ‘I think it’s hunting.’ I said, ‘What do you think it’s hunting for?’ She looks up at me and said ‘Rodents.’”

Sampson told Jade they should wait and see what happened. He says, “It was almost as if it was on cue. Within two minutes, this amazing, large bird did that slow-motion, Zen-like bow until it got close to the ground” — and it emerged with a mole in its beak. After they got home, Jade looked in a nature guide and found out the bird’s exact name. Sampson says, “She still remembers it to this day, and she’s 16 years old. Let’s rewind the tape. What if when she had said, ‘Daddy, what’s that bird?’, I said, ‘Hey, that’s a great blue heron,’ and we kept right on walking? [It would have been a] missed opportunity.”

But no uncommon or photogenic animals are necessary to launch an exploration. You can do the same with the pigeons, starlings or squirrels you see on the sidewalk; the flies, bees and mosquitoes that infiltrate your home; or the crickets, cicadas and fireflies that you hear chirping, buzzing and blinking. Ask kids: What do they eat? Where do they sleep? What are their most important abilities? Which animals are their enemies?

Step #3: Wonder

When it comes to the natural world, love and wonder should go hand in hand — if we want our children to connect with it, they need to have the chance to be captivated by it. He says, “You can give them amazing experiences like harvesting and eating plants that they themselves planted and nurtured.” Growing plants that are native to your area can insects and birds to your yard, windowsill or balcony, giving children a lesson in some of the different creatures that make up an ecosystem.

And, adds Sampson, “I am not arguing that we have a back-to-nature movement where we abandon technology. I am not saying we need to take our smartphones and toss them off the nearest bridge, although I admit I am tempted to do that on a weekly basis.”

“Get outside, take your kids there, and let them connect deeply.”

Instead, you can use technology — in the form of science apps and nature apps and science websites and nature websites — as a tool to inform children’s awe. The iNaturalist app allows you to, he says, “take a picture of any plant or any animal, upload it, get some suggestions as to what it might be, and get experts to help you identify it. That data is then used by scientists to monitor changing environmental conditions, so a screen can literally turn a child into a scientist.” There are also a huge amount of cams set up in the world’s wild places that can give kids a real-time look at a variety of habitats and the creatures that live in them.

What’s more, cultivating a relationship with the natural world goes beyond enhancing your child’s immediate wellbeing. It’s crucial for their future — and our planet’s. As Sampson points out: “If people don’t spend any time outside, why are they going to care about these places let alone live sustainably and take care of them?” He says, “Get outside, take your kids there, and let them connect deeply. It is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them, and I promise you will have a lot of fun along the way.”

Watch his TEDxLangleyED talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daryl Chen is the Ideas Editor at TED.

This post was originally published on TED Ideas. It’s part of the “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

iStock

A new technology aspires to harness the powerful human sense of smell to enhance our daily lives.  Someday this approach might even be used to benefit our health. How is this possible? Step one: Just inhale.

We’re living in a playlist world, with many of us curating soundtracks to get us through life’s daily ups and downs, such as a tough commute, sweaty workout, or sleepless night. But what if we could also turn on our own scent playlists — imagine “Peppermint Wake-up”, “Grapefruit Grind”, “Lavender Lullaby” — at those times? You know, like a personal smelltrack? Or smell-list? (Note to the world: Applications for better name now open).

David Edwards, an inventor and professor of bioengineering at Harvard University, is working to turn that dream into a reality. He has created an app, called oNotes— a combo of “olfactory” and “notes”— that is paired with a scent speaker, called Cyrano. Use the app to play the speaker and out wafts a dynamic sequence of scents.

The human nose can distinguish among at least 1 trillion different scents.

While our sense of smell can get overshadowed by the other four senses, there should be no mistake: It is formidable. The fact that humans have a poor sense of smell compared to other mammals was recently refuted as a 19th-century myth. The human nose can distinguish among at least 1 trillion different scents. (A little practice — or even a lot — doesn’t hurt: see the TED-Ed lesson: How to master your sense of smell.) Even though we’re not always aware of our scentscapes and the impact they’re having, a chance whiff has the power to stop us in our tracks, stir up emotions and memories, and attract us to (or repel us from) its source.

For humans, scent and survival are inextricably linked. Unpleasant odors elicit immediate involuntary responses. Our heart rate ratchets up when we smell a raging fire, and our disgust is evoked by the pungent aroma of spoiled food. As in much of the animal kingdom, we humans transmit signals to each other through scent, whether it’s via pheromones, selective (and unconscious) hand-sniffing after we shake hands with others, raised hormone levels, or our ability to differentiate between the odors of “self” and “non-self”.

Scientists are only now delving into how particular scent molecules affect our brains. What they do know is that once a scent binds to the olfactory receptors in our nasal epithelium, “there’s an electrical signal that’s delivered directly to the brain’s limbic system, an area associated with emotion and memory, [which sets] off a cascade of neurologic and biochemical consequences,” says Edwards. By contrast, other sensory inputs — tastes, touches, sights and sounds — are routed through different parts of the brain first, which moderates their effects.

In a human sperm cell, olfactory receptors register chemicals and determine the way the cell moves.

Humans contain a huge array of olfactory receptors located outside of our noses. They’re found throughout the body in places such as the brain, lungs, gut, kidneys, and even sperm cells. These receptors act as docking and signaling systems, playing a crucial role in the conversations constantly taking place inside us. In a sperm cell, for instance, olfactory receptors register chemicals and determine the way the cell moves — and whether it reaches a certain egg of interest.

Today, we find ourselves immersed in a dramatically altered, controlled and artificial scentscape. There are “all of these sensory signals that we’re not used to,” says Edwards, and “our bodies don’t quite know what to do with those signals.” Just think of the overload that we experience during a single visit to a shopping mall, where perfumes, warm pretzels, new sneakers and more compete for our noses. Amid the onslaught, the scents of the natural world that humans evolved with over millions of years are diminishing or disappearing from our lives.

This shift in our olfactory environment could be having negative effects on our health, contends Edwards. In recent decades, epidemiologists have observed a huge global increase in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes: from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, according to the World Health Organization. Indeed, some research in laboratory animals has indicated that smell can impact metabolic health and diet-induced obesity. “You can think of the olfactory bulb as a kind of fuel gauge. Upon sensing aromas, particularly food aromas, it will rev up metabolism,” Edwards explains. This process may then trigger cravings, which have historically helped our species survive, but now sometimes cause us to overeat or eat unrewarding foods.

One experiment has shown that when fasting women inhaled the scent of chocolate, they could go longer without eating.

Scent playlists might be used to “bring back to the body sensory signals that it knows how to understand,” according to Edwards. One study found that when people were exposed to a sweet or savory smell, they developed a greater appetite for the food that matched the smell. And, “if you expose humans to a sweet aroma before a savory meal, they’ve been shown to consume fewer calories, and vice versa,” Edwards says. Another experiment has shown that when fasting women inhaled the scent of chocolate, they could go longer without eating. It appears as if the smell of chocolate alone “affects their system as if they’ve actually started eating it,” says Edwards, which triggers the hormonal responses associated with satiation and appetite suppression. Yet another study found that when people’s taste experience was augmented with aroma, they tended to feel more satiated. These and other experiments point to the potential for scent-based therapies and technologies to subtly mediate how much people eat and diminish unwanted cravings.

Scent playlists might also be used to shift our emotional states. Certain scents have the power to evoke vivid autobiographical memories, be they of the Proust-and-madeleine kind or the sterile-hospital-childhood-injury variety. The more profound the experience associated with the aroma, the greater the emotional responses in the brain. What’s more, being exposed to odors with uplifting personal associations has been shown to disrupt cravings, decrease inflammation, and increase positive emotions. In studies, certain naturally occurring scents have been found to have stimulating (peppermint, coffee), calming (lavender, magnolia), or joy-inducing (freshly cut grass) effects on human subjects.

Could scents be used in conjunction with psychotherapy to treat people with addiction?

Cyrano, Edwards’s scent speaker, is all about aromas of the uplifting kind.It currently works with three evocatively-titled cartridges: Surfside (guava, suntan lotion, lime and sea breeze), Einstein (rosemary, lemon and peppermint) and Central Park (rain, waffle cone, jasmine and cut grass). Each is meant to elicit a specific physiological response in users (relaxation, focus, and energy, respectively). The individual aromas are made from essential oils or synthetic molecules. Like a musical playlist, the scent compositions change over time, switching every 8 to 10 minutes. This variation prevents olfactory fatigue, which occurs when our olfactory receptors saturate and we become inured to a scent after a while (think of how intensely a cafe smells when you first enter it, but how little you notice the ambient coffee aroma after you’ve used the WiFi for an hour).

So, how is the scent speaker working for its users? While an experiment hasn’t yet been done in the lab, Edwards has conducted one small pilot study on the effects of the device in the workplace. In it, 77 employees at Siemens Corporation were given two scent cartridges (Surfside and Einstein) to use at their discretion over a six-week period. The results: 80 percent continued to use the device after the first week, 50 percent reported feeling positive effects, and those who used it more frequently saw a greater improvement in their scores on an emotional intelligence test. Interestingly — and understandably — 3 PM was a popular time for people to play their scent speakers.

The office isn’t the only place Edwards can see the device being beneficial, though. This summer, Cyrano will be installed in cars from a high-end European automaker. Edwards is also set to launch a product that is designed to enhance users’ culinary experiences by emitting “flavor clouds” like ginger, chocolate and raspberry. Another research question at the front of his mind is: Could scents be used in conjunction with psychotherapy to treat people with addiction?

Someday, Edwards hopes that people can use technology to tap into scent for a quick pick-me-up, dose of calm, or way to find more enjoyment from the food they eat. In many ways, we humans have reached a day of reckoning when it comes to realizing just how much we’ve altered our environment. But instead of bemoaning the state we’re in, Edwards is encouraged by the work being done in this area. “We’ve been playing around with sensory signals, not recognizing how big a deal they are. Now that we’re understanding the consequences, there’s an effort to correct them,” he says. “It’s ultimately good news.”

Watch this TED-Ed video to learn how to master your sense of smell:

Watch David Edwards’s TEDxHarvardCollege talk:

TED-Ed Innovative Educators, cohort four

What could education look like if every innovative voice from the classroom to the superintendent boardroom was shared and amplified globally?

The fourth cohort of TED-ED Innovative Educators and the TED-Ed Team are embarking on a mission to find out. We are extremely excited to introduce cohort four of the TED-Ed Innovative Educators program– sixteen amazing and influential leaders in education who together are setting out on a journey to improve education by elevating the most important ideas in education worldwide.

Using TED Masterclass, each TED-Ed Innovative Educator will hone in on their most important idea in education and develop it into a TED-style talk. Not only that, but they will play a vital role in catalyzing a movement to empower educators everywhere to develop, refine, and share their best ideas in education, with the ultimate goal of improving education everywhere, for every student.

Curious to see how TED Masterclass will help these inspired leaders in education amplify their ideas? So are we! We’ll be back later this year to share the evolution of their ideas as you watch them deliver their TED-style talk. Start by reading below – and stay tuned for more to come!

We asked each educator one question: if you could share one idea with every educator in the world, what would it be?

Jerry Almendarez, Superintendent, Colton Joint Unified School District, Colton, CA, USA:

“Educational inequities – identifying inequities within your own district and determining how to address them.”

Mathew Burt, Principal, Broome Senior High School, Kimberely, Cable Beach, WA, Australia:

“Celebrating and engaging Indigenous students in positive education experiences.”

Jeewan Chanicka, Superintendent of Schools, Superintendent Equity, Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression, Toronto District School Board, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

“The significance of understanding our personal identity as a way to improve practice and close achievement and well-being gaps in education. Who we are matters: it influences what and how we teach and which students are successful in our classrooms and schools.”

Carol Cleveland, Principal, iGrad Academy, Kent School District, Bremerton, WA, USA:

“The idea of allowing students to own their educational journey. This involves allowing students who demonstrate mastery of standards to progress through grade levels at their own pace, to select teachers whose personality and instructional style best matches their learning style and personality… to allow students to intern on jobs and move into pre-apprenticeship programs… to get a better post-secondary understanding of what career journey they want and can afford to pursue.”

Brenda Erickson, Montessori teacher and Founder & CEO of Counterpane, Counterpane Montessori School, Fayetteville, GA, USA:

“Trust the minds inside those little (and big) people!”

Greg Farrell, Principal on Special Assignment, Principal Leadership Development, York Region DSB, York, Ontario, Canada:

“He who wants for nothing has the world as their oyster…”

Jesse Jackson, Superintendent, Lake Wales Charter Schools, Lake Wales, FL, USA:

“I would share the ‘power of potential.’ The power of potential is a strategy that I have explored working with seemingly difficult or wayward teenagers. This idea requires you to relinquish preconceived notions and understandings and work with what could be ‘potential.’”

Russell Lazovick, Superintendent, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District, New Jersey, USA:

“Connection. Of ideas, of systems, and most importantly of people, [connection] is the most often overlooked and yet the most critical piece in determining the success of our schools.”

Shawn Loescher, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Discovery Schools, San Diego, CA, USA:

“How design thinking supports reimagining the educational experience for students, teachers, staff, schools and our communities.”

Sarah Mansfield, Assistant Head of School, St. Christopher’s School, Richmond, VA, USA:

“To cultivate a generation of 21st century learners and leaders, a culture of collaboration is essential.”

Shemeka Millner-Williams, Assistant Superintendent, Lancaster ISD, Duncanville, TX, USA:

“As the world continues to grow, change and diversify, so must the methods we utilize, the spaces we build, the resources and tools we use… We must endeavor to create critical thinkers, self-starters and problem-solvers with the ability to empathize with others in a way that forces them to work toward the common good of all humanity.”

Chris Muller, Former Superintendent, current University Lecturer and Consultant, Senior Lecturer at Education University of Hong Kong, Cape Town, South Africa:

“International schools represent a world-wide, grass roots endeavor to educate, under one roof, children of many lands and cultures by means of a curriculum that is challenging, internationally recognized, and that taps into the resources of a diverse community. [...] Such a vision requires an education that is academically rigorous while promoting values in the principles of compassion for others, virtuous behavior and the pursuit of justice and peace.”

Becky Navarre, Assistant Superintendent of STEM, Fort Worth Independent School District, Fort Worth, TX, USA:

“Build relationships first, value the individual and support others to succeed.”

Gonzalo Salazar, Superintendent, Los Fresnos CISD, Los Fresnos, Texas, USA:

“Our students come to us with funds of knowledge and a set of core values that are passed on through parents and grandparents through the “pedagogies of the home” (Dolores Delgado Bernal). [...] Storytelling can serve as a vehicle that helps students arrive at a better understanding of the self.  A better understanding of the self will empower students with the self-assurance that reveals their full potential.”

Peter Ulrich, Assistant Superintendent, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Savannah, GA, USA:

“I’d really like to revisit my TEDx Talk from 2016, Simple Solution of Love, about showing love for the teachers in your life.  I’d like to refine the message about the importance of recognition of our teachers in hopes of gaining a larger audience to elevate educators.”

Jill Vinson, Superintendent, Cardiff School District, San Diego, CA, USA:

“Education is a team sport.”

We look forward to seeing these ideas develop and shine through TED Masterclass, and we will share their final talks with you later this year!