TED Build Back Better

TED Talk Tuesday #175: Build Back Better

Picking the right foundations.

At times during our journey through life we are faced with decisions that we have to make and choices that we have to take. There are many things that are outside of our control and we can’t always choose the path that we wanted to or the one that we had planned to take, because things change.

As I see these words being written, well rather typed out on this page, I want to urge us all to recognise that we all have a part to play in helping make things better. The corona virus has highlighted many things to me over the last couple of months, but one of the most significant is how interconnected the world truly is. From the spread of the virus to the way we have adapted to the virtual world.

We know humans are adaptable and that innovation can come from times of extreme hardship where things are constrained. As we build back we need to learn to recognise where we were wrong and not seek to “just get back” on track, but rather to do our utmost to build back in a more sustainable way.

A couple of months ago, while listening to a podcast called Time Sensitive. I cam across Julia Watson and the work that she has been doing around a concept called LO-Tek.

“Tek” stands for Traditional Ecological Knowledge. It’s “a design movement building on indigenous philosophy and vernacular infrastructure to generate sustainable, resilient, nature-based technology”, you can learn more here.

Julia chatted at TED 2020 – “We have thousands of years of ancient knowledge that we just need to listen to and allow it to expand our thinking about designing symbiotically with nature,” says architect Julia Watson. “By listening, we’ll only become wiser and ready for those 21st-century challenges that we know will endanger our people and our planet.” You can see the notes from her session here.

For my TED Talk Tuesday pick, I haven’t pick one talk but rather a theme. It’s one that encourages us to imagine and create a better future.

Build Back Better features thought leaders and change agents evaluating our pre-pandemic systems and practices in an effort to create a more sustainable, efficient and just world. View the full playlist here.

Build Back Better

I have also enjoyed staying up to date with a few of the feature TED Talks from TED 2020 – traditionally a 5 day conference that pivoted into 8 weeks of talks and online gatherings under the theme of Uncharted.

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