An eco-modernist manifesto | Rachel Pritzker

what does it mean to be green most of us associate being environmentally friendly with things like recycling driving hybrid cars and consuming less that's certainly how I used to think I was raised on a goat farm where we grew our own vegetables and heated with wood in my 20s inspired by a deep love of nature I built an off-grid house out of recycled materials I was committed to helping the planet but I came to realize that none of the eco conscious actions I've mentioned even if we all did them would be enough to solve the great environmental challenges of our time we need a different approach so I joined 17 other environmental philanthropists scholars and scientists in co-authoring an eco modernist manifesto it lays out a new vision of how to protect the environment while ensuring people across the planet can live fulfilling lives Eco modernism is optimistic about humanity and our planets future rather than encouraging people to scale back their lives we seek to unleash human creativity for the benefit of people and the environment that means we're firm believers in modernity and technological progress sure it's fun to fantasize about simpler lives but not for the billions of people around the world in dire poverty whose lives of hardship are not a choice they deserve access to the same modern advancements that have brought us clean water safe medical treatment and well lit schools the Eco modernist manifesto argues that for all people to have the opportunity to enjoy modern living standards without destroying the natural world we need to move our civilization beyond a dependence on natural resources so how do we do that exactly well first off we need people to continue moving to cities because they concentrate human populations cities and suburbs only take up about three percent of the Earth's land area leaving more of it to nature since people in cities don't grow all their own food urban migration also drives increases in farm productivity resulting in more food being grown on less land cities can be dirty and isolating but they also give people especially women important opportunities to improve their lives for everyone to have the chance to join the modern world we're going to need a lot more energy to meet this demand without overheating the planet we need to rapidly transition to energy sources that are clean cheap and dense wind and solar will be part of the mix but they won't be enough on their own like all energy technologies they have some serious downsides they're the opposite of dense requiring huge amounts of land and natural resources and because they're not always on it would be difficult and expensive for them to power a modern grid nuclear energy on the other hand provides 24/7 power and has a proven track record of being able to quickly scale up to power a modern society it's so dense that a piece of uranium the size of my fist could provide all the power I'd need for the rest of my life it may be an uncomfortable truth but nuclear holds enormous potential for both the environment and human civilization I know the concerns safety waste and cost but after overcoming my own assumptions about them I've learned these issues are not as insurmountable as most people think plus dozens of promising new advanced atomic designs are currently under development that cannot meltdown can actually run on today's nuclear waste and now for the potential of being even cheaper and faster to scale I believe that human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet are not only possible but inseparable that's the essential message of eco modernism it's a cause for optimism and it's already underway people are moving to cities we're getting more food from less land and we're using denser forms of energy by embracing and accelerating these trends rather than fighting them we can create the kind of world we'd all want to live in and redefine what it means to be green thank you [Applause]

Channel: TED Archive

Views: 8,428

Rating: 4.3290324 out of 5

Keywords: TED, Archive, Rachel, Pritzker

Id: PcAKs7DVkPw

Length: 5min 17sec (317 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2016

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In the TEDtalk, Rachel Pritzker talks about ecomodernism and the ecomodernist manifesto which can be read here on the ecomodernist website. In case anyone is interested in reading it in detail.