Jason Clay: How big brands can help save biodiversity

[yoyoyoyohan]

Fuck the truth hurts.

[1shotcss]

This was awesome :D

I love people who talkes about the plannet :D and i am 16 :P

[siosi0]

additional supply depots required

[ASonOfMan]

This is all good but the question is: Do we really need to live in cities and buy all our products from stores? Answer: NO!!! And if you want to know what I'm getting at then please check out TWO NAMES: Bill mollison and Michael Reynolds. If you truly take some interest in these two names (and for the sake of everyones children please do) you have the solution for all these problems that are threatening our planet. We have been trying to eat the cake and still keep it for too long and now, act!!

[samhamels]

good talk

[roidroid]

Idea: As a manageable step towards an eventual Carbon trade industry.

Why don't we start by forcing industries to put CO2 (equivalent) cost of their products - on the label, on the shelf.

This will encourage competition in reducing their product's footprints, just on a consumer choice level, at the supermarket.

Then we can think of enforcing / penalizing (ie: via carbon trading) offending companies later. I'm curious to see how this first step will result.

[roidroid]

@9:33

the threatening 15 key commodities all boil down to:

Food & Energy

Thus the message basically boils down to:

Find and use more sustainable sources of Food and Energy.

They exist.

We should be rolling out Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal, and Nuclear ASAP.

Food, well i guess i'll let Jason Clay talk about that...

We could have INFINITE underground (or space based) nuclear powered algae farms, yum.

[ASonOfMan]

@roidroid I'm not trying to be "all knowing" but you seem to be a smart guy and before we go extremely technological, we could turn back to nature just a little bit. I give you two names that hopefully will change our way of looking at our selves. Michael Reynolds and Bill Mollison, perhaps you allready know about these guys, otherwise you will get richer in checking them up. Them two hold the key to our survival. Peace brother.

[roidroid]

@ASonOfMan Permaculture and Sustainable architecture?

The latter makes sense.

But the former? Well i thought intensive farming produced more food than Permaculture. Billions of people starving, just doesn't sound like a realistic option. Even moreso if it shuns appropriate fertilizers, pesticides, and Genetic Modification.

Nature isn't nice man. If it were upto nature we'd all be torn apart by lions. Nature is cruel.

[dookiecheez]

This is a brilliant talk, this gives me hope.

[scotsmanlerxt]

Why does a person's size and/or shape matter?

[lordrazi111693]

this should be government funded

[Utsusemi]

Orbiting **

[Utsusemi]

Hey, Fatty. There's an Asteroid on Mars that has 72 trillion dollars worth of metal. End of story.

[lordrazi111693]

@Utsusemi we can't reach mars u know. it really far away. and i costs alot to send a spaceship to space.

[LusoCMD]

how could NESTLÉ not sign it?? they used to be the main figure here in Europe, the Swiss quality, always portraying a image of nature aware, bla, bla, bla....unbelievable!!!

That's it for me, they are now on my blacklist, i will never buy a product associated with their brand again.

this just shows me that the world in general has nothing to win with any type of company getting bigger and bigger, to change a nail in a big company the cost is humungus so if they can avoid it they will, simple.

[zongineer]

i refuse to listen to someone who names her/himself loveflowers39. if only you had another name then i would make mcdonalds to change its policy

[JiffyNo0b]

By not existing?

[sugarkang]

You need to eat less, not me.

[loveflowers39]

Stop using petrolium to produce plastics. Its not biodegradable. Use hemp based plastics. They brake down in a shorter period of time. Get Mac Donald's & Coranation & other large package consumers to use hemp based plastics.

There is an area in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas of floating non-degradable petrolium based plastics that is impacting the ecosystem there.

Do something about it! Kill our oceans-will kill our planet.

[loveflowers39]

Stop using petrolium to produce plastics. Its not biodegradable. Use hemp based plastics. They brake down in a shorter period of time. Get Mac Donald's & Coranation & other large package consumers to use hemp based plastics.

There is an area in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas of floating non-degradable petrolium based plastics that is impacting the ecosystem there.

Do something about it!

[loveflowers39]

Stop using petrolium to produce plastics. Its not biodegradable. Use hemp based plastics. They brake down in a shorter period of time. Get Mac Donald's & Coranation & other large package consumers to use hemp based plastics.

[princessniken]

yes i can see the whole picture now. First, get the middle/distribution companies, tell them about the risk of not having a product at all in the future, they will demand more sustainable product (goes on with certificate/labels product), it will change the producers and they will supply sustainable products to the consumer. However, by solving the consumption problem, we could done a lot much better.

[dapnd]

yes, he is fat. try to see past his weight. we're talking about saving the world here, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. truth is truth no matter who says it... if hitler said that smoking kills, he'd still be right, no matter how atrocious a person he was.

[stallone123]

What's with the annoying film clip with the jackhammer that follows TED talks? Am I the only one who wishes they would stop showing that?

[Sylocat]

@stallone123 At least they put it AFTER the video...

[GronTheMighty]

It just doesn't really work that well when the guy talking about sustainability and lowering of consumption is a fat McAmerican...

start with yourself before pointing fingers Mr. blubberbelly

[LazyOtaku]

Love that quote "You can't wake a person who's pretending to sleep."

[thecoach51]

Interesting

[TookiGuy]

Brilliant video.

[JPRubber2]

Amazing how 'math' is used to strengthen this scenario. The bottom line is that supply and demand still works. Sustainable supplies will eventually be cheaper than non sustainable supplies. Therefore companies that want to survive will choose to use cheaper supplies all on their own. The end result will be both improved quailty of life (especially for those with the smallest footprint), improved global product efficiency, and greater capacity for population. Eventually, we will run out of room.

[onehandraisinbransam]

One of the best lectures posted in quite a while. This topic is so important, we have to share this video with as many people as possible.

[Angel503z]

I love the message! I'm not sure he's the right messenger. But if he reaches even one person that will listen to him and will make an effort for change, I'm all for it!

[FastTadpole]

Convince just 100 key companies to go sustainable.. hey why not have one giant monopoly and then we would only have to convince that single monstrous corporate entity. The only reason they're responding now and throwing us a bone is because they have competition. Once they control the whole supply board it's game over and our demands will be moot.

Support small businesses and your local farmer's markets lest we have a iMcNikrosoft running the planet.

[Sylocat]

@FastTadpole Way to miss the point of his speech. This is about what we can do with WHAT WE HAVE. This is about how we stop saying "If only," and get off our lazy asses, and strike out at the goals we can actually achieve.

[iPawdTouch]

My name is Ben :)

[silversobe]

Progress in technological efficiency, sustainability, and abundance have become a threat for the functionality of capitalism. If we are halting the mechanisms that lead us to an abundant, efficient, and sustainable world, then the current system has become a cancer to the progress of humanity.

Efficiency, abundance, and sustainability are enemies of our economic structure for they are inverse to the mechanics required to perpetuate consumption.

[funnyguise]

I'm still waiting for TED to have someone speak on permaculture. I've put in my request on their site...

[neurocrater]

@funnyguise

ted . com /talks/lang/eng/michael_pollan­_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view.html

ted . com /talks/rob_hopkins_transition_­to_a_world_without_oil.html

[funnyguise]

@neurocrater thanks but I've seen those and they only mention permaculture. what I meant was, I'd like to see a talk specifically on permaculture techniques and what's been done globally, so far. speakers like Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton et al., need to appear.

[ExclusiveManual]

oh the irony

[Th3Wab3]

"you cannot wake a man who is pretending to sleep"

[AeroJimE27]

One of the better TED Talks I’ve seen in a while. I love the practicality of the approach which seems very realistic. Interesting that 80% of cocoa plants don’t yield usable a crop. That is a problem which if can be fixed, can result in a huge reduction in waste!

[appliance004]

A very weak argument.

Certainly not progressive.

Not at any point in this presentation does he mention QUALITY.

As for consumption...hmm,well...I'm surprised he's their spokesman.

[triforcelink]

@appliance004 sustainability comes before quality, im sure if the sustainable products lack in quality there will be another set of more expensive, and higher quality products.

[appliance004]

@triforcelink I agree sustainability is more important, but productivity is relative to consumption. There is far too much waste. That is the real issue here. As a result of the supply chain hierarchy, it has become necessary to produce alot cheaply to maintain the ideal of 'choice'. Quality needn't come at the expense of quantity.

[huibruben]

Naw MALTHUSIANISM AGAIN I mean that's what Stalin tought about the russians, about 200.million of them..who were..' to much' ..so too much people?

How about algae sustaining fishtanks? We can build them enlessly!

(doesn't need more fish then they enter.

So, we have an endless supply of fish.

Doesn't need oil to cultivate those fish..

So..this maltusianst, isn't pro self determinism.

But I have a free wil sir, I can alter wat I want with influence

that I carve up. These globalists ahh

[jackalrama]

Look, if one of the wealthy countries can consume as much as 40+ of a poor country and their growth rate is less than 40 times of ours, then yes, WE are overpopulating the planet in terms of consumption or rather WE are overconsuming the planet. Population growth decreases with wealth but consumption increases with wealth. Somehow wealth needs to increase and population growth needs to slow down as (average consumption x population) decreases.

[NeckPickup]

JISM

[fuunguus]

Westerns may look like bad guys in this video but remember we aren't the ones overpopulation the planet. It is all the 3rd world nations that has no family planning or anything of that sort and we send them lots of aid, medicines and food, so all their huge families survive. In the past years that the population raised from 4 to 7 billion western population has stood on an almost stand still 1 billion population only.

[fuunguus]

@fuunguus

I agree that we need to decrease consumption and share a bit of the cake with the rest of the world, but first they'll need to learn how to put on condoms or it will just end in a disaster.

[maj1kninja07]

finally plans that doesn't involve suicide for the bottom 50% of the world's population

[Segee]

See? with communism you would never have this problem with over consumption. God damn US and its capitalism.

[rm06c]

@Segee It's true, we wouldn't have this problem of over consumption with communism. There would be hardly any consumption going on at all. And the population would likely be only 3 billion instead of 6 billion after the starvation, firing squads, and other extra-judicial murders.

And with the degradation of power plants rampant, there'd be much fewer carbon emissions.

Except for a single state holding all the power and using an absurd amount of food, water, and electricity.

So ya, great idea...

[kutaro13]

Wow I am speech less. Time has come. Please Companies who will become actually sponsors of the product and Biodiversity. Thats the only way to survive. We must stand together and move as a planet. Please stop all ego and boundaries we are drawing. Because unless companies don't sponsors land, and forest and biodiversity, it will be impossible to survive. Wake up my Fellow humans, let's forget our selfishness once for all. I am going to share this video with all my friends and family. Peace

[rhcpconor]

he makes a good point, even though the companies have money and business in mind, they will work with people like this man, because they wont make any money or be in business if the they make dont change they way they look at the way human growth is excelling.

[RandyBful1]

BTW: Mars bars and most other "chocolate", isn't even chocolate anymore! It's mostly HFCS (GMO), corn, soy, canola (all GMOs) and other nasty poisons!

[RandyBful1]

(modified) Palm oil? You're fucking kidding, right? I didn't watch the rest. Cargill is the corporation responsible for all the "industrial farming" of animals on the planet and GMOs are killing this planet...let's talk about that!!! Corporations are criminal slime!

[nexusbreakaway]

@RandyBful1 It's unbelievable that Cargill is held up as an ideal company and no one mentioned it until your comment. Ridiculous!

[defect530]

3:53

[muzzleray]

"produce more use less", say it fast enuff and it sounds like "produce more useless"

[sal7va7dor]

Amazing animation at the end! Thanks for the great video.

[omniver]

@sal7va7dor wtf, thats an ad dude

[sal7va7dor]

@omniver

no it's not ... the animation starts around 20:08 and it has lots of meaning. I believe the bird represents the nature. The man drilling represent the industry. The people watching represents us and what we're doing. The old man represents us and what we should be doing. and the loose stone represents the environment.

[MrBranboom]

It's so soothing to hear sane people speak, its so rare.

[leimo25]

@MrBranboom Thats so true pal xD

[InsideDating]

Someday we'll look back at this and remember how we were overfishing the oceans and clearing land for pastures, ruining our environment, because we were hungry. Hilarious. Nom nom nom nom nom

[bugilt]

This applies to a lot more than the subject of the talk. We need to start working together in all aspects of what we do. Externalities are great for gaining new perspective.

[Shalek]

This guy is unto something and he's actually pulling it off. We need more guys like him.

[DackIsBack]

@GrudgyDiablo Oh I realize you're replying to my GM Food Comment...

Please, DO EDUCATE YOURSELF about GM Crops and Animals...

Fool.

[DackIsBack]

@GrudgyDiablo LOL, ECOnomics, Don't fight it dude...

Going against the grain of the natural world is kinda silly, It's easier to work with it.

Especially hurricanes, Go drive into one.

[asianlaxer]

this needs to be done asap or were all fucked

[Geo877]

:) awesome

[Moodzulu]

He needs to find out about The Venus Project and A Global Resource Based Economy. .....

[CodyAllenmusic]

Very thought provoking.

[jak1428]

similia similibus curentur?

[GeorgeTheWild]

"Hear how his extraordinary roundtables are getting big brand rivals to agree on green practices first -- before their products duke it out on store shelves."

Isn't that illegal due to the anti-trust laws in almost all developed countries?

[LudicrousTachyon]

@GeorgeTheWild He's not telling the companies to buy from only certain producers. That would make those producers monopolies. Instead he is telling the companies to buy from producers using certain production methods. Those companies using that method will see a boost in business and other producers will switch methods to be able to continue selling. Nothing anti-trust about it.

[drealm]

Fatty!

[leimo25]

@drealm Ur stupid...

[drealm]

@leimo25 durrrr!ERR!!

[BenFosterification]

love ted

[SuperiorApostate]

A fat guy talking about consumption.

[hf2kr]

@SuperiorApostate I'm loving the irony

[lordmetroid]

@SuperiorApostate Fat because he eats starches and sugary foods. No one can survive such a diet and not get an unhealty diet.

[clearmenser]

@SuperiorApostate A fat guy helping to save the world from our corporate overlords' short sightedness.

[Kekoman]

@SuperiorApostate he could have some kind of sickness to make him fat...

[SuperiorApostate]

@Kekoman Eatalotofoodoputitus?

[Kekoman]

@SuperiorApostate yes, definitely that... hahhaah

[Mishkafofer]

@SuperiorApostate ridiculous Ad Hominem attack.

[SuperiorApostate]

@Mishkafofer I just pointed out the irony, I'm not attacking anyone so go to hell person who wants to start an argument on the internet.

[Mishkafofer]

@SuperiorApostate I am an atheist so i don't believe in hell, i think you should send me to another place. My second point is that any argument is an exchange of opinions, besides your opinion i got a bonus, now i know a bit more about your personality and you know a bit about my personality. No need to reply, i prefer to imagine that you are a witty person instead bitter disillusion of reading blunt vulgar message about religious after life or even worse mentioning of body parts.

[SuperiorApostate]

@Mishkafofer it's just an expression and I think the majority of people who subscribe to TED are atheists because, well, it is mostly science...

[IvoCro1053]

@SuperiorApostate you got it wrong hes talking about the market, that 70% of the food market is controled by big companies.And he wants to get them all in a room and make some compromises.

[SuperiorApostate]

@IvoCro1053 I know what he is talking about.. point out please to where I said otherwise?

[kendrawhisp]

It's a bit disturing that the world should be controlled by 100 companies, who knows what they'd be willing tp put in our food to keep it sustainable... corruption and cutting cornors would be easy for them... but i think it's aleast a step in the right direction.

Lets see how the future pans out.

[justkarmatoo]

Lets face it, how can a public company care about anything but stock price and growth. Fat people eat more stuff and stay sicker which helps it all work. The big question for big business is how to get those Africans to make some money and buy more stuff. Or just keep feeding them daily so they will not compete with other countries. The only way this ecosystem is to stay life sustainable is to regulate these large and small companies and even countries. Forced sustainability by the people.

[mbledsoe4]

@justkarmatoo How sad but true.

[DackIsBack]

INDUSTRIAL HEMP.

[tdreamgmail]

Love how he is extolling the virtues of these companies and how they are going to change the world. When these are the very companies that raped the earth in the first place. Let's forget all that.

[DackIsBack]

@tdreamgmail That's what I was thinking the entire time...

The world would be a better place if the 100 companies went bust...

Having all these giant companies merge to control all the markets and choking out ALL competition is VERY FUCKING BAD.

I don't want to be a corporate subject.

Pyramid schemes don't work, Top down power structures are fucking corrupt.

There's TO MUCH CORPORATE CONTROL.

[DraskyVanderhoff]

This only gonna happen if kick out money from the equation... and that would be very very hard!

[maseltah]

there is hope for the future :) The guy from collapse might be a little less worried!

[Brainkiller]

fascinating 

[reapfreak]

RIP Norman Borlaug. The only hope for mankind is to get all these silly government regulations out of the way and increase globalized free trade. Capitalism is the only hope.

[victor1eremita]

@reapfreak hahaha idiot. how do you expect to leverage private firms without the "interference" of Law? Capitalism is the reason this talk is necessary.

[DackIsBack]

@reapfreak You can't have FREE PEOPLE with the so called brand of "free market capitalism" that people espouse.

To have a truly free market you need to take that Libertarian Ideal with a grain of salt; Liberalism.

We desperately need fair/equal economic opportunity, We won't have it while we have a Corporatocracy.

The Corporatocracy should not be making the rules and regulations.

[mike6459]

Jason looks like the poster boy for consumption

[RoyvanKeulen]

Watch him make his point about consumption patterns at 5 minutes or so and after he notes that the average american consumes 43 times more than the average african and that "consumption matters" you can actually hear the stage cracking under him.

[tkherbi9a]

@RoyvanKeulen hahahahahahaha :D

[P1ranh4]

Very interesting. I was thinking about this for quite some time now and I always got stuck at the uninformed consumer who will rather buy the cheaper product instead of getting informed and consider a more expensive product. Getting informed seems to be even harder than I expected anyway, so the pre-competitive approach is ingenious. I'm honestly surprised that companies DO care about the future and them being in business in 30 years. I've had expected more short-sightedness.

[Edward306]

that was really good. I hope this does go further

[groMMit1981]

best ted talk ever, that dude is awesome :) its ppl like him that give me hope for humanity

[cohnkrad]

The answer is - CANNABIS!

[kg9689]

@cohnkrad or cannabalism. Why throw away perfectly good meat?

[cohnkrad]

@kg9689 Grow up man, get educated maybe you learn what this plant can do with this world. Or just go back to sleep again, try to change you view on diet, you would learn to see that cannabis is some of the best food we can eat.

[bersaba]

This is one of those videos that sound brilliant and I love the idea, but I highly doubt it'll ever happen.

[shintsu01]

The talk sounds good. i think its hard to say this and nobody thinks dares to talk about it. but isn't it also important to regulate the population growth in a humane way. Because i think the main problem here is the population, and a short term fix is to optimize our production and consumption. but that will help you only for a x amount of time if the growth is not getting to a stable level.

But ofcourse its great this is in the pipeline and i really hope it will work out

[hcortens]

@shintsu01 free condoms for all

[P1ranh4]

@shintsu01 More optimistic calculations actually predict that once India and China made it from the second to the first world and Africa becomes richer, birthrates will drop automatically. In Europe, Japan and the US birthrates population growth is already stagnating, so it may be possible to live through that without drastic regulation on population growth.

[2bsirius]

Brilliant, resourceful, rational thought!

Wish there were more of it around! Sure we need to think about what we do as individuals and as consumers but also must develop strategies based on the actions of large groups, corporations, universities....Yes, all products will have to become sustainable...

This is complex! So, yes, sustainability needs to become a PRE-COMPETITIVE ISSUE.

[jorenvonk]

By the time the world sees the rainforest as valuable as a resource as oil we will be able to save it.

[skeletonmom]

What are the vetted standards for Salmon aquaculture? Will these standards (for all of these businesses and the 15 commodities) actually help our planet? And, where does the public go to learn (and keep up with any changes in the future) what they are for their own information?

[DackIsBack]

@skeletonmom Look up GM Salmon.

GM food is no good... NATURE Knows Best.

Don't let the Corporatocracy(FDA+USDA) decide what goes on your plate.

[koneye]

"Convince just 100 key companies to go sustainable"

hahahhhahaha

this is going on for 50 years , and what have they done

[DackIsBack]

@koneye Self regulation, It's utterly PATHETIC.

Rule of Law is what we need, For the people by the people.

False Authority is the biggest problem we face now and will face in the future.

We need ethical and intellectual Authority, Where thinkers make policy, Not politicians.

[kernoll]

at 14:24 there are some companies in more than one column. That would be fine if logo of the same company was marked green and one (in other colomn) wasn't. I doubt the credibility of that table...

BTW: Great talk...

[PlanetBongoSan]

@kernoll these companies are enormous entities composed of many smaller companies- it would be entirely plausible for a corporation like cargill to have made sustainability commitments in one area of business that were yet to be extended to another.

[TheVisceral89]

I LOVE BEN AND JERRY!!

Oh my ghod, the best icecream on the market by far, and the best company behind the best icecream. I might sound like a fanboy but this is THE BEST !!! I love you guys!

[DackIsBack]

@TheVisceral89 You need to make some home made ice cream, It's better than corporate trash.

[cityofimmigrants]

Finally, a new video!

[leimo25]

@cityofimmigrants oh yeah. I wonder why they cant upload faster...

[rhcpconor]

@cityofimmigrants i know right? it's been ages