On September 25, “We the Future,” featured a day of TED talks exploring some of our most difficult collective challenges—as well as emerging solutions and strategies for building bridges and dialogue. Hosted by TED, Skoll, and UN Foundation, speakers shared solutions emerging from every corner of the globe, solutions that are making strides towards achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN in 2015. Learn more about talks here.
Several days later, TEDx communities around the world joined together to take part in the second annual TEDxGlobalDay. This worldwide effort by and for volunteer TEDx organizers connected livestreamed “We the Future” talks with local solutions. We were amazed to learn about the local projects that took place in 71 countries over 186 cities with more than 6,000 TEDx’ers.
After watching “We the Future”, TEDx organizers and their teams talked about how to transform their communities. Then they went out into the field to volunteer and turn ideas into action. Inspired by “We the Future”, TEDx teams cleaned up rivers, visited schools, worked to help people get vaccinated against the flu, and much more.
Over 220 TEDxGlobalDay gatherings happened across globe. Take a look at just a few of these truly inspiring activations:
The team from TEDxChiangMai set up shop in the city’s Jing Jai Market to talk to people about reducing plastic waste and paying attention to environmental issues.
In Taiwan, TEDxDaanPark got creative: they wrote (and performed) an original rap song about why it’s important to get a flu vaccine. “Only about 20% of the population gets vaccinated against the flu in Taiwan,” says organizer Luke Lee. “We want to make it double.”
TEDxALUbayyid in Khartoum, Sudan did work to repair and clean local children’s hospitals. They painted, gardened, fixed cracks and sprayed for bugs. “It was a very wonderful day,” says organizer Mujtaba Abdalwhab. “It has changed us a lot, and most important to us, we have made a better change in our society.”
In India, the team of TEDxJaipur focused on celebrating a local ancient craft that happens to be quite environmentally friendly: blue pottery. “Our activation led us to learn the nitty-gritty of this fading craft, from local craftsmen, which reflects the cultural identity of people of our local community in Rajasthan, India,” says organizer Ajit Sharma. “Natural materials and indigenous crafting techniques used in the making of blue pottery is deep-seated in up-cycling and waste minimization, thereby solving the challenge of the high carbon footprint that our planet is facing today.”
The team at TEDxKITCoEK decided to do a clean up of the Panchaganga River bank after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The celebration involves beautiful decorations and sculptures, which are left behind and eventually leach into drinking water, says organizer Sujay Hammannavar.
The TEDxSanaa team visited a local public school, guided students in learning activities and donated backpacks full of school supplies. “If you look up Yemen on Google you will only see the devastation and destruction of war but today we saw hope in those little kids’ eyes. They are our future,” says organizer Ghassan Shamsan.
The TEDxGUST team spent their volunteer time in groups brainstorming how to best encourage Kuwaiti youth to explore environmental sustainability. These groups designed educational kits to be distributed to local high schools.
TEDxBlvdTeofiloBorunda in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico spent an afternoon educating local children about civic engagement and developing “their dreams and goals,” says organizer Isaac De La Hoya-Paredes.
This is just a small selection of the impact TEDx organizers made on TEDxGlobalDay. Across the globe, energized TEDx volunteers bonded, brainstormed, tackled big issues and made plans to continue this work for months to come.
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