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Follow TED’s Countdown-initiative here!
Sustainable Superheroes Unite!
TEDxUtrecht is supporting TED’s first global act of activism: Countdown.
In the past, TED and TEDx-ers all over the world put Ideas worth spreading on stage without a political agenda. But with the worldwide need to achieve a net-zero future within the next decades, TED decide to join forces with different activists, scientists, artists, companies, entrepreneurs, ngo’s and local TEDx-events to inspire citizens of the world, cities, schools, companies and national governments and politicians to step up their efforts and reach the climate goals set in COP25 – the UN Climate Conference in Paris almost six years ago.
On 10.10.2020 we supported Countdown’s Global Launch with our own TEDxUtrecht Countdown. You can watch all the talks from the Global Launch here and the talks of our own local Superheroes Anja, Liesbeth, Marcel and Merijn below.
And just a while ago: the blueprint to a net-zero future curated by TED and Future Stewards which was presented during a worldwide livestream on October 30th 2021- just before world leaders gather for the next UN Climate Conference in Scotland.
On June 15th 2022 we organised our postponed live on stage Countdown-related event with 9 talks about influencing climate change at TEDxUtrecht 2022. Their videos will be uploaded shortly.
TEDxUtrecht 2020 - Watch our local Sustainable Superheroes
Be ready to be inspired by our Sustainable Superheroes. Click on their pictures to watch their talks during our Global Launch event on 10.10.2020.
Like Plastic Soup Surfer Merijn, who fights plastic waste surfing, or Liesbeth who solves the problem of storing green energy with her sustainable battery. Or what about Marcel who uses elephant grass for our new road and Anja, who is well on her way to achieving zero waste cities.
Why this focus on an single issue event?
Because we need to accelerate also our local actions to increase each and everyone’s participation in preserving our planet as we know (or should we say knew) it. The ongoing health and economic crises are reminding us of an important fact: We’re all part of the same fragile system, dependent on nature and one another.
As we look to the future, we must build forward and emerge more sustainable and resilient than before. If we look around us in the city and region of Utrecht, we see lots of people, businesses, organisations and our local government making loads of efforts on many different topics and surfaces. We want to celebrate these efforts and make them – and the extra efforts we still need to take – the ‘new standard’ or, as we tend to say these days, the ‘new normal’. For this, we need to raise awareness and show everybody which steps to reaching our own personal, commercial, policy goals regarding our sustainable footprint are possible – and help them make it.
What you can do
Want to support the COUNTDOWN-movement and help out locally? At TED’s Countdown-site you can see what you can do at work, within your school, in your city and your daily lives. Get Involved here!
And of course: sign up to our newsletter below to receive all the latest on our upcoming events below.