Digest for 3/6/2026

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs — to offer a healthy, accessible alternative to fast food and rethink urban living.

Eco-entrepreneur Shubhendu Sharma explains how to create dense, biodiverse mini-forests in urban areas to restore ecosystems and combat climate change.

Lawyer Vicki Arroyo uses environmental scholarship to show how to prepare for a future where extreme weather is more and more likely.

Less than 10% of plastic trash is recycled -- compared to almost 90% of metals -- because of the massively complicated problem of finding and sorting the different kinds. Mike Biddle has developed a cheap and incredibly energy efficient plant that can, and does, recycle any kind of plastic.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest shares his ambitious plan to eliminate plastic pollution by transforming waste into reusable resources through innovative technology and global collaboration.

Boyan Slat shares his bold plan to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch using innovative technology to harness ocean currents.

Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its dire fate -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet.

Accepting the 2007 TED Prize, Bill Clinton asks for help in building treatment centers for HIV/AIDS. Inventor Dean Kamen previews a new prosthetic arm. Biologist E.O. Wilson wishes for an Encyclopedia of Life.

Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockström reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior.