John Doerr: Seeking salvation and profit in greentech

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http://www.ted.com "I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Channel: Science & Technology
Uploaded: May 30, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Author: TEDtalksDirector

Length: 0:19:43
Rating: 4.59
Views: 31,934

Tags: John Doerr ted tedtalks talks venture capital environment sustainability

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Video Comments:
ayahhhhhh (Monday 1st of December 2008 12:50:26 PM)
Why do so many who watch this get indignant and defensive? Doerr's argument is reasonable, and fairly moderate: "Let's be more efficient, make more jobs, and make lots of money." Is his idea really so a unpalatable? Listen to yourselves -- at best, you're making desperate excuses for laziness and extravagance. Does it really pain you so much to change a light bulb? Even if global warming is not a "real problem," can't you at least agree, on principle, that resourcefulness is a good thing?
killthe1984ideology (Saturday 29th of November 2008 11:13:42 AM)
First: Nature is probably polluting as much if not more than humans through volcanoes and huge forest fires. Second: even if humans pollute more than Nature, they are not the primary cause: just look at the sun activity charts. Look at Mars's ice caps and other planets in the solar system. Oh, but I know: green little men emitting CO2 !
kubikmaster (Saturday 29th of November 2008 08:03:39 PM)
Wow!, I wonder in what kind of place you live, have you gone to large cities or had a glance at disappearing forests?, and what about the vanishing species?. Wake up!
killthe1984ideology (Sunday 30th of November 2008 01:42:49 AM)
extinction of species is surely man made through over-hunting, destruction of habitats or pesticides (decreasing also men's fertility by 50% in 50 years) but what I am talking about is the primary cause of global warming which is caused by sun activity rise. Besides, it's not CO2 that should be taxed (vital to plants hence to humans) but very toxic gases or particles like dioxins, lead or soot directly affecting human's health.
kubikmaster (Sunday 30th of November 2008 02:38:48 AM)
Okay, then SAY IT...in the way you are writing you appear to be in the side of people who want to "prove" that nothing is man made and we are just doing fine....Thats what you seem to be saying anyway.....Gobal warming certainly can be grossly affected by the presence of nanodroplets of aerosols and other stuff that should not be there....I can quote papers, but the important thing is do not stand -please- in the way of those who point that there is something wrong with governments. Kyotosastart
revypt (Monday 1st of December 2008 04:30:50 AM)
Hmm so you're saying that when humans weren't around, plants didn't grow as fast because there wasn't enough CO2 for them to feed on? Right, good one. Sun activity rise is, like most other things in Nature, cyclical. Humans are disrupting those cycles, period. Main cause? GHG. You also talk about forest fires and you're right about those. However, what is the main cause of forest fires? Nature or man/wood companies/agricultural "needs"?
kubikmaster (Saturday 29th of November 2008 04:14:57 AM)
so what are you suggesting? keep pollution going?
JonThm (Saturday 29th of November 2008 05:23:15 AM)
As Prof argent told me 'one body's pollution is another's food!'. Plants excrete O2, and take in CO2 - the gas of life. Which gas is the pollutor here - looks like O2 to me!
GetMeThere1 (Friday 28th of November 2008 02:00:18 PM)
Oh...boo hoo hoo. First of all, we're doing FAR greater REAL harm to the planet by destroying life in the oceans (overfishing and pollution) than we are by changing the climate (which has been a REGULAR FEATURE of life on earth). Second. It almost positively IS too late--so why indulge in fits of weeping self-flagellation? We have induced a climate-change tipping point, that is more often induced by other means. Big deal... more
GetMeThere1 (Friday 28th of November 2008 02:06:34 PM)
There will be lots of extinctions (another regular feature of life on earth), there will be lots of human deaths (eventually), which is something that is INEVITABLE--our population is beyond stability, anyhow. And the demographic reality of the planet will change drastically. In the WIDEST perspective, this is all just the simplest of ecology lessons. How will we use the lesson? Can we give up stupidity? Can we give up destructiveness, consumerism, religion...and live on a rational basis?