Emma Marris is a writer focusing on environmental science, policy and culture, with an approach that she paints as being "more interested in finding and describing solutions than delineating problems, and more interested in joy than despair."

Why you should listen

Emma Marris has written among others for National Geographic, The Atlantic and the New York Times. She challenges the notion that nature can only be preserved in its pristine, pre-human state, a too-narrow characterization "that thwarts bold new plans to save the environment and prevents us from having a fuller relationship with nature." Humans have changed the landscape they inhabit since prehistory, and climate change means even the remotest places now bear the fingerprints of humanity. Our influence on the planet means we have new responsibilities for its plants and animals. In her books Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in the Post-Wild World and Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Nonhuman World, she argues for creating or reviving good relationships with other species, rather than trying to withdraw from nature in shame.

Emma Marris’ TED talks

More news and ideas from Emma Marris

In Brief

Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize and other TED news

April 9, 2019

The TED community is brimming with new projects and ideas. Below, a few highlights. Youth climate change protests kick off across the world. Students from 112 countries skipped school in mid-March to join climate activist Greta Thunberg’s School Strike for Climate demanding government action on climate change. The global event was part of the Fridays […]

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Live from TEDSummit 2016

Things we think we know: Notes from Session 2 of TEDSummit

June 28, 2016

In Session 2, our speakers debunked received wisdom, looked critically at common knowledge — and restarted conversations we thought were closed. Here, our report:  Antique lamps, new sound. Brothers Ryan and Hays Holladay opened Session 2 completely unseen. In near pitch-black darkness, broken antique lamps lit up one by one — each perfectly matched with an electronic musical […]

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