Ideas worth spreading

Are we the last generation — or the first sustainable one?

900,434 views |

Hannah Ritchie |

TED2023

• April 2023

The word "sustainability" gets thrown around a lot these days. But what does it actually mean for humanity to be sustainable? Environmental data scientist Hannah Ritchie digs into the numbers behind human progress across centuries, unpacking why the conventional understanding of sustainability is misleading and showing how we can be the first generation of humans to actually achieve it.

The word "sustainability" gets thrown around a lot these days. But what does it actually mean for humanity to be sustainable? Environmental data scientist Hannah Ritchie digs into the numbers behind human progress across centuries, unpacking why the conventional understanding of sustainability is misleading and showing how we can be the first generation of humans to actually achieve it.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Hannah Ritchie

Environmental data scientist

See speaker profile

Hannah Ritchie wants to use data to change the way we see the world.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.