Ideas worth spreading

Let's save the last pristine continent

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Robert Swan |

TEDGlobal 2014

• October 2014

2041 will be a pivotal year for our planet. That year will mark the end of a 50-year agreement to keep Antarctica, the Earth's last pristine continent, free of exploitation. Explorer Robert Swan — the first person to walk both the North and South Poles — is on a mission to ensure that we extend that treaty. With passion and vigor, he pleads with us to choose the preservation of the Antarctic for our own survival.

2041 will be a pivotal year for our planet. That year will mark the end of a 50-year agreement to keep Antarctica, the Earth's last pristine continent, free of exploitation. Explorer Robert Swan — the first person to walk both the North and South Poles — is on a mission to ensure that we extend that treaty. With passion and vigor, he pleads with us to choose the preservation of the Antarctic for our own survival.

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

About the speaker

Robert Swan

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Robert Swan is the first person in history to walk to both the North and South Poles. Now he wants to make sure that Antarctica, the world's last great wilderness, is never exploited.

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