Ideas worth spreading

How hip-hop can make climate action cool

1,545,042 views |

Samir Ibrahim, MyVerse and Kristen Warren |

TED Countdown New York Session 2022

• June 2022

Music can amplify social issues and inspire people to care about new (and sometimes unexpected) topics. But can it take something as dire as climate change and make it mainstream? With artists MyVerse and Kristen Warren as an inspiring opening act, social entrepreneur Samir Ibrahim suggests hip-hop and its stars can help us move from talking about the problem to rapping about (and acting on) solutions.

Music can amplify social issues and inspire people to care about new (and sometimes unexpected) topics. But can it take something as dire as climate change and make it mainstream? With artists MyVerse and Kristen Warren as an inspiring opening act, social entrepreneur Samir Ibrahim suggests hip-hop and its stars can help us move from talking about the problem to rapping about (and acting on) solutions.

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

Learn more about how you can offset your carbon footprint — and if you're in the music industry and want to learn how to incorporate climate actions into your work, click here and we'll help!

Listen to "Mother's Mind," the song MyVerse and Kristen Warren perform in Samir Ibrahim's talk.

About the speakers

Samir Ibrahim

Climate entrepreneur

See speaker profile

Samir works to make business and technology climate solutions mainstream.

MyVerse

See speaker profile

MyVerse (real name Natalia Pitti) is a proud Boricua/Panamanian/Florida native who believes music should resonate with you.

Kristen Warren

See speaker profile

Kristen Warren is a jazz/neo-soul singer from Melbourne, Florida.

Tracy Thompson and Ernestine Siu | CNBC, 2022 | Watch

"How I raised 40 dollars million to give rural farmers solar power"

Improving and protecting the productivity of smallholder farmers can help relieve the stress climate change puts on our food, economic and political systems. Learn how and why I've dedicated the last 10 years to working on this intersection of problems.

SunCulture, 2014 | Article

"SunCulture Annual Letters"

An insight into how we've thought about the role private sector companies play in helping solve the climate crisis, with a focus on how we've thought about building our business.

Bill Nussey | Mountain Ambler Publishing, 2021 | Book

Freeing Energy: How Innovators Are Using Local-scale Solar and Batteries to Disrupt the Global Energy Industry from the Outside In

This is essentially a playbook for thinking about big problems from a first principals perspective. It's also perfect for anyone wanting to get involved in clean energy — in other words, anyone wanting to make the world a better, cleaner, healthier and more equitable place. It is a unique combination of history, economics, predictions and anecdotes on how we can transition to clean energy.

Kim Stanley Robinson | Orbit, 2021 | Book

The Ministry for the Future

The Ministry for the Future is a glimpse into the future.

Samir Ibrahim | TEDxNairobi, 2015 | Watch

"Solar-powered agricultural solutions"

Watch my TEDxNairobi talk from 2015.

Samir Ibrahim | Spotify, 2022 | Listen

"TED Talk: can hip hop help solve the climate crisis?" playlist

Jam out to the songs mentioned in our TED Talk.

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

Learn more about how you can offset your carbon footprint — and if you're in the music industry and want to learn how to incorporate climate actions into your work, click here and we'll help!

Listen to "Mother's Mind," the song MyVerse and Kristen Warren perform in Samir Ibrahim's talk.