TEDPrize Updates

Interviews with Jamie Oliver

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Did you have questions for Jamie after watching his talk? Well so did CNN and BBC. Enjoy!

TED Talks that inspire Jamie Oliver

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Check out Jamie Oliver’s talk on YouTube and a selection of the TED Talks that inspire him.

Watch Jamie’s Talk Now

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Join Jamie’s Food Revolution

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Take 30 seconds to sign Jamie Oliver’s petition to build support for better food at school and better health prospects for America’s children.

Jamie plans to take his petition to the White House after the TV series airs, to show The President and First Lady how many people across the country really care about this and ask for their support.

Jamie Oliver’s wish: Teach every child about food

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

The prevalence of obesity, especially in children, keeps Jamie Oliver up at night. He questions how it can be that people aren’t more outraged that people are dying from a preventable condition. He works with individuals and government alike to create workable solutions to remove fatty and sugary foods from people’s diets.  And now he wants you to work with him.

Tonight Jamie Oliver receive the 2010 TED Prize and unveiled his “one wish to change the world.”

I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

A plan (detailed below) has been created to help Jamie’s wish become a reality. Everyone is invited to share your offer of support and we look forward to working collaboratively to combat obesity.

THE PLAN:

Set up an organization to create a popular movement that will inspire people to change the way they eat. The movement will do this by establishing a network of community kitchens; launching a travelling food theater that will teach kids practical food and cooking skills in an entertaining way and provide basic training for parents and professionals; and bringing millions of people together through an online community to drive the fight against obesity. The grassroots movement must also challenge corporate America to support meaningful programs that will change the culture of junk food.

THE NEEDS:

  • Help to establish the organization, with funding, office space and facilities.
  • Find partners to equip and run the community kitchens, and food suppliers to provide the fresh ingredients.
  • A partner to build and maintain a fleet of food theatre trucks.
  • Education experts, graphic designers, artists and writers to develop and produce creative, fun teaching materials.
  • Communications experts to create messaging for the movement.
  • Web designers and developers to create and build the website.
  • Establishment of a food line that generates a sustainable income for the movement.
  • Corporate partners to invest in cooking and food education for their customers and champion honest food labelling.
  • Your names added to the petition to challenge our leaders to make change now: www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/petition
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson

Watch Jamie Oliver makes his wish live

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Tomorrow evening 2010 TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver will unveil his “wish to change the world” and you are invited to watch.  TED has partnered with CNN.com (which airs a wekly series of talks from past conferences) to live-stream Jamie’s talk to the world.  At approximately 8:50 pm ET, tune in to CNN.com to be one of the first to hear the new TED Prize wish.

Tom Shannon: Designer of the TED Prize

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Many of you may have seen pictures of the TED Prize trophy presented to every winner. Designed by sculptor Tom Shannon, the trophy is emblematic of his sculpture, using hidden magnets and tiny suspension cables to make an otherwise inert material such as steel and wood take on a truly otherworldly quality.

TED visited Tom Shannon in his Manhattan studio last year for an intimate look at his science-inspired art. Watch this eye-opening, personal conversation with John Hockenberry which reveals how nature’s forces — and the onset of Parkinson’s tremors — interact in Tom’s life and craft.

The TED Prize, 6 years on

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

In the lifetime of the TED Prize, we’ve launched more than 20 wishes, generating ongoing projects to save the oceans…to teach and to connect… to prepare for health crises…to catalog all life on Earth. The TED Prize provides seed money and organizational help for each wish.

The TED Prize is unique among global honors. Winners receive not only recognition for their past achievements and a handsome cash prize, but are, more important, granted something extraordinary: “One Wish to Change the World.” Each winner develops a wish project that draws on the passion and engagement of the TED community to
produce a powerful, long-lasting result.

Next Wednesday, we will celebrate our 2010 TED Prize winner, Jamie Oliver, and all previous winners — whose wishes are still very vital.

Those who’ve followed the TED Prize in recent years will know that in prior years we’ve announced three winners, not one. For 2010, the fifth-year anniversary of the launch of the prize, we’re doing things differently.

When we created the prize, we envisioned supporting projects that could be completed in 12 months. But our winners have dreamed up wishes more powerful, more wonderful than we ever could have imagined, and we’ve found that we simply don’t want to stop that quickly! Members of the community are getting passionately engaged in these projects, and they’re not shy to tell us that changing the world can take more than a year. To effect real impact, it’s right to stay involved and sustain the effort.

We agree. And that means it would be a mistake to add three brand-new wishes every year. There are already more than a dozen TED Prize projects, and at least half of them still require our engagement. Adding too many more risks dilution of effort.

Therefore, after discussion with various wise souls in the community, we are moving to a new format of one new winner every year. At the same time, we’re increasing our capacity to facilitate your amazing efforts on the existing wishes:

Like the Charter for Compassion, from Karen Armstrong’s 2008 wish. It launched late last year, but which can create a ripple effect for years to come.

Like Sylvia Earle’s campaign for marine protected areas, for which we have exciting news to announce shortly.

Like JIll Tarter’s plan to make SETI data publicly available so that millions can join the search for extraterrestial intelligence.

Like José Antonio Abreu’s dream to see his visionary El Sistema music program flourish in America via a fellows program

Like Neil Turok’s NextEinstein project to build science and math academies in Africa; like Cameron Sinclair’s Open Architecture Network, Dave EggersOnceUponASchool and EO Wilson’sEncyclopedia of Life

There has been exciting progress on all these projects, and we can see that there’s much more to come.

It’s incredibly exciting to welcome Jamie Oliver to join our lineup of change catalysts. And exciting too to know that our existing winners are going to stay at the heart of the TED community as we continue working to realize their inspirational visions for a better future.

The Haiti tragedy: How you can help

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

From TED Curator Chris Anderson on the TEDBlog

Numerous members of the TED community have sought to find a way to help victims of the Haiti quake. We believe one of the organizations best placed to make an immediate difference is Partners in Health. They have operated medical facilities in Haiti for more than two decades and have numerous people on the ground. (We had the honor of working with them as part of President Clinton’s TED Prize wish. They’re trustable and effective.)

We asked how best the TED community could help and this was their response. Do join us in making a donation here.

  • Help us track down helicopters! That’s our #1 need right now is transport. There are thousands of badly injured ppl in Port-au-Prince, and there are PIH hospitals, supplies and teams standing ready to treat them in the central plateau. It’s a long, difficult drive over uncertain roads — OR a 10-min helo ride
  • Satellite phones! Cell communications are mostly down and we can’t send docs out into PAP with no way to be in touch
  • Donate medicine, food, blankets, supplies … anyone with in-kind products to donate can write to procurement@pih.org
  • Lend your time and skills — we need experienced trauma surgeons, pediatric trauma surgeons, burn specialists, nurse anesthetists, trauma nurses
  • We need solar chargers, generators, fuel for generators
  • Water purification that does not require electricity — so massive quanitities of water purification tablets or a system that is standalone
  • Transport — we have had a few offers of private planes plus a big Air Canada jet — we are filling them with doctors and supplies and mobilizing
  • Donate at http://www.pih.org/home.html.

Charter for Compassion plaques available now

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Charter for Compassion plaques are available for purchase now. Hang one in your home, office, school, community center or house of worship. Send one as a gift to your family member, friend, organization or religious community.

AmazonCompassionPlaquePhotoBeautifully designed by Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject, the plaque serves as an elegant reminder that every day is a new opportunity to live more compassionately. The design focuses on the power and meaning of the Charter’s words rather than purely the form. The plaque’s isometric perspective reminds us of a book, and expresses the depth of the Charter’s text and encompassing points of view. The plaque consists of sustainable maple, simple construction and laser-engraving to create a unique and iconic design reflective of the key messaging of Karen Armstrong. Each plaque is hand-crafted by Thomas Duffy, a designer and craftsman with 30 year of experience.

The plaque costs $200 (USD), including shipping & handling. Some international locations may require additional payment for shipping. The Charter for Compassion is a non-profit initiative and the plaques are priced at cost. Plaques can be made in any language we have available for download.

If you are interested in purchasing a plaque, please visit our webstore. If you can’t afford to purchase a plaque, we encourage you to download a copy to frame and hang on your wall. You can find a downloadable version for over 30 languages in the sidebar here.

For the launch of the Charter for Compassion over 60 plaques were hung in significant religious and secular locations around the world, including India, Botswana, Australia, Malaysia, England and Brazil.

Here are a few thoughts from those already displaying the Charter:

IBN ABBAS, NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA

“The hanging of this Charter is an important event symbolising aspects that unite civilisations across the globe, in particular the principle of compassion which is a cornerstone of Islam. It is even more significant as it focuses on children who are at the core of the work of our network.” – Hademine Ould Saleck, President, Imams and Oulemas Network for Child Rights

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHAPEL, CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, PHILIPPINES

“May those passing into the Chapel be reminded by this plaque at the entrance to the Chapel, and reflect again, as they read it on the way out, that we are one with all our suffering brothers and sisters throughout the world, and as members of the Xavier University community, always and ever men and women for others.” – Fr Calvin Poulin,SJ, Chaplain, Immaculate Conception Chapel

LITHGOW CORRECTIONAL CENTER, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

“The Charter of Compassion plaque is now hanging in the prison chapel at Lithgow correctional centre. It is very rare within a prison for people to have the opportunity to step out of their very fixed roles. The hanging was one of those occasions. To be together for the shared purpose of instating the Charter of Compassion was very special. The governor, head of nursing, a welfare officer and two of the Christian chaplains were in attendance, along with ten inmates. We shared the reading of the Charter between inmates and staff.

We asked the guys why they considered it significant to hang the plaque within the prison. They offered the following responses:

Because you find peace in the most unlikely places
Because everyone wants to be happy
Because compassion spreads compassion.

The atmosphere in the room testified to all of these responses. The governor and head of nursing both requested copies of the photos to hang in their respective offices. The inmates all requested copies to share with their families and friends and links to the Charter of Compassion website to pass on to them.” – Aileen Barry, Liberation Prison Project