logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
14m 17s

The growing megafire crisis — and how to...

TED Tech
About this episode

Megafires, or fires that burn more than 100,000 acres, are becoming more frequent worldwide, wreaking havoc on landscapes and communities — and fire experts say the problem is only going to get worse. George T. Whitesides is focused on fighting these devastating natural disasters through innovative technologies and intentional changes to how we build communities. This week we're revisiting an episode where he presents three emerging solutions to this blazing dilemma, calling for us to redefine our relationship with fire in order to build a more resilient and sustainable future. After the talk, Sherrell highlights the importance of looking to Indigenous practices when it comes to curbing wildfires.

Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Feb 6
The best thing that could happen to the energy industry | Matt Tilleard
History has been written by whoever controls the dominant fuel of the era — until now, says renewables entrepreneur Matt Tilleard. He explains why, as the clean energy transition ramps up, we’re moving from a world where energy comes from burning fuels to one where it will come f ... Show More
16m 23s
Jan 30
How to pull the emergency brake on global warming | Mohamed A. Sultan
Landfills across African cities are catching fire and releasing methane, an invisible greenhouse gas with more short-term warming potential than CO2. Sustainable strategist Mohamed A. Sultan reveals how local communities are turning this crisis into opportunity, diverting hundred ... Show More
15m 55s
Jan 23
Inside India's astonishing solar revolution | Kanika Chawla
In 2014, the world’s second largest coal consumer made a bold promise: to increase its solar capacity from three gigawatts to 100 gigawatts in just eight years. Many people called it overly ambitious, but energy expert Kanika Chawla saw the opportunity of a lifetime. She tells th ... Show More
12m 11s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
What Can We Do About Wildfires? With Convective Capital’s Bill Clerico
This week on No Priors, Sarah and Elad sit down with Bill Clerico, founder of Convective Capital, an early stage venture fund focused on technology-driven solutions for wildfire mitigation and climate resilience. The wildfires in Los Angeles have caused unprecedented property dam ... Show More
37m 59s
Jan 2025
Rick Caruso on LA’s Wildfires, Policy Failures, and the Path Forward
This week on No Priors, Elad sits down with Rick Caruso, LA real estate developer and runner-up in the 2022 mayoral race. With experience serving under three LA mayors, as well as on the police commission and the board of water and power, Rick offers a unique perspective on the s ... Show More
27m 11s
Oct 2020
Get Wired: The Science of Fire Tornadoes
California’s catastrophic 2020 wildfire season kicked off midway through the hottest August on record with a dry thunderstorm in which 12,000 lighting strikes ignited hundreds of fires over the course of a week. America’s best fire researchers have been trying to learn more about ... Show More
30m 4s
Jan 2025
The L.A. Fires: How They Happened, Climate Change’s Role, and What the City Must Do Now
With so many confusing narratives unfolding around a fire that is still raging out of control, I wanted to talk to somebody I knew and trusted to get stories like this right. Robinson Meyer is the founder and editor of Heatmap News and a former staff writer at The Atlantic, where ... Show More
1h 4m
May 2021
Climate change will displace millions. Here's how we prepare | Colette Pichon Battle
Scientists predict climate change will displace more than 180 million people by 2100 -- a crisis of "climate migration" the world isn't ready for, says disaster recovery lawyer and Louisiana native Colette Pichon Battle. In this passionate, lyrical talk, she urges us to radically ... Show More
12m 58s
Aug 2025
AlgoSec on AI, Automation, and the Next Era of Network Management
<p>The enterprise network is under pressure like never before. Hybrid environments, cloud migrations, edge deployments, and the sudden surge in AI workloads have made it increasingly difficult to keep application connectivity secure and reliable. The old model of device-by-device ... Show More
22m 30s
Sep 2019
Satelligence on how data analysis has tracked the Amazon fires
<p>Niels Wielaard, co-founder and CEO of Satelligence, explains to Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh how satellite data has been used to track the Amazon fires over the summer, and analysing the vegetation types that have been burning.</p> <p>He clears up some of the confusing stateme ... Show More
11m 11s
Aug 2025
The 100-ton device that can stop blackouts in the renewables era: Bottlenecks Series
In April, Spain suffered a nationwide blackout that lasted nearly a full day. It was a traumatic event for one of Europe’s fastest adopters of solar power, tripling capacity in just five years. The outage sparked a big question: Was solar to blame? And what will it take to avoid ... Show More
29m 41s