Four visionaries—Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen—share their insights on the future, urging viewers to consider the impact of their actions on future generations.

Four visionaries—Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen—share their insights on the future, urging viewers to consider the impact of their actions on future generations. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, A guide to surviving humanity’s tipping point ► https://youtu.be/teNE748O-vw?si=WlxD159us0dlLUap Explore the future with visionaries Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen. While each is looking into the future through a different lens, they all share a belief in the power of optimism and proactive engagement as essential tools for overcoming today's challenges. Wallach introduces "Longpath," urging long-term thinking, while Kelly advocates for "Protopia," emphasizing gradual progress. Schwartz highlights scenario planning's importance, emphasizing curiosity and collaboration. Cowen reflects on America's progress and calls for urgency. Together, they stress empathy, transgenerational thinking, and diverse futures to collectively build a better tomorrow. The message: the future is a continuous creation requiring proactive, collective action. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/progress/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ► About Kevin Kelly: Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at WIRED magazine. He co-founded WIRED in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His newest book is The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a subscriber-supported journal of unorthodox conceptual news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. ► About Peter Schwartz: Peter Schwartz is an internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, specializing in scenario planning and working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world. As Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Salesforce, he manages the organization’s ongoing strategic conversation. Peter was co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network. He is the author of several works. His first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning. Peter has also served as a script consultant on the films "The Minority Report," "Deep Impact," "Sneakers," and "War Games." He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. ► About Ari Wallach: Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake. He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum. As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach's TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008's pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman. ► About Tyler Cowen: Tyler is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and co-founder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University. He graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor's degree in economics and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He also runs a podcast series called Conversations with Tyler. His latest book Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives and Winners Around the World is co-authored with venture capitalist Daniel Gross.

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Obama chose health care. Trump went with taxes. Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee was the only candidate with a very different top priority: to stop climate change. Even though the Washington state

Obama chose health care. Trump went with taxes. Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee was the only candidate with a very different top priority: to stop climate change. Even though the Washington state Governor's campaign is now over, his laser-focus on climate and the environment was a notable departure from other Democratic candidates who regularly mention, but rarely prioritize the issue. A discussion with climate-focused candidate Jay Inslee leading up to the 2020 presidential election. In the second half of the show, Democrats have rallied around the Green New Deal and its lofty promise of a clean energy future. How will it realize its ambitious goals? Still unclear. But there can be no doubt that the tide of climate change awareness is rising among the nation’s voters. And more and more, as their constituents feel the effects of global warming in their own districts, Republicans find that they ignore the topic at their peril. “In every single community in this country, you are able to identify a few changes to the detriment of all as a consequence of a changing climate,” says Ryan Costello, former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. Costello, a Republican, now manages Americans for Carbon Dividends, an advocacy group that is supported by oil companies and promotes a price on carbon emissions. “It’s gonna be the first election where it's a major issue,” predicts former congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL). “I don't support it, but we can thank the Green New Deal for that.” Still, even some Democrats have found themselves caught between the threat of a destabilized climate and other, more immediate, concerns. Christine Pelosi of the Democratic National Committee says that, from her perspective, the conversation is more regional than partisan. “It has a lot more to do with a couple of things,” she says. “One is the existential threat that climate change presents, and the other is the dialogue in which people from poorer communities - frontline communities, indigenous communities, mining communities, industrial communities - say, ‘well, it may be true that the ecology as we know it is going to change in a dozen years. But your change is gonna change my family's economy in two years.” As 2020 looms, many Republicans still fear that voicing support of climate solutions could torpedo their chances for reelection. Curbelo, who co-founded the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress, believes it’s time to put country ahead of career. #letstalkclimate https://climateone.org/ U.S. Climate Alliance 1:48 Green New Deal 5:40 Sea Level Rise 8:43 Climate Change, An Emotional Topic 10:48 Ryan Costello 14:00 Carlos Curbelo 15:20 Christine Pelosi 18:10 Republicans Taking Risks on Climate Change 23:33

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Ari Matusiak is CEO of Rewiring America, a growing nonprofit working to launch a movement that electrifies everything, starting with our 121 million households. We are motivated by the fact that 90

Ari Matusiak is CEO of Rewiring America, a growing nonprofit working to launch a movement that electrifies everything, starting with our 121 million households. We are motivated by the fact that 90 percent of all emissions in the U.S. are energy-related, and 42 percent of those energy emissions come from the decisions we make in our homes: how we heat our air and water, cook our food, and dry our clothes, and what kind of cars we drive. Ari is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Purpose Venture Group, a social impact advisory firm, and incubator that builds community-centered ventures to address climate and economic inequality. He has almost a decade of executive leadership and operational experience in renewable energy and household electrification. Ari served in the Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement. He focused on economic policy related to jobs and competitiveness and oversaw the relationship between the Administration and the private sector. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of Young Invincibles; a national nonprofit focused on delivering economic opportunity to young adults. Earlier in his career, he was the senior executive responsible for strategy and impact investing at the Rhode Island Foundation, one of the country’s oldest and largest community foundations. His efforts resulted in over $1 billion of affordable housing and thousands of new, local jobs. In addition, Ari was a fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. He graduated cum laude and as a Public Interest Law Scholar from Georgetown University Law Center, and is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University. He lives with his wife, two daughters, and puppy in Southern California. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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Jon Bowermaster discusses his work on the Hudson River Stories project, which explores climate change and other environmental challenges for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American

Jon Bowermaster discusses his work on the Hudson River Stories project, which explores climate change and other environmental challenges for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American environmental movement. Writer, filmmaker and adventurer Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written eleven books and produced/directed more than thirty documentary films, including Dear President Obama, Antarctica On the Edge, After the Spill and Ghost Fleet. His National Geographic-sponsored Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet’s one ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today’s busy world. Jon is the President of the One Ocean Media Foundation, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventure Science, a member of Riverkeeper’s Leadership Council and Creative Affiliate of The Safina Center. For the past several years, Jon and his One Ocean Media Foundation / Oceans 8 Films team have focused on a series of short films called the Hudson River Stories, which dives into the risks to, and hopes for the Hudson River Valley, the birthplace of the American environmental movement. Jon is currently a visiting lecturer at Bard College, in the Environment and Urban Studies Department, and has a weekly radio show/podcast called The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster. For more on the Hudson River Stories project, please visit http://hudsonriverstories.com/. Moderated by Katy Kasmai.

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Dr. Steven Chu discusses climate change, new pathways and opportunities to renewable energy, and the challenges the country faces. 

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