TEDxExeter Countdown
Tuesday 26 January, 7.30-9pm
How can we be good ancestors?
In conversation with special guest, philosopher Roman Krznaric,
TED speaker, author of The Good Ancestor
Our descendants own the future, but the decisions and actions we make now will tremendously impact generations to come, says Roman.
From a global campaign to grant legal personhood to nature to a groundbreaking lawsuit by a coalition of young activists, Roman will share examples of ways we can become good ancestors, or, as he calls them, ‘Time Rebels’, and join a movement redefining lifespans, pursuing intergenerational justice and practicing deep love for the planet.
We are delighted that Roman will join us for a live conversation on 26 January. We’d love you to join us to watch his short thought-provoking TED talk together, and then hear more about how his ideas can shift our approach to the climate crisis.
We are also delighted that Roland Pyle, Head of Policy at Devon County Council, will also be joining us. Roland is working to make best use of public money and support our elected representatives and the people and communities they serve. He believes in the benefits of thinking holistically; trying to understand and address the messy complicated problems facing us all, and recognising that there is never one simple answer to anything. He is keen to be part of this event because he believes that we all have a responsibility to think long-term and become good ancestors.
There will be plenty of opportunity to share your own thoughts and connect with other participants when we break into small, facilitated groups to explore what being good ancestors might mean for us in our own lives.
No preparation or prior knowledge required – just curiosity to hear about long-term thinking for a short-term world!
Roman Krznaric’s book, The Good Ancestor, explores 6 ways we can expand our time horizons to confront the great long-term challenges of our age.
#JoinTheCountdown to a zero-carbon world with 
On 13th October we launched TEDxExeter Countdown, our series of events focussing on the climate crisis and the race to net zero.
We were honoured to welcome Karime Hassan, Chief Executive and Growth Director, Exeter City Council to our launch, to share both his personal vision for a zero carbon future and Exeter City Council’s ambition and commitment to becoming a net zero city by 2030. We’ll deepen that conversation in future events in 2021.
Join the city-wide conversation about climate change on Exeter City Future’s new ‘Exeter’s Net Zero Journey’ platform – a dynamic and live city-wide conversation helping to pull everyone together around a shared vision of a better future. Everyone is welcome and can join here.
Please see below for the highlights of our launch.
Countdown is a global, year-long initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action. The goal: To build a better future by cutting emissions in half by 2030 in the race to a zero-carbon world – a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone.
We know that to make progress on climate action we need to collaborate on a global scale, and to act wherever we can. And our community has an important role to play. Exeter City Council has set an ambitious goal for our city – to become carbon neutral by 2030. To succeed, it will take all of us.
In the coming months we’ll announce our 2021 Countdown events when we’ll explore some of the biggest challenges we and the city face to make the transition to net-zero. We’ll share stirring examples from global TED speakers and from here in Exeter which shine a light on what a healthy, abundant, zero-emission future can look like.
Reaching net-zero will take all of us – please #JoinTheCountdown with us!
The Climate Action Tracker @climateactiontr
In 2015, 197 countries agreed to set emission targets that would limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Let’s see how we’re doing…
Johan Rockstrom, Climate impact scholar @jrockstrom
We’re running very real risks of destabilising the whole planet.
Here’s Johan’s plan for putting it back on the path of sustainability over the next 10 years.
Amanda Gorman, Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States @AmandaSCGorman
A stunning spoken word piece about ending the devastation of climate change.
Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner, Wales @sophiehowe
Taking the long view… Sophie is the world’s first future generations commissioner, tasked with future proofing for the next generation
Monica Araya, electrification advocate @MonicaArayaTica
The global shift to clean transport
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone @yakisawyerr
A mayor’s “treetown” vision to plant a million trees over the next two years.
David Lammy MP @DavidLammy
We can’t solve climate change without racial, social and intergenerational justice.
Al Gore, Climate Advocate @algore
Becoming an activist, a talk with activists Gloria Kasang Bulus, Nigeria; Nana Firman, Indonesia; Ximena Loria, Costa Rica; Tim Guinee, U.S.
Al Gore introduces four people who have undertaken the Climate Reality training he founded – future leaders building the movement for climate survival and social justice from the ground up.
Christiana Figures, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC 2010-2016 @CFigueres
Architect of the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, Christiana speaks about the unshakeable determination and stubborn optimism we will all need to fight for the generations that will come after us.
Find out more on the Global Optimism website and podcast
Count Us In @CountUsInSOCIAL
Count Us In is a new global movement seeking a billion people to commit to decreasing carbon pollution and act on climate change right now. Take a look at this short film and make your pledge!
