Concrete & Built Environment
Our unending stone age, and how concrete shapes the world. Ted discusses how concrete enables and influences nearly every realm of modern life, public and private, material and intangible.
"Ted Fishman was absolutely terrific. His work is relevant and presented with great humor, compassion, and lucidity."
Nonprofit (Washington Speakers Bureau)
Today, up to 14 percent of global carbon emissions result from the production and use of concrete, and the material’s dangers to the planet’s natural systems are everywhere, unbounded by place. But concrete’s omnipresence has also revolutionized public health, doubling the human lifespan.
Ted’s talks are future-focused, grounded in history, economics, science, and global drama.
Ted explains: we spend most of our days in or on something made of concrete. Right now, at this moment, most of the world’s population can reach out and either touch concrete or touch something that touches concrete.
We use energy that comes from some power plant or pipeline that rests on concrete. We drink clean water and flush away waste through concrete, which makes it the world’s most important instrument for public health. Concrete is also the world’s most used asset in civil and national defense. Ted unpacks how these extraordinary public and private benefits are shadowed by environmental cost, and what we might do..
