How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums
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0:01 - 0:04If you told me five years ago
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0:04 - 0:06that today I'd be delivering a talk
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0:06 - 0:10about our individual power
to make a difference, -
0:10 - 0:13I would have cringed.
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0:13 - 0:17It was my job to study
huge global systems. -
0:17 - 0:23I was a researcher at NASA using
satellite data to study the big picture. -
0:24 - 0:27You can see a lot of things from space,
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0:27 - 0:30like every ecosystem on Earth
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0:30 - 0:34being threatened
from pretty much every angle -
0:34 - 0:39and global inequality
in air and water safety. -
0:39 - 0:41These kinds of things
would keep me up at night. -
0:41 - 0:45And then outside of work,
I'd use this bird's-eye view -
0:45 - 0:47while thinking about
our huge social structures -
0:47 - 0:51like education and media and health care,
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0:51 - 0:54and it looked to me like
they were all really struggling, too. -
0:54 - 1:00So I felt like the world was just trapped
in this huge self-amplifying system -
1:00 - 1:03that was just spiraling
towards destruction. -
1:03 - 1:07And of course I wanted
to do something about this, -
1:07 - 1:10and I felt so small and utterly powerless.
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1:11 - 1:15But I started to feel a little differently
as my perspective shifted -
1:15 - 1:18from the macro towards the micro.
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1:19 - 1:21It began with bumblebees.
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1:21 - 1:25I was using satellite imagery
and field research -
1:25 - 1:28to study these amazing, cute pollinators
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1:28 - 1:32to see how they were doing in the midst
of their own environmental crisis -
1:32 - 1:33in Southern California.
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1:33 - 1:38And from the macro view,
I saw 22-lane freeways, -
1:38 - 1:40endless suburban sprawl
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1:40 - 1:43and water being diverted
from parched rivers -
1:43 - 1:47to grow lawns in the desert.
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1:47 - 1:49It was pretty grim.
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1:50 - 1:51But on the ground,
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1:51 - 1:55there were actually some small
opportunities for optimism, -
1:55 - 1:57these tiny patches of resources
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1:57 - 1:59known as "habitat fragments."
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1:59 - 2:04If the right kinds of plants were growing
along the edges of a Costco parking lot, -
2:04 - 2:06and if in the neighborhoods nearby
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2:06 - 2:08there were native plants
in people's gardens, -
2:08 - 2:12and in the canyons that were too steep
for people to put their suburbs in, -
2:12 - 2:15there were native plants
instead of grasses -
2:15 - 2:17then all of these in-between spaces
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2:17 - 2:22would actually add up to create
a network of habitat fragments. -
2:22 - 2:27And this network meant that the bees
could traverse through the concrete desert -
2:27 - 2:29feeding from and pollinating
the native plants. -
2:30 - 2:36And these plants that the bees depend on
and that the bees sustain are essential. -
2:36 - 2:38They stabilize our steep hillsides.
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2:38 - 2:43They provide food and homes to thousands
of amazing species of animals, -
2:44 - 2:50and, critically, they are helping
to curb our devastating cycle of wildfires -
2:50 - 2:54by preventing the growth
of those invasive grasses -
2:54 - 2:59that fuel the vicious flames
that we're all too familiar with. -
2:59 - 3:02It's a really vital
and interconnected system, -
3:02 - 3:05and some people could see
how they were a part of it, -
3:05 - 3:09and so they acted
as habitat fragment gardeners. -
3:09 - 3:11They planted native plants in their yards,
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3:11 - 3:15and they even were tending
to the land in corporate parks -
3:15 - 3:16and in public canyons.
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3:16 - 3:19In my research, I could
actually see the impact -
3:19 - 3:22that even one passionate
gardener could make. -
3:22 - 3:24And then, repeated across the region,
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3:24 - 3:29their habitat fragments were adding up
to make a more resilient ecosystem -- -
3:29 - 3:32not a perfect system, not by a long shot,
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3:32 - 3:36but at least a system that was
less likely to totally collapse -
3:36 - 3:40under impending pressures
like further development and drought. -
3:41 - 3:43So I was looking at the world
through this lens -
3:43 - 3:47when I found myself in the waiting room
of a public hospital in Brooklyn -
3:47 - 3:49with my partner, Charles.
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3:49 - 3:52We were sitting across
from a group of teenagers -
3:52 - 3:54who were slumped in their chairs
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3:54 - 3:56and bored out of their minds
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3:56 - 4:00and just refreshing their phones
over and over again. -
4:00 - 4:01And in a neighborhood
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4:01 - 4:05with some of the lowest high school
graduation rates in the city, -
4:05 - 4:08this waiting room felt like
a social habitat fragment -
4:08 - 4:10just waiting to happen.
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4:10 - 4:14So, we did some research to see
what kinds of resources could we add -
4:14 - 4:16to spaces like this one
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4:16 - 4:18that would make an impact.
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4:18 - 4:20And we settled on museums.
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4:22 - 4:25Museums are the most trusted source
of public information, -
4:25 - 4:27more than the media
and more than the government, -
4:27 - 4:31but they also cluster
in wealthier neighborhoods. -
4:31 - 4:35New York has 85 museums in Manhattan,
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4:35 - 4:37and the Bronx has eight,
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4:37 - 4:41even though these two boroughs
have almost the same size population. -
4:42 - 4:45And then expensive tickets mean
that a lot of people can't go to museums -
4:45 - 4:47even if they live nearby.
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4:47 - 4:50And these little injustices,
they just go on and on -
4:50 - 4:52and they add up to create
sweeping inequalities -
4:52 - 4:54in knowledge and empowerment.
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4:55 - 4:57Across the US,
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4:57 - 5:01almost 90 percent of visitors
to art museums are white, -
5:01 - 5:04and even at the Smithsonian's
network of free museums, -
5:04 - 5:08almost half of their adult visitors
have graduate degrees, -
5:08 - 5:12which, like, 10 percent
of the broader population has. -
5:12 - 5:13So it became clear to us
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5:13 - 5:19that even though museums are these amazing
educational and social resources, -
5:19 - 5:21they're not reaching everyone.
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5:21 - 5:25And a lot of museums are aware of this,
and they're trying to change it, -
5:25 - 5:29but there's all these structural hurdles
that are slowing them down. -
5:29 - 5:31So we set out to create
a distributed network -
5:31 - 5:34of museum habitat fragments.
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5:34 - 5:37Working from a donated shipping container
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5:37 - 5:40with the volunteer help of our friends
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5:40 - 5:42and dozens of very generous scientists
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5:42 - 5:44from all across the globe,
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5:44 - 5:46we built our first prototype:
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5:46 - 5:48the Smallest Mollusk Museum.
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5:48 - 5:50(Laughter)
-
5:50 - 5:54Mollusks are these tentacled,
slimy shape-shifters -
5:54 - 5:57like oysters and octopuses
and the giant squid, -
5:57 - 6:01and if you've ever seen
an alien in a movie, -
6:01 - 6:03then I'll bet you
it was inspired by a mollusk. -
6:04 - 6:06Their slimy sci-fi vibes
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6:06 - 6:10make them really fun tour guides
for a biology museum, -
6:10 - 6:12and they can teach us
about the systems that we all share, -
6:12 - 6:14with a wake-up call.
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6:14 - 6:19Of all the animal extinctions
documented since the 1500s, -
6:19 - 6:23more than 40 percent have been
our friends, the mollusks. -
6:24 - 6:27So we tested this museum across the city
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6:27 - 6:30to see if it resonated
with all kinds of visitors, -
6:30 - 6:31and it did.
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6:31 - 6:34People really liked learning from it.
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6:34 - 6:38So we built a fleet
of tiny science museums, -
6:38 - 6:42each one small enough to fit
into preexisting locations -
6:42 - 6:45with information dense enough
that they could still pack a punch. -
6:45 - 6:47And they're modular,
so they can be distributed -
6:47 - 6:50at a scale that can reach everyone.
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6:50 - 6:52And then we partnered with libraries
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6:52 - 6:55and community centers and transit hubs
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6:55 - 6:56and the public hospitals
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6:56 - 6:59so that we could transform
their in-between spaces -
6:59 - 7:02into habitat fragments
for social learning. -
7:03 - 7:07And, fittingly, we named
our fleet of museums "MICRO." -
7:08 - 7:11Even though each
habitat fragment is small, -
7:11 - 7:12it provides the essentials.
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7:12 - 7:15It draws people in
so that they can explore -
7:15 - 7:18and learn together in a social way.
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7:18 - 7:20And then, distributed
across the landscape, -
7:20 - 7:22we're able to invite people everywhere
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7:22 - 7:24into conversations around science.
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7:25 - 7:28When we partnered with
a public hospital in the South Bronx, -
7:28 - 7:33we became the Bronx's first
and only science museum. -
7:34 - 7:37Yeah, that's really weird. (Laughs)
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7:37 - 7:38(Laughter)
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7:38 - 7:40And really quickly,
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7:40 - 7:43families started coming by with their kids
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7:43 - 7:46and schools started arranging field trips,
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7:46 - 7:50all to this tiny museum in the front lobby
of the public hospital. -
7:50 - 7:52(Laughter)
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7:52 - 7:54And the museum became so popular
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7:54 - 7:58that we started hiring local students
to be museum docents, -
7:58 - 8:02so they could lead tours and activities
for all the talented kids. -
8:02 - 8:08And every spark of curiosity
that we're able to fuel -
8:08 - 8:10and each new fact learned
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8:10 - 8:13and every new friend made at the museum
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8:13 - 8:17and every kid who can have a meaningful
and important after-school job, -
8:17 - 8:20it all contributes to a stronger system.
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8:21 - 8:24So today, I try to keep
the MICRO view in mind. -
8:24 - 8:28I'm always examining
how small actions can add up -
8:28 - 8:30to create shifts
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8:30 - 8:33at the macro scale of systems.
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8:34 - 8:37And honestly, I'm seeing
a lot of really good things. -
8:37 - 8:42There are habitat fragments everywhere,
nurtured by talented, passionate, -
8:42 - 8:45strategic individuals
in groups of all sizes, -
8:45 - 8:49who are building towards systems
with more equal access to food -
8:49 - 8:52and employment, health care, housing,
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8:52 - 8:56political empowerment, education
and healthy environments. -
8:57 - 8:59One by one, together,
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8:59 - 9:01we're filling gaps,
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9:01 - 9:04strengthening the systems
that we're all a part of. -
9:04 - 9:07We have to work on
the big institutions too, of course. -
9:07 - 9:09It's just that they're so slow,
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9:09 - 9:12and we're living in the midst
of rapid change. -
9:12 - 9:14It's a defining feature of our time.
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9:15 - 9:18So maybe in some cases our small actions
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9:18 - 9:20can be Band-Aids
until the big guys catch up. -
9:21 - 9:24But without us, what are they going
to be catching up to? -
9:25 - 9:28Am I still scared about the world?
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9:28 - 9:30Yes. (Laughs)
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9:31 - 9:33That's why I'm talking to you.
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9:33 - 9:36The world needs so many
more habitat fragments. -
9:36 - 9:41So, if you've been feeling overwhelmed
or powerless lately, -
9:41 - 9:46then I'm asking you to please try
this very small strategy on for size, -
9:46 - 9:47and let's see how it goes.
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9:48 - 9:51Step one: zoom in.
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9:51 - 9:52It's not one huge system
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9:52 - 9:55that's just barreling unstoppably
towards destruction. -
9:55 - 9:59What we have are many overlapping systems,
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9:59 - 10:02and the ways that they interact
determine everything. -
10:02 - 10:05Step two: look for the resource gaps,
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10:05 - 10:08because that's where you
can make the biggest difference. -
10:08 - 10:13And do some research to understand
how your ideas are going to interact -
10:13 - 10:16with the systems that are
already on the ground. -
10:16 - 10:20Step three: find the other
habitat fragments. -
10:20 - 10:23Find out how they can support you
and how you can support them, -
10:23 - 10:26because we're building a network together.
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10:26 - 10:30And step four: transform your fragment.
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10:31 - 10:37You might not have the leverage
to change multiple systems at once, -
10:37 - 10:42but there are so many small,
meaningful and strategic things -
10:42 - 10:44that each of us can do.
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10:44 - 10:47And there are a lot of us,
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10:47 - 10:49so it will add up.
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10:50 - 10:51Thank you.
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10:51 - 10:54(Applause)
- Title:
- How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums
- Speaker:
- Amanda Schochet
- Description:
-
Sometimes, small things make a huge impact. After studying how bees in urban environments can survive by navigating small land patches, ecologist Amanda Schochet was inspired to build MICRO, a network of portable science museums the size of vending machines. Learn how these tiny museums are being deployed in libraries, community centers, transit hubs and elsewhere to increase public access to science.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:08
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Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums | ||
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Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How bumble bees inspired a network of tiny museums |