Looking Back to the Future at TED

By: Victoria Ortiz

"I'm not trying to be anyone's savior. I'm just trying to think about the future and not be sad."

This quote by Elon Musk at April’s TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada has echoed beyond the stage throughout social media and the web. It’s a sentiment that also resonated with our Executive Director and founder, Gregg Treinish, who was sitting in the audience.

“[Elon Musk] is such a phenomenal visionary thinker,” says Gregg. “I think everyone who works towards making the world a better place does so partially because we feel like we have to do something in the midst of the great challenges we face.”

The conference theme ‘The Future You’ brought together leaders in the technology, education, and design communities to talk about the future. As a finalist for the 2017 TED prize, Gregg was able to attend the conference and listen to hundreds of inspirational activists, scientists, entrepreneurs and artists.

“It was a great opportunity to meet people who will be influential in driving our organization's mission forward,” said Gregg.

One talk that stood out to Gregg was by futurist and designer Anab Jain. She spoke about successful storytelling mechanisms to gain support, and gave the example of creating a bottle of what the air would look be in the UAE by 2030. She gave it to government officials to breathe, and they announced changes to their policy the next day (she acknowledged this might have only been in part due to her presentation).
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“I loved her story because she found a tangible way to show people what the future could be while also demonstrating the importance of the issue. Now I keep thinking about how we can do the same at Adventure Scientists to highlight the issues we work on.”

The conference brought together visionaries, people who are constantly looking to challenge what is possible. Adventure Scientists plans to explore the possibility of incorporating new technologies into our work so that we can continue to be the best provider of reliable, hard-to-get conservation data.

“It was such an honor to be included in that group of leaders,” said Gregg. “I am confident that the relationships I’ve made as part of the TED family will last for years and years to come.”

Photos courtesy of Gregg Treinish