As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, I recently had the chance to give a TED talk. At the event, I learned that a key tradition of a TEDx event was to have everyone in the audience listen to a hand-picked pre-recorded TED video at the start each block of speakers.
A Food Forest
At the beginning of the afternoon block, we watched a video about the truly amazing story of Ron Finley, co-founder of L.A. Green Grounds and a proud intercity gardener trying to stem the tide of fast food malnutrition and disease in his South Central LA neighbourhood.
L.A. Green Grounds is “an all-volunteer group based in South Los Angeles that builds gardens, with a focus on serving low-income residents and others with scarce access to fresh, affordable food”.
Ron started by planting a “food forest” on the sidewalk in front of his home, until the city intervened to try to shut it down. Ron fought back and kept gardening. As he puts it: “Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city. Plus, you get strawberries.”
Here is his amazing story:
Come to the Garden
I think this is my favourite TED talk ever.
What I like about it is how action-oriented Ron is. Ron wants us to act rather than simply talk. Ron took a situation in his community into his own hands with a relatively simple activity: gardening.
At the end of his talk, Ron invited audience members who wanted to follow-up with him not to call him for a meeting in an office somewhere, but to “come to the garden with your shovel to plant some shit”. Amen.
Action Worth Spreading
TED’s now famous slogan is “Ideas worth spreading”. TED has done a remarkable job spreading short video capsules of knowledge and inspiration to all corners of the world. On their end, organizers of the TEDx in Montreal event had even designed custom “Happiness worth spreading” t-shirts for the day of the conference as a tribute to the original slogan. Indeed, ideas and happiness are both worth sharing!
However, I think the most powerful aspect of TED is really action.
I think the best TED talks are those that share stories of how people’s actions can change their communities, or those that inspire audience members to action in their own community. It can be so easy to “say”, but so hard to actually have the initiative, courage and discipline to “do”.
In Ron’s case, it was clear that a clever dissertation would not be sufficient solve the malnutrition and sickness problem he was seeing in his neighbourhood. Action was needed.
Photos: Source