How engaging with the natural world benefits you-- and science (with Mary Ellen Hannibal)
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
When you think of a scientist, do you think of a person in a lab coat? How about a teenager with a smartphone-- or even, yourself? Mary Ellen Hannibal is a science writer who argues that everyday people collecting data with simple tools like phones can make a big impact in the sciences, their lives, and their communities. She shares great tips on how to get involved with this vital, and hopefully enjoyable, work. Her book, “Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction”, was named one of the best titles of 2016 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Mary Ellen’s previous work has appeared in the New York Times, Science, Anthropocene, Nautilus and many other publications. To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:02.0 | Audio Collective. |
| 0:04.0 | You're listening to how to be a better human. |
| 0:10.0 | You're listening to how to be a better human. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm your host Chris Duffy. |
| 0:14.0 | So a few years ago I moved from New York where I grew up to Los Angeles. |
| 0:18.0 | And among the many new things that I had to get used to here in LA |
| 0:22.0 | was a completely new environment and natural surroundings. |
| 0:25.0 | One night I was lying in bed when I thought I heard an intruder on our roof. |
| 0:31.0 | I heard someone walking around up there. But then when I went |
| 0:34.8 | outside to investigate when I shine my flashlight up on the roof I did not |
| 0:37.8 | find a burglar. Instead there was a coyote up there. I didn't even know |
| 0:42.4 | coyotes were a real thing outside of |
| 0:44.3 | cartoons. I'd never seen one growing up in New York but here was one staring right |
| 0:48.6 | back at me before it jumped back onto the hillside and kind of slinked away into |
| 0:52.0 | the bushes. That experience got me thinking |
| 0:55.6 | about how I want to and probably need to engage more with my natural environment. What are these |
| 1:01.0 | plants around me? What are these bugs? Who are these birds? I'm trying to ask |
| 1:05.2 | more questions and I'm trying to learn more about what is happening in the natural world that I live in. |
| 1:10.0 | And today's guest, Mary Ellen Hannibal, she is all about that curiosity. |
| 1:14.8 | In fact, she wrote a book about how engaging your own curiosity about the natural world |
| 1:19.1 | can serve not just you, but also something much larger and contribute to science. |
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