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If you adults won’t save the world, we will | Xiye Bastida

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. In a deeply moving letter to her grandmother, Xiye Bastida reflects on what led her to become a leading voice for global climate activism — from mobilizing school climate strikes to speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit alongside…

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Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

In a deeply moving letter to her grandmother, Xiye Bastida reflects on what led her to become a leading voice for global climate activism — from mobilizing school climate strikes to speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit alongside Greta Thunberg — and traces her resolve, resilience and profound love of the earth to the values passed down to her. “Thank you for inviting me to love the world since the moment I was born,” she says.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

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52 Comments

52 Comments

  1. Samuel Christian

    October 21, 2020 at 11:46 am

    Strikes can only do so much to play a major role in stopping climate change. A better approach is to start changing ourselves and our habits. Invest your time and education pm how to be environmentally efficient and productive

  2. Sheamus A

    October 21, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    why so much dislikes tho?

    • Julio

      October 21, 2020 at 9:59 pm

      fossil fuel industries bots

  3. 2023 2023

    October 21, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    And we will go to work, so that you have something to eat, something to wear and a place to live. Right?

    • Lo Rez

      October 21, 2020 at 1:09 pm

      Don’t begrudge them for that. We will go to work and provide them with food, because we were brainwashed and broken into accepting that the only way to live is to serve the wealthy who created our society. We will feed them, and feed their imaginations so that they will build a better world and not allow greedy mega corporations to dictate life to us.

    • saikat bag

      October 21, 2020 at 1:59 pm

      @Lo Reznice joke 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😉

    • AMV CBG

      October 21, 2020 at 2:20 pm

      Wow thanks for the guilt so we address issues.

      The problem I think is happening is that because you are so focused on your immediate surroundings and situations your not seeing big issues. Which will end up potentially affecting either you or those down your generational lineage.

      An extreme example is in Thailand there are massive protests over the royal family abusing their power to exploit people.

      And the messages are the same. Dont think about it. Focuses on the small things. Don’t think about the big things and try and improve the world.

      I mean these examples are across time.

      With the industrial revolution people were so overworked and those that demanded change were often painted as irresponsible by those that worked to put bread on the table.

      Despite the changes actually made it easier to put bread on your table

  4. The HUMAN

    October 21, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    Change yourself first

  5. Lo Rez

    October 21, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    Very well said, young lady. Us older generations have been utterly indoctrinated by our own parents, who taught us that you can’t fight the system. But that is a load of nonsense. We worry because it is hard for us to see past the struggles of building a new system, but you have the will and the strength, and the exuberance of youth on your side. And you have us on your side too. Please don’t begrudge us, but teach us with your innocence, and hopefully we can all work together towards a better future for all of us, our world, and all the precious life upon it.

  6. 人Nanashi

    October 21, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    And that’s eight minutes and seventeen seconds I’ll never get back.

  7. 브론즈에서그마까지

    October 21, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    Wear your mask before you save the world.

  8. saikat bag

    October 21, 2020 at 1:59 pm

    Save the world 😂😂😂😂. Now rich countries won’t allow poor countries like india to become developed nations 😒😒

    • Wonder Traveller

      October 21, 2020 at 7:04 pm

      Inka khel samaj a raha he

  9. Jonny Davis

    October 21, 2020 at 2:03 pm

    Who is abuelita?

  10. Joy Haque

    October 21, 2020 at 2:08 pm

    1:19 I stopped my 9-5 thanks to, *p a i d t o b e h o m e .c o m*

  11. الراحمون يرحمهم الله

    October 21, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    رسالة الي إخواني وأخواتي الكرام أهل الخير وأصحاب الأيادي البيضاء أستحلفكم بالله ان تقرأو رسالتي هذه.

    السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته..

    انا شاب من غزة فلسطين أحتاج المساعدة من اهل الخير ضروري جدا استحلفكم بالله انا وضعي صعب جدا ومريض …..
    مناشدتي لكم وكلي امل بالله ثم فيك يا من تقرأ رسالتي هذه أسال الله ان يحفظك ويوفقك وان يبعد دمعتك ويرفع منزلتك ويقضي حاجتك كما ستقضي حاجتي وأن يبارك لك في مالك وذريتك ويبارك بعمرك ويصلح بالك قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم ( من فرج عن مؤمن كربة من كرب الدنيا فرج الله كربة من كرب يوم القيامة ، و أن الله في عون العبد ما دام العبد بعون اخيه )…

    أبلغ من العمر 38 عاما غير متزوج لعدم قدرتي علي الزواج بسبب الفقر وظروفي المادية الصعبة .. حيث أنني انهيت دراستي الجامعية منذ أكثر من 10 أعوام ولكنني لم أجد أي وظيفة نتيجة وضع البلد الاقتصادي السيئ نتيجة الحصار الصهيوني المفروض علي غزة منذ 14 عاما و أنا الآن مديون ومطالب بسداد الدين إلي أصحابه والا الحبس للأسف وان تم سجني بسبب الديون سوف تضيع عائلي من بعدي
    فمنذ وفاه والدي وجدت نفسي مسؤول عن عائلتي و عن بيتي بالكامل والدتي مريضة وتحتاج الي العلاج الدائم وعندي اخواتي أيضا
    وأنا أعاني منذ فترة ليست بالبعيدة من آلام في ظهري ادي الي بعض المشاكل في رجلي اليسري و قطع في أوتار يدي اليسري أيضا حيث تعرضت اثناء عملي لسقوط من علو نتيجة قصف إسرائيلي قريب من مكان عملي واحتاج الي عملية جراحية ضرورية وانا لا أملك تكاليف العملية
    وانا الان احتاج الي إجراء العملية بشكل سريع والا سيتسبب الي بإعاقة كاملة في رجلي اليسري
    فمنذ وفاه والدي رحمه الله وانا احاول أن اعمل بأي شي حتي استطيع تلبيه احتياجات عائلتي الأساسية والضرورية ولكنني الان لا استطيع بسبب وضعي الصحي السيئ ان اوفر احتياجات اسرتي من طعام وشراب ولا استطيع ان اوفر علاج لوالدتي وعلاجي ايضا أو ان أوفر تكاليف لإجراء العملية الخاصة بي
    ونحن الان الله اعلم بحالنا وظروفنا السيئة التي نعيشها اخواني بالله أهل الخير حفظكم الله اقسم بالله العظيم اننا لا نجد في بيتنا الطعام معظم الأوقات في هذه الأيام اقسم بالله أنني في أمس الحاجة للمساعدة وما نقص مال من صدقة يا أهل الخير ..
    قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم ( اتقي النار ولو بشق تمره ) وكذلك يحثنا ديننا الاسلام ورسولنا محمد صلي الله عليهم وسلم علي الصدقات للمحتاجين وانا وعائلتي بامس الحاجة الي المساعدة العاجلة وبارك الله فيكم جعله في ميزان حسناتكم ..
    من اراد مساعدتي هذا رقم الواتساب أو الايمو الخاص بي
    00970595972242

  12. Tang Weng Kit

    October 21, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    Stop unsustainable logging in Malaysia.

  13. Anjan Goddu

    October 21, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    So are you ready to plant more trees as your contribution

  14. Dizholut

    October 21, 2020 at 3:38 pm

    Stupid kids

  15. VytautasLDK

    October 21, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    What kind of TEDx bullsht this is and why it’s on TED?

  16. karl der kahle

    October 21, 2020 at 4:42 pm

    And then covid came back….

  17. André Jacques

    October 21, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    So do you want to save the world? Save the children, the World is lost! Did you know about the abuses?

  18. Bruce England

    October 21, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    Assuming any group of people has failed based on their age is both incorrect and grossly insulting.

  19. Teresa Hodges

    October 21, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    Only Jesus can save. Trust in Him only.

  20. Daniela Bartelli

    October 21, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    I don’t understand why so many hateful comments. This fuel my heart with warming hope. This generation will do much better than us for sure…

    • Wonder Traveller

      October 21, 2020 at 7:03 pm

      By this generation u mean from the first world? I was also born in this generation and we care about nature but we don’t protest to show off

  21. Julio

    October 21, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    is this comment section just bots from the fossil fuel industries?

  22. Wapadragon

    October 21, 2020 at 11:32 pm

    Yes, our species is doomed. But that doesn’t mean we should give up. We just need to accept the fact that it isn’t about failure or success in the end, but rather about whether we tried to succeed. It’s the journey, not the destination. The end of the world shouldn’t be anything more than another fact of life, same as death comes to all of us, it will come to our planet and our species eventually. What matters is that when we die, we can look back on the world and be proud of what we accomplished.

  23. WanderingThought

    October 22, 2020 at 12:41 am

    Go to the source of the problem. Companies

  24. a

    October 22, 2020 at 1:02 am

    what does a-o-lita mean?

  25. Lee Gilliam

    October 22, 2020 at 1:05 am

    Before you speak about what we “old people” did or didn’t do maybe you should do some research on what was going on in the 50s 60s 70s and early 80s. If you believe your generation has the answer we wish you the best in this struggle. Keep in mind the system is a shape shifter, as it can easily take your fight and turn it into theirs. As they can do this with your endorsement willful or not. Still we wish you the best in, what is now your fight.

  26. Peter Clark

    October 22, 2020 at 2:55 am

    I came expecting to find a viable recipe for bullshit. It didn’t even get that high. Hey, it could be that no matter what we do this species is totally ill-equipped to be a good husband to this Earth. We already know it is a temporary refuge, the Universe will reclaim it: Ergo getting out into the beyond is the only solution. Stupid solutions will not be required.

  27. mohamed naseer

    October 22, 2020 at 4:11 am

    I like it very much whether her pronounsation, And her feelings

  28. heffa

    October 22, 2020 at 4:24 am

    You’re such an inspiration to me, Xiye!!! ♥️ Thank you for all you do.

  29. Max Johnson

    October 22, 2020 at 4:41 am

    is she aware that as societies become wealthier they begin to care more about the environment? oh, and tree cover is increasing again the last few years. ted needs to stop pushing this leftist bullshit.

  30. Grey Knight

    October 22, 2020 at 4:42 am

    Simple solutions for complex problems for use of weaponizing children for a political aim. The world is not on the precipice of ending from “climate change” or CO2. There is an epidemic of people convinced they understand all of the variables in problem that they don’t have the full equation to work with.

    Every study that even slightly contradicts the narrative is defunded and banned, the few that do get completed are self-funded and get censored but no one is even paying attention or batting an eye when they do see it because they start with their preconceived answers and construct hypothesis and method to arrive at the same conclusion. People use the word _”science”_ in place of describing observable and measurable data.

    Not a single one will touch on Milankovitch Cycles, solar cycles, orbital mechanics, orbital precession, entropy, high altitude vs low altitude CO2, or actual historical temperature and weather data from the past 150 years and the amount of editing and incompleteness in the original climate reports over 50 years ago that eliminated low temperature outliers at a rate of 2:1.

    People just fall back into saying _”the science is settled”_ and _”Debunked”_

  31. Rob A65

    October 22, 2020 at 5:16 am

    A problem we need to solve I agree, but if your serious, all generations must take responsibility, beyond protesting, for their personal direct impact. As a father of 3 teenagers I spend my day turning off lights, shutting down computers/tvs/aircon left on. I drive them to the bus for school because they wont walk, they buy packaged food and uber-eats because they cant be bothered to make a simple meal, they say they are concerned about the environment but their actions refute that. We ALL need to make the change at the individual level, if a whole generation became fruggle in their personal impact on the environment, and that became their habit, the impact would cascade for multiple generations.

  32. Xaro Xhoan Daxos

    October 22, 2020 at 7:19 am

    I would take you kids more seriously if you weren’t also demanding we ban nuclear energy, which is the only immediate solution to a carbon negative power grid. Someone who purports to be a climate change activist, yet wants to ban nuclear power, is either evil or ignorant and not worth listening to.

  33. fpwu

    October 22, 2020 at 10:58 am

    Couple of thousand clicks on a channel with >18 mio. followers – not impressive. And a large portion of dislikes, too. Seems, the 2019 hype of catastrophism is already over. As hypes go…

  34. Deyan

    October 22, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    This is the first generation of humans who would be disowned by their parents AS WELL AS their children.

    Can’t wait.

  35. Miri Nannestad

    October 23, 2020 at 3:26 am

    Hey, I know that no one really cares about what I am saying or anything. But I need to share this. God changed my life. I was seriously ill and found no joy and I was so broken. But now, I am whole and free and loved and I love myself so much. God is very much real scientifically and He loves you so, so, so much. I can’t keep this to myself. Please, find Him. It will change your life because of how huge His love is for you! 🥰🥰🥰

    • Paul

      October 23, 2020 at 10:50 pm

      Glad that you found a path that brought you comfort and joy. 😇🙂

  36. Kiyohshi

    October 23, 2020 at 5:29 am

    A NYC kid LETS GOO

  37. Zahra Lahmi

    October 23, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    👏👏👏

  38. Robert Miller

    October 24, 2020 at 4:18 am

    That’s nice and all…but get back to us when you’re an adult and have accumulated some actual real life experiences such as being responsible for having to put food on the table, a roof over your head, etc. Here’s an idea – instead of pitching a fit for _other people_ to “do something” – get a STEM degree, and start a business developing green technology. Or get a finance degree and organize funding for people with STEM degrees to start businesses and develop green technology. Instead of demanding other people make the changes you would like to impose on them in your imaginary world of candy canes rainbows, and skittles, BE the change you think should happen.

    I mean, you’re pitching a fit for _other people_ to “do something” – what exactly do you expect people to do that is something that can actually happen and not something you _imagine_ you would like to happen? If you don’t know how something actually works in reality (like the world), how exactly do you think you are qualified to demand other people do things that you know nothing about how it actually works? Maybe before presuming to tell other people how to fly the plane, you should yourself first learn how to fly a plane.

    And yes, I know I will get flamed…don’t care. Someone has to unload a dose of reality here.

    Seriously – running around waving little signs doesn’t do crap. People have been doing that for decades. That doesn’t CREATE anything useful to actually solve any problems. While you lazy useless grifters are running around waving your little signs, virtue signalling, thinking you’re so much better and “enlightened” than everyone else – you aren’t DOING crap. While you’re doing that crap, the ADULTS are DOING the WORK of developing _that technology._ Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And you don’t see it because you are running around with your little signs and you AREN’T in the labs with the _adults_ ACTUALLY doing the WORK, you AREN’T working with the _adults_ doing the leg work of chasing down funding to fund the startups and the research and the development. You AREN’T working with the _adults_ creating and building the companies that are developing those technologies and the products. Why? Because that’s too much like actual WORK. Why WORK when you just run around waving signs showing people how special you think you are? You want to DO something? Then CREATE something USEFUL that will make it possible for humanity to get away from fossil fuels.

    • Mdiy

      October 24, 2020 at 8:59 pm

      You are right that waving signs doesn’t change things as much as we would like, but she’s doing the best she can at the moment. The politicians are the ones who need to change the legislation but they have no incentive to do that unless we pressure them. She could definitely get a STEM degree and change the world that way in the future when she’s old enough to go to college, but it might be too late then. And there’s no harm in lobbying for change to start now. Also, people have been inventing solutions to our climate problem, but big oil and other companies lobby against them because they would lose money. We as individuals contribute very little to the climate crisis in comparison to the big corporations.

  39. Million Roots

    October 24, 2020 at 9:04 am

    yes we can do this and with MillionRoots instead of talking demanding and complaining we have easy solution to start changing yourself,your community with education and easy actions . start planting healthy roots

  40. Lieve Leysen

    October 24, 2020 at 10:36 am

    💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖😊💖

    As adults we often forget what life really is about; fooled by our head.
    If everybody would be able to focus on Feeling always and everywhere and do everything with the intention to have and create positive feelings for everybody and everything involved, included yourself :
    🌹 Our world would become the beautiful and healthy planet that we need.
    🌹 Our hearts would shine and radiate happiness ✨💖✨
    🌹 We would practice what life really is about:
    😄❤️ Love and Joy ❤️😄

    And all our children and grandchildren could live as children again , carefree and really enjoying life .

    Thank you for this message
    😊💖🙏🏻

    #discoverenjoyfeelgood2

  41. Terry Wheelock

    October 24, 2020 at 11:02 am

    WE are not hurting the “world” one bit …… the IDIOTS that inhabit the Earth are just making it unlivable for themselves and will EXTINCT themselves …….. the world will be juuuuussssst fine without them! I think EVERYONE will agree with that!

    IF they do ……. maaayyyybe we can save ourselves!

    PS: The Earth is a DYING planet, has been since the day it was born! It will be a COLD DEAD PLANET like Mars in about 5.2 BILLION years, AND before that the Sun will RED GIANT in about 4.8 BILLION years, AND an Asteroid will hit the Earth within the next 150 years, ……. BUT what are the chances that the HUMAN RACE will EXTINCT itself before then!?

    Prove me WRONG! ….. And i am an OPTOMIST!

  42. Hazel

    October 24, 2020 at 11:41 pm

    We need more people to think, speak, be critical on the issue to save our planet like her.
    Of course , the answer is EDUCATION!

  43. Justin Kincaid

    October 25, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    Good intentions but the children of today are way too damn stupid do get anything done.

  44. Fnidner

    October 25, 2020 at 6:05 pm

    is she single

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