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Why Are We Making Pizza Boxes Out of Endangered Trees? | Nicole Rycroft | TED

If we’re going to solve the climate crisis, we need to talk about supply chains, says biodiversity champion and 2023 Audacious grantee Nicole Rycroft. Her organization, Canopy, partners with key industry leaders to overhaul their base materials in favor of more sustainable alternatives. Learn more about how they’re shifting production of everything from T-shirts to…

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If we’re going to solve the climate crisis, we need to talk about supply chains, says biodiversity champion and 2023 Audacious grantee Nicole Rycroft. Her organization, Canopy, partners with key industry leaders to overhaul their base materials in favor of more sustainable alternatives. Learn more about how they’re shifting production of everything from T-shirts to the Harry Potter book series out of the world’s ancient and endangered forests — and how solutions for every sector are closer than we think.

This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED’s initiative to inspire and fund global change. Learn more at .

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57 Comments

57 Comments

  1. Jason Hare

    July 17, 2023 at 8:34 am

    You know I’ve had a solution for this for a long time but I didn’t realize it was actually needed . Reusable plastic pizza boxes made of recycled plastic that come with a deposit like old milk bottles did or Coke bottles … You can either keep the container and use it for storage yourself or return it for your deposit on your next order .

    • Danny Boahhh

      July 17, 2023 at 9:39 am

      you can’t remove microplastics from our ocean or water, but you can always re-plant a tree or plant a new one. Please tell me how plastic is the better solution here. Plastic is destroying our planet. we dont need any more plastic and we need to go back to paper ASAP. Just plant more trees, its not that hard

    • Azaria Space

      July 17, 2023 at 10:25 am

      @Danny Boahhhmake it out of metal or wood then

    • Feedback ZA Loop

      July 17, 2023 at 2:53 pm

      @Azaria Space isn’t cardboard boxes made of _wood_ exactly the problem discussed here?

    • Austin Denotter

      July 17, 2023 at 5:42 pm

      I simply like the idea of planting trees and using them over and over. Like a crop

  2. Feedback ZA Loop

    July 17, 2023 at 8:37 am

    Wait, what?! Endangered forests are cut down and we are talking about how to minimize it instead of how it is allowed in the first place?

    • Feedback ZA Loop

      July 17, 2023 at 12:51 pm

      @Sibylle Leon there is always a market for absolutely anything. Human trafficking too, btw.

    • Jordan Johnson-Verburg

      July 17, 2023 at 2:32 pm

      It’s been a topic and talked about for a long long time. This is a response effort to try and dry up market to stop it. It’s one of many efforts, nor will it be just a singular effort in order to make it no longer an issue.

    • Feedback ZA Loop

      July 17, 2023 at 2:51 pm

      @Jordan Johnson-Verburg apparently long but not loud enough. This here is not the effort to dry the market, but to secure market positions of big players the moment their @$$es get whooped for corrupt agreements with local government bodies.
      Now, rerouting the supply (naturally) happens only with emergence of new players with cheaper options. As it is not feasible to offer sustainable supply cheaper, the unethical and illigal option must become too expensive to continue.

    • Austin Denotter

      July 17, 2023 at 5:41 pm

      Not sure what endangered Forest that she’s talking about. She is trying to conjure up images of old-growth timber. When in reality it is fast-growing small trees that make the best pulp. The reason she wants to do it from plastic is because plastic is made from oil. You will find out that many of these eco-warriors actually work for oil companies

    • trader2137

      July 17, 2023 at 6:48 pm

      its allowed because why not? who cares about some trees LOL

  3. I’m better than you

    July 17, 2023 at 8:41 am

    Who cares, plant more trees

    • Matthew

      July 17, 2023 at 9:24 am

      Oh my sweet summer child…

  4. Jess Mason

    July 17, 2023 at 9:28 am

    Lobbyists. Building up multiple-story buildings with hydroponics and LED lighting not only saves land, water, and pesticide use, it also allows farms to return to the wild by 60%. Hemp can easily be used for plastic, construction materials and paper production.

  5. Danny Boahhh

    July 17, 2023 at 9:37 am

    You can always re-plant a tree or a new tree! You CAN’T pull microplastics out of our water supply or the ocean. Progressives are ruining this planet with all of their stupid ideas since before the 1970’s

    • Matthew

      July 17, 2023 at 11:16 am

      Or maybe… just maybe… eat less pizza?

      I know, I know I am a dirty liberal 😅

    • Danny Boahhh

      July 17, 2023 at 12:52 pm

      @Matthew well, if you want “compassion” for yourself, stop eating pizza. If you want to express “compassion” for the planet: Wind, Solar, Plastic, or mining various non-abundant rare earth metals are terrible solutions at almost every angle. They are destroying the planet at a quicker rate than fossil fuel. Nuclear Fusion, Electric Cars, Paper, other plant based material, glass, and planting trees will save this planet. All other options are “compassionate” at the very best and really turn out to be worse than fossil fuels when you get into the nitty gritty.

  6. suicune2001

    July 17, 2023 at 9:56 am

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

    “They found that under the most extreme scenario, where no animal products are consumed at all, adequate food production in 2050 could be achieved on less land than is currently used, allowing considerable forest regeneration, and reducing land-based greenhouse gas emissions to one third of the reference “business-as-usual” case for 2050.”

    • Adam Knott

      July 17, 2023 at 7:38 pm

      Sounds about right. Just learned a few days ago that 40% or so of habitable land is used for livestock production. Wild what we can do with that space if we simply got rid of the animal industry

    • suicune2001

      July 17, 2023 at 8:28 pm

      @Adam Knott Yep. 1.3 billion cows eat more food than the entire human race. Dairy cows need something like 23 MILLION calories a day to produce 10 pounds worth of milk. Then there’s 50+ billion chickens and the 800 million pigs. We feed the pigs so much they weigh about 300 pounds when sent to slaughter at only 6 months old. All this food we’re using to fatten up animals could be used to feed starving people.

    • Austin Denotter

      July 18, 2023 at 1:19 am

      @Adam Knott or humans. Why don’t we start with you

    • Adam Knott

      July 18, 2023 at 6:20 am

      @Austin Denotter so clever

  7. Tom Payne

    July 17, 2023 at 9:59 am

    Please stop using the word “sexy”.

    • Matthew

      July 17, 2023 at 11:15 am

      We loathe what we don’t have 😙

  8. Esrat Jahan Eti

    July 17, 2023 at 10:06 am

    Thank you for news❤❤❤❤

  9. mark quickel

    July 17, 2023 at 10:06 am

    Oh, geez. We do not make rayon and boxes from old growth forests. It would make no sense. Lumber is far more valuable than paper. Virtually all paper is made from tree farms. To be absolutely clear, most trees harvested for paper were specifically planted for that purpose. When we recycle paper, ironically, that means fewer trees planted in tree farms.

    Why would industry turn valuable lumber into less valuable products, like paper? They wouldn’t, and they don’t.

    • TruePrime

      July 18, 2023 at 9:49 am

      Exactly, what nonsense.

  10. Willful Mystic

    July 17, 2023 at 11:00 am

    The USA needs to stop corn production and replant the forests in it’s stead.

  11. Lighty

    July 17, 2023 at 11:31 am

    bruh

  12. Alpha863 Leader

    July 17, 2023 at 11:32 am

    Not saying there isn’t any evidence in here about them doing anything about the situation, but I would like a slide show of the endangered forest that the company has stopped the destruction of. And showing how they prevent the deforestation in the future. It’s like you are a facade that does not show evidence of you doing the thing you say are doing.

  13. Deez Nuts

    July 17, 2023 at 11:55 am

    Out of all the problems the world faces, I think caring about a certain type of tree that can be replanted is the least of our worries. 😂

  14. Daniel Gaddis

    July 17, 2023 at 12:06 pm

    Obviously, mandatory mandatory pizza box recycling law is needed. A pizza box recycling agency… P b r .. And a pizza box recycling agency czar.

    • Tom Payne

      July 17, 2023 at 4:04 pm

      I agree. Let’s get the government involved in this non-issue!

  15. Lynn Rolaf

    July 17, 2023 at 12:28 pm

    So simple, how do we push them harder to make the change NOW?!!!

    • Marc Volpe

      July 17, 2023 at 10:40 pm

      LYNN YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL ADORABLE SEDUCTIVE RAVISHING SENSUAL SEXY CAPTIVATING AND PASSIONATE MARRY ME ❤

  16. Kimberly

    July 17, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    This title is just a clickbait lie

  17. C Utuber

    July 17, 2023 at 1:09 pm

    Tell them to stop throwing out perfectly good things in the dumpsters rather than donating them to those in need

  18. Jordan Johnson-Verburg

    July 17, 2023 at 2:42 pm

    Great work figuring out many identifiable problems, and then finding solutions to tackle more than one at a time. Taking the feedstock of an already over abundance of tossed articles of clothing that won’t end up tossed as trash onto the beaches of some foreign coast to make the waste “go away” and be somebody else’s problem. It then utilizes a very recognized chemistry in order to reconstitute agri-waste and the spent clothing issues while providing a market for no longer desirable clothing and said agri-waste. As long as viscos-cellulose is being produced responsibly and without environmental hazard, it makes a lot of sense, which is why Rayon and lyocell have been championed in the past, but after examining execution, has had to be reconsidered. After this is then made into this new trademarked viscose cellulose fibers “renewocell”, in it’s endlife can theoretically become it’s own feedstock for renewed fibers for clothing again on an industrial and economical scale. I applaud your work and wish every collaborator the best to come.

  19. Mars Rider One (Official)

    July 17, 2023 at 3:50 pm

    Here in Mindanao, iron wood is cut and sold as chopping boards, cups and decorations. It takes 1500 years for it to mature and my government is just letting it be destroyed.

    • Austin Denotter

      July 18, 2023 at 1:17 am

      Where is Mindanao?

  20. Anon

    July 17, 2023 at 4:59 pm

    Let’s just set an end date. The world will go on just not the majority of us. 🌴

  21. trader2137

    July 17, 2023 at 6:52 pm

    trees are the reason we have forest fires – no trees – no fires.

    • RC

      July 18, 2023 at 8:42 am

      Great solution no more tree no more oxygen no more life

    • trader2137

      July 19, 2023 at 4:31 am

      @RC trees contribute to 25% of oxygen, so lets say there would be 15% of oxygen in air, its the same as it is at 2700m altitude and somehow people can live normally in the mountains

  22. Libelle7B

    July 17, 2023 at 7:35 pm

    All buzzwords, no facts. Study some physics, woman. We cannot make or destroy energy; it merely changes forms. And here’s a newsflash: there’s a gazillion trees. And (gasp!) you can plant new ones….forever! Plus, I’m not willing to put hundreds of workers out of jobs over an actual renewable resource to appease stupid activists who are completely ignorant of reality. These are the most dangerous people on the planet.

  23. OliviA Huff

    July 17, 2023 at 7:35 pm

    Manson family tried to worn us but we wouldn’t listen

  24. Think

    July 17, 2023 at 7:43 pm

    A simple answer to a simple question: “capitalism”

  25. ryche70

    July 17, 2023 at 9:22 pm

    Trees aren’t endangered.

  26. Erik Korhonen

    July 17, 2023 at 9:59 pm

    apparently this lady doesn’t know endangered has an actual definition ..

  27. bobzor

    July 18, 2023 at 5:43 am

    Just put my pizza on a banana leaf

  28. Hiệp khách Hành

    July 18, 2023 at 11:39 am

    Thanks ❤❤🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳

  29. hippie hillbilly

    July 18, 2023 at 8:31 pm

    Hemp, EVERTHING paper can easily be made of hemp

    Plastics can be made of hemp

  30. ulus

    July 18, 2023 at 8:58 pm

    Why are we eating animals as pizza toppings?

  31. James Mitchell

    July 19, 2023 at 12:13 am

    Why does pizza need to be consumed at a different location than where it was cooked?

  32. James Mitchell

    July 19, 2023 at 12:16 am

    Go vegan

  33. Dev ộp

    July 19, 2023 at 12:53 pm

    niche

  34. Fraxlevein

    July 21, 2023 at 11:47 am

    Note to self: Don’t use wooden pizza boxes.

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