Hi, it's Elise Hu, and you're listening to TED Talks Daily.

So if you had to explain to a newborn or an alien what it means to be a human being living on

earth in the 21st century, what would you say?

The visual artist Oliver Jeffers, who's the illustrator behind the Day the Crayons quit, put his answer into a new book and it inspired today's talk.

He reminds us how important it is to shift our perspectives, to change the frames we use to see things.

I found his message not just humbling, but inspiring.

I came away from it thinking we can unlock opportunities to survive as a species,

especially with the choices we make in this crisis.

Hello, I'm sure by the time I get to the end of this sentence,

given how I talk, you'll all have figured

out that I'm from a place called planet Earth. Earth is pretty great. It's home to us and germs.

Those f***ing to take a back seat for the time being, because believe it or not, they're not the only thing going on.

This planet is also home to cars.

Brussels sprouts. Those weird fish things that have their own headlights.

Art. Fire extinguishers. Laws. Pigeons. Bolls and light bulbs. Pinoir.

And paracetamol. Ghosts. Mosquitoes. Flamongos. Flores. The ukulele. Elevators and cats. Cat videos. The internet. Iron beams. Mosquitoes, flamingos, flowers, the ukulele, elevators and cats, cat videos,

the internet, iron beams, buildings and batteries, all ingenuity and bred ideas, all known life,

and a whole bunch of other stuff. Pretty much everything we know and ever heard of. It's my

favourite place, actually. This small orb floating in a cold and lonely part of the cosmos.

Oh, the accent is from Belfast, by the way.

You may think you know this planet Earth, as you're from here,

but chances are you probably haven't thought about the basics in a while.

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