The global risk of flooding — and how to turn the tide | Virginia Smith

TED Talks Daily

TED

Creativity, Business, Design, Inspiration, Society & Culture, Science, Technology, Education, Tech Demo, Ted Talks, Ted, Entertainment, Tedtalks

4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2021

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From village to metropolis, global flooding is on the rise, and traditional approaches to managing the swells won't cut it, says water resource engineer Virginia Smith. Giving an overview of the dynamic shift needed to stymie the flow of future storm waters, she explains how each of us can help ensure a sustainable future despite the rising tides.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. The planet is speaking to us these days, loudly. And today's speaker says of all natural disasters, flooding is the most destructive. In her 2021 talk at TEDx Villanova-U, civil engineer Virginia Smith offers a more future-oriented, sustainable
0:23.5	way to address the global challenge presented by flood risk.
0:30.8	I was in a village in Samoa in the South Pacific, and I don't remember when the rain started
0:36.7	just that it didn't stop. For more than a month,
0:41.4	24 hours a day, it just kept coming. The rivers rose and soon no one or nothing could come in or
0:49.7	out. We were just there in the flood.
0:57.3	Have you or a loved one ever been affected by flooding?
0:59.2	Think about it.
1:01.3	Chances are, based on statistics,
1:05.1	you or someone you know has been impacted by flooding.
1:08.0	There's a powerless feeling in a flood.
1:11.2	You can't stop the rivers from rising. But for the first time, we are in a flood. You can't stop the rivers from rising.
1:17.4	But for the first time, we are in a place where we can shift the power paradigm of flooding.
1:22.2	According to the World Resource Institute,
1:26.7	flooding is the most globally impactful of all natural disasters,
1:31.1	taking between 4 to 5,000 lives every year.
1:39.8	In the United States, 14.7 million properties, homes, businesses, are at substantial risk of flooding,
1:45.2	costing costing billions in economic losses every year. In fact, in 2010, we spent $176 billion on global flood recovery.
1:53.2	And by 2080, we're projected to spend over $4 trillion on global flood recovery.
2:05.6	Wow, that's a lot of money. Now I'm talking in terms of groceries because that's something I can wrap my head around. I know how much I
2:09.4	spend on food. But that money could go to anything, to the national debt, health care, education,
2:15.9	back to the citizens, you can do a lot with $4 trillion.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -1200 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.