Prince William is calling on people across the world to take action amid the growing climate crisis.
The Duke of Cambridge gave his first-ever TED Talk as part of the organization’s Countdown Global Launch, which was held to spur solutions for repairing our planet.
William – who, like his father Prince Charles and brother Prince Harry, has been outspoken when it comes to protecting the environment – filmed his talk from underneath a massive oak tree on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
“This oak tree is close to Windsor Castle, which has been home to my family for over 900 years,” he explained. “Thirty-nine monarchs have lived here and enjoyed here beautiful surroundings. I’ve walked here many times myself, and it always amazes me that some of the trees planted here, living organisms, dependent on soil, rain and sunlight, were here as they laid the first stones on Windsor Castle. That makes some of the oaks here almost 1,000 years old.”
William went on to describe all of the incredible progress that has occurred over the near-millennia these trees have stood.
“Human has invented air travel, vaccines and computers. We’ve explored every part of the globe, sequenced the human genome and even escaped Earth’s atmosphere. Our speed of innovation has been incredible, but so too has acceleration of our impact. Over my grandmother’s lifetime, the last 90 years or so, our impact has accelerated so fast that our climate, oceans, air, nature and all that depends on them, are in peril. This oak has stood here for centuries, but never has it faced a decade like this,” he said.
The future king then called the 2020s “the most consequential period in history” in terms of the health of our planet.
“The science is irrefutable. If we do not act in this decade, the damage that we have done will be irreversible and the effects felt not just by future generations, but by all of us alive today,” he urged.
As a way to inspire immediate solutions, William then called for “Earthshots,” inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s famous “Moonshot” to get a man on the moon within a decade.
“Rather than a Moonshot for this decade, we need Earthshots. We must harness that same spirit of human ingenuity and purpose and turn it with laser-sharp focus and urgency on the most pressing challenge we have ever faced: repairing our planet,” William said.
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View GalleryThe prince called on everyone to get involved in the initiative.
“Whether you’re a farmer in the U.S., a tech owner in China, a politician in Kenya, a banker in Britain, a fisherman in the Maldives, a community leader in Brazil or a student in India, every single one of us has a role to play in harnessing whatever opportunity we have,” he said. “I’m committed to using the unique position that I have to help set those Earthshot goals and reward people across every sector of society and in every part of the world who do their bit to help achieve them.”
William has already started playing his part in setting Earthshot goals. Earlier this week, the royal announced the Earthshot Prize, a new award to be awarded to those who come up with ideas to solve the world’s environmental problems.