Thaalavattam is not a band, it’s a project, and an experience. Montry might be at the centre of it, but it’s mainly about collaborative work, not just with musicians, but also with visual artists

Thaalavattam is not a band, it’s a project, and an experience. Montry might be at the centre of it, but it’s mainly about collaborative work, not just with musicians, but also with visual artists and designers from all fields who have the passion to experiment and create. He creates all his instruments with reused material like industrial discarded materials, shock absorbers, paint cans, soda bottle crowns, pet bottles, bicycle parts and discarded PVC pipes etc. We have a lot of inspirations and influences from nature, colours, people, what I see in every day life, conversations, found objects like floating jugs, plastic bags and bottles, graphic design, experiences of my travels around the world, street music and so on. Inspiration is all around. Our motto is Reduce Reuse Retune and the vision is to CLEAN THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH MUSIC. Montry Thaalavattam was 'the first live act from India’, having performed at the O.Z.O.R.A. Music Festival (DRAGON-NEST) in Hungary in 2014, and were honoured to be part of the opening and closing acts. We have played in 2015, and invited to headline again in 2016, making it three years in a row. Also we have been part of TEDx Vienna and various festivals in Europe like Tree of Life Gathering (Austria), Tanz durch den Tag Aufwind Festival (Austria), Griasdi Handpan Festival (Austria), Ancient Festival (Germany), Sisyphos (Berlin), Burning Mountain (Switzerland), Samsara Festival (Hungary), Sun Festival (Hungary), Rostfest (Austria), Garbicz Festival (Poland) Amsterdam dance event 2019 Montry Manuel, an environmentalist and musician born and brought up at Cochin. Currently he is based in Austria. Montry had the love for music since his childhood. He was influenced by his father for all his creative ways of living and the love for music. He was trained by his guru Jerry Peter (Cochin) who instilled in him the love of drums. Also he worked in the field of advertising as a art director for about 10 years while pursuing music as a hobby till he decided to be a musician full-time. He was a founding member of the renowned Indian band “Swarathma” and was with them for seven years. They created 3 albums, many collaborative works and toured the country and the world extensively. Montry always been interested in experimenting and creating new sounds, so he started to ideate in creating music from FOUND OBJECTS in 2010. He separated from Swarathma and created the “idea” of Thaalavattam (local language of Kerala, India, it translates to “A Circle of Rhythm”) in 2011 in Bangalore (India). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and Olympic diver Greg Louganis join us for a fireside chat to discuss what it’s like to thrive as an athlete on the world's biggest sporting stage, how things have

Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and Olympic diver Greg Louganis join us for a fireside chat to discuss what it’s like to thrive as an athlete on the world's biggest sporting stage, how things have evolved for LGBTQ+ competitors and what work remains in the quest to create a more inclusive world for future generations of rising queer athletes. Learn more about Gus here: https://guskenworthy.com/ Learn more about Greg here: https://greglouganis.com/ Gus Kenworthy is known as one of the best all-around park skiers of all time and is one of the only athletes to have podium finishes across all three disciplines: slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air. In 2014, Gus won a silver medal for Team USA at the inaugural slopestyle of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. At the 2018 Olympics, Gus made history by becoming the first openly gay man to compete for the U.S. in a Winter Olympics. In 2015, Gus came out on the cover of ESPN Magazine, becoming the first openly gay professional athlete in any action sport. Gus has also had cameos on “The Real O’Neals,” “Will & Grace,” and “Olympic Dreams,” and in 2019 landed a role on Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story: 1984.” He has also appeared on “The Late Show,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Conan,” “GMA,” “The Today Show,” “Larry King,” and moreGus also guest-judged on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Top Chef,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” and “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” and starred in Paramount’s film “80 for Brady."In 2022, Gus started the Worthy Foundation, to give back to the LGBTQ+ community and participated in the AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2019, raising $249,745 for the organization. He works with the Trevor Project, Happy Hippie Foundation, GLSEN, and The Humane Society International. Greg Louganis is considered one of the greatest divers in history. With a total of 5 Olympic medals, 5 World Championship titles, 6 Pan American titles and 47 national titles, his records remain unbroken. Greg is the only male to win gold medals on both 3 meter springboard and 10 meter platform in consecutive Olympic Games (1984, 1988). As the undisputed GOAT of mindset, Greg shares his knowledge and wisdom through his meditation and mindfulness course, as well as through his books: “How to Make the Podium” and “For the Life of Your Dog.” Today, as a coach, speaker, author, actor, activist and humanitarian he continues his tradition of excellence. Causes close to his heart include HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+, Adoption/Foster Care, Mental Health/Addiction, Human Rights, Animals, Environmental Issues and Climate Change. Moderated by Marcos Pérez-Ogilvie.

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Three years after it was signed, are supporters of the Paris Agreement still correct that it’s the first truly global step toward a sustainable future, or are critics right that the pact is not

Three years after it was signed, are supporters of the Paris Agreement still correct that it’s the first truly global step toward a sustainable future, or are critics right that the pact is not nearly ambitious enough? “The Paris agreement in some ways has this top-down, bottom-up relationship,” says Katharine Mach, a Senior Research Scientist at Stanford University and a co-leader of the IPCC working group on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. “If 30 years from now we look back and say the Paris agreement was successful, largely it will be because it has provided predictability to enable all of the other bottom-up action.” But, she adds, “if you really wanna say are we doing enough, the answer hands down, still is no.” Not enough to meet the ambitious Paris target of limiting post-industrial warming to 1.5°, perhaps. But there are risks to framing the success or failure of Paris as a binary challenge where either the world gets to 1.5° or it’s Armageddon. ”The progress that we've already made in bending the emissions curve down has avoided just a massive amount of future human suffering,” says Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, where his team focuses on analyzing the economic risk of global climate change. “And the progress that is certainly within our reach is another large quantum of benefit that we shouldn’t abandon while continuing to work towards that one 1.5°, 2° target.” And later in the show: Climate change is a global problem that no one country can solve on its own. And when it comes to cutting emissions, some countries are moving quickly. But the absence of U.S. climate leadership is causing others to ease off their goals. “We need to decarbonize the world economy really quickly and at massive scale,” says Joshua Goldstein, co-author of A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow. “The metric that matters here is carbon going into the atmosphere,” he notes. “It's not how many renewables you put in or how many nuclear plants you put in... it’s how much carbon is going up.” Goldstein’s co-author, energy consultant Staffan Qvist, points to his native Sweden as one country that has successfully decarbonized its electricity grid. “In Sweden, for instance, half of the power comes from hydroelectric and half from nuclear,” he explains, “so it's kind of the ideal place in the world to try to do 100% renewables.” But Qvist points to another European country – Germany – as illustrating the perils of pursuing a goal of 100% renewables for its own sake. #letstalkclimate https://climateone.org/ Paris was more successful than Copenhagen 2:33 Is Paris healthy at three? 6:01 The Climate Action Tracker: 9:19 How Some Countries Are Solving Climate Change 13:00 Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima 20:16

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The film "They/Them" explores how trans climber Lor Sabourin uses climbing in northern Arizona to navigate identity, build resilience, and foster an inclusive community. Lor embraces vulnerability to thrive and inspire others.

Content Warning: The film discusses sensitive topics including eating disorders, body dysphoria, self-harm, sexual assault, and suicide. Viewer discretion is advised. Support resources are available: The Trevor Project, Trans Lifeline, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, National Eating Disorders Association Helpline.

We encourage positive, constructive discussion and prohibit hate speech or bullying.

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SDG 16 “Peace Justice and strong institutions” includes a target to Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international

SDG 16 “Peace Justice and strong institutions” includes a target to Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. Are we meeting that goal for Indigenous Peoples? Learn from a study on this topic co-produced by UNPFII Indigenous Media Caucus, Cultural Survival, and WACC. Panelists: Jenni Monet (K’awaikame /Laguna Pueblo), Award-winning Investigative Journalist David Hernández Palmar (Wayuu), The International Indigenous Film Showcase of Venezuela Marianne Dekker (KhoiSan), Valley FM, South Africa Jagat Man Lama Dong, Indigenous Community Radio Network in Nepal Jose Manuel Ramos Rodriguez, Researcher of Media Caucus Study

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Oil has found its way into just about every product on the planet, just look around you. If we're going to keep climate change to a manageable level by decarbonizing our global economy, then we need

Oil has found its way into just about every product on the planet, just look around you. If we're going to keep climate change to a manageable level by decarbonizing our global economy, then we need to find carbon-neutral ways to replace all of these materials that we're making out of oil today. Luckily, there is one renewable, carbon-neutral resource we have that can compete with oil in terms of its versatility: industrial hemp. Oil has found its way into just about every product on the planet, just look around you. If we're going to keep climate change to a manageable level by decarbonizing our global economy, then we need to find carbon-neutral ways to replace all of these materials that we're making out of oil today. Luckily, there is one renewable, carbon-neutral resource we have that can compete with oil in terms of its versatility: industrial hemp. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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The EarthSayers podcast recently featured filmmaker Trevor Tejeda-Gervais to discuss his documentary, "The True Cost of Burning Coal: Iowa’s Dirty Secret."

The episode reveals Iowa's

The EarthSayers podcast recently featured filmmaker Trevor Tejeda-Gervais to discuss his documentary, "The True Cost of Burning Coal: Iowa’s Dirty Secret."

The episode reveals Iowa's continued heavy reliance on coal, despite its wind-energy leadership, and the resulting dangers to communities and the environment. This podcast, a Sustainability Action Media project for EarthSayers, was produced by Bob Trench and interviewed by Paul Steinbroner. (September 2025)

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Discover The Natural Step and sustainability explained in a fantastic two-minute animation. This video clearly outlines the core concepts of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), including its four sustainability principles.

Written by our friends at RealEyes in Dublin, who specialize in helping organizations benefit from sustainability, and developed by Trevor Courtney at Igloo Animations, this engaging resource simplifies complex ideas. We encourage you to watch, like, and share it widely to promote understanding of sustainability and the FSSD.

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We're thrilled to present an animated video that explains The Natural Step Framework and sustainability in just two minutes. This fantastic resource clarifies core concepts, making them accessible to a wider audience.

Created by RealEyes in Dublin and animated by Trevor Courtney at Igloo Animations, this video helps organizations understand and benefit from sustainability. We encourage you to watch, like, and share it to spread awareness of the framework.

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