Jane Poynter- TED Talk #5

What are your take-aways from this video? What are the speaker's effective speaking techniques? What is his/her personal style? What matters from this video? How does it connect to you personally? To education? To the world?

In this TED Talk, Jane Poynter, one of the scientists involved in the Biosphere 2 project, reflected on her experiences and learnings while preforming this revolutionary experiment. From this video, I learned that by creating and applying new ideas, the world can evolve and progress by learning new information. For example through this experiment, scientists learned that it was possible to create a similar environment to that of Earth. This enabled today's scientist to build off of the results of Biosphere 2 to create new experiments that include plants, agriculture, and the progress of different cultures in the world.
Throughout this video, Poynter maintained an enthusiastic attitude throughout her entire speech. This allowed the audience to become more entertained by the information she was sharing, as well as become more involved in what she was saying. She also shared numerous visuals of her life inside Biosphere 2. This helped Poynter make her statements more clear and easier to understand by providing examples. I believe Poynter's personal style was very layed-back and calm. She was able to share her ideas with clarity and was direct with her ideas in order to refrain from confusion. Instead of using scientific terms that few would understand, she instead applied her ideas to the real world and aspects that her audience could relate to.
I believe that Jane Poynter's numerous messages such as "the small stuff counts," the idea that we affect the world with everything we, as a people, do and her suggestions to return to our roots were the most evident pieces of information in her speech. She urged the idea of simplicity. Through her experiences in the Biosphere 2, such as growing her own food and maintaining an equilibrium inside the small atmosphere, she was able to appreciate the ability to live naturally, without the vast concepts of today's society. She encouraged others to think about how they affect others as well as the environment through their actions. She also explained how new ideas can lead to more inventions, much like the ideas of Daniel Pink in his chapter of Symphony. Through the data collected during the Biosphere 2 experiment, scientists around the world were able to gain more knowledge of how the Earth's environment works, allowing them to create more and build off their previous knowledge to formulate new ideas. Personally, I found interest in this subject because I had recently visited Biosphere 2 during Spring Break. It intrigued me and made me wonder what else could come from this experiment. Through this video, I was able to learn that every aspect of our lives affects the Earth and those around us. Everything is connected. Everything on Earth relies on others to exist, no one can live alone. I think this reflects the ideas of collaboration that Pink shares in his book, A Whole New Mind. It connects his ideas of integrating both the left and right hemispheres of the brain to the idea that everything on the world is connected. In able to progress as a society, we must learn how to incorporate every aspect to create new ideas, technology, and ways of living.