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"Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert," begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, it's happening to about two-thirds of the world's grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes -- and his work so far shows -- that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

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Held October 24, 2011, the event, "Environmental Migrants: Climate Change and Human Migration," was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Portugal and of Germany, and featured remarks and discussion from three panelists: Udo Janz, Director of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Susan Martin, Associate Professor of International Migration and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University; and Michele Klein Solomon, Permanent Observer to the United Nations for International Organization for Migration.

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In rural areas of India, solid and liquid waste remains largely untreated and dumped in the open, posing a severe threat to public health and environment. It is estimated that nearly 18,000 million liters of liquid waste and 0.4 million metric tons of solid waste is generated each day in rural areas of India. Adopting effective systems at scale is the only reliable way to dispose this waste safely and sustainably. Several working models of waste management in rural parts of the country have been successfully implemented not only at the household, but also at the institutional and community level. This video, produced by the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program in partnership with Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, shares these models, the selected technology options, and how they work. This film, produced by the Water and Sanitation Program in partnership with Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, shares these models, selected technology options and how they work.

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http://www.ted.com Physicist Steven Cowley is certain that nuclear fusion is the only truly sustainable solution to the fuel crisis. He explains why fusion will work -- and details the projects that he and many others have devoted their lives to, working against the clock to create a new source of energy.

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http://www.ted.com Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world's largest freestanding bamboo building.