Guido Sterkendries' battle for life in the Amazone

Guido Sterkendries didn't study in university. His university was called wilderness. Some people call him the Eco-Tarzan.

Sterkendries has worked exploring and documenting the Amazone. This brought him to realise a lot of things about nature, the natives populations and himself.

Being a photographer has its sexy aspects. Our Eco-Tarzan climbed with ropes in the trees of the Amazone to get the best images out there. And he learnt valuable lessons from the locals. The natives don't have the same fears as we do.

Over the time, Sterkendries got to love the rain forest. But love is not always reciprocal. And of course the tough clouds of black flies hit exactly when there's something worthwhile to grasp. It's all document in Battle for Life, whose images speak for themselves.

Markus Kayser: 3D printing in the desert

Markus Kayser gave a talk in our first session, City/Nature, on his "Solar Sinter" project. Through this project, he explores the boundaries of what man can manufacture in the desert through 3D modeling on solar energy. A concrete application: printing a bowl using solar energy and sand.

You can watch a demonstration video below.

Markus Kayser - Solar Sinter Project from Markus Kayser on Vimeo.

Michael Arens & Toon Vermeir: E-cube

Suppose you are starting to work and want your own place, Michael Arens and Toon Vermeir thought. Wouldn't it be great to build a cheap and easy sustainable house?

They developed the E-cube, a simple and affordable housing solution. It is powered by solar energy and can be built by anybody who succeeded constructing their Swedish furniture themselves. It only takes 10 students, and 24 hours, to bring the E-cube into place. And to be ready for the future, it's already solar energy-powered.

But what if you need more space - when the family is getting bigger or it's time to start a business from home? The E-cube is also prepared for that. It can be easily expanded to fit new requirements.

Photo via @Wimmmmm

TEDxGhent: the story on Storify

Here at TEDxGhent, we like to keep track of what we are doing. Of course you're following us at Facebook and Twitter (hashtag du jour: #TEDxGhent), but we also have our reporting on Storify, where we collect some of the best tweets and pictures.

The first stories are online:
sfy.co/k01t on the first half of the session 'City/Nature'
sfy.co/c0Ew covering the start of this amazing day

'Low Impact Man' Steven Vromman: A glimpse of the next world

Our first speaker just got off stage. 'Low Impact Man' Steven Vromman presented his quest to reduce his carbon emissions to the level of the average world citizen. 

He started with asking one minute of silence for the victims of our system of growth and consumption. Because we urgently have to find a way to live a good life with less resources.

How would the world look like if we would all do that, if we succeed to power ourselves with renewable energy and cut our carbon emissions?

Bikes and local food

We don't even to change too much in our habits. Some solutions are very simple. The bike is the means of transport for the future. Vromman is convinced the concept of a personal car is looking ridiculous in forty years.

But what do eat? We stay close to where we are. That means local food, organic food, less meat, seasonal products and an end to wasting food.

Finally, we'll have to change the way we are working. In this regard, Vromman quoted Tim Jackson: "We do work we don't like to buy stuff we don't need to impress people we don't like." How long is this sustainable?

Yes, Vromman admitted, this is going to change our lives. We are amongst the 10% richest people in the world. We will get less rich, but there will be many less poor people. And that is good for everybody. A future worth working for.