Everyone has the right to a clean environment — but major disparities exist when it comes to who faces the consequences of pollution. Environmental justice leader Peggy Shepard points to the disproportionate impact that hazardous environmental conditions have on Black, brown and Indigenous communities and challenges us to build a truly equitable future that turns “sacrifice zones” — where community health is sacrificed for the sake of development — into “green zones” that redress the legacy of pollution and harmful policies.

A talented trio of dancers brings to life choreographer Nina McNeely’s contemporary dance piece “Once There Was III.” Settle in for a dazzling, hypnotic performance.

Plastics are everywhere — they’re in our favorite electronic devices, they package our food and insulate our homes. Today, the total mass of plastic is twice the total mass of all living organisms on the planet, and it’s starting to change the processes that allow the Earth’s climate system to work. Plastic pollution researcher Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez breaks down the consequences of producing all of this plastic at every stage, from fossil fuel extraction to the disposal of single-use plastics in landfills and oceans. The first step to breaking free of our plastic problem is admitting we have one.

Exposing what life looks like in Afghanistan after a 20-year US occupation and the Taliban’s stunning and rapid takeover, TED Fellow and documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri captures harrowing glimpses and multifaceted realities of a war-torn country. Through the lens of her camera, she documents devastation and deferred dreams — but also resilient hope and spirit.

The pandemic brought into sharp focus the crisis in caregiving in the United States, which woefully under provides support for parents. Activist and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani has a proposal to address that — something she calls the Marshall Plan for Moms — and she unpacks how it aims to build radically different systems in order to empower working parents. (This conversation, hosted by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event on March 23, 2022. Visit ted.com/membership to become a TED Member.)