Jesus M. de la Garza gave a TEDx talk in Herndon, Virginia in May about the aging infrastructure of our nation. The abstract from his presentation is shared below. For the full video, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hXy4W9PZrY.
This TEDx Talk highlighted the critical role that physical Lifelines play in defining our standard of living (quality of life). Physical lifelines include, Power, Water, Highways, Waterways, Railways, Airports, and Seaports. The Talk argues that as a result of use, aging and neglect, America’s Lifelines are crumbling, and so is America’s standard of living. The Talk suggests that Resilient Lifelines are the immune system of our Economy, our Safety, and our Quality of Life and that as a society, we must make steady and serious investments to constantly renew and expand our Lifelines—our lives depend on them. The idea worth sharing is that we need to orchestrate a grassroots, bottom-up, ordinary-people movement towards renewing America’s Lifelines—our standard of living is on the line. This movement is to supplement the traditional top-down process. As a society, we cannot afford to remain at an arm’s length with the crises. Solving the crises with America’s Lifelines requires all-hands-on-deck.