ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Pritchard - Inventor
With cutting-edge nanotech, Michael Pritchard's Lifesaver water-purification bottle could revolutionize water-delivery systems in disaster-stricken areas around the globe.

Why you should listen

During the twin tragedies of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, Ipswich water-treatment expert Michael Pritchard winced helplessly at televised coverage of throngs of refugees waiting for days for a simple drink of clean water. Stricken by the chronic failure of aid agencies to surmount this basic challenge, Pritchard decided to do something about it.

Using a non-chemical nano-filtration hollow fiber membrane with 15 nanometer pores (it is designed to block viruses), the Lifesaver bottle can make the most revolting swamp water drinkable in seconds. Better still, a single long-lasting filter can clean 6,000 liters of water. Given the astronomical cost of shipping water to disaster areas, Pritchard's Lifesaver bottle could turn traditional aid models on their heads.

More profile about the speaker
Michael Pritchard | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2009

Michael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkable

Michael Pritchard naredi onesnaženo vodo pitno

Filmed:
4,643,418 views

Preveč delov sveta ima omejen dostop do čiste pitne vode. Inženir Michael Pritchard je glede tega nekaj storil in iznašel prenosni filter Lifesaver, ki lahko v nekaj sekundah naredi tudi najbolj odvratno vodo pitno. Osupljiva predstavitev na TEDGlobal 2009.
- Inventor
With cutting-edge nanotech, Michael Pritchard's Lifesaver water-purification bottle could revolutionize water-delivery systems in disaster-stricken areas around the globe. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
Good morningjutro everybodyvsi.
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Dobro jutro vsem skupaj.
00:20
I'd like to talk about a couplepar of things todaydanes.
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Danes bi se rad pogovoril o nekaj zadevah.
00:22
The first thing is watervoda.
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Prvo o vodi.
00:24
Now I see you've all been enjoyinguživa the watervoda
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Vidim, da je vsem všeč voda,
00:26
that's been providedzagotovljena for you here at the conferencekonferenca,
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ki so vam jo dali na konferenci
00:28
over the pastpreteklost couplepar of daysdnevi.
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v zadnjih nekaj dneh.
00:30
And I'm sure you'llboš feel that it's from a safevarno sourcevir.
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In zagotovo tudi ne dvomite, da je neoporečna.
00:34
But what if it wasn'tni bilo?
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Ampak kaj, če ne bi bila?
00:36
What if it was from a sourcevir like this?
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Kaj, če bi njen vir bil takšen?
00:41
Then statisticsstatistiko would actuallydejansko say
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V tem primeru bi na podlagi statističnih podatkov
00:43
that halfpol of you would now be sufferingtrpljenje
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polovica prisotnih trpela
00:45
with diarrheadriska.
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za diarejo.
00:49
I talkedgovoril a lot in the pastpreteklost about statisticsstatistiko,
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V preteklosti sem veliko govoril o statistikah
00:52
and the provisionzagotavljanje of safevarno drinkingpitje watervoda for all.
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in zagotavljanju varne pitne vode za vsakega,
00:56
But they just don't seemzdi se to get throughskozi.
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kar pa ni padlo na plodna tla.
00:59
And I think I've workeddelal out why.
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In mislim, da sem ugotovil zakaj.
01:01
It's because, usinguporabo currenttok thinkingrazmišljanje,
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Zaradi trenutnega načina razmišljanja,
01:04
the scaleobsega of the problemproblem
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se nam zdi obseg problema prevelik,
01:06
just seemsZdi se too hugeogromno to contemplaterazmišljam solvingreševanje.
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da bi lahko razmišljali o tem, kako ga rešiti.
01:10
So we just switchstikalo off:
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Zato se nehamo ozirati
01:12
us, governmentsvlade and aidpomoč agenciesagencije.
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na sebe, vlade ter organizacije za humanitarno pomoč.
01:17
Well, todaydanes, I'd like to showshow you
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No, danes bi vam rad pokazal,
01:20
that throughskozi thinkingrazmišljanje differentlydrugače,
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da je bil problem rešen
01:22
the problemproblem has been solvedrešiti.
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s pomočjo drugačnega načina razmišljanja.
01:26
By the way, sinceod I've been speakinggovori,
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Mimogrede, od začetka mojega govora,
01:28
anotherdrugo 13,000 people around the worldsvet
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je za diarejo zbolelo 13.000
01:31
are sufferingtrpljenje now with diarrheadriska.
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dodatnih ljudi.
01:34
And fourštiri childrenotroci have just diedumrl.
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In pravkar so umrli štirje otroci.
01:39
I inventedizumil LifesaverLifesaver bottlesteklenica
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Čutaro Lifesaver sem izumil,
01:41
because I got angryjezen.
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zaradi besa.
01:43
I, like mostnajbolj of you, was sittingsedi down, the day after ChristmasBožič in 2004,
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Kot večina izmed vas, sem dan po božiču leta 2004 tudi jaz sedel doma
01:47
when I was watchinggledal the devastatinguničujoče newsnovice
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ter po televiziji spremljal
01:50
of the AsianAzijske tsunamicunami as it rolledvaljani in,
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novice o cunamiju, ki je
01:52
playingigranje out on TVTV.
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opustošil dele Azije.
01:54
The daysdnevi and weekstednih that followedsledi,
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Naslednjih nekaj dni ter tednov
01:56
people fleeingbežijo to the hillshribi,
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so ljudje bežali v hribe,
01:58
beingbiti forcedprisiljeni to drinkpijte contaminatedkontaminirano watervoda
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kjer niso imeli druge izbire,
02:01
or faceobraz deathsmrt.
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kot piti onesnaženo vodo ali pa se soočiti s smrtjo.
02:04
That really stuckzaljubljen with me.
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To mi ni dalo miru.
02:06
Then, a fewmalo monthsmesecev laterpozneje,
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Nekaj mesecev kasneje
02:09
HurricaneOrkan KatrinaKatrina slammedSlammed into the sidestran of AmericaAmerika.
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je v Ameriko pridivjal orkan Katrina.
02:13
"Okay," I thought, "here'sTukaj je a First WorldSvet countrydržava, let's see what they can do."
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"Dobro," sem si mislil, "zdaj imamo državo Prvega sveta, poglejmo kaj zmorejo."
02:17
Day one: nothing.
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Prvi dan: nič.
02:20
Day two: nothing.
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Drugi dan: nič.
02:23
Do you know it tookvzel fivepet daysdnevi to get watervoda to the SuperdomeSuperdome?
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Se zavedate, da je za dostavo vode do dvorane Superdome bilo potrebnih pet dni?
02:28
People were shootingstreljanje eachvsak other on the streetsulice
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Ljudje so se streljali po ulicah
02:31
for TVTV setssklopov and watervoda.
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za televizorje in vodo.
02:34
That's when I decidedodločil I had to do something.
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V tistem trenutku sem se odločil, da moram glede tega nekaj storiti.
02:38
Now I spentpreživel a lot of time in my garagegaraža, over the nextNaslednji weekstednih and monthsmesecev,
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Veliko časa sem preživel v garaži, nekaj tednov, mesecev.
02:41
and alsotudi in my kitchenkuhinja -- much to the dismayrazočaranje of my wifežena. (LaughterSmeh)
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Prav tako v kuhinji -- žena se s tem ni ravno strinjala. (Smeh)
02:44
HoweverVendar, after a fewmalo failedni uspelo prototypesprototipov,
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Toda po nekaj neuspelih poskusih
02:49
I finallykončno cameprišel up with this, the LifesaverLifesaver bottlesteklenica.
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sem iznašel čutaro Lifesaver.
02:54
Okay, now for the scienceznanost bitbit.
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No, zdaj pa znanstveni del.
02:56
Before LifesaverLifesaver, the bestnajboljši handroka filtersfiltri were only capablesposoben
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Pred Lifesaverjem so najboljši prenosni filtri bili zmožni
02:58
of filteringfiltriranje down to about 200 nanometersnanometri.
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prefiltrirati le do približno 200 nanometrov velike delce.
03:02
The smallestnajmanjši bacteriabakterije is about 200 nanometersnanometri.
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Najmanjša bakterija je velika približno 200 nanometrov.
03:06
So a 200-nanometer-nanometrov bacteriabakterije
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Torej bo 200 nanometrov velika bakterija
03:08
is going to get throughskozi a 200-nanometer-nanometrov holeluknjo.
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uspela priti skozi 200 nanometrov veliko luknjo.
03:12
The smallestnajmanjši virusvirus, on the other handroka,
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Toda najmanjši virus
03:14
is about 25 nanometersnanometri.
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je velik približno 25 nanometrov
03:17
So that's definitelydefinitivno going to get throughskozi those 200 nanometernanometrov holesluknje.
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in bo zagotovo uspel priti skozi 200 nanometrov velike luknje.
03:22
LifesaverLifesaver porespore are 15 nanometersnanometri.
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Pore Lifesaverja imajo premer 15 nanometrov.
03:27
So nothing is gettingpridobivanje throughskozi.
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Torej ne spustijo skozi ničesar.
03:30
Okay, I'm going to give you a bitbit of a demonstrationpredstavitev.
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Dobro, pripravil sem majhno predstavitev.
03:32
Would you like to see that?
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Vas zanima?
03:34
I spentpreživel all the time settingnastavitev this up, so I guessugibati I should.
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Po tolikšnem času priprave mislim, da se jo splača ogledati.
03:36
We're in the fine citymesto of OxfordOxford.
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Nahajamo se v krasnem mestu Oxford.
03:39
So -- someone'snekdo je doneKončano that up.
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Zato -- nekdo je to dobro zaprl.
03:41
Fine citymesto of OxfordOxford, so what I've doneKončano is I've goneizginil
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Smo v krasnem mestu Oxford
03:43
and got some watervoda from the RiverReka CherwellCherwell,
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in zato sem zbral nekaj vode iz rek
03:45
and the RiverReka ThamesThames,
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Cherwell in Temze,
03:47
that flowtok throughskozi here. And this is the watervoda.
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ki tečeta skozi mesto. In tukaj je njuna voda.
03:49
But I got to thinkingrazmišljanje, you know,
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Ampak potem sem pomislil,
03:51
if we were in the middlesredi of a floodpoplave zoneobmočje
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da voda sredi poplave
03:53
in BangladeshBangladeš, the watervoda wouldn'tne bi look like this.
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v Bangladešu ne bi bila takšna.
03:57
So I've goneizginil and got some stuffstvari to adddodaj into it.
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Zato sem prinesel še nekaj dodatnih stvari.
03:59
And this is from my pondribnik.
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To je iz mojega ribnika.
04:01
(SniffsVohanje) (CoughsKašelj) Have a smellvonj of that, misterGospod cameramansnemalec.
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(Povoha) (Zakašlja) Povohajte to, gospod snemalec.
04:05
Okay. (LaughsSmeh) Right.
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Dobro. (Smeh) Prav.
04:09
We're just going to pourpour that in there.
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To bomo enostavno vlili noter.
04:12
AudienceObčinstvo: UghUh!!
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Občinstvo: Pfuj!
04:14
MichaelMichael PritchardPritchard: Okay. We'veSmo got some runoffodtok
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Michael Pritchard: Dobro. Imamo še odpadno vodo
04:17
from a sewagekanalizacija plantrastlina farmkmetija.
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iz centralne čistilne naprave.
04:19
So I'm just going to put that in there.
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Torej bom dodal še to.
04:22
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
04:23
Put that in there. There we go.
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Kar dodajmo. Tako.
04:26
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
04:27
And some other bitsbitov and pieceskosov, chuckChuck that in there.
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In še nekaj drugih drobcev. Kar vlijmo noter.
04:31
And I've got a giftdarilo here from a friendprijatelj of mine'srudnik je rabbitzajec.
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Zdaj pa še darilce od prijateljevega zajca.
04:35
So we're just going to put that in there as well.
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In bomo dodali še to.
04:39
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
04:40
Okay. (LaughterSmeh) Now.
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Dobro. (Smeh) No tako.
04:44
The LifesaverLifesaver bottlesteklenica worksdela really simplypreprosto.
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Čutara Lifesaver je zelo preprosta za uporabo.
04:49
You just scoopzajemalka the watervoda up.
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Vodo preprosto zajamemo.
04:51
TodayDanes I'm going to use a jugvrč
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Danes bom uporabil vrč,
04:53
just to showshow you all. Let's get a bitbit of that poopoo in there.
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da vam lahko pokažem. Zajemimo nekaj iztrebkov.
04:57
That's not dirtyumazano enoughdovolj. Let's just stirmešamo that up a little bitbit.
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To ni dovolj umazano. Malo premešajmo.
05:03
Okay, so I'm going to take this really filthyprljavo watervoda,
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Dobro. Torej to zelo umazano vodo
05:08
and put it in here. Do you want a drinkpijte yetše?
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bom prelil sem. Ste že žejni?
05:12
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
05:13
Okay. There we go.
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Dobro. No, pa gremo.
05:17
ReplaceZamenjaj the topna vrh.
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Namestimo zamašek.
05:22
Give it a fewmalo pumpsčrpalke. Okay?
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Nekajkrat pritisnemo. Prav?
05:26
That's all that's necessarypotrebno.
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To je vse.
05:29
Now as soonkmalu as I poppop the teatcucelj,
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Takoj ko bom odprl ventil,
05:33
sterilesterilno drinkingpitje watervoda is going to come out.
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bo ven začela teči sterilna pitna voda.
05:35
I've got to be quickhitro. Okay, readypripravljen?
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Moram biti hiter. Dobro, pripravljeni?
05:40
There we go. MindUm the electricselektrika.
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No, tako. Pazimo na elektroniko.
05:42
That is safevarno, sterilesterilno drinkingpitje watervoda.
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To je varna, sterilna pitna voda.
05:46
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
05:48
CheersŽivjo.
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Na zdravje.
05:50
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
05:53
There you go ChrisChris.
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Izvoli Chris.
05:55
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
06:00
What's it tasteokus of?
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Kakšen okus ima?
06:02
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: DeliciousOkusno.
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Chris Anderson: Izvrsten.
06:04
MichaelMichael PritchardPritchard: Okay.
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Michael Pritchard: Dobro.
06:07
Let's see Chris'sChris je programprogram throughoutves čas the restpočitek of the showshow. Okay?
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Glejmo, kako se bo med predstavo godilo Chrisu. Prav?
06:10
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
06:13
Okay. LifesaverLifesaver bottlesteklenica is used by thousandstisoče of people around the worldsvet.
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Dobro. Čutaro Lifesaver uporablja na tisoče ljudi po celem svetu.
06:18
It'llTo bom last for 6,000 literslitrov.
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Zadošča za 6.000 litrov.
06:20
And when it's expiredpotekel, usinguporabo failsafefailsafe technologytehnologijo,
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Ko njena uporabnost poteče, se sistem s pomočjo
06:23
the systemsistem will shutZapri off, protectingzaščita the useruporabnik.
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varovalnega mehanizma izključi in tako zaščiti uporabnika.
06:26
PopPop the cartridgevložek out. PopPop a newnovo one in.
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Tulec s filtrom odstranimo. Vstavimo novega.
06:28
It's good for anotherdrugo 6,000 literslitrov.
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In zadošča za dodatnih 6.000 litrov.
06:32
So let's look at the applicationsaplikacije.
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Pa si oglejmo uporabnost.
06:34
TraditionallyTradicionalno, in a crisiskriza, what do we do?
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Kaj navadno storimo med krizo?
06:36
We shipladja watervoda.
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Vodo prevažamo.
06:38
Then, after a fewmalo weekstednih, we setnastavite up campstabori.
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Po nekaj tednih postavimo tabore.
06:42
And people are forcedprisiljeni to come into the campstabori to get theirnjihovi safevarno drinkingpitje watervoda.
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Ljudje so nato primorani priti v tabore po svoj delež varne pitne vode.
06:47
What happensse zgodi when 20,000 people congregatezbere se in a campkamp?
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Kaj se zgodi, če se v taboru zbere 20.000 ljudi?
06:52
DiseasesBolezni spreadširjenje. More resourcesvirov are requiredzahtevano.
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Bolezni se širijo. Potrebna so dodatna sredstva.
06:55
The problemproblem just becomespostane self-perpetuatingsamozadostna.
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Problem se pospešuje sam od sebe.
06:59
But by thinkingrazmišljanje differentlydrugače,
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Toda z drugačnim načinom razmišljanja
07:01
and shippingDostava these,
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in dobavljanjem čutar,
07:03
people can stayostani put.
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lahko ljudje ostanejo na enem mestu.
07:05
They can make theirnjihovi ownlastno sterilesterilno drinkingpitje watervoda,
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Sterilno pitno vodo si lahko priskrbijo sami
07:08
and startZačni to get on with rebuildingobnova theirnjihovi homesdomove and theirnjihovi livesživi.
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in lahko raje ponovno postavijo na noge sebe ter svoje domove.
07:13
Now, it doesn't requirezahtevajo a naturalnaravno disasterkatastrofa
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Toda, za vse to ne potrebujemo
07:16
for this to work.
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naravne katastrofe.
07:19
UsingZ uporabo the oldstar thinkingrazmišljanje, of nationalnacionalno infrastructureinfrastrukture
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Uporaba starega načina razmišljanja, državnih infrastruktur
07:23
and pipecev work, is too expensivedraga.
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ter vodovodov je predraga.
07:26
When you runteči the numbersštevilke on a calculatorkalkulator,
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Pri izračunu stroškov
07:28
you runteči out of noughtsNoughts.
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nam zmanjka ničel.
07:30
So here is the "thinkingrazmišljanje differentdrugačen" bitbit.
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Zdaj pa je čas za del o "drugačnem načinu razmišljanja".
07:33
InsteadNamesto of shippingDostava watervoda,
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Namesto, da vodo prevažamo
07:35
and usinguporabo man-madeumetnih processesprocesov to do it,
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s pomočjo umetnih postopkov
07:38
let's use MotherMati NatureNarave. She's got a fantasticfantastično systemsistem.
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raje uporabimo mati naravo. Saj že ima čudovit postopek.
07:41
She picksizbor the watervoda up from there,
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Vodo zbere tam,
07:44
desalinatesdesalinates it, for freeprost, transportsprevozi it over there,
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jo brezplačno razsoli, jo prenese tja
07:48
and dumpsodlagališč it ontona the mountainsgore, riversreke, and streamstokove.
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in jo odvrže na gore, v reke in potoke.
07:50
And where do people livev živo? NearV bližini: watervoda.
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In kje živijo ljudje? V bližini vode.
07:53
All we'vesmo go to do
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Moramo jo le še
07:55
is make it sterilesterilno. How do we do that?
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sterilizirati. Kako pa storimo to?
07:57
Well, we could use the LifesaverLifesaver bottlesteklenica.
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No, lahko uporabimo čutaro Lifesaver.
08:00
Or we could use one of these.
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Lahko pa uporabimo tudi kaj takšnega.
08:02
The sameenako technologytehnologijo, in a jerryJerry can.
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Enaka tehnologija, v kanistru.
08:05
This will processproces 25,000 literslitrov of watervoda;
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S tem lahko prečistimo 25.000 litrov vode;
08:10
that's good enoughdovolj for a familydružina of fourštiri,
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kar lahko oskrbi štiričlansko družino
08:14
for threetri yearslet.
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za tri leta.
08:17
And how much does it coststroški?
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Kaj pa cena?
08:19
About halfpol a centcent a day to runteči.
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Za dan uporabe odštejete le pol centa.
08:21
Thank you.
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Hvala.
08:23
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
08:26
So, by thinkingrazmišljanje differentlydrugače, and processingobravnavati watervoda
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Torej, z drugačnim načinom razmišljanja
08:29
at the pointtočka of use,
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in recikliranjem vode v ospredju
08:31
mothersmatere and childrenotroci no longerdlje have to walkhodi fourštiri hoursure a day
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materam in otrokom ne bo več treba hoditi štiri ure na dan,
08:35
to collectzbiranje theirnjihovi watervoda.
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da bi prišli do vode.
08:37
They can get it from a sourcevir nearbyv bližini.
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Lahko jo dobijo iz bližnjega vira.
08:41
So with just eightosem billionmilijardo dollarsdolarjev,
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Le z 8 milijardami dolarjev
08:44
we can hitudaril the millenniumtisočletja goal'scilj je targetcilj
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lahko dosežemo cilj tisočletja
08:47
of halvingprepoloviti the numberštevilka of people
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in razpolovimo število ljudi
08:49
withoutbrez accessdostop to safevarno drinkingpitje watervoda.
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brez dostopa do varne pitne vode.
08:52
To put that into contextkontekst,
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V kontekstu to pomeni,
08:54
The U.K. governmentvlada spendsporabi about 12 billionmilijardo poundsfuntov
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da Britanska vlada porabi 12 milijard funtov
08:58
a yearleto on foreigntuji aidpomoč.
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na leto za pomoč v tujini.
09:01
But why stop there?
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Zakaj bi se ustavili tukaj?
09:04
With 20 billionmilijardo dollarsdolarjev, everyonevsi can have accessdostop to safevarno drinkingpitje watervoda.
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Z 20 milijardami dolarjev bi lahko imeli vsi dostop do varne pitne vode.
09:10
So the three-and-a-halftri in pol billionmilijardo people
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Tri milijarde in pol ljudi,
09:12
that suffertrpeti everyvsak yearleto as a resultrezultat,
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ki posledično trpijo vsako leto
09:15
and the two millionmilijonov kidsotroci that dieumreti everyvsak yearleto,
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in 2 milijona otrok, ki vsako leto umrejo,
09:19
will livev živo.
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bo tako preživelo.
09:23
Thank you.
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Hvala.
09:25
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
Translated by Miha Helbl
Reviewed by Tilen Pigac - EFZG

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Pritchard - Inventor
With cutting-edge nanotech, Michael Pritchard's Lifesaver water-purification bottle could revolutionize water-delivery systems in disaster-stricken areas around the globe.

Why you should listen

During the twin tragedies of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, Ipswich water-treatment expert Michael Pritchard winced helplessly at televised coverage of throngs of refugees waiting for days for a simple drink of clean water. Stricken by the chronic failure of aid agencies to surmount this basic challenge, Pritchard decided to do something about it.

Using a non-chemical nano-filtration hollow fiber membrane with 15 nanometer pores (it is designed to block viruses), the Lifesaver bottle can make the most revolting swamp water drinkable in seconds. Better still, a single long-lasting filter can clean 6,000 liters of water. Given the astronomical cost of shipping water to disaster areas, Pritchard's Lifesaver bottle could turn traditional aid models on their heads.

More profile about the speaker
Michael Pritchard | Speaker | TED.com