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Talib Visram

Multimedia Journalist

British multimedia journalist based in New York | General reporter with a business focus

Writer for digital and print | Video and podcast host | Live event moderator 

Master's in Journalism | Background in social media and content marketing 

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    My Work

    Fast Company •

    How Las Vegas became a leader in water conservation despite its culture of excess

    Tourists flock to Las Vegas every year for the bright lights, buffets, and the buzz of rolling the dice and spinning the roulette wheel.

    Many tourists also do two other things: Watch the lavish fountain outside the Bellagio hotel and ride a gondola in The Venetian’s canal. Each year, the Bellagio fountain uses 12 million gallons of water a year, the equivalent of about 706,000 eight-minute showers. And it would take a regular garden hose 65 days to fill the water capacity of The Venetian’s cana
    Fast Company •

    Why you’re about to see more CFOs in charge of corporate sustainability goals

    For more than a decade, the biggest companies in the world, from Coca-Cola to AT&T , have had chief sustainability officers on staff. Part of the CSOs’ job has included running various pilot programs—whether producing a few thousand gallons of sustainable aviation fuel or replacing 20 trucks in a city with cargo bikes.

    Now, businesses want to scale and speed up these innovations, realizing that integrating ESG (environmental, social, and governance issues) into everyday practices has proven to
    Fast Company •

    These companies help Palestinians land tech jobs. Here's how they're providing humanitarian support now

    Reports from December suggested that 66% of Gazans’ employment had been lost. But even before the current conflict, Gaza had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Two weeks before Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 70% of young Gazan university graduates were unemployed. Palestinians have the talent and qualifications—including a labor force literacy rate of 98%—but lack the opportunities. Due to Israel’s ongoing occupation, and particularly, the 17-year blockade in Gaza, most a
    Fast Company •

    Why Georgia’s Republican governor has become one of solar’s biggest boosters

    In 1883, an American inventor designed the world’s first solar panel. In the 1950s, the U.S. formulated the first silicon solar cells, and in the decades following, it spent more on solar R&D than the rest of the world, and dominated the global solar market.

    But today, America seriously lags on solar production. So much so that a new solar plant being built in Cartersville, Georgia will be the only one in the country to construct panels directly from raw materials.

    Most solar parts are made ab
    Fast Company •

    Why the global supply chain is about to get a whole lot worse

    The disruption to the auto industry is just one example of shortages and delays being experienced across sectors due to two simultaneous crises—of climate change and geopolitics—that are affecting the transport of goods and will ultimately affect their cost. Two of the world’s most vital shipping routes are currently compromised. Since November, the Panama Canal has had to reduce crossings by 40% due to a severe drought. More recently, the Suez Canal—which usually accommodates 30% of global cont
    Fast Company •

    Florida can't get enough of tax holidays. But they're not the magic bullet Ron DeSantis claims

    It’s the second back-to-school tax holiday of the year—and one of six tax holidays taking place in Florida in 2024, the most of any state. In his budget plan for 2024-2025, Governor Ron DeSantis submitted four of them for renewal. While some cover essentials, others remove tax from discretionary purchases like concert tickets, pool inflatables, and hamster bedding. Such tax holidays are touted as saving Floridians cash (and likely sound appealing to consumers), but experts say they generally do
    Fast Company •

    May is the new July; Norway is the new Italy: How extreme heat is changing tourism

    Due to fly into Catania Airport, she and her husband arrived at Palermo instead, a three-hour car ride away, due to a fire at the original airport. Palermo was “a sea of suitcases” caused by multiple diverted flights, says Lanz, assistant dean at the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University. Once they got to Sicily, they dealt with temperatures of 115 degrees, coupled with siroccos—the hot, dry desert winds from North Africa that can reach hurricane speeds and cause wildfires, w
    Fast Company •

    Delta's chief sustainability officer is on a mission to use less fuel

    Between 2% and 3% of the world’s carbon emissions come from aviation. If the industry were a country, it’d be the sixth-largest emitter. What’s more, it’s a “hard-to-abate” sector, meaning it’s innately difficult to decarbonize because the tech that’s necessary to make a real impact is both nascent and expensive.

    Still, Delta Air Lines has committed to being net-zero by 2050. It aims to achieve that by making its current fleet as efficient as possible while integrating futuristic technologies t
    Fast Company •

    More people are flying in private jets, and it’s ruining air travel for the rest of us

    In the lounge, you’d have a free cup of coffee as you flipped through The Wall Street Journal. When you boarded the eight-seater plane—after someone carried on your luggage for you—you’d be personally greeted by the pilot, who’d run you through a flight briefing. Soon, after settling into the Swiss-crafted roomy interior, designed in partnership with BMW, you’d be at San Carlos Airport, just south of San Francisco. That experience stands in sharp contrast with today’s commercial flights: tiny tr
    Fast Company •

    The future of U.S. train travel is here—and it’s not on Amtrak

    These amenities felt like a dose of luxury after nine days of road travel in Florida in May, when I faced the typical traffic jams and torrential rain. So on my last day, after returning my rental, a simple train ride from Fort Lauderdale to Miami was a treat. Only a swift half hour trip, I was just getting settled into my snack tray and mimosa when it was already time to disembark. Passengers load a Brightline train to West Palm Beach at the Fort Lauderdale station. [Photo: Carline Jean/South F
    Fast Company •

    How record temperatures are threatening Texas BBQ

    Texas barbecue has always been a hot business. Workers spend hours by hot coals, metal, and fire, while customers wait in line outside, sometimes for hours, to taste tender meats with decadent sides. But the blazing Texas heat is getting hotter and longer, with little respite; this summer, temperatures hovered above 100 degrees for 45 days in a row. Austin’s top pitmasters say the heat is affecting their operations and causing their businesses to take a hit. They are actively working on ways to
    Fast Company •

    How Florida became a hotbed for alternative education: Inside the move to help parents flee the 'woke ideology' of public schools

    This story is part of an ongoing series about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ policies and how they impact the people in his state. For full coverage, click here .

    LAKELAND, FLORIDA — In the foyer of the Medulla Baptist Church in Lakeland, Florida, there were copies of My Pillow Guy CEO Mike Lindell’s memoir; raffle tickets for a baseball hat with the words “Ultra MAGA;” and a pile of Lifesaver mints accompanied by a sign telling people to refresh the bad taste in their mouths caused by the indo
    Fast Company •

    Hillary Clinton: Extreme heat has a disastrous effect on women workers (exclusive)

    In February, as India endured its highest temperatures since 1901, Hillary Clinton visited the country to see firsthand the heat’s impact on female workers. In Rajasthan’s salt flats, she met with women harvesting salt, laborious work that involves raking up the tops of the salt ponds in the scorching heat of the desert. The women were pushing their start times to 4 a.m. to avoid the highest temperatures of the day.

    Yet, despite the record heat, future years are likely to be hotter still. “How
    Fast Company •

    Ron DeSantis wants to reshape Florida’s universities. It could lead to a massive ‘brain drain’

    This story is part of an ongoing series about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ policies and how they impact the people in his state. For full coverage, click here .

    GAINESVILLE — Having grown up in conservative West Virginia, Terry Harpold believes college is all about widening your horizons by experiencing different cultures and lifestyles. When Harpold, who’s an English professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, visited the Sarasota campus of New College last year with his daughter,
    Fast Company •

    Cara Delevingne sprays industrial wastewater on her face in her latest beauty campaign

    For Cara Delevingne, who’s been the face of Chanel, Burberry, and YSL, beauty campaigns now come as second nature. At first glance, her newest campaign seems like a typical one. But the face mist she applies on herself isn’t so typical. It’s made from wastewater from an energy production facility.

    That’s a byproduct of the green hydrogen produced by Vattenfall, a 114-year-old Swedish multinational energy company that is striving toward its goal of net-zero by 2040. The campaign aims to raise aw
    Fast Company •

    Tiny cars are all the rage in European cities. Could they ever work in America?

    While each is slightly distinct, they all refer to a miniature electric vehicle too small to be classified as a passenger car, but popular in European cities for their affordability, convenience, and lower carbon footprint. In the U.S., daintier vehicles are more golf cart-adjacent, moving at lower speeds and usually in suburban communities. But mixing them more broadly into urban transportation systems is challenging, due to safety concerns and the sprawling structure of many American cities. L
    Men's Health •

    A 'Chopped' Judge Reveals What Actually Happens on Set

    WHAT DO YOU get when you mix shrimp, asparagus, a blueberry waffle, and a can of haggis? Or, donuts, coconuts, cocktail sauce, and cod milt (that is, the fish’s sperm sac)? For most of us, a bout of nausea—but to the judges of Food Network’s Chopped, something usually edible and sometimes delectable, prepared by some of the country’s best chefs.

    That’s nothing new to fans of the show, on which chefs showcase their abilities to fashion a mishmash of bold and peculiar ingredients into restaurant-
    Fast Company •

    Anti 'woke' ESG policies are already costing taxpayers millions

    Since the start of the ESG movement about 20 years ago, critics and advocates alike have raised questions about ESG investing, which screens for impactful company policies with respect to the Earth, society, and corporate governance. There have been legitimate queries about investment returns and whether companies are actually achieving the social impacts they claim. But 2022 brought a new brand of backlash that’s purely political, painting ESG investing as “woke” and leading to red states dives
    Fast Company •

    Meet the 7 Chief Heat Officers who are making their cities more resilient

    One of the most overlooked emergencies of the climate crisis is extreme heat , which, research suggests, is killing more than 5 million people a year . Deaths from severe heat strokes and related complications increased 56% in the U.S. between 2018 and 2021, and that could only get worse across the globe as temperatures continue to soar.

    While it’s more complicated to mitigate climate change’s effects and drive down temperatures, it is possible to prevent heat deaths. Heat is making cities inho
    Fast Company •

    The truth about Elon Musk, Sam Bankman-Fried, and effective altruism

    More likely, you’re reading this in 2022. If so, chances are that eight years ago, you or some close friends dumped an entire bucket of ice water over your head and shared the footage on Facebook, with a $10 donation to the ALS Association. The research group reported that, in total, the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge raised $115 million for ALS, the deadly progressive neurodegenerative disease, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. That sounds like a lot of people doing a lot of good. But if you’re an e
    Fast Company •

    How the NRA has blocked gun control in the U.S | Fast Company

    An overwhelming majority of Americans favor common sense gun control laws. So why hasn’t Congress been able to pass meaningful reform? There are many reasons, but mostly, it’s because the gun lobby wants it that way and guns are good for business.

    Fast Company is the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design.

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    Fast Company •

    How Formula E, the all-electric alternative to Formula 1, is driving EV innovation

    Every week, Phil Charles watches two movies at the same time, trying to follow and understand both simultaneously. It’s his homework. The technical manager for the Jaguar racing team, Charles works in the control room on race days, trying to comprehend the needs of two drivers racing at the same time—as they did last weekend at the Brooklyn circuit, where Jaguar driver Mitch Evans placed third among 22, and his teammate Sam Bird came in fifth. Charles constantly hears feedback from the drivers,

    The first-production electric snowmobile from Taiga could have an outsize impact

    Can the first-production electric snowmobile from Taiga Motors really make a meaningful impact on the environment? Sure, the number of off-road vehicles in the world might pale in comparison to, say, cars, but with their emissions less regulated, they often operate in pristine natural environments, and then there’s the noise. Enter the 100% electric snowmobile from manufacturer Taiga Motors. We traveled to Stowe, Vermont, to meet with Taiga CEO Sam Bruneau about the challenges and opportunities
    Fast Company •

    'Bizarre Foods' host Andrew Zimmern on why he's shifting—slowly—to a plant-based diet

    On a 2013 episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, the titular host visits the headquarters of Eat Just, a plant-based company that had developed vegan eggs from mung bean protein. When the episode aired, the products from Eat Just (then called Hampton Creek Foods) fit snugly under a “bizarre” rubric, using the show’s definition as unique and interesting. Only nine years later, Zimmern says the concept is no longer bizarre. Now, he tells me, a fellow carnivore: “You and I are the weirdos.”
    Fast Company •

    Pharrell Williams relaunches his incubator for Black entrepreneurs

    Those facts, and their underlying systemic racism, were the basis for a pitch competition that launched last year by musician, record producer, and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams. His organization, Black Ambition, aims to distribute startup capital and mentorship to Black and Latino entrepreneurs with big ideas—and it’s now back for a second year. In an interview with Fast Company, Williams says that’s because society can’t depend on investors to even out racial disparities in the business world
    Fast Company •

    An AR-15 designed for children shocks even the most jaded gun-control advocates

    Four years ago this week, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in memory, 17 people were shot and killed by a 19-year-old gunman at a high school in Parkland, Florida. The tragedy spurred a revitalized gun reform movement led by a new generation, with youth coalitions like March For Our Lives calling for common-sense gun legislation. Still, school shootings continue to rise: Between August and December 2021, there were 136 instances of gunfire on school grounds, the highest rate in a 5-month p
    Fast Company •

    There was no scientific rationale for keeping the U.S. border closed for so long

    Ferro was referring to the travel ban that has restricted citizens of the U.K., as well as many other countries, from entering the U.S., purportedly to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Ferro could, in fact, travel to Britain, but then would be barred from returning to his life in the U.S.) To stop cross-border spreading of COVID-19, countries around the world closed their borders to citizen of other countries. The U.S. barred entry to people from almost the entirety of Europe, China, India,
    Fast Company •

    Stew, schwarma, and spinach: the first meals Afghan refugees are eating as they land in America

    After disembarking a red eye flight at 7 a.m. on August 24, Tim Kilcoyne, director of chef operations at the meal provisions nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, walked into Washington, D.C.’s Dulles Airport to witness Afghan children about the same age as his own son, four or five, “ripping open little bags of chips, and just taking an entire handful and shoveling it in their mouths, because they’re so hungry.”

    He and his fellow staff made some phone calls, and by 11:30 a.m., 500 hot meals from a
    Fast Company •

    Inside the novel antitrust case that could kick UFC in the teeth

    To be in contention for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crown, you’d better have a powerful punch, sturdy abdominals, and a jaw of steel, and the stamina to fight through blindness, broken arms, and collapsed lungs. But, you’ll also require the resilience to endure an overbearing company that promotes all the league’s players, controls the rankings and belt titles, and pays you a considerably low wage relative to the amount it brings in.

    In a market so slim and specific as mixed martia
    Fast Company •

    Guaranteed income is having a moment. The last time it did, it was because of Martin Luther King Jr.

    The first “evil,” of course, was racial injustice, and King was aware that poverty and economic exclusion of minority groups served as another avenue of discrimination. From his graduate school days, he’d been concerned with unjust wealth imbalances and had a “pretty developed egalitarian vision,” says Thomas Jackson, a historian whose book explores King’s economic dream. But it wasn’t until the later stages of his life that King turned his main focus to economic justice, when it became clear th
    Fast Company •

    'Maskual harassment,' angry customers, and no tips: The life of restaurant workers during COVID-19

    When Natasha, an employee at a neighborhood bar in Midtown Manhattan, takes customers’ temperatures at the door or politely asks them to pull up masks, she says it’s more common for them to aggressively push back than to comply. When she asked one guest to put on a mask, he told her he was going to wait outside the bar until she’d closed up, and then kill her. At that point, Natasha knew she wouldn’t receive a tip—and also feared for her life.

    Bartenders and restaurant staff such as Natasha are
    Fast Company •

    Meet the dedicated senior citizens behind the only volunteer-run post office in the U.S.

    Cher may have gotten a different answer had she called the Assistance League Post Office in San Pedro, about 50 miles southeast, also in Los Angeles County. It’s the site of what is thought to be the only all-volunteer-run post office in the United States. The Assistance League Post Office functions like an ordinary post office, performing regular duties such as offering stamps, priority mail, tracking, and customs processing, but it’s technically a contract postal unit, which is when the USPS o
    Fast Company •

    The troubling history of citizen's arrests—from slave patrols to Ahmaud Arbery to ICE

    Georgia legislators are now debating the repeal of the archaic law, which has its roots in medieval England. The concept, transported to the Americas, is still the law in places across the United States. Though the law’s specifics vary state to state, it remains practically unchanged from centuries ago. But in its American renditions, it’s also influenced by the history of slavery and weaponry, and so has become a form of white privilege and violent vigilantism that still manifests itself today
    Fast Company •

    What if the federal deficit didn't actually matter? Modern Monetary Theory explained

    The question that spells an end to so many policy proposals is “how will we pay for it?” But the support for the massive coronavirus stimulus—and its success in forestalling the worst possible outcome of broad shutdowns—could cause more politicians to look at a different theory of spending: Modern Monetary Theory, once an obscure branch of economic thinking that’s been gaining mainstream attention. It asserts that (at the federal level, at least) we don’t need to ask how to pay for things: The m
    Fast Company •

    Eliminating this federal program would play a major part in demilitarizing the police

    This magnitude of military-grade weaponry stock is not an anomaly. Across the country, more than 8,000 police departments have been able to gather such military equipment with ease, and at no cost, through the 1033 Program, which allows the military to pass hand-me-down combat equipment to local law enforcement agencies. Once received, the government requires any sent equipment to be used in communities within a year, and this deployment has become one of the prime contributors to the militariza
    Fast Company •

    'Track your ballot like a package': How technology will smooth the way for November's mail-in ballot surge

    “Whether they want to or not, all states are going to see a dramatic surge in mail voting this year because of the pandemic,” says Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “There are a lot of changes we’re going to need to make to be able to have a safe and fair election.” States that are relatively new to the process of voting by mail will have to scramble to establish infrastructures to accommodate it before November, and to quell voters’ fears about m
    Fast Company •

    How The $6 Billion Political Ad Industry Is Targeting You | Fast Company

    President Donald Trump and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg both ran $11 million worth of political ads during Super Bowl LIV. It's the first time in history that any candidates have done so. In total, the 2020 political cycle is expected to rack up $6 billion in ad spending, which begs the question: are political ads worth the money?

    #trump #bloomberg #politics2020

    Fast Company is the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design.

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