We Are Climate Designers

In this episode, Sarah interviews Project Drawdown’s Jamie Alexander and Aiyana Bodi, digging into topics like… how designers (and anyone) can integrate their passion for climate action into their job roles wherever they currently work, and… pushing the companies they work for towards a higher standard of corporate climate action. Today’s episode is actually a sneak peak into an upcoming workshop we’re hosting with Jamie and Aiyana on October 20 — find all of the info at climatedesigners.org/gps.

In this episode, Sarah Harrison sits down with climate communications consultant and climate activist Cass Hebron, founder and editor of The Green Fix newsletter. Listen in to learn more about her work as a communications consultant for environmental organizations, and why it’s so important to talk about our climate crisis with the people in your life — and how to go about doing that in a way that is effective, not awkward. Climate Designers will be presenting a workshop facilitated by Cass Hebron on Monday, August 15, called How to Talk About the Climate Crisis Without Alienating Your Coworkers, as part of our Global Party Series. This episode will give you a little sneak peek before the main event next week. Find full transcript, links, and more info at https://www.climatedesigners.org/podcast/gps02

In this episode, Sarah Harrison sits down with Filmmaker Sanjana Sekhar to discuss a short documentary called Expedition Reclamation, which Sanjana was one of three co-directors for as part of the Brave Space Project. Listen in to learn how the film seeks to reclaim the outdoors for underrepresented voices, and how this project relates to creative storytelling and environmental justice. Climate Designers will be presenting a screening of the film and a panel interview with the filmmakers on July 20 for our supporting members. This episode will give you a little sneak peek before the main event goes down in a few weeks. Links Mentioned in this Episode Brave Space Project Brave Space Media on Instagram Expedition Reclamation Film Screening & Panel Event Farmer Rishi on Instagram

In this episode, Marc and Sarah discuss the latest Conference of the Parties and whether the outcomes from that meeting matched our expectations, and, real talk, what we expect to happen next. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, on the 10th day of COP26. You can watch this episode on our YouTube channel, or join us live when we record new episodes on our Twitch channel — Follow us there to be notified when we go live.

The media won’t speak truth to power. They can’t. The power in question is what keeps the media going. Join us as we break this down and discuss why the mass media coverage of climate change is not the whole truth, what’s missing, and why they keep it from us. We also talk about the result on society of this situation — climate anxiety, nihilism, and ultimately more consumerism, which is good for capitalism and the media machine. And we don’t just leave you with that mess, we talk about what to do instead! Full episode details and transcript available at https://www.climatedesigners.org/podcast/203

Join Marc & Sarah in the first of a series inspired by War on Women’s song lyrics “Let’s raise some wonderful, beautiful hell.” The episodes in this series will be about an hour long, with informal, candid conversation between Marc & Sarah about topics we don’t hear many people talking about but that really need to be said. This first episode discusses what so many people in the environmental movement get wrong — calling for us to “save the planet.” Tune in to find out why we think this narrative is actually harmful, and what we need to be thinking about instead. You can watch the full video conversation on our YouTube channel or follow along with the transcript version at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/202

Designers may have incredibly innovative eco-friendly ideas, but how do we actually get these ideas into production? How do you convince a client or an employer to choose a more sustainable option that might cost more? Why do design-led companies boost stock performance by 211% over standard S&P 500 companies? These are a few of the topics covered in this 39 minute interview with Creative Leadership specialists Shana Dressler and Brian Quinn. Shana & Brian have been working together to bring leadership skills to creative professionals, and we were happy to sit down with them and a live audience of our community members to chat about the skills necessary to lead clients & teams towards positive change. To stay in the loop on the leadership skills training sessions we may offer in the future, sign up at ClimateDesigners.org/Leadership

In this episode, Marc and Sarah sit down and have a delightful chat with illustrator and outdoor enthusiast Kika MacFarlane. Kika makes lovely illustrations, often about oceans, forests, and mountains. She recently had her eyes opened to the potential of art as activism when one of her illustrations went viral on social media. Since then she’s been collaborating with intersectional environmentalist founder Leah Thomas, among others, and her art has taken on a more activist tone, with messages like “Sustainability is an act of justice” and during the latest election season “Vote for oceans,” “Vote for forests.” Get cozy and listen in as we discuss what goes through an artist’s mind when creating illustrations she hopes will ignite activism. Episode notes & full transcript at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/108

Bartlett Brands is a small studio in San Francisco who creates gorgeous brands, specializing in eco-friendly packaging design for indie cosmetics and personal care products. We sat down to chat with founder Rebecca Bartlett and Art Director Lauren Golik about their incredibly innovative strategies to make the most environmentally sustainable decisions for products and packaging without sacrificing aesthetics and that “wow” factor so desired in luxury personal care products. Show notes at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/107

Jonny Black is a green graphic designer, one of the founders of Cast Iron Design, who specializes in branding, web design, packaging, and environmentally responsible print production. In this interview we chat about how — and why — Jonny merged his passion for environmentalism with his expertise in graphic design, and what some of the unexpected perks and benefits have been since the two converged. Follow along with Jonny’s exploration of sustainable design on the Cast Iron Design Instagram. Show notes & transcript at https://www.climatedesigners.org/podcast/106

In this episode, recorded May 12, we sit down with the designers who collaborated on an updated version of the FirstThings First Manifesto, originally written by/for Graphic Designers in 1964. While keeping the humor and vision of the original manifesto, First Things First 2020 was written with a sense of urgency due to our climate emergency, along with the expectation that this decade is pivotal for people to proactively unite around social- and environmental justice-based climate action. Meet Namita Dharia, a socio-cultural anthropologist, PhD of Architecture, and the assistant professor of political economy at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the Nature–Culture–Sustainability Studies MA program. Ben Gaydos is the co-founder of Good Good and the chair of the art & art history program at University of Michigan Flint. Listen to learn more about the work Ben and Namita are doing to bring relevant cross-disciplinary climate impact focused education to their design programs. Show notes at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/105

Michael Leggett was a software designer working for big tech companies like Google and Facebook until the 2016 election spurred him to find a new career tackling the climate crisis. He joined forces with Seattle startup Nori to help build an online marketplace where customers pay farmers to draw CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in the soil. In this episode we chat about what it was like to leave his steady tech job to pursue what he felt called to do, and how he views the role designers play in taking climate action. “There’s so many things designers do that are applicable,” Michael says. “We are storytellers. We are salesmen. These are valuable skills. This is a hard story to tell.” Let’s roll up our sleeves and dig in. Show notes at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/104

We’re excited to introduce you to Eric Benson, one of our advisors and collaborators at ClimateDesigners.org. Eric is the Chair of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as author of the book, Design to Re-Nourish, a manual of sustainability through systems-thinking for the graphic designer. In this 17 minute conversation, we ask Eric to share some of his experience bringing sustainability concepts into the classroom as a design educator, even when the curriculum doesn’t necessarily call for it. “Ask for forgiveness, not permission,” Eric says. Being a design educator right now gives us an amazing opportunity to influence the future of our climate crisis. With Eric’s help, we aim to add many more resources here at ClimateDesigners.org to help design educators do just that. Show notes at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/103

Warning: This Episode Might Get You Fired. Inspired by books like Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro and Drinking Molotov Cocktails with Gandhi by Mark Boyle, we ask: “What can (or maybe should) designers do, in their current jobs, to take a stand and have an impact on climate change?” We spend our 37 minutes discussing real practical ideas for designers to grow into the power and influence they can have at work. Some of these tips might not make you the most popular, but as Sarah says, "I got to the point in my job where I would rather be fired than be a doormat, or do something that wasn't in line with my personal ethics and values." Show notes at https://www.climatedesigners.org/podcast/102

For this episode of We Are Climate Designers, Marc and Sarah interviewed Evan Hynes of Climate.careers. Evan created Climate.careers to “Mobilize the world’s talent to solve the climate crisis.” Climate.careers is the place to go if you want to do impactful work within climate, or if you want to hire someone looking to dedicate their career to climate impact. We talk about finding purpose in your work, happiness, the solution to climate anxiety, building your personal brand, and how organizations with a positive mission will soon rule the world :) Show notes at http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/101

New Podcast! For Climate Designers, by Climate Designers. Listen to this intro to get a sense of what this podcast will be all about. Available in your favorite podcast player — please subscribe, and share with another Climate Designer you know to help us spread the word. http://climatedesigners.org/podcast/000