Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast Why Beauty Matters in the Climate Crisis
Dec 24, 2025
In this engaging discussion, designer and artist Patrick Williams shares insights from his upcoming book, The House Rules. He explores how the post-lockdown world is fostering a desire for quality heirloom objects that reconnect us with beauty. Patrick emphasizes the importance of craft and traditional materials in sustainable design, reflecting on how modern architecture often alienates us from our surroundings. He argues that beauty can inspire climate action and foster community, urging us to invest in lasting, meaningful pieces over disposable consumption.
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Beauty Reorients Us From Doing To Being
- Beauty and wonder pause our ‘rat race’ and restore mental health by reorienting us from doing to being.
- Christiana Figueres argues regular attention to beauty replenishes nervous systems and sustains long-term effort.
Efficiency Can Erode Beauty And Belonging
- Modern efficiency often strips beauty from built environments and severs human connection to place.
- Tom Rivett-Carnac links this loss of beauty to a broader sustainability and wellbeing crisis.
Child’s Remark Reveals Visual Diet
- Patrick Williams reads about his daughter calling Georgian sash windows “delicious” after tasting potato waffles.
- He uses this moment to show how our visual diet shapes pleasure and bodily comfort.