Climify

Our First Crossover Episode with TILClimate from MIT!As we are on hiatus this winter planning yet another amazing season of Climify, we thought it would be nice to continue to provide climate education and action through the work of some of our friends. So today, we invited a kindred spirit podcast produced at MIT - TILClimate to our platform to share what they know about materials. The host of TILClimate is Laur Hesse Fisher, the Program Director at the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. In this crossover episode with TILClimate, Laur, and Elsa Olivetti dive into materials and their impacts on our planet. As designers, we choose materials to build the things we create. So, knowing more about how to select, reduce, and reuse materials in addition to the knowledge to find vendors that manufacture responsibly can help us be better climate designers.

What is Life-Centered Design? What is Life-Centered Systems Thinking? Are they different? Are they better than Human Centered Design? And most importantly, how do we design with all life in mind?Michelle Fehler, Charlene Sequeira, and Jeroen Spoelstra join Eric in this final “back-to-school” episode which we hope, inspires you to learn more about the merits of life-centered design. The guests today all argue that life-centered design and systems thinking are a needed transition away from human-centered design (HCD) and design thinking. We are nature, not separate from it. So we need to consider more than just us in our design work as clearly Mother Earth isn’t happy with our past and current antics with fossil fuels and pollution. If we understand how we fit in with and the important interconnectedness of nature, then possibly we can create in a better balance respecting all around us.

What? I’m an amazing climate leader? Yes, you are.Lis Best (Girls Club Collective) and Nivi Achanta (Soapbox Project) join Eric to share their journeys as climate leaders empowering women to be their “own secret weapon” for change. Both Lis and Nivi understand that women are fantastic leaders when they can channel their frustrations, concerns, hope, creativity, culture, anxiety, and/or dreams to encourage action through collaboration and, in turn, elevate those involved into leaders as well. We can all be the helpers. If you want to live your best life and surround yourself with good generous people whose kindness shows in relationships with themselves and with the earth, then this episode is for you; as you are capable of being a leader… we will support you.

How can you be a role model to inspire climate action amongst your friends, family, and neighbors? Does one positive action create a domino effect for more? What’s a surprising validator?Andrea Learned joins Eric to share her work being done at her consultancy and the Living Change Podcast to empower climate leaders into creating more climate action. Her initiatives help “name and fame” climate leaders to showcase how you can emulate them and also be a positive force in the climate movement. Andrea’s consultancy and podcast help you become a climate leader using your existing social capital and influence to change social norms for the better.In addition, Andrea discusses how her work in food and biking (low-carbon transportation) are interconnected and are habits that are relatively easy to change resulting in a big and positive climate impact.

What is cellular agriculture? Why are plant-based proteins so important in fighting climate change? How can designers play a bigger role in kicking our red meat eating habit and drawing down our carbon emissions?Bianca Drevensek joins Eric to enthusiastically share her work as a climate entrepreneur as CEO of Edge Foods where they create healthy climate-friendly and yummy agri-proteins that can replace our heavy meat and dairy diet. Beyond providing a deep dive into defining the industry of cellular agriculture and the future of food in a warming world, Bianca shares her definition and four-step formula for being an effective climate entrepreneur. As a former designer and young founder, Bianca is passionate about encouraging other women to harness their creativity and knowledge to innovate for our planet.

What is fast fashion and what are its impacts on our planet? How can design and business help solve this problem with our current waste stream? How do you define a climate entrepreneur?Climate entrepreneur Lauren Choi joins Eric to share her challenges and best practices for starting a business dedicated to helping mitigate the worst of our climate crisis. She also discusses what it's like being a female founder in the climate start-up world telling the inspiring story of her company The New Norm. Lauren started The New Norm during her time as a student at John Hopkins in a business accelerator after seeing the incredible amount of red plastic cups strewn across campus. She was inspired to turn this waste stream into a positive - fabric for clothing.

Villa Sorgas. Villa Serena. Villa Utamaro.Escape to Indonesia’s Net Zero-Built Paradise.Paula Huerta Andrés, a sustainability architect and climate activist, founded Bambook Studio to achieve decarbonization through sustainable architecture and design. In a Decade of Action, their sustainability and circular economy projects take meaningful actions to reduce emissions, promote zero waste programs, implement net zero strategies and educate the public about climate change.On this episode of Climify, Bambook Studio exemplifies Project Drawdown’s solution sector in Net Zero Buildings through low-impact construction, Waste to Value solutions, and Indonesian public-private collaborations to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future.

Hawaii makes up barely 0.3% of the nation's total land mass yet it is home to 44% of the country's endangered and threatened plant species. Making a name for itself as the “extinction capital.”On this episode of Climify, we are joined by Katie Kamelamela, an educator and researcher with the Global Discovery and Conservation Science, whose work gives a hot take on curated landscapes. Her own cultural, ancestral, and spiritual connection to Hawaii brings a human touch and hope to Project Drawdown’s solution sectors on Land Sinks and Indigenous Peoples’ Forest Tenure. Katie observes community and society’s connection, patterns and interactions with land and cultural heritage in order to preserve those very systems at risk.Leading with a meditation opened the discussion to wonder: What does a forest mean to you?Life.Water.To Katie, forests in Hawaii serve functional yet spiritual ways in sustaining all of life that it inhabits. Capturing water, hydrating aquifers or giving life to the ocean, forests are the soul of Indigenous agricultural systems.

What would you do if climate change changed your life? Would you go back to what you were doing before or fight back as every fraction of a degree mattered?Mathilda D'silva joins Eric to share her journey from a TV celebrity and professional athlete to an ocean activist at her organization, the Ocean Purpose Project. She discusses how her illness from pollution gave her a new purpose in life to promote ocean conservation through bioremediation, plastic to fuel, and behavior change. All of this she does creatively and with passion. From solar DJs to seaweed jams, Mathilda is saving our oceans as every coral reef matters.

The AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) seeks to enhance the abilities of design educators and educational institutions to prepare future designers for excellence in design practice, design theory, and design writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels while supporting the fundamental mission of AIGA.Meet our Panelist and AIGA Design Educators SpotlightRebeca Méndez, Founder and Director of CounterForcelab and Chair of the Design Media Arts program at UCLA, works with vulnerable environments and communities in the Arctic to threatened ecologies in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In her ecological sustainable design philosophy and practice, she examines reciprocal relationships and environmental justice in a multi-species world in the midst of climate change, mass extinction, and a ravaging extractivist society.Holly Robbins, MCAD Adjunct Faculty and partner and creative director of This Is Folly, has collaborated with AIGA/MN, GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design on promoting sustainability, developing design guidelines and award criteria, and advancing professional sustainable design education.