The Minds Behind Climate Change Solutions

Climate change is no doubt a dark, looming, and overwhelming subject; especially within the context of today’s hyper-political sphere. It’s something I tended to keep to myself about, learning privately and passively observing conversations about it. However, after having such an integral role in building the Drawdown Dialogues campaign for IDEO and Project Drawdown, the experience provided me with insight into the genuine human stories that surround climate activism and pertinent environmental issues.

When this project had begun, my collaborators and I entered the research stage with varying amounts of knowledge on climate change. However, we all possessed shared concern and awareness of the seriousness of our environmental crisis. Some were discouraged from the field because of its existential nature while others confronted it directly and integrated eco-friendly measures into their lives.

The experience of speaking with our respective climate leaders was both enlightening and encouraging. It provided us with insight into what efforts are currently being enacted to combat climate change, such as structural systemic changes as well as personal behavioral adjustments. It also equipped us with the knowledge and curiosity to figure out ways we can contribute to the fight for Drawdown and climate change. Creating this platform to share these stories has not only given me much more hope and understanding of the subject, but has also strengthened my ability to prompt meaningful change through design. In all, these interviews are a much-needed assurance for a cleaner and healthier future.

—

The Wizard and the Prophet: Keeping the Emotion in Environmentalism

Jamie Beck Alexander, Director of Drawdown Labs, discusses the importance of ensuring structural changes are made to combat climate change as well as the importance of introducing emotion to this process. Individual efforts and micro changes to the system are important but inconsequential unless compounded with systemic changes. She makes it a point to allow and encourage an emotional reaction because it climate change is a deeply human issue, one deeper than logistics and profit.

“We lose the gravity of it, the emotion of it, the heaviness, the connectedness of it. I think people that are able to hold that in their hearts and have that as a constant reminder every day is what makes a climate leader.”

—

Educating for a Better Earth

Dr. Elizabeth Bagley, Director of Drawdown Learn, is focusing her efforts on instituting educational programs that develop our sense of connectedness without being pessimistic, one form this takes is Playing for the Planet: a video games that allows the player to manipulate world systems. Of the crises that we’re dealing with, she makes the distinction between visible and invisible crisis, where the latter is often more impactful yet often ignored.

“It’s all of our collective opportunities to step up and start to take action, but we need to connect people first. That’s what education can do. We need to shift culture in a way that puts climate solutions at the forefront.”

—

Restoration and Our Environment

Mamta Mehra is a Senior Fellow at Project Drawdown who works on nature-based solutions within their Land Use and Food sectors. She discusses the importance of restoration & resource management through both a scientific & behavioral lens. Being a climate leader herself, Mehra encourages the idea that everyone, no matter their background, can be a climate leader through their actions.

“Anyone in their capacity can be a climate leader. Someone who has the capacity to mobilize people around them about climate issues, and talk to the community around themselves to a regenerative pathway. It’s about what actions you are taking for yourself, as well as for your community, and how powerful you are in engaging with the community.”

—

Ocean Pollution, Microplastics, and Our Changing Ecosystems

Emilia Jankowska, Climate leader and Senior Fellow at Project Drawdown, highlights plastic pollutants impact on a number of ecosystems and reveals the presence of microplastics in everyday products. She is an oceanographer who studies marine benthic systems and in this dialogue explains the importance of changing our own behaviors to be more eco-centric.

“If we start to have a conversation with different types of people from different types of sectors from society, we will understand [environmental] problems more.”

—

Exploring Ideas of Sustainability, Implementation and Consumption

Miranda Gorman, Senior Fellow at Project Drawdown, speaks with college students about implementing practices of consumption in a sustainable way that will make a difference in the long haul. By confronting smaller ideas and slowly working up to larger conversations in powerful industries, climate change for the better can be accessible in an amount of time that is visible on the horizon.

“Think about the lifecycle of the physical objects in our lives, where they come from and where they end up, it’s something that I think about when something is in front of me.”

—

Visit the full campaign at: http://drawdowndialogues.com/