This is a special three-part series for season four that you suggested to our listeners! We’ve entitled it “Changing the System - Back to School.” All of our guests and organizations in this special series want to impact climate in the classroom or through the school itself (think renewable energy!) We hope you enjoy this bonus series as it came from you – our listeners!

In this first episode of the series, Eric talks with representatives from College to Climate, an organization founded by students and recent graduates that aims to empower young people to pursue careers in climate tech.

Co-founders Jessica Harrington and Larson Burack and designer Kevin Lu discuss their roles in the organization, its mission, and the impact of their inspiring work. They detail the importance of forming a climate community, the value of mentorship in climate fields, and the growing opportunities in climate tech. In addition, they share their favorite success stories from College to Climate and future plans for expanding their reach to create more climate-related job opportunities for the next generation of young leaders.

In this episode of Cimiify, Eric welcomes Thais Mantovani, co-founder of Eco-Universidade, to discuss her journey from a career in marketing to becoming a regenerative strategist and educator. The episode delves into the impact of globalization on local cultures, emphasizing the need for localized solutions and education to foster systemic change. Mantovani shares insights from her holistic science studies at Schumacher College, her work with indigenous communities, and the importance of embracing diverse worldviews and education for sustainable transformation.

After the interview, design researcher Jacqui Himmel joins Eric to unpack the episode providing the most important calls to action from the discussion that you can implement today!

Series 1: Lifestyle as Systems Change

The guests in our lifestyle series are all “walking the walk.” They have integrated climate consciousness into their everyday lives and ways of being. For these experts, climate action is not a discrete choice, but an intrinsic part of their lives. From them, we can learn how to transform our own practices and mindsets to be mores sustainable and future-focused.

In this episode, Haleemah Sadiah shares with Eric her journey as a climate activist and designer. She discusses how she uses systems thinking in her life and work, her participatory design work with communities in India and the US, and how creating spaces that bring people together can plant seeds for larger systemic changes.

Series 1: Lifestyle as Systems Change

The guests in our lifestyle series are all “walking the walk.” They have integrated climate consciousness into their everyday lives and ways of being. For these experts, climate action is not a discrete choice, but an intrinsic part of their lives. From them, we can learn how to transform our own practices and mindsets to be mores sustainable and future-focused.

In this episode, Kobi Naseck shares with Eric his journey as a climate activist and community organizer and how all of us can find a place in the climate justice movement. He discusses his work with VISIÓN (where his goal is to end neighborhood oil drilling), why abolition and climate justice are intertwined, the current state of climate justice in California, why our elected officials won’t save us, and how to measure success in the climate justice movement.

In this episode, Emma Askew shares with Eric why and how, at 22, she founded Earth Minutes, an organization that specializes in environmental communication and on a mission to drive the future of environmental thinking and learning. Emma details her definition of a system (and how to change it), sustainable design tips, and why putting your hands in the dirt regularly can help your mental health. She argues (with science to back it up) that purposeful time in Mother Nature will not only help your health, but give you more clarity about why better coexisting with her will help us all thrive now and into the future.

We're excited to let you know that season four of Climify is recorded and ready for launch on June 13th, 2024. This season, we're doing things a bit differently, which we feel will make the program more inspiring and actionable. The theme for this season is “Change the System.”

Climate change can be quite an overwhelming issue. There are so many things to be worried about and they seem to be happening all at once. This can make us feel anxious or depressed, sad, or apathetic. How can one person make a real difference? The truth of the matter is that little things can help, and our guests this season prove that. Small steps can indeed create a ripple effect leading to bigger impacts. Our guests are involved in various action levels from daily life to work, and even those who influence national policies. We will learn what has worked for them and how you can implement climate solutions in your home, design studio, or curriculum to contribute to climate action.

Besides our amazing guests in each episode, I'll be joined by new voices from the Climify team – Bhavna, Jacqui, Cam, and Abigail to make sense of the discussion and provide tools to help with the climate calls to action from the conversation with the guest.

I'm truly looking forward to this season and hearing from you. How are you changing or disrupting the system for climate action? We're all in this together. So see you on June 13th, 2024. Tune into Climify on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

- Eric Benson

Climify Producer Cam Burkins rejoins Dr. Melinda Adams to go deeper into her life and work. In particular, this episode explores solastalgia (or climate anxiety) and soliphilia (cures or mitigation methods against that anxiety). Melinda shares Traditional Ecological Practices that provide hope for our collective future, which will surely be Matriarchal!

How do we learn from the land and its lineage?

In this special bridge episode, Dr. Melinda Adams—Indigenous scholar, ecologist, and cultural fire practitioner—explores how place-specific, Indigenous-led practices are the key to stewarding and restoring our shared lands. Dismantling the rhetoric of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Adams teaches a more actionable approach to controlled burning—Humble Fire—that reframes fire as a “more-than-human relative,” from which we must actively listen and learn. This “storytelling on the land” calls us to defer to Indigenous ways of being in our interventions and return to the land, assessing how our ancestor responds and applying what we learn to ensure our collective future.

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.

In this episode of Cimiify, Eric welcomes Scott Boylston the graduate coordinator of the Design for Sustainability program at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Scott shares his expertise on systems thinking, the importance of community engagement in design, and highlights various impactful projects, including Repurpose Savannah. The discussion underscores the role of education in fostering environmental and social justice, providing a rich resource for designers aiming to effect long-term systemic change.

After the interview, design researcher Bhavna Bhavanishankar joins Eric to unpack the episode providing the most important calls to action from the discussion that you can implement today!

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 Spotlight

Rebeca 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.

Climate and social systems are profoundly connected.

Interconnectedness, in turn, can be an overwhelming double-edged sword—an ‘infobesity’ that buries clear paths forward to act against the systemic climate inequities rippling across society. In Sage Lenier’s justice-oriented activism, she has come to find that environmental education is largely non-existent. Perhaps, the biggest stopgap is that no one knows about the problems that make up the larger problem. This is what Sage sees as a barrier to the climate movement gaining traction: a lack of quality education.

Sustainable & Just Future salvages the demoralization within climate change into an educated understanding of the ecological systems that sustain us. On this episode, we are joined by a Time's 2023 Next Generation Leader and YPCCC Public Voice Fellow, whose work creates huge strides within Project Drawdown’s Education and Equity by reforming education systems with student-led climate initiatives and advocacy campaigns, educator-led curriculum (re)design and digital programming. For-youth-by-youth dissemination of knowledge translates Gen Z solutions into meaningful shifts toward reforming the ways all generations sustain the health, equity, and quality of our natural resources and the planet.

“All solutions are right here, they just have to catch on” is a conviction of Denise Baden, an ethical author and sustainability professor, that poetically resonates in all her stories: Habitat Man, No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet, Anthology of Short Stories for COP27, and The Assassin. Making a virtue of necessity, Denise illuminates us on how environmental literature connects people to climate change solutions by mobilizing our social awareness and conscientious into embracing the change needed.

Literature transcends Denise into an Audre Lorde for environmental literacy, “forming the quality of light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change.” On this episode of Climify, we are joined by an educator and author, whose work complements Project Drawdown Communications and Storytelling by constructing worlds infused with conversational currency toward catalyzing citizen assembly, social commentary, and critiques enabling climate reforms.

How do you best create positive impact in communities? What does environmental justice look like?

In this eighth episode of season three, the multi-talented Sarah Ichioka joins Eric to share (not only) her five principles of regenerative design from her book Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency but also how Project Drawdown is the perfect example of a Possiblest Mindset where we understand our position in relation to both the realities on the ground and our desired outcome.

If that wasn’t enough, Sarah also provides inspiring case studies from her consulting firm Desire-Lines to help designers in their work to shift the mindset of their clients towards that of regeneration.

How can design influence positive behavior change when it comes to climate action? Can the design of your energy bill or thermostat help you rethink how and when you use electricity?

Karina van Schaardenburg joins Eric to share the work being done at Opower (Oracle) to create smarter energy use, customer behavior changes, and the renewable grid of the future.

In this episode of Cimiify, Eric welcomes Michelle Moore, a distinguished climate policy expert and former federal environmental executive under the Obama administration. Michelle shares insights from her journey growing up in rural Georgia to impactful roles in national climate policy, including reducing the government's energy bill by $11 billion. The episode delves into her motivations rooted in community and faith, her work with the non-profit Groundswell to promote community power and clean energy projects in underserved areas, and the importance of values-based system change. Michelle's philosophy of 'doing well by doing good' and her latest book, Rural Renaissance, are highlighted. The conversation also explores actionable steps individuals can take to support climate justice and policy changes.

After the interview, design researcher Jacqui Himmel joins Eric to unpack the episode providing the most important calls to action from the discussion that you can implement today!

Have you heard the terms sustainability, restoration, conservation, bioregionalism, or regeneration? What’s the difference between them? How can we apply each to design?

Nisha Mary Poulose joins Eric to share the work being done at her organizations, Regenerative Rising and the Woven Design Collaborative. What these organizations have accomplished continue to help better define “regeneration” not only for her collaborators but for designers. In this episode Nisha argues why we must shift our mindset to think like nature and how ecological principles can be best applied to design to create our present and future.

How do you best create positive impact in communities? What does environmental justice look like?

In this fifth episode of season 3, Pamela Fann joins Eric to share her journey from Corporate America to diversity, inclusion, integration, and climate activist and entrepreneur. She shares how she defines restorative design, environmental justice, and how best we use their principles to tackle both the entangled issues of racism and our climate crisis.

How do best educate one another about climate change and climate action when the media is muddying the water? Furthermore, how can we change how the media reports on climate change so it is accurate, not sensationalized, or influenced by fossil fuel companies?

Dr. Genevieve Guenther joins Eric to share her journey from Renaissance scholar to climate communicator, consultant, and activist. The organization End Climate Silence is central to her story and work; Dr. Guenther discusses how she helps to educate about the history of fossil fuel disinformation, media manipulation, and how we can end fossil fuels together through collective and individual actions. The Drawdown Climate Solution Sector in this episode is centered on Health & Education.

What are the best strategies to co-design in a community to create positive change? How can the designers’ work better reflect the aesthetics, lifestyles, and values of a predominately BIPOC community?

Anika Goss, from Detroit Future City joins Eric to share how her organization co-designs with the people of Detroit to tackle, in particular, the Drawdown Climate Solution Sector of Food, Agriculture, and Land Use. In addition, Anika details the history of Detroit, from its renaissance to redlining, and from a riot to rebirth; showcasing current neighborhoods that are becoming beacons of hope as Detroit co-creates a more climate resilient and equitable city.

Have you ever felt helpless as an advocate for climate at your job or wondered where to find good paying jobs in climate action? If so, then this episode of Climify is for you!

Jamie Beck Alexander, from Drawdown Labs, joins Eric to kick off Season 3 of Climify where each episode is themed by one of the Drawdown Climate Solution Sectors. In this first episode, Jamie shares her journey into climate activism (and how you can follow her lead), the mission of Project Drawdown, how she helped get big businesses to support the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and most importantly why “every job is a climate job”.

Welcome to season three of Climify! This season, I'm talking to women across the globe who are at the forefront of climate science and climate action. Each guest is a thought leader in one or more of the Drawdown.org climate solutions sectors. What you may ask are the Drawdown.org solution sectors? Well, important topics like renewable electricity, soil and agriculture, architecture, oceans, health, education, and so much more. 

The goal of this season is, of course, to continue to help design educators incorporate a foundation of sustainability and regeneration into their courses, and in turn, inspire more climate designers.  

The new season of Climify drops April 12th, 2023 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. You can learn more on how to get involved at www.climatedesigners.org/edu or join the discussion over on Instagram @clmiifypodcast. 

The guests in our commercial series, are experts focused on how our collective system is organized. We’re not talking about which produce to pick at the grocery store – although these lifestyle choices are critical. Our guests in this second series play pivotal roles in the organization of our society, disrupting the economy at the institutional level and changing how products are imagined and created.

In this episode of Climify, Eric welcomes Dr. Tanya Beer, a seasoned stage designer and senior lecturer at Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University (Australia), to discuss her innovative approach to sustainable stage design. Tanya shares her journey into sustainable stage design, the creation of the term 'Ecoscenography,' and her pioneering project, the Living Stage, which combines horticulture, community engagement, and performance. The episode also highlights educational strategies to promote sustainability in design and the importance of questioning the environmental impact of one's work and passions.

After the interview, design researcher Jacqui Himmel joins Eric to unpack the episode providing the most important calls to action from the discussion that you can implement today!

The guests in our commercial series, are experts focused on how our collective system is organized. We’re not talking about which produce to pick at the grocery store – although these lifestyle choices are critical. Our guests in this second series play pivotal roles in the organization of our society, disrupting the economy at the institutional level and changing how products are imagined and created.

In this episode, Eric talks with Lynnette Widder, an architect and professor at Columbia University, about changing the system through the built environment. They explore the impacts of energy efficiency, the power of community resilience, and define environmental justice. Lynette emphasizes the importance of incremental changes and how reuse and refurbishment are two overlooked concepts in architecture.

After the interview, design researcher Jacqui Himmel joins Eric to unpack the episode providing the most important calls to action from the discussion that you can implement today!