Climify

Our third crossover episode with Brands for a Better World Podcast ! Beyond simply being delicious, food can be a means to start conversations, cross cultural divides, and even inspire social change. In this episode of Brands for a Better World, you’ll hear from Alison Cayne, Founder of NYC-based Haven’s Kitchen, about how she combined her passion for cooking with her desire to change people’s liv...

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-focuse...

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-focuse...

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....

Our Second Crossover Episode with Climate with Kiama! As we are one week away for the launch of the next 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 Climate with Kiana to our platform to share climate solutions through a framework of joy and justice. The hos...

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 happe...

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 burnin...

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 T...

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 tod...

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...

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 l...

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 r...

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...

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 program...

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 cultu...

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...

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...

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...

“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 connect...

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...

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.

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...

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 t...

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 orga...