Hey Climate Designers,

The summer has gotten off to a scorching start, and we’re wishing everyone experiencing extreme heat some respite. It’s a pressing reminder of why we are all here doing what we do. This work can be taxing, so in the midst of it all we are wishing you some joy, play, and relaxation this season to reset.

A note from our editor

Natalie here. I write most of our features, and in the spirit of reset will be keeping the newsletter short and sweet this summer. Don’t worry, you’ll still continue to have updates, events, and inspiration in your inbox every month. 🙂

I’d like to take this opportunity to share our goals for this publication and extend an open invitation to those of you who have been following along.

We started this monthly newsletter with the aim of uplifting the global constellation of organizations and individuals working at the intersection of design and climate. We do our best to share events, opportunities, and inspiration from across this ecosystem, however there is no way for our small team to track everything. What better way to cover more ground than to ask the community?

Moving forward, we invite you to collaborate on this newsletter with us! We now have a form on our newsletter page where you can share your submissions directly at any time.

We’re always looking for:

• Events: Online is ideal for global accessibility, but we make exceptions for large conferences and destination gatherings.
• Opportunities: Grants, RFPs, fellowships, retreats, unique courses and learning opportunities.
• Inspiration: Editorialized case studies and resources to inspire our audience.

We also welcome anything else you'd like to share with us. A new project you're launching, a person or org you're finding really inspiring you think we should follow, something else? Let us know 🙂

Call for newsletter volunteers

If you’d like to get more involved, we would also like to further build out our editorial team and open things up to guest writers.

• Editorial team: If you track the climate and design space closely, we’d love to hear from you. We’d like to further build out this team across regions and design disciplines. You’d help curate events and contribute inspirational case studies. This is a great lightweight way to volunteer with the org.
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• Guest writers: We know our readership is full of design leaders with their own platforms. We’d like to connect with other writers and creators working at the intersection of design and climate who are already publishing pieces relevant to our audience.

Interested in any of the above? Learn more and apply on our volunteer page. Looking forward to hearing from you!

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With that, stay cool out there. Wishing you all a good summer season. ☀️

- Natalie Walsh
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Latest from Climate Designers

Doom & Bloom Launches Season 2!

In season two of Doom & Bloom we’re focusing on how designers can shift the culture within the design industry to prioritize climate-forward design decisions.

​In episode two, we talk to Drew Wilkinson, former Microsoft employee, who turned a two-person sustainability group into a ten-thousand-person climate movement inside the company. We get into why sustainability dies the second it becomes a checkbox at the end of a project, and where the real creative decisions happen.

In case you missed our first episode, have a listen to Dr. Renee Lertzman, climate psychologist and strategist. We discuss the gap between how much designers care about climate and their ability to integrate it into their work, and how to actually move culture inside organizations.

Next Doom & Bloom Online Recap on July 10th

Our new online event series encourages our listeners to come and share their own ideas, thoughts, stories from the latest podcast episode. Renee’s episode sparked a lot of great conversations.

Join the Doom & Bloom Recap Hangouts every second FRI of the month where we’ll discuss the latest podcast episode.

Listen to the latest episode on Spotify or Apple and then bring your ideas, questions, and inspiration. We’ll guide the conversation to help unpack the latest episode.

Join the next Successes & Struggles event on July 1st

A space where designers working in the sustainability/climate space can share what's actually working and what's not.

Real wins, real failures, real breakthroughs that move the design industry forward.

This is for anyone doing climate work in design: mid-career pivot, veteran practitioner, currently in the trenches. Your experience is the foundation someone else needs.

For those who joined previous events, we’ve changed up the format. Be sure to experience the new Successes & Struggles.

Volunteer with us!

We’re looking for a number of volunteer roles:

• Additional Chapter Leaders to support existing chapters in Toronto, Seattle, and Bengaluru
• Newsletter curators and guest writers
• Those interested in producing online events

Events & Opportunities

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Climate Designers Events

• ​Climate Designers Global: Successes & Struggles on July 1
• ​Bay Area: Hangout at Andy Goldsworthy Opening on July 10
• ​Climate Designers Global: Doom & Bloom Recap Hangout on July 10
• ​New York: Sustainable Summer events & field trips on July 8 & July 27
• ​New Wave: Struggles & Successes on August 28
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External Events

• ​Climate Conscious Leaders: Small Group Networking for Climate Conscious Tech People on July 1
• ​Circle America: Gatherings on Circular Markets & Culture on July 8 & August 5
• ​Future of Cities: Generation Regeneration Summit 2026 on July 10–12
• ​Solarpunk Magazine: Worldbuilding Regenerative Cities Workshop on July 18
• ​Greater Good Studio​: Fireside Chat on July 23
• ​Grist: Looking Forward Book Club reads Climate Wayfinding on July 29
• ​IFTF: Cultural, Visual, and Futures Literacies: Educating the Next Generation of Designers on Sept 1

Courses & Opportunities

• ​Royal Designers Residential Summer Session (Devon, England), applications due July 9
• ​Social Design Ethics Class starts July 21
• ​From Hazard to Hope: Arts in Action student design challenge, applications due July 28
• ​2027 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship, applications due December 4
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Conferences, Cohorts, and Climate Weeks

• ​Design Science Studio Interdependence Summit (Hopland, California) on July 3–5
• ​Transition Design Conference: Weaving Regenerative Futures (Mexico City & online) on July 8–11
• ​Pacific North-West Climate Week on July 13–19
• ​Chicago Climate Week on July 18–25
• ​New York City Climate Week on Sept 20–27

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Jobs

• ​Check out the latest on the Climate Designers job board

Inspiration

What's inspiring the team this month.

​Sea Urchin Biomarble​ “I went to a bio-material panel recently and got to see this new material in person. With warmer waters, the northern California coast kelp forests have largely died and been taken over by sea urchins. This design studio is turning the minerals from purple sea urchin shells into a lightweight biomarble. It avoids the health problems other human-made stones have like Quartz, and is a part of local efforts to restore kelp forest. It’s always so inspiring to get to see regenerative material stories in action” - Natalie Walsh​

​CrankGPT​ "Many of us feel the pull of AI but have reservations about using it. There are the climate concerns of course, and on top of that it also feels bad to give giant megacorps even more money so they can surveil us. Behold Crank GPT, a hand-cranked, standalone, offline AI tool." - Tim Lillis​

​Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)​ “The recent earthquakes in Venezuela, Japan, and even here in California have underscored how we need to be ready for emergencies, expected and unexpected. Recently, I’ve been putting together a solar powered generator to power my fridge and other devices. I also got CPR certified. Working in climate has taught me how fragile systems we rely on are and how much we need to depend on ourselves and each other when things go sideways. I encourage everyone to: check out the CERT program, look into online courses on the topic, and find local opportunities from neighborhood or city/county orgs to learn basic emergency preparedness skills.” - Marc O’Brien​

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Keep this Party Going

If you value what we do, consider giving the gift of a few dollars each month to allow this organization to continue operation. As our thanks, one-time donors of $50+ and monthly donors of $5+ will receive access to members-only content and our deepest gratitude. Your support allows us to continue to offer what we do for free, and benefits the entire design and climate community.

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Quick Links

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Want to meet others in your area? Find a Chapter or Hub near you, and sign up for their mailing list or event platform to stay in the loop about regional events.

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