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Hey Climate Designers,

Before getting into this month's issue, this is your friendly reminder that we are 100% volunteer-led and operate on a shoestring. Donations are what keep the lights on for this organization, and we could use your help. If you value the work we do, the best way to support us is with a recurring donation, however small.

Material Matters

Some of our extended community had a hand in the CDCMo Circular Design for Climate Mobilization exhibit in New York this past month, and with it materials have been on our minds.

Materials are the starting point of everything we produce. Whether you’re an industrial designer creating consumer products, an architect designing our urban environment, or even a digital designer creating software reliant on backend infrastructure, everything we create uses materials and minerals from the earth that are in ever more short supply. We overuse the resources our earth can regenerate earlier each year, and our complex global supply chains are highly efficient yet brittle, prone to disruption in our rapidly changing world.
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A rapidly changing materials ecosystem

There is much optimism to be had in the world of materials in this present moment. There are countless interesting bio-materials coming to market to replace our reliance on plastics. From mycelium bricks for building houses to plant-based leather and foam for footwear to seaweed based packaging, there is a ton of innovation happening in this space.

Decarbonizing the materials used in heavy industry is a challenge, with concrete and steel being the most commonly used and carbon-intensive materials we use globally. But like everything else, the potential solutions are complicated. AI is both helping solve the concrete problem and contributing to it with all the concrete needed to build data centers. Mass timber has become popular as an alternative to structural steel to reduce carbon impact, but when considering land use pressures of growing all those trees, it’s not so simple.

Then of course there are our critical minerals, without which we would have no electronics or energy infrastructure. The demand for these minerals has skyrocketed due to AI and the rest of our increasing global energy needs. But this too is a rapidly changing ecosystem, with new battery technologies and battery recycling infrastructure ramping up.

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Questions to ask as creatives

What does this mean for the climate-concerned designer? You might ask yourself:

• What materials are core to what my industry produces?
• What materials are within the control of what I produce as a designer?
• What materials cause the most harm to people and their environment? Are there more sustainable alternatives, considering carbon, health, and ethics in the supply chain? What are the tradeoffs for these alternatives?
• What materials are the most vulnerable to disruption? Are there more local or resilient alternatives to diversify supply chains?

Asking these questions is easy, making changes is hard. As a designer, you might not have direct control over any of these decisions. And even if you do, many climate-forward materials aren’t as cost effective or easy to swap out 1:1. You may run into push-back or simply lack of interest. But internal influence goes a long way.

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Where do we go from here?

As the common saying goes, “there’s no business on a dead planet”. In the long term, we know that shifting business as usual is essential to our collective survival on this planet. Yet even in the short term, there’s a strong business case to be made for why we need to develop material alternatives and circular systems in order to navigate risk and build the resilience needed to future-proof our industries.

As designers, we have a unique ability to affect change at the beginning of the production pipeline. Understanding the complexity behind the materials we use and asking for better inputs as designers can help drive the systemic changes needed to create a more sustainable future. With demand comes scale, and with it the tipping points for widespread adoption.

Looking to learn more? Check out our resources section and materials related inspirations from the team in this issue, and join us online for our next Successes and Struggles event on November 5th.

– Natalie Walsh
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Latest from Climate Designers

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Online meetups are back! Our second Successes & Struggles event is NOV 5. Join us if you are tired of hitting walls when trying to implement sustainable design. Share real challenges and proven solutions in structured breakout sessions designed for everyone to learn something new. Whether you're seeking advice on overcoming client resistance or ready to share hard-won sustainability victories, this event brings together designers actually doing the work. Connect with designers who get it.s! ​ Register Now ​

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Doom & Bloom Podcast Join the Doom & Bloom team for the final episode of Season 1 as they dig into key ideas, challenges, and takeaways from the season. Then, in true Doom & Bloom style, they turn the mic on themselves for a full-on Thinknado process, brainstorming what Season 2 could become. ​ Listen to the Episode

Community Highlights

Latest from the Mighty Community
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Why Businesses Need Sustainability Now
​Sustainability is not only about saving the planet - it’s about saving the business models our clients rely on. In this 15-minute video, our member Witold Wisniewski shares a practical narrative to help you frame sustainability as smart strategy: lowering risk, unlocking markets, and strengthening long-term value.

Question of the Month

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Resources

Materials are core to what we design. Check out some of these hand-picked favorites from the resource library for getting started on your materials learning journey.

In the Built Environment Resources, the Parsons Healthy Materials Lab has great courses and guides to help you design & build healthier homes and communities, and Metropolis has an excellent Climate Toolkit for Interior Designers.

In the Industrial Design Resources, check out Cradle to Cradle certified products for sustainable and circular inputs to use in production, and Eco-enclose for sustainable packaging alternatives.

In the Fashion Design Resources, those working with fibers can start with the Ultimate Clothing Material Guide from Good on You for a primer on the sustainability of various fibers, and dive deeper with the Materials Matrix from Textile Exchange.

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Opportunities

Current Design and Climate Jobs, Courses, and other Opportunities
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​Jobs
​UI/UX Designer at EVgo, Remote, USA
​Brand Designer (6 Month Contract) at Renew Home, Remote, USA
​User Experience Expert at GEA, Remote, Ireland

Fellowship
​Design Science Studio, apply for the next Cohort by November 14th

Volunteer with Climate Designers
​We are seeking additional Chapter Leaders for our Toronto and Singapore Chapters. Interested? Get in touch with us at hello@climatedesigners.org.​
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Events

Upcoming Climate and Design Happenings
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Climate Designers Events
​Successes & Struggles on November 5th, online

Online Events
​SOSV Climate Tech Conference on November 3rd - 7th (free)
​Snackable Skills: Questioning AI — Designing for Sustainable Compute on November 5th (free)
​Masterclass: Become a sustainable UX Designer on November (paid) 17th - 18th
​Mapping Empires by LongNow on November 12th (free livestream)

Inspiration

Favorites from the team on the theme of materials

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LIMEX business cards ​LIMEX is a new material made mainly from limestone that helps reduce petroleum-based plastics. It is water-resistant, durable, and suitable for material recycling. In Japan, it’s increasingly used for on-demand printing, offering designers a practical option for items like stickers and business cards, like mine pictured here. - Toshi

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3D printing microorganisms ​The University of Rochester and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands are conducting research on using 3D printers to print living organisms. They have successfully 3D printed algae and biofilms (microorganism communities). This new discovery is highly intriguing, and I believe it could significantly advance our future sustainability efforts by opening up a wide range of new possibilities. Imagine if we could 3D-print bacteria capable of producing self-digesting plastics! - Sandy

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Eco-sustainable 3D printed houses from WASP ​ These remain one of my favorite modern innovations on an ancient technique. Earthen homes have many advantages - they are fire-resistant, regulate temperature well, and use low-impact, readily accessible, non-toxic materials. However, having helped build one the process is incredibly laborious! This is a great use of tech to help with the hard part while retaining the creative possibilities of these structures. - Natalie

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Alternative biomaterials are everywhere you look, from an old friend of Climate Designers Kathryn Larsen reimagining homes with ocean-derived architectural materials in Denmark, to Sway’s circular seaweed packaging as compostable replacements for plastic, to fashion designer Caroline Zimbalist styling Chappell Roan in a custom bioplastic gown. Speaking of fashion design, what if you could grow your clothing? Rootfull® merges craft with biology to grow textile from plant roots! Or grow a boat out of a mushroom like Sam Shoemaker! Or grow scoby (yes like the thing floating around in our kombuchas) to create amazing bacterial cellulose lamps like artist and Maru Garcia. - Rachel

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Nature’s Hardware Store from The Long Now talk by Lynn Rothschild, research scientist at NASA. Lynn Rothschild and her team's work is mind-blowing. When I watched her talk at the Long Now event, I couldn't help but think about how their innovations in "biological strategies" could help humans and society here on Earth. We can learn so much from nature. We just need to become reconnected to it and ourselves. - Marc

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Mohawk miscanthus grass and hemp papers ​ Mohawk uses carbon-neutral grass fiber in some of their papers, which has multiple sustainable touch points within the manufacturing of this interesting and viable paper source. They also make paper from hemp which is a rapidly renewable fiber source with a much faster growth rate than trees. - Brian

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