Hey Climate Designers,

In the coming months, each of our newsletters will focus on a different way of looking at systems change and design, following along with the perspectives in our Climate Designers Resource Library. If you haven’t seen the Resource Library before, check it out!

To begin, we will start with the broadest perspective of them all, thinking in systems.

Systems theory has a ton of permutations and schools of thought, but at the core it’s the study of interconnected component parts and their interactions with one another. It involves the understanding that our natural, social, and structural worlds are interrelated and constantly changing, and that we are all a part of these dynamic systems. Systemic design joins systems thinking to design methodology.

If you’re reading this newsletter, you are already keenly aware that creative work doesn’t happen in a silo. Creatives put things out into the world that have complex interactions and widespread impact.

To design with a systems lens means thinking bigger than our roles, our companies, and even our industries. The modern world is complex. There’s too much to understand. However any steps we take to broaden our awareness of the interconnected pieces can guide us towards our biggest opportunities for impact.

Where do we have agency? Where don’t we? Where could we?

Finding leverage points

To become more aware of the systems in which we work, we can start with stepping back from our roles to look at the bigger picture.

At any given time, we are interacting with countless systems. Ecological, social, cultural, political, organizational, all layered together and working in concert and in conflict.

An industrial designer’s work is not only connected to user behavior and material resources, but through complex supply chains is connected to labor rights, equity, environmental harms, health impacts, and policy.

An architect’s work is not only deeply connected to supply chains, materials, and all of the above, but the built environment profoundly affects the ecosystems around it and guides how human, animal, and plant life interacts with each other.

A UX designer’s work not only influences user behavior, but is tied to ethics, mental health, energy systems and infrastructure with deeply physical ecological and community costs, especially with the escalation of data centers to power AI.

There’s a lot to unpack. Given these complexities, where does one start as a systems-aware designer? Let’s break things down loosely using an iceberg model.

• What levers of impact do we have directly through our creative work?
• What structural systems does that work intersect?
• What assumptions, beliefs, and mental models underlie those structural systems?

At the tip of the iceberg are product level improvements. Clean energy sourcing and development. Healthy and climate beneficial materials. Equitable supply chains. The influence of positive behaviors. Direct cause and effect. These changes alone are a massive load and the focus of most sustainability efforts.

However it doesn’t take long to run up against the constraints of our structural systems, be it our economics, politics, and social systems. What then? There’s workplace organizing, regulatory policy organizing, and other layers to work within for structural change.

The deepest part of the iceberg holds our mental models and beliefs. These form the paradigm from which all human-made systems emerge and offer the highest point of leverage for change. This is where collective organizing, behavior change, and personal growth comes in, creating the foundation from which other systems emerge.

Once we become more aware of the interconnected systems of which we are a part, everything changes. It becomes more clear what matters the most, and where our skills and interests are best aligned.

Systems thinking and change work can be overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to start, things are always in flux, and the work is never done. While we may not be able to fix every broken system at the root, we can find our place in the mix and take it one step at a time. And the more we talk about what we're working on, the more we influence those around us and send those ripples of change outwards.

Systems change is big. Together we are too.

Tools & Resources

Systems thinking and systemic design are big topics. There is no way to do them justice in a short guide, so we focused on a few key concepts and useful tools to aid in your systemic design work.

• If you’re just getting started, check out what are systems and what is systems change?​
• Understand what we’re working within by learning about the planetary boundaries.
• Break out of human-only centered practices with life-centered design.
• Map your work with one of the many systems mapping tools.
• Find your place in systems change work with the social change map.

Check out the rest of the guide on systemic design for more.

This is a collaborative effort. Have great resources to add or ideas on improving it? Let us know via our contribution and feedback forms.

Stay tuned for next month when we’ll dive into our next perspective!
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Latest from Climate Designers

Last Call for the Survey!

This is your friendly reminder to help us plan what's next for the organization by filling out our 10-15 minute survey. We are closing this survey at the end of this month.

We have gotten a big response so far. Thank you to those of you who have already shared your thoughts with us!

All questions are optional, and even if you only have 5 minutes we'd love to hear from you. All survey participants will be sent free access to paid members-only content and be entered in a giveaway for one of five $25 gift cards.

We want to understand how we can best support you at this moment on your climate design journey. Help shape what we build next.

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Sustainability Struggles Online Meetup on March 4th

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.

Join us for the next Successes & Struggles.

Events & Courses

Climate Designers Events

• ​Global: Successes & Struggles on March 4, online
• ​Toronto Chapter: The Cost of Growth - Screening + Implications for Designers (register here) on March 7
• ​LA Chapter: Climate Designers LA x Folk Lounge Anniversary Party on March 7
• ​Bay Area Chapter: Pre-Climate Week Meetup on April 12

External Events

• ​Build a climate-literate culture with Drew Wilkinson and Climate Conscious Leaders on March 4
• ​Regenerative Tech Mixer & Playshop with Regenerative Technology Project on March 4
• ​Collapse or Flourish? Tech, AI, Venture Capital, and our Collective Future with Bloom.pm on March 4
• ​Co-Design as a Practice Framework with DesignMeets on March 5
• ​The Death of Marketing: What Emerges When Marketing As We Know It Ends with Regenerative Marketing Playground on March 9
• ​The Hidden Power of Forests: Connection and Cooperation from Roots to Canopy with Resilience.org on March 26

Conferences, Courses, and Cohorts

• ​The School of Cracks with Báyò Akómolafé’s and Laura Peña Zanatta’s MetaMorf on March 4 - 27 (hybrid, New York)
• ​Sydney Climate Action Week on March 9 - 15
• ​Colorado Climate Week on March 30 - April 3
• ​Bioneers Conference on March 26 - 28 (Berkeley, CA)
• ​Interviewing Program with Sustainability Creatives on March 23 - April 16 (online)
• ​RegenIntel April Cohort applications open (online)
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Inspiration

A selection from the team on the topic of systems thinking and design.

​From Landfill to Limited Edition Zero-Waste Design Collection​ "I appreciate how this example shows systems thinking by re-framing waste as part of a larger social and material system, turning one-off marketing banners into zero-waste products through collaboration between artists, designers, and community sewists rather than simply discarding them. DESIGNwith has considered material flows to include social equity, environmental sustainability, and circular use, addressing root causes within the system." - Kaylyn Belcourt​

​Netflix show Hilda: Life-Centered Design in Action "This may seem like an unusual thing to share on the topic of systems design, but I would recommend this show to anyone taking a life-centered design approach to their work. The running themes are the unintended consequences of human actions on the natural world, and how to take accountability and work together to make it right. If we all showed this level of care for our surroundings, we’d all be better off. Plus, the animation is beautiful." - Natalie Walsh​

​The System Isn't Working, So What's Next? Reconnecting Through Community​ ​"I met Matt Biggar at one of his talks in San Francisco. He argues that current systems fail because they're disconnected from local communities and nature. His work focuses on regenerating nature, communities, and local economies by shifting how we live and interact with our surroundings. Think car-free streets, urban farms, and community-driven energy." - Marc O’Brien​

​This Brooklyn bagel shop is saving money with plug-in batteries​ "This is what I'm working on at my current company!! Probably the most exciting thing I've been a part of, and a systems approach. We are leveraging permit-less plug-in batteries with new capabilities that allow power sharing within a single circuit to bring battery storage and backup to NYC brick and mortar businesses. This results in substantial electricity bill savings for local businesses that are already struggling with rising costs, and on a system-wide level spreads adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) which are critical for grid resilience. Our ultimate vision is creating a network of these DERs that will be as beneficial for utilities as consumers, enabling 24/7 use of much cheaper renewables, reducing strain on the grid, and reducing or someday eliminating the need for peaker plants." - Carly Schonberg​

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Keep this Party Going

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