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Hey Climate Designers,

For those in the USA, enjoy the holiday weekend with friends and family. We hope you avoid the corporate consumerist frenzy and instead support your local artists and small businesses this season. Or, consider buying nothing at all :)

Enjoy this month's climate-positive projects.

Marc & Natalie

From Soil to Soul: A Documentary Series

Volunteer Spotlight

​Margaret To co-leads the Climate Designers Los Angeles Chapter, and is the co-founder of Studio SAKA, a creative studio dedicated to social impact and climate solutions.

Along with Ankur Shah and Jahnavi Mange (former Climate Designers volunteer), they co-founded From Soil To Soul, a documentary series exploring the journey to restore food sovereignty. Imagine a world where every community has the power to grow its own food, where children know the story of the food they eat and where their food comes from, and where our relationship with the land is rooted in justice, respect, and belonging. That is the vision behind From Soil to Soul, a series created by filmmakers, farmers, and environmental advocates determined to change the food system for good.

The groundwork for the project started when the Climate Designers LA Chapter created the Urban Farmers' Almanac in 2021. Through the Almanac project, they met many amazing community leaders in the food justice space in LA and wanted to highlight their voices beyond the guide. Margaret met Jahnavi at Project Blue Sky in 2023, and together with Ankur and Eldon they started filming this year and brought the project to life.

The From Soil to Soul team plans to do more virtual and in-person screenings of their 15-min pilot episode in 2025. Here are some ways to support their project:

• Spread the word: From Soil To Soul Media Kit​
• Donate on GoFundMe​
• Email them at fromsoiltosoul.film@gmail.com if you’re interested in
  • Hosting a screening
  • Connecting them to funders, partnerships, or projects in the food systems space

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A Field Guide to Climate Design

Project Spotlight

​Matt McGillvray is a long-time volunteer and lead writer for the Field Guide blog on Climate Designers. Earlier this year, he released a collection of his essays accompanied by artwork from nine artists as an ebook, A Field Guide to Climate Design. It is a beautiful book and compilation of work. In Matt’s words:

A Field Guide to Climate Design was created, first and foremost, to show all of us that, despite the uncertainties of the creative field, designers aren’t just passive actors in the creation of art and culture, stationed at our desks, awaiting the next project brief; we are (or can be) effective activists at the intersection of design and the climate crisis and in the everyday jobs that we are already doing. We possess levers that we push and pull every day that affect the world around us, and the book was written to shine a light on those levers so that designers can see them for what they are; not merely tools that help us do our jobs, but platforms from which we can speak and fulcrums from which we can move the world. - Matt McGillvray

Many thanks to the artists who contributed their artwork to be a part of this book. They include Lucie Blaževská, Marlene Sinicki, Denise Foulkes, Masha Manapov, Kasia Pustoła, Anna Schum-Houck, Stefanie Schmidt, @chougoudi, and Ava Federov. Go check out their work, and pick up a copy of A Field Guide to Climate Design. 25% of purchases go directly to Climate Designers.

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Question of the Month

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Opportunities

Current Design and Climate Jobs, Courses, and other Opportunities
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Jobs

​Senior Creative Designer at Allplants, Hybrid (London, UK)

​Designer - Web & Brand at Electricity Maps, On-site (Copenhagen, Denmark)

​UX/UI Designer (SaaS Platforms) at WasteHero, Hybrid (Krakowski, Małopolskie, Poland)

​Open Application - Location Design/Architect at Fastned, Hybrid (Various Locations, Europe)

​Design Intern at Aspen Institute, Remote (Washington DC, USA)

​Senior Product Designer at Ascend Analytics, Remote (Denver, CO, USA)

Events

Upcoming Virtual Climate and Design Happenings
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Climate Designers Events

Climate Designers Toronto: Arcadia Earth + Storytelling in Design on December 8th

Climate Designers Bay Area: Re-gift Exchange and Holiday Gathering on December 12th

Find more events during Chapters Month here. We’ll update this page when more events come online for December.
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Other Events

​Green Team Success Stories: How Employees Advance Climate Action at Work with ClimateVoice on December 3rd

​Discover Your Climate Calling: Find Where Your Passion Meets the World’s Needs with Work on Climate on December 5th

​Circularity by Design: How to Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors with Sustainable Brands on December 5th
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​Move the Needle: Activism for Artists, Crafters, Creatives, and Makers with Shannon Downey on December 11th

Inspiration

What we’re Reading/Watching/Listening to in Design and Climate

🔈 (Tech) The Microsoft Azure dilemma Part 1 and Part 2 on Green IO with Holly and William Alpine
​I found this interview enlightening for understanding how some big tech companies enable emissions through direct partnerships with fossil fuel companies. It provides additional considerations for those working on ethical UX and software design. - Natalie W.

📺 (Systems) Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix
​This film is a must watch for all designers. It illustrates how so many design disciples (fashion, UX, packaging, industrial, more) have played a role in developing our overconsumption and overproduction culture. Although the ending of the documentary had lackluster CTAs. - Marc O.

📚 (UX) Applying the principles of permaculture for a more sustainable design ethos by Dora Cee on Medium/UX collective
​I find it very interesting how permaculture, which is usually associated with agricultural practices or physical domains, can be applied to user experience as well. This article lists its principles and explains how they can help generate new approaches and design ideas for more impactful and sustainable products. - Luisa C.​

📚 (Futures) The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
​This book focuses on two possible climate futures—one where we meet the Paris Agreement's climate targets and one where we don't. Given recent electoral events, it may feel like climate action is more hopeless than ever, but what this book focuses on is the power of the solidarity of our climate movement and the choices that we have every day to make a better future; that power lies in us, not just in our elected officials. We have power that we don't always utilize—or even realize we possess. It's a good book and a great time to read it. - Matt M.​
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Quick Links

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Read the Field Guide blog and pick up your copy of A Field Guide to Climate Design eBook.
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