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Three Key Climate Initiatives and How You Can Help

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
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Three Key Climate Initiatives and How You Can Help
Speakers: Aiyana Bodi , James Christie , Marc O'Brien and Louis Rosenfeld
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Summary

This session will showcase three essential initiatives—Project Drawdown, SustainableUX, and Climate Designers—that UX designers, researchers, and writers interested in addressing the climate crisis absolutely should know about. We won't just inform you; each panelist will offer you a small yet concrete way you can help them achieve their missions. Join us for this hour-long session and discover how your participation can drive meaningful change in the fight against climate change. Learn more about SustainableUX, ClimateDesigners, and Project Drawdown in the resources linked on this page!

Key Insights

  • Climate Designers aims to redesign the design industry by putting climate at the core of creative work, supporting mid-career professionals and students alike.

  • Project Drawdown believes every job is a climate job, urging employees outside sustainability teams to leverage their roles for climate action.

  • The Drawdown Aligned Business Framework expands corporate climate action beyond emissions reduction to include supply chains, political engagement, and investment strategies.

  • UX designers can help by optimizing digital products for energy efficiency, encouraging sustainable behaviors, and creating educational interfaces on climate issues.

  • The Web Sustainability Guidelines, developed under W3C, aim to create formal, actionable standards for sustainable digital design and development.

  • Community and peer support within organizations significantly ease the challenge of initiating climate action at work.

  • Sustainable UX involves small iterative bets, combining practical actions like green hosting with bigger strategic shifts in product design.

  • Despite the complexity of existing sustainability frameworks, many UX professionals are already implementing key sustainable design practices.

  • Engaging in transparent feedback loops and updating shared resource libraries helps keep climate design knowledge current and actionable.

  • Climate action in business requires creativity and collaboration across departments beyond just sustainability teams to unlock full potential.

Notable Quotes

"Climate designers is a hub for designers committed to using creative skills for climate action."

"Every job is a climate job. Every job has to be a climate job."

"Companies really need to be approaching climate action in a much more holistic way beyond just reducing operational emissions."

"UX designers have the power to design interactions that encourage environmentally friendly behaviors."

"The climate crisis is a symptom of us being disconnected from so many things around us."

"Most companies are stuck in emissions reductions, but there’s a lot more levers to pull if they get creative."

"Finding your people inside an organization and being brave together is a great first step to climate action."

"The Web Sustainability Guidelines are massive but could become the first recognized standard for sustainable digital design."

"Many of us are already doing things called for in sustainability guidelines like accessibility and user research."

"We can’t afford new graduates to work 10 or 15 years before having their climate epiphany. We need climate-focused design education now."

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