THESIS STATEMENT
The climate crisis is more relevant now than it has ever been before and is only going to keep getting worse. That is, unless we do something about it. Climate change affects everyone living on this planet. It is really easy to lose hope and faith that things will get better and will change. It is also easy to get overwhelmed quite quickly when talking about all the change that needs to be done and needs to take place in order for a difference to be made. But at the end of the day, we all need to contribute if we want something to happen. It is a matter of starting at this point, it doesn't matter where, just needs to be something. Small changes add up to make a difference.
How can I make sustainable changes feel less overwhelming while also feeling easier to do and accomplish?
SHIFT & SUSTAIN
A sustainability challenge to inspire and motivate change.
THESIS PRESENTATION
PROJECT BACKGROUND & INTENT
Through working on campus at Western Michigan University's Office for Sustainability, I have had the opportunity to really lean into my passion with sustainability. My passion comes from climate anxiety and my personal experience with these feelings. I get very overwhelmed when it comes to conversations, discussions, and even just listening to anything relating to the climate crisis. I have found that the best way for me to cope with these feelings of worry and fear is to take action and to do something about it.
Through conversations I have engaged in at work, in classes, and in my clubs and organizations on campus, a reoccurring theme is feeling overwhelmed and hopeless when talking about the climate crisis and taking action on it. Which is what inspired this project.
Small changes add up to make a big difference. The hope is that the actions spiral into more and continues to grow. I wanted to provide a way to get started because something is better than nothing.
PROJECT GOALS
• Inspire
• Motivate
• Encourage
• Empower
• Offer Hope
• Decrease the feeling of overwhelmingness
PROJECT AUDIENCE
• Anyone who wants to make sustainable changes.
• Anyone who wants to take action regarding the climate crisis
• Anyone who feels overwhelmed regarding sustainable changes and swaps and needs some help getting started by getting pushed in the right direction.
WHY CARDS?
• They are small
• They can be compact
• They transport well
• It encourages physical engagement and interaction
- The engagement adds pressure to the people interacting, leading to a level of accountability and follow through.
The challenge cards can either be collected and then assembled together like a puzzle to create a poster, or once they have lived their life, they can be recycled or composted.
RESEARCH
My research started at the library. I decided to go to the children's section because I wanted information that was easily digestible for everyone. Sometimes with the more "big kid" books, information can be hard to interpret, understand, and retain. I did not want this project to feel overwhelming for the users/engagers, I wanted things simple and easy.
I had a meeting early on with the Office for Sustainability's Program Manager, Brianna McCann, and the Director, Jeff Spoelstra for some advice and input on my project. They recommended a lot of books that would help with providing valuable information that could help with generating ideas for the cards content.
Books read to have background knowledge on topic
I created a project map to help with understanding how my project would work and to think through all of the avenues. The map could consist of whatever we needed it to as long as it was helping with the visualizing of the project.
Project Mapping
I also had a meeting with Melissa Burkholder, freelance photographer and graphic design teacher at Rockford High School, and she brought fresh eyes and perspective to my project. She helped me with generating some new ideas and directions for my project.
VISUAL RESEARCH
This is only a handful of work that I looked through to find inspiration for my project.
Do The Green Thing (works listed from left to right)
Buy Less, Play More by Constanza Gaggero. Use The Sun by Perry Rowe. Sewn Not Thrown by Rubing. Share by Patrick Cox
EDP. Brand Identity. Pentagram
Nice Ad, Shame About the Planet for Do The Green Thing. Campaign. Pentagram
Dare to be Curious with Kindred People. Doing Me Doing You.
DESIGN PROCESS
Before the name Shift & Sustain, other names were considered, along with colors and formats. Many options and variations were explored.
Logo Sketching and Experiments
Along with variations for the naming of the project, there were many explorations with what the final poster would come together to look like. Colors were not decided until near the very end. There was very obvious progression from the start to the finish. And many times as I was working, I would stop midway through if I started to not like the direction my work was taking, and did not want to waste anymore time on something was not it. So, I would jump right back into the beginning of a new direction and see where that went.
Poster Sketching and Experiments
REFLECTION
When looking back on this project I am happy with the results, but I will say I don't think what I completed with was anything close to what I had envisioned in the beginning. I also don't think I realized how long all the work would take to get where I ended up. I plan to continue with this project by adding a website and an instagram. The website will be a place to include the project goals/mission, how it works, all of the challenges (the list will continue growing), as well as adding a bit more of the why the challenges, swaps, and changes are important and the impact they have on our environment. I also want to add an instagram because I want there to be a space for a community that promotes the growth of this project and the sustainable changes. I want it to be a space for people to be posting, tagging, and sharing, while also encouraging challenging people with the prompts through the social media world. I think instagram is another great outlet to promote this project and engagement with it.
SOURCES
Written
It’s Getting Hot in Here: The past, the present, and the future of climate change
Heos, B. (2016). It's getting hot in here: The past, the present, and the future of climate change. HMH Books for Young Readers.
The Environmental Movement
Kallen, S. A. (2019). The environmental movement. ReferencePoint Press, Inc.
Global Warming Alert
Cheel, R. (2007). Global warming alert! St. Catharines, ON.
The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Roca, N. (2009). The three R's reuse, reduce, recycle. Paw Prints.
Why are the Ice Caps Melting? The Dangers of Global Warming
Rockwell, & Meisel, P. (2006). Why are the ice caps melting? : the dangers of global warming / by Anne Rockwell ; illustrated by Paul Meisel. (1st ed..). Collins.
Eyes WIDE Open: Going behind the Environmental Headlines
Fleischman. (2014). Eyes wide open : going behind the environmental headlines / Paul Fleischman. (First edition..). Candlewick Press.
Poisoned Planet: Pollution in our world
Greeley. (2003). Poisoned planet : pollution in our world / August Greeley. (1st ed..). PowerKids Press.
Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming
David, & Gordon, C. (2007). The down-to-earth guide to global warming / by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon. Orchard Book.
Let’s Eat! Sustainable food for a Hungry Planet
Veness. (2017). Let's eat! : sustainable food for a hungry planet / Kimberley Veness. Orca Book Publishers.
Plant Products
Spilsbury, & Spilsbury, Louise. (2003). Plant products / Richard & Louise Spilsbury. Heinemann Library.
Electrify
Griffith, S. (2022). Electrify: An optimist's playbook for our Clean Energy Future. The MIT Press.
Earth for All
Dixson-Declève Sandrine, Gaffney, O., Ghosh, J., Randers, J., Rockström Johan, & Stoknes, P. E. (2022). Earth for all A survival guide for humanity: A report to the Club of Rome (2022), fifty years after the limits of growth (1972). New Society Publishers.
All We Can Save
Johnson, A. E., & Wilkinson, K. K. (2021). All we can save: Truth, courage, and solutions for the Climate Crisis. One World.
Doughnut Economics
Raworth, K. (2018). Doughnut economics. Random House UK.
Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change
Helm, D. (2021). Net zero: How we stop causing climate change. William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming
Hawken, P. (2017). Drawdown. D: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. Penguin Books.
Visual
Project team
Zuleika Sedgley
Ashley Johnson
Fadi Dada
Chloe Ting
Lizzie Reid
Ryan Bugden
Collaborators
Kirstin Smith, animator
Zuleika Sedgley
Ashley Johnson
Fadi Dada
Chloe Ting
Lizzie Reid
Ryan Bugden
Collaborators
Kirstin Smith, animator
The Pentagram-based environmental public service Do The Green Thing has launched #AntiSkeptic, a campaign that calls on the news media to put an end to the so-called ‘debate on climate change’.
#AntiSkeptic is underpinned by Do The Green Thing’s latest publication, which describes how the news media covers climate change through opposing points of view, often argued by two people who are given equal billing: the expert, backed by the overwhelming global scientific consensus, versus the skeptic, backed by flimsy qualifications and paid-for-opinions
The campaign urges the public to defy the deniers by taking green action in their lives.
Illustration by Marta Parszeniew
The Pentagram team created a set of animated visualizations with colorful, eye-catching images and surprising facts that inspire people to take action. The designers wanted to establish a dynamic look for the series that would work well on social media and could possibly be extended in the future, with the hope of helping the information reach a wider audience, especially younger generations who consume images on apps like Instagram. Each graphic focuses on a specific fact and piece of data related to one of the goals, to help make the issue more accessible.
Project team
Ting Fang Cheng
Phillip Cox
For the People’s Climate March in London in May 2015, Pentagram created a unique set of placards that would be able to stand out from the rest. They needed to reflect how social media has altered protest, allowing dissent to take place online as well as on the streets.
Featuring illustrations by Mads Berg, ‘Rock Paper Scissors Bomb’ brings a touch of Italian Futurism to card play.
Featuring gothic inspired illustrations by Rohan Daniel Eason, the deck is comprised of 20 exquisitely illustrated cards that can be placed in any order to create a seamless scene stretching up to 170cm long.
Project team
Michelle Brown
Phillip Cox
Madeleine Garner
Ed Ryan
Gabrielle Merite
Paul Lenaers
In April 2017 the Tate approached the Pentagram-based environmental public service Do The Green Thing with a task: host a workshop to help people put their views on paper. Entitled 'Poster Power' the event was part of Wolfgang Tillmans’ edition of Uniqlo Tate Lates, a monthly event that opens up London's Tate Modern to the public in the evening.
https://dothegreenthing.com/resources/
The Pentagram-based environmental public service Do Green Thing team has launched Ungifted, the first global alternative to the billions of unwanted presents that we send each other every Christmas.
The Pentagram-based environmental public service Do Green Thing team has launched Ungifted, the first global alternative to the billions of unwanted presents that we send each other every Christmas.
Project team
Phillip Cox
Ting Fang Cheng
Talia Cotton
Tara Magloire
Project team
Talia Cotton
Phillip Cox
Project team
Talia Cotton
Phillip Cox
Project team
Kirstin Huber
Jeff Close
Project team
Marta Gaspar
Hamlet Auyeung
Kate Blewett
Charlotte Harmsworth
Wayne Martin
Natalia Witwicka
Laura Phillips
Jeremy Downes
Dare To Be Curious
Emma Hursey
Stackables- Card Game
Lili Sütö
Random- Card Game
Marta Puchala
