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Edenspiekermann joins the Global Climate Strike
Climate change is real, scary, and here to stay. It’s not an issue that will go away anytime soon. So what can we do about it? Some people say that as a single human, you can’t make a huge difference. After all, the predicament we’re all in isn’t the result of one person’s actions – it’s the buildup of millenia of human presences on this earth. The fact of the matter is that we have overwhelmed our home. There are too many humans in too little space, and there aren’t enough resources to go around.
So if one person can’t really make a difference, what’s the point of trying? As Elizabeth Warren pointed out during CNN’s climate-focused Town Hall, large, energy-consuming, carbon-producing corporate interests have frequently tried to redirect the conversation surrounding solutions to climate change back to altering personal habits – energy-efficient light bulbs, reusable straws, good recycling practices – and move the conversation away from sweeping legislation that would impinge upon these company’s profits and freedom to operate with few environmental regulations. That’s not to say that personal habits aren’t important, because they are. As Greta Thunberg says, ‘you are never too small to make a difference.’ We should keep up our recycling, reject plastic straws, replace those old light bulbs with smart, energy-efficient ones. But we should also recognise that ultimately, what we need is legislation that can actually regulate corporate interests.
I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic...and act as if the house was on fire.Greta Thunberg
So here’s the thing: if many people band together, we CAN make a big difference. We can demand legislative change. We can light a fire under politicians who actually have power to write such laws – an even bigger fire than the one consuming the Amazon. And this one might actually have an environmental benefit. Already, the Fridays for Future movement started by Greta Thunberg has spread across the globe, sparking protests in over 100 nations with millions of people participating and demanding that governments make real change. Countless students have since skipped school on Fridays to protest– 45,000 students in two days in Switzerland and Germany alone took to the streets, while European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has announced his intention to devote hundreds of billions to climate-change mitigation– a quarter of the EU’s budget. ”Every young person taking part in Fridays for Future embodies what it means to act on your conscience. They remind us that we are more powerful than we know and that we all have a role to play in protecting human rights against climate catastrophe,” said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International. And this time, with only a few days left to go until an emergency UN climate summit in New York, we need to send a message. Let’s make this the biggest climate strike the world has seen.
The ongoing news about the climate crisis is hard to bear and often leaves me with the feeling of not being able to do anything about it. But everyone can question his or her lifestyle! And going to a global strike might be the best way to let politicians know that we do care.Marcel Bachran
As a design firm, part of our job is about communicating big ideas to large groups of people in effective and meaningful ways. Sometimes, we put aside client work and use that ability to service the greater good. With that in mind, one of our designers, Marcel, proposed that we devote a Fail Friyay to creating posters in support of the Global Climate Strike this Friday. ‘The ongoing news about the climate crisis is hard to bear and often leaves me with the feeling of not being able to do anything about it. But everyone can question his or her lifestyle! And going to a global strike might be the best way to let politicians know that we do care,’ says Marcel. Our Fail Friyay sessions let us explore new formats and experiment– and last Friday, our design experiments were all about supporting the Global Climate Strike and Fridays for Future. We all live on Earth, and it’s our job to take care of it, so doing some design work in support of climate activism is really just a way of paying rent to the planet. And well-deserved rent, too – it’s a pretty good home. We’d rather keep on living here than destroy it, don’t you agree?
Our posters are ready! We're joining the Global Climate Strike in Berlin this Friday. We've made our posters available for download, and hope to see you waving them in the crowds! Save them, print them, and come meet us at Brandenburger Tor this Friday, September 20th, in support of the Global Climate Strike. Let’s demand change. We can do this.
