Doom and Bloom with Marc O'Brien.

Climate, community, and design are inextricably linked, and are something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. While it may be obvious (but absolutely blows my mind if I think too hard about it), design literally applies to every facet of life, shaping the spaces we inhabit, the systems we move through, the communities we build, and even what the future of our planet looks like. It’s also a response to the world we’re living in, and so climate is inherently a pretty big part of that conversation. This episode with Marc O’Brien dives into that intersection of design, climate, and community. Marc is an award-winning creative director and strategist and has been a mentor, friend, and neighbor of mine throughout my time in San Francisco. He also spoke at CreativeMornings San Francisco in February. Marc is one of the most thoughtful voices I know advocating for using design to be a powerful force for good in the climate space. From 2016–2022, he co-founded and ran The Determined, a design strategy and creative consulting studio that launched successful sustainability and climate-forward work. In 2019, he co-founded Climate Designers, a now-global community of designers taking climate action, with chapters around the world. He's also senior adjunct faculty at California College of the Arts, where he teaches climate design and social innovation. In this conversation, Marc takes us from his punk rock roots to a nomadic post-grad journey that ultimately landed him here in the Bay Area. Our conversation explores how to design for climate, why today’s climate crisis is intertwined with our connection crisis, and how a prototype mindset can transform the way we approach both work and life.