We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer:
• Explores the causes and effects of climate change, highlighting the vast power of small changes in our day-to-day behavior.
• Highlights the pros and cons of meat consumption and its environmental effects, offers explanations of the science of climate change, and presents solutions such as green energy and preserving biodiversity.
• Offers readers a chance to explore the power of collectively making meaningful, everyday changes that have a direct and effective impact on climate change.
As a UX Designer, reading this book is a must in order to understand the effects that our everyday choices and practices have on the environment. Additionally, it may inspire you to create designs that support sustainability and awareness of the power of collective action.
Other interesting books that explore the UX Design’s potential in sustainability and climate action are: Change by Design by Tim Brown, Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek, and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.
🎀 Highlights
vegetarianism isn’t the most environmentally sustainable diet;
small protest actions can lead to huge social transformations;
industrial farming is one of the biggest polluters in the world.
The story of the fight against climate change has no such clarity. That’s because the effects are felt all over the world in so many different ways.
Yale University found that when people were able to clearly visualize the victim of a tragedy, they were more likely to sympathize and donate money to them.
hundreds of millions more people will be affected in the future.
there is no specific victim that people can relate to. Subsequently, we find it harder to feel emotionally invested in the story.
predictions make climate change feel almost too enormous and terrible to be true.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before.
even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before. That meant that even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
We’re not designed to respond to abstract things which will affect us in the future, like climate change.
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same as if they were talking about strangers.
In order to respond to climate change, we need to have the ability to project our minds into the future and grapple with what will happen on Earth if the destruction of the planet continues at the current rate.
vegetarianism isn’t the most environmentally sustainable diet;
small protest actions can lead to huge social transformations;
industrial farming is one of the biggest polluters in the world.
The story of the fight against climate change has no such clarity. That’s because the effects are felt all over the world in so many different ways.
Yale University found that when people were able to clearly visualize the victim of a tragedy, they were more likely to sympathize and donate money to them.
hundreds of millions more people will be affected in the future.
there is no specific victim that people can relate to. Subsequently, we find it harder to feel emotionally invested in the story.
predictions make climate change feel almost too enormous and terrible to be true.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before.
even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before. That meant that even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
We’re not designed to respond to abstract things which will affect us in the future, like climate change.
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same as if they were talking about strangers.
In order to respond to climate change, we need to have the ability to project our minds into the future and grapple with what will happen on Earth if the destruction of the planet continues at the current rate.
vegetarianism isn’t the most environmentally sustainable diet;
small protest actions can lead to huge social transformations;
industrial farming is one of the biggest polluters in the world.
The story of the fight against climate change has no such clarity. That’s because the effects are felt all over the world in so many different ways.
Yale University found that when people were able to clearly visualize the victim of a tragedy, they were more likely to sympathize and donate money to them.
hundreds of millions more people will be affected in the future.
there is no specific victim that people can relate to. Subsequently, we find it harder to feel emotionally invested in the story.
predictions make climate change feel almost too enormous and terrible to be true.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before.
even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
Our inability to comprehend climate change is similar to people’s reactions to the Holocaust during World War II. Few had ever encountered a situation of this particular scale and terror before. That meant that even when they heard eye-witness accounts testifying that Jewish people were being murdered in extermination camps, they struggled to believe it.
We’re not designed to respond to abstract things which will affect us in the future, like climate change.
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same
fMRI scans showed that when they were talking about their future selves, their brain activity was the same as if they were talking about strangers.
In order to respond to climate change, we need to have the ability to project our minds into the future and grapple with what will happen on Earth if the destruction of the planet continues at the current rate.
