If we don't change the fearful way in which we perceive climate change, "we will constantly reinforce this role of the future being fucked," said Disrupt Design founder Leyla Acaroglu at the Design and Climate: Rethinking Our Role conference, held by Design Declares.
Designer Acaroglu began her keynote by urging the audience of designers to adopt an "ecosystem mindset" when conceiving their projects, suggesting that teamwork is critical to working more sustainably. "If you don't have that collaborative mindset, you're not really able to get the kinds of systems and changes that we need," said the Disrupt Design creative agency founder.
The event in London was the first hosted by Design Declares – an organisation helmed by a group of studios, agencies, designers and institutions committed to harnessing tools from the design industry to tackle the climate emergency, founded in 2022.
"We have to find ways to open the dialogue"
Leyla AcarogluAcaroglu continued by emphasising that "when it comes to addressing climate change, most of the actions that we need to take are hidden in the supply chain… We talk about climate being difficult because it's embedded in absolutely every single thing we do".
Acaroglu highlighted eco-anxiety, something she said affects most people to varying degrees, as a global issue hindering progress in sustainable design. "Eco-anxiety is very close to general anxiety disorder in that you can have physiological reactions like heart palpitations, stomach pain and headaches. But it also generally creates a sense of despair and isolation… It's a major problem because people don't talk about it. And that anxiety is just going to fester and become more problematic," she added.
The designer encouraged her audience to confront, rather than avoid, their fears surrounding climate change. "I have been working in this space for 20 years, so I have a lot of adaptive practices to deal with the torturous reality of, you know, global environmental and social destruction," she quipped. "We all have to find ways to open the dialogue so that we can move beyond [the anxiety]," added Acaroglu. "I always say that the first people we need to educate are the people in power. Because it's going to take a long time for the kids to get to those positions," she added. "People like you have the capacity to design a better future. The design industry has the opportunity to be at the forefront of this transformation."
