Changing Course: Designing for People in an Age of Crisis

Early twenty-first century climate forecasts suffered from overstated optimism and understated threat levels. In this talk, Dr. Nathan will ask you to join in acknowledging the existential threat posed by our rapidly changing climate. As communities face catastrophic wildfires, record smashing windstorms, and devastating droughts, how do we shift from brittle solutionist tropes to robust practices of adaptation?  What are the responsibilities and opportunities for design in supporting community resilience?

Despite what we read in Wired Magazine or Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), this is not a problem to be solved by more powerful computing systems or ever-greater access to information. We already have spectacular computing power and mind numbing amounts of information. What we lack is the humility to live within the limits of our planet’s biosphere.