This QUARTERLY reflects on the past year’s issues and why each theme matters. It also underscores the union of the design and carbon communities’ exemplary work addressing climate change, giving us a deep sense of pragmatic optimism moving forward.

This inaugural issue introduced Lot₂₁, explaining our origins in the design industry and why we built a new platform with climate-positive resources to advance a common cause.
It’s because design touches every person on the planet, and our lot can play a pivotal role in advancing climate action faster.

We recognized this century’s overwhelming climate challenges, the opportunities that respond to them, and why the design community can help overcome them. We also underscored the need for more designers to gain a seat at the table to guide conversations about decarbonization.

And that’s why we’re here: to inform, inspire, and ultimately help empower more designers across disciplines to participate and move the needle together.

We started with science by citing simple, measurable facts, with links to dive deeper and learn more. From this factual foundation, we explored ‘what design can do,’ highlighting exciting cross-disciplinary opportunities today and all the more tomorrow.

Crucially, in this issue, we described why removing the excess carbon emissions trapped in our atmosphere is necessary to restore our climate. In addition, we shed light on the creative opportunities arising as carbon removal opens a new frontier for the design community.

Now, we can see innovation rapidly evolving in university labs, tech companies of all sizes, and progressive design studios. And it’s attracting global investment and generating jobs across market sectors, seeding new design opportunities that will grow in the future.

We compared & contrasted one of the world’s greatest societal transitions caused by climate change and why it’s historically unparalleled. Similarly scaled transitions occurred in the past — over a few centuries. In contrast, this great transition must shift the world from relying on planet-warming fossil fuels to running on renewable energy and reaching Net Zero by 2050 — in a few decades.

For another perspective, we compared the Keeling Curve (carbon accumulation in our atmosphere over time) and the Rogers Curve (adoption of new goods and services over time) because these curves help us recognize different aspects of human behavior and what it takes to change.

But more than this, the two measurement curves reveal the critical need to align their trajectories to reach Net Zero by 2050.

We viewed collaboration as a cross-disciplinary practice and considered how it benefits from integrating technical feasibility, business viability, and human desirability to render more robust results. And we looked at this model’s application to the climate crisis because climate change is too complex for one discipline, field, or industry to resolve alone.

We showed how the climate crisis demands a more diverse portfolio of solutions, the integration of sound perspectives, and collaboration across different communities of practice.

That’s why I’ve intentionally moved between the design and carbon communities of practice in recent years to braid their know-how together. This approach makes it abundantly clear that we have much to learn from one another.

You’ve made our first year remarkably rewarding, and we’re eager to build on this momentum.

Moving ahead, we’ll continue emphasizing carbon removal solutions that are crucial for restoring our climate, guided by the three pillars of climate action — effectively balancing adaptation (climate resilience), mitigation (carbon reduction), and restoration (carbon removal).

Following this framework, we’ll promote design for decarbonization and the benefits of integrating the design and carbon communities’ diverse skill sets and mindsets.

As each new season unfolds, we’ll share exemplary projects that advance climate action, highlight concepts from university students that will hearten you, and promote the climate policies that will impact everyone who shapes the built environment — everywhere.

Four seasons have passed; we know you are here, and your growing support uplifts us all now.
With you, we can do a lot more!

How to Participate

All the listings below are available on Lot₂₁, and you’re invited to use them freely.

First, we suggest considering where you are on your climate journey to find a good starting place to learn without becoming overwhelmed. The Carbon Almanac Network’s The Daily Difference offers an easy, conversational way to begin. Bloomberg Green provides a more business-oriented yet accessible starting place. Both suggestions are free.

Every QUARTERLY newsletter ends with our Listening & Reading Suggestions. They connect you to podcasts, articles, and videos from those actively engaged in climate action worldwide. It’s an easy way to access diverse points of view that can help you cultivate your own.

If you want to join an advocacy group or test the waters, explore your state’s resources in our national policy directory here. Advocacy groups vary widely from hyper-local and grassroots to industry-focused and international. We suggest sampling a few to find like-minded people and learn alongside those specializing in policy development.

We’re adding more resources to our national policy directory in 2025 to make participation more accessible, so be sure to revisit your state from time to time.

Consider the following frameworks for a deeper dive into different strategies and solutions that you can readily participate in.

— Climate Framework, unites industry & academia in an effort to upskill our collective capacity for climate action
— Doughnut Economics Action Lab, turns the ideas behind Doughnut Economics into transformative action
— Project Drawdown Roadmap, identifies science-based solutions to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
— Project Regeneration Frameworks, describe critical actions that can stem the climate crisis in one generation
— Systems Change Lab, spurs action at the pace and scale needed to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges

You can participate by sharing materials, tools, or projects using Lot₂₁’s online easy-entry forms. This is a great way to help other community members advance climate action faster. And, if you have other suggestions for how our growing community can participate, please email us at info@lot21.org. We love hearing from you!