Evan McEldowney
As a tech-savvy designer and climate activist, I'm interested in systems thinking, innovative climate communications, and activating individuals through community building. LinkedIn
My main skills and experience are in…
digital design • photo/video • project management
strategic communication • community organizing
About me
My current climate projects include organizing large tech corporations for internal climate action; developing the creative and communications strategy for Bay Area Sunrise; and developing a 10-week online national course for Sunrise members on the political, economic, and environmental systems affecting climate change to help inform our efforts and strategy. In my career, I've worked on user experience design and front end development for sustainability initiatives, NGOs, agencies, and startups on product design, communications, and photography and video initiatives.
My lightbulb moment
I traveled across the West Coast of the United States and Canada for six weeks on a road trip and saw the direct impacts of climate change for the first time. I personally saw six wildfires in California and Canada devastating communities and the natural environment. I decided to educate myself on the science, economics, and politics of climate change: the current trajectories of global CO2 emissions, assumed infinite growth, and the massive partisan divide over whether climate change is even real or not. I was deeply dismayed. Our collective future looks dire, and as shown at COP25 and the UN Climate Change Summit 2019, we are paralyzed on how to change. We are caught up in a feedback loop of unsustainable consumption that is pushing us deeper into an unsustainable world. This has drastically changed how I look at my future and has pushed me to want to dedicate my life to addressing this problem.
I struggled with eco-anxiety once I understood the scope of the crisis. After working with Joanna Macy and the Sunrise Movement, I’ve transitioned to a mentality of hope. I know we can build a generation of leaders across the country who are politically active and climate-aware through the educational and organizational efforts I am a part of. I don't know what the future will hold, but I know that my current efforts to create a more systemic understanding of the problem and solutions will be beneficial in whatever occurs.
Climate media
- Atlas Obscura
- CityLab
- Climate Central
- C40 Cities
- Fast Co. Ideas
- Grist
- Guardian Cities
- Guardian Environment
- HuffPost Green
- MIT Tech Review
- NASA Earth
- Nature News & Comment
- NYT Climate
- Sustainia
- The Climate Group
- Unearthed
- White Noise
- Yale Climate Communications
- Yale Environment 360
People I read & follow
- Alex Steffen
- Bill McKibben
- brad plumer
- Brian L Kahn
- Caroline Lucas
- Darran Anderson
- George Monbiot
- Eric Holthaus
- Hannah Fairfield
- Hiroko Tabuchi
- Jeff Goodell
- Lisa Friedman
- Michael E. Mann
- Naomi Klein
- Noah Raford
- Sophie Thomas
- Stewart Brand