Presenter: Teresa Bertossi, MASD Faculty
Topic Overview: Who Designs the Future? Climate Justice, Power, and the Role of
Designers in Systems Change
Overview:
This presentation shares insights from Design for Climate Justice, a graduate course that prepares designers to work at the intersection of climate, equity, and complex systems. As climate challenges increasingly unfold through institutions, policies, and community dynamics—not only products—designers are being called to take on new roles as facilitators, collaborators, and systems thinkers. The course explores how climate solutions can unintentionally reinforce inequities, and how designers can instead support more just and community-rooted approaches. Through case studies, participatory methods, and applied projects, students learn to navigate power, build partnerships, and move ideas from concept to implementation. This session will highlight key frameworks, student work, and practical tools for integrating climate justice into design practice—while also reflecting on what it means to lead responsibly within the systems we are trying to change.
Presenter: Holly Robbins, MASD Faculty
Topic Overview: Design, Climate and The Supply Chain
Overview:
Design is inextricably linked to climate impacts through the supply chain. The choices we make in the design phase can impact the rest of an artifact or process’s life cycle and impacts, positive or negative, can cascade up and down the supply chain. This presentation will share some of the ways we understand climate impacts in our work, and how we use design to address climate impacts throughout the supply chain. This session will share frameworks, concepts and examples from the MCAD Master of Arts in Sustainable Design program.