‘Make Sustainable Living Irresistible’
Shortly after I was named Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme, they approached me about collaborating on an ambitious goal to make sustainable living irresistible. A year-long research study resulted in five key areas of impact and recommendations for actions individuals can take to contribute to a broader sustainable living outcome. From there, we developed a momentum-building mixed-media campaign called the Anatomy of Action.
This open-source project includes three videos, a downloadable toolkit for custom adaptation to local contexts, over 350 social-shareable hand-drawn graphics, a 150-page data validation report, and a custom website.
How we did it
For this collaboration, my team and I started by shining a light on all the bright spots of organically-growing cultural movements that exist outside of the traditional sustainability or environmental movements—things like zero waste, minimalism, guerrilla gardening, ride sharing, etc.
We identified over 80 movements, categorised them by the everyday lifestyle areas they addressed, and then dissected the actions these movements were taking. Next, we searched for peer-reviewed academic papers and studies from the last five years to determine which of the hundreds of identified actions have positive impacts when amplified among many people.
This helped us refine the list of actions down into a more detailed action heat map, and from that, we developed the five themes that make up the Anatomy of Action: food, stuff, movement, money, and fun.
I then conceptualised an easy-to-remember and connect-to mnemonic reference and came up with the hand. We all have hands and use them every day to take actions in the world, from spending money to gardening; it’s with our hands that we can take actions to help achieve a more sustainable world.
We then assigned the five action areas to a finger on each hand and used this as the central focus for the videos, graphics and toolkit.
Data Validation Report
After 8 months of research into the sustainable lifestyle actions that make tangible change, we published a comprehensive open-source report.
It includes a research overview and data validation on the development of everyday actions for enacting sustainable living based on micro actions that lead to macro change.
This research was reviewed by the UNEP and their associated teams to ensure alignment and validation.
Website Development
This project is housed on a dedicated website that encompasses the full suite of shareable assets. This includes a breakdown of the key sustainable lifestyle actions, the dedicated videos, and the toolkit for the Take Action challenge.
The toolkit is open source and includes instructions for launching your own 15 day challenge, plus all the graphics and stats needed so anyone can contextualise the actions to their own specific community.
Social Media & Video Campaign
Designed to be shareable and contagious across languages and cultural contexts, our invitation is to “hack“ the 365+ gorgeous hand-illustrated graphics we created, so that the actions chosen make sense for the specific context. The campaign has been community-translated into dozens languages, helping to alleviate some of the English-dominance of sustainability information.
The three videos were done in collaboration with three different filmmakers, and each have their own unique style and message. Additionally, the third was filmed in three languages.
365+
Illustrations
Original hand-drawn social media assets
400+
Accounts
Social media accounts engaged with the campaign
60+
Countries
Global challenge that reached internationally
4,000,000+
Reach
Global reach still growing as the campaign continues
“Dr. Acaroglu has framed the impact of design on the way we live and the choices we have, in a way that is relatable, understandable and possible to act on. This gets to the root of sustainability: having the knowledge, skills and awareness needed to transform our lifestyles and make interventions that challenge the status quo.”
Erik SolheimHead of UN Environment (2016-18)
The Shareable Social Media Assets
Each of the action areas are composed of one primary area (ie, Food) and three sub-actions (Join/Start a Garden, Seek out “Ugly” Fruit/Vegetables, Swap Animal Protein) and ideas about how to make it contextual to your particular areas.
The invitation is to hack and translate these validated actions to fit each person’s circumstances – if you don’t have access to space for a garden for example, you may be able to choose more fruits & vegetables that would have gone to waste.
The challenge kit also includes multiple quotes from the data validation deck for use if desired.
The Videos
In collaboration with three videographers, each video has their own unique style and message.
The Results
Within 15 days of the launch (still ongoing), there were 19,000 views, 3,500 toolkit downloads, and engagement from over 100 countries, with the graphics and data being translated into multiple languages. The UN continues to use the toolkit as a campaign tool to engage diverse audiences with sustainable living.
At last count, over 4 million people have been reached through the Anatomy of Action hashtag, over 4,500 posts and stories.
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