Digital design is a carbon culprit
Working with two ambitious climate initiatives on planting trees and growing opportunities has got us thinking - how can we make the digital landscape greener?
We work in a digital field where pastures are not always so green. Our practice is entangled with a burden of environmental compromise - the industry heavyweights haven’t always taken responsibility for their digital impact on the planet, leaving it to the many small-scale businesses with big-time green visions to make the change. Whilst it generates the equivalent amount of carbon as the entirety of the airline industry, the internet is a rich resource of climate conscious education and action to combat its impact. From website carbon calculators and the websites taking on sustainable digital design, through to initiatives like Ecologi and Trees for Life, we have no excuse to not change our ways.
Taking it back to the micro, we spent some time reflecting on where we fell short in our 2021 Impact Report, including a peek into how we can mitigate our outgoing carbon emissions with the support of ambitious climate schemes. One potential solution, or perhaps response, is found in the leafy giants that line our green spaces: trees.
Offsetting isn’t an answer to the climate crisis.
We’ve been contributing to the tree planting effort for a few years now, supporting the rewilding of the Scottish Highlands with Trees For Life, an initiative with the vision to revitalise the wild Caledonian forest. In the wake of the climate crisis, we’re keen to expand our green reach, now additionally working with Ecologi, an ethical organisation investing in climate positive schemes reaching beyond the local, and into the global.
Offsetting isn’t an answer to the climate crisis. We see it as a gesture, an interim step towards better professional (and personal) practises that should in turn render itself obsolete. Driftime® wants to invest in the long-term, supporting livelihoods and caring for communities from the ground up. Although tiny compared to others in our field, we actively look to reduce our own energy use entirely, and continually work in a carbon positive manner to mitigate our impact.
Developing our connections with two worthy organisations who both have their sights set on planet restoration and revitalisation puts the health of our ecosystem into perspective. But how does it work?
Both Ecologi and Trees For Life have second-to-none ambitions, navigating our planetary problems in different ways, but with the same vision. With a particular focus on the British Isles, Trees For Life is a charity established over 25 years ago with the mission to bring innovation and intention to rewilding. It’s a collaborative effort rooted in cooperative and sustainable contributions to Scotland’s wild forest, bringing more than just trees to the table, but an intricate ecosystem of wildlife and dependable jobs for people native to the area. Much of our work with Trees For Life is found in incremental additions to the Caledonian forest - slowly but surely we are supporting a thriving network of trees, plants, animals, habitats and ecology in an area close to home.
It’s up to us to take the opportunities afforded to us and make the changes needed for tangible progress.
Ecologi has a different approach to the climate crisis, working from the same principle of preventable solutions to the 30 years of carbon damage inflicted on our green planet. Working with impact in mind, the Ecologi process allows us to compensate for our carbon footprint, whilst funding climate projects and offering eco goals to keep businesses accountable. It contributes to an extensive web of world-wide tree planting, spanning the globe from Thailand and Brazil, to Chile, Uganda and beyond. Their financial and ethical transparency echoes a call for honesty across industries, something that historically has been lacking.
It’s up to us to take the opportunities afforded to us and make the changes needed for tangible progress, be that planting a forest, funding a green initiative, or growing new opportunities. Working with Ecologi and Trees For Life marks a move in the right direction for Driftime®, but our ongoing commitment to the planet doesn’t stop there. We want to work with our community to feed back into the planet from what has been taken, building up from what we choose to practice, and with the many organisations paving the way.
Driftime® are an ethical design practice for the mavericks of today, solving the challenges of tomorrow. We’re on a mission to create social, environmental and economic impact through digital design.
Working at an intersection of purpose and intention, we craft stories and digital experiences with global mavericks in emerging markets, that seek better standards for people, planet and profit.