GLOBAL NOMAD INITIATIVE

When given the opportunity to focus my systems thinking learning on one topic, I chose to spend time understanding migration and how climate change is likely to affect it over the next several decades. I thought that (and still think that) every designer and business man is going to need to understand how migration is going to affect their livelihood.

What started as a systems/design thinking project became an initiative around activating individuals to gather and tell stories about migration and movement in the hopes that shared stories may, over a long period of time, alter the emotional definition of “migration” from a term about outsiders in boats to a more localized and approachable term–for instance, Californians who move to Portland because of water issues are migrating due to climate change.

While some of the events I created at PNCA were only in theory, I remain passionate about the topic and continue to work with friends on small projects around migration and refugees.

One of my personal favorite visualizations that came out of the work so far is a 6ft x 4ft poster of my initial understanding of the climate change migration environment.