Cat food brand Sheba has started work on what it claims is “the world's largest coral restoration programme, which aims to restore more than 185,000 square meters of coral reefs around the world by 2029”. A reef off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia has been regrown to spell out the word ‘HOPE’ in a project which began two years ago, working with ad agency AMV BBDO. YouTube advertising revenue generated by watching the accompanying film will go towards Sheba’s projects around the world, on which it is partnering with The Nature Conservancy. Watch it here:

Bologna-based architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D printing specialists WASP have collaborated to create a low-carbon housing prototype that is 3D printed using clay. Dezeen reports that “the home is formed of two connected dome-shaped volumes with a ribbed outer wall that is made up of 350 stacked layers of 3D-printed clay”. Story here

Last Thursday (13 May), URGE’s Alexie Sommer and Sophie Thomas, along with Matt Hocking of design studio Leap spoke to Patrick Burgoyne for a Design Business Association webinar on design’s response to the climate emergency. We’ll be following up the talk with some research into how DBA members are addressing the emergency, the results of which we will share here on the newsletter. Last week’s discussion also delved into the advantages of becoming a B Corp - something that both Leap and Thomas.Matthews have done. For those interested in knowing more about B Corp and how it might apply to design, Matt shared some resources:

Even if you don’t think you are ready to start the B Corp process yet, its Impact Assessment tool will help you understand how your studio is doing and which areas you might need to address in order to be a sustainable, responsible business: Find it at https://bimpactassessment.net/

Leap created a How to Declare a Climate Emergency and Take Action Playbook for B Corp: find it at: https://pardot.bcorporation.net/climateemergencyplaybook

Also, for those thinking of declaring a climate emergency, Leap created a set of free, downloadable resources and assets, here: https://climate-emergency.com/

URGE’s Sophie Thomas will also be speaking on ‘A designer’s response to the climate emergency – the power of creativity’ at the online Sustainable Earth 2021 event from June 24 to 25, organised by the University of Plymouth. Other sessions look at sustainable digital tools, biophilic design and ‘the power of art and creativity in the climate debate’. Full details here

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