How to Design the Future

Applying Design Thinking to Personal and Community Sustainability

This episode we’re excited to bring you a conversation with someone who seems able to cultivate a 10,000 foot view of the historical, social, cultural, and technical facets of climate change and sustainability.  David Johnson, has been teaching at Stanford Law School since 2008, while doing legal work for tech and biotech firms in Silicon Valley. His recent work on sustainability, though, explores the application of design thinking to the big problems we face today, whether it’s micro plastics in the oceans, species loss, or Southwestern drought.

Listen all the way to the end to hear David give is some free consulting about a big community project that Kelly and I are contemplating as out legacy work.

David's Full Bio: 
​Dave Johnson has been teaching courses in negotiation at Stanford Law School since 2008, alongside his legal work in Silicon Valley. Starting in 2014, he began teaching at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (a/k/a “the d.school”), recently completing the fifth instance of his first-of-its-kind course, Negotiation by Design, applying design-thinking principles to the art and craft of negotiation.

Dave’s work in Silicon Valley covered intellectual property litigation, corporate transactions and governance matters. He has testified as an expert witness on intellectual property in federal court, and appeared as a witness on law and technology before the California Assembly and Congress. He has served as general counsel for private and public tech companies in social media, life sciences, organizational design, healthcare and, most recently, for a non-profit in higher education.

For his JSM in Law, Science & Technology, David's research explored object-oriented design and fuzzy set theory as ways to inform a new approach to environmental law and policy. David is currently working on a book titled Climate Activism by Design, bringing design principles to bear on citizen activists responding to corporate and government inaction on this immediate, existential crisis facing all of humankind. 

​When not writing or teaching, Dave is an avid skier and sailor, and a diligent but decidedly average tennis player.

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Music Credits: 
“Colorado-Slinkies” by trout recording
“Everyone-Everywhere” by_Jayme_Stone

SHOW NOTES: 
​Key Takeaway: 

•  Three steps to avoiding hopelessness
  • Do something small to make your life more sustainable
  • Luxuriate in the feeling that small step gives you
  • Use that energy to connect with others so you can scale up!

Connect with David Johnson

• David’s Website https://climate-activist.com/ 
• David’s Social Media Feeds
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter 

Sustainable living resources: 

• Arcadia Power - Switch to renewable energy

(Full disclosure: If you use this link to sign up, we get $10 off our electric bill!)

•  Zero Grocery Delivery

Dive Deeper on the Topic: 

• Follow John Cusack on Twitter 
• A video about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
• An article about Henry Ford’s “Soybean Car”
• More good news about soy plastic
• Diver removes hooks from sharks’ mouths

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