HUMAN BY WONDERLAND #1
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HUMAN BY WONDERLAND #1
A newsletter about design and creativity, and how they contribute to a better world.
Hi, we’re WONDERLAND, an experience design agency based in Amsterdam, and LA. Welcome to the 1st edition of HUMAN, a newsletter about how design & creativity can contribute to a better world. We’ll try to make this one of the best emails you get every few weeks or so. Enjoy!
Introducing: WONDERLAND Ideas
Usually, we will use this section to share our latest thought leadership article. However, as this is our first edition of HUMAN, we thought it fitting to instead introduce the latest addition to wonderlandams.com: our Ideas page.
Ideas is our repository and home base for all of our thought leadership. Here, we’ll share our insights about things like the surprising places we found Digital Magic in the New Normal, or deep dive into Digital Health Magic in the age of COVID.
Every two weeks or so we’ll be publishing a new piece where we’ll share our thoughts, learnings, ponderings, and insights about how creativity and design can contribute to a better world, and help us navigate our new normal.
Other news
WONDERLAND x LOS ANGELES 🇺🇸
Oh and some other news, WONDERLAND is expanding into the USA!
Led up by our LA-based Lead Account Manager Matt, we are moving into Los Angeles, where we will be working alongside businesses that align with our own impact-led strategy of making the world a better place through digital design, innovation, and disruption. You can contact our LA team directly here
From the teams
Things that made us double take:
A new study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences [PRC], Cornell University [USA], and University of Surrey [U.K.] has found that unregulated bitcoin mining could use more energy than all of Italy, by 2024.
Save Ralph, a fantastic short video produced by Humane Society International has been produced as part of their global campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics. Featuring celebrities such as Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, and Olivia Munn, the video brings to life the horrible realities of animal testing through clever and emotional story telling.
The French Government will ban all internal flights that are less than 2.5 hours that can be replaced by a train trip in a bid to cut down on emissions. According to one French consumer association, the CO2 emissions are roughly 77 times higher per consumer if they fly, vs. taking a train for the same route.
The age-old adage of waste not, want not has been redefined by the team at wastenot.world through their easy to use and open-sourced database of sustainable suppliers, and their mission to help ‘reduce waste at the scale of business so we can make an even bigger impact, together.’
Thanks to DDB Tribal Aotearoa, iPhone users can now test the experience of using an Android device - and consider making the switch without buying a new phone outright - thanks to the recently launched iTest app, which provides a Galaxy experience from within your iPhone.
The world of video games can often feel overwhelming, and finding a great game can be hard in a category often driven by hype. Designer Adrian Red shared his solution to the problem with Play, a self-inspired UX project that would allow gamers to “discover, explore and keep track of the best rated video games of all time.”
Caught our attention
Netflix: Net Zero + Nature
Netflix - by way of their Chief Sustainability Officer, Emma Stewart Ph.D. - recently announced their Net Zero + Nature climate commitment.
Unlike many climate commitments we see from big business, this isn’t some obscure goal with a distant delivery date. Instead, Netflix has committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022, just 20 months from now.
While you can follow the link above to read the full pledge from CSO Emma Stewart, the basic outline of the plan is:
Reduce emissions - Netflix will adhere to the goal set in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as well as reducing their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 45% by 2030.
Retain existing carbon storage - by the end of 2021, Netflix will neutralise emissions that they can’t avoid, beginning with the conservation of at-risk natural areas like tropical forests.
Removal of carbon from the atmosphere - by the end of 2022, Netflix will incorporate investment for the regeneration of critical natural ecosystems to achieve net zero, such as the restoration of grasslands and mangroves.
The Net Zero + Nature commitment is anchored in science and has been aligned with the latest research from Oxford University for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting. Furthermore, Netflix has committed to meeting all 10 of the Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) criteria for Net Zero.
“As Attenborough said, “We need to learn how to work with nature, rather than against it.” Net Zero + Nature is our first major foray into this work. Stay tuned for more.”
The Reality of our Climate Crisis: Don’t look away.
There’s no point beating around the bush; our planet is in a terrible situation, and our collective optimism bias - where we assume the bad things will befall others rather than ourselves - is only making the situation worse.
The Conversation recently published an article sharing the findings of a report written by 17 leading scientists from multiple universities, including Stanford, the University of California, and Flinders University. While their findings are numerous, ranging from further mass extinctions, habitat loss, and detrimental damages to the ocean, it is their conclusion and underlying call to action that stuck with us the most.
“Failing to acknowledge the magnitude of problems facing humanity is not just naïve, it’s dangerous. And science has a big role to play here. Scientists must not sugarcoat the overwhelming challenges ahead. Instead, they should tell it like it is. Anything else is at best misleading, and at worst potentially lethal for the human enterprise.”
If you've enjoyed HUMAN so far, feel free to share it along with a friend or colleague! We’re always happy to welcome new readers, and they can sign up for themselves here. If we’ve left you wanting more WONDERLAND, you can check out our latest work here. We do our best to update it regularly!
Thanks for reading,
Team WONDERLAND
