Frequently Asked Questions

This is an opportunity to hit the ground running at UChicago by engaging in an interdisciplinary project with your new campus community. Beyond looking great on a resume and leading to a potential cash prize, the FDC will allow you to think about important issues with interesting people. Make something cool, and make friends doing it!

Any registered student in the Class of 2023 can join a team. You don’t need any past experience working on climate change or design: all you need is interest and imagination!

The humanities play a huge role in climate change! They are essential in crafting innovative designs, organizing activism, and engaging with the emotional dimensions of the issue. For instance, consider cli-fi that imagines narratives around possible climate futures, climate change art that powerfully confronts our changing world, or climate change music that makes climate data accessible.

How do we go about actually making change happen? Consider public policy approaches, the need for meaningful behavioral interventions, and differing economic approaches to climate change.

Most people don’t know anyone as well! Which makes this a great way to get to know people at the college. We recommend you join our slack and join the FDC channel (#futuresdesign) to talk about what your interests are and meet other people.

You should probably arrive in time to move into your dorm! While there will be workshops and resources throughout O-Week, the only required event is the FDC itself on September 27.

Not much: form a team, do some research if you want, or participate in climate quests that will expose you to new ideas (coming soon). Or you could start during O-Week!

Our participants aren’t experts. Start reading some articles, researching local issues relevant to you. Choose one of your interests and see what kind of work people are doing in the intersection with environmental issues!

Climate change is a massive interdisciplinary problem that will impact global population and every industry in the coming years. Regardless of your interests climate change affects you. From a global perspective climate change is increasingly becoming a human rights issue as climate change causes climate event refugees, food shortages, and more.

We can give you the facts. However, regardless of your views on climate change, there are many environmental issues you may be interested in addressing. There are massive amounts of plastic in the ocean – how can we begin to deal with this? If you go to your local parks you may see a variety of invasive species – what should be done? If the climate is changing and we cannot control it, how do we live in a future where this happens? Regardless of your views on the issue, try to think of an enviromentally relevant problem that is important to you.

• Anything related to climate change is open; however, we are happy to brainstorm with you.
  • How can we address inefficiencies in food production (economic/scientific/policy perspectives)?
  • How can we motivate people to make different choices regarding consumer goods, constructuction, or utility usage?
  • What would be a model for sustainable fashion?
  • What does a sustainable city look like?
  • How can we use different forms of media to teach about the impacts of climate change?
  • If you are feeling stuck, reach out to the Fourcast interns on the slack to brainstorm with us!
• Some questions you can ask to brainstorm are:
  • Who are we designing for?
  • What are their needs/how are they impacting or being impacted by climate change?
  • Given sufficient time and funding, what is one product, policy, action, art piece ect. that your team could create to make a dent in this problem?

The fourcast lab interns are available to answer questions, bounce ideas off of, and more. Learn more about them here, and join the slack to message them! Feel free to reach out to fourcast faculty regarding their research and how it relates to your project! If you need to get tutorials on learning new skills you can log in to Lynda.com using your CNET ID and access tutorials on a variety of fields. If you need a place to start with research, maybe peruse some of the UN’s reports on climate change.

Essentially, your team will create a well-researched, well-developed, high-level idea with steps for implementation. Remember, it is a five minute pitch, so think about what you can present compellingly in that time frame.