Master in Design Studies presents: BUILDING POSTCARBON FUTURES: Land, Justice, and Energy Transitions
Billy Fleming (Temple University) in conversation with Holly Jean Buck (University at Buffalo) and Abby Spinak (GSD)
Charles Waldheim, host
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026, 12:00 PM | GUND HALL, LOEB LIBRARY
Building Postcarbon Futures asks: what would a postcarbon future look like? What would it take to build and maintain a more just, regenerative world? How would it feel to live—and to thrive—in that world? Around the globe, people are transforming their social, ecological, and economic systems in response to the climate crisis. This book guides readers through 29 of these exemplary works, which span 43 nations and six continents. From Cuba to Kiribati, Iceland to the Andes, the prairies of North America to the expanding Gobi Desert, these case studies foreground the tactics and modes of practice being employed, often by marginalized peoples, to create more humane, hospitable places. With dispatches from more than a dozen leading scholars working on the front lines of the climate justice movement, Building Postcarbon Futures: Land, Justice, and Energy Transitions is both a celebration of action underway and a clarion call to the planners, designers, policymakers, and activists who are pushing this planet toward a future of collective flourishing.
Billy Fleming is an interdisciplinary scholar of climate justice. He is the co-founder and strategic co-director of the Climate and Community Institute, a progressive think tank that works with movements and elected officials to mobilize cutting-edge research on climate, economy, and everyday life.
Holly Jean Buck is a sociologist investigating the social, ethical, and political dimensions of emerging climate and energy policies. She envisions governance structures for a wide range of climate responses, from rural place-based efforts in natural resource management and clean energy to global-scale climate interventions, like solar radiation modification and carbon removal.
