The eco mag fighting climate crisis

“Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee – I’m in Los Angeles and it’s freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!” This pearl of wisdom – delivered in Tweet form – comes from the leader of the largest economy in the world, our Orangness, President Donald Trump. Named after this harrowing missive, It’s Freezing in LA! is a new kind of environmental magazine that aims to combat the systematic denial of hard fact, and the media’s apathy to impending species extinction, through nuanced and moving approaches to environmental topics. 

IFLA!’s content is diverse, from pieces about the shifty world of ‘seeding’ clouds with silver ions to encourage rain, to the different approaches to green finance and what universal basic income might offer green policy. There’s fascinating interviews too, including with the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas and – a particular highlight – with Suzanne Dhaliwal, the director of UK Tar Sands network, on ways to decolonise the climate movement, something she’s had firsthand experience of while working with indigenous women on frontline resisting crude oil extraction at Alberta Tar Sands in Canada. 

The It’s Freezing in LA! team is a group of writers, editors and illustrators determined to better understand the complexities of climate change through fresh writing, beautiful illustrations and difficult questions.

When we started It’s Freezing in LA!, we felt that climate change was something that was still to properly enter people’s conversations. It is a hugely complex, politicised and often very inaccessible subject. But, if you get to the heart of it, it’s actually a fascinating and very rich issue. A magazine is a perfect match between inspiring stories and images and a curated, precise platform for nuanced ideas.

So, in IFLA!, we gather a range of diverse, bright ideas to try to untangle the situation piece by piece. We don't make the environment the footnote to other stories; each issue holds a collection of images and ideas about how green issues intersect with all disciplines – from theatre to law to politics.

The green community (outside of Instagram accounts about plastic) is actually quite small! People have been really excited by the idea of a dedicated magazine about the ideas underpinning environmentalism, as well as there obviously being a wonderful amount of support for top illustration and design.

We’re also an exciting platform for people engaged with green change because there are so few popular spaces which are committed to properly, and unswervingly, interrogating green ideas. We look different, we know what we’re talking about, and we have a really diverse readership to pass ideas to. Having an article about politics next to an article about ecology is a fantastic way for communicators to discuss ideas to varied audiences.

The political landscape does seem to be reacting to XR – but these moments have happened before. What might be different about XR, though, is that it is reminding people, businesses and politicians that fighting climate change requires difficult choices, and inevitably some fairly tricky transitions. People might be more prepared for this in the wake of XR.

There are lots of ways to do this. Reduce – only print what you need, avoid freebies and have an alternative electronic version for those who don’t mind reading on screens. Reuse – sell your misprinted and damaged copies, get copies in libraries and encourage people to share them. Recycle – always use recycled materials (including for posters and such) and veggie/soy-based inks. 

We also don’t send individual copies outside of the UK – our distributor can do it more efficiently in bulk. We make sure that at events we request only vegan or veggie food, and ask organisers about whether they use recycled materials.

While it’s essential to make sure that your use of print is responsible and necessary, we’d also say not to be too scared of it. Giving someone a beautiful object that might really make them think is really important. You’re also making something permanent, which is really important when clicks and closing tabs also use massive amounts of energy.