Mate Act Now: Leading designers from all over the world join in a climate change 'poster protest'

The initiative Mate Act Now is a "poster protest for the digital generation". It aims to drive political action and increase awareness of how we're harming our planet plus raise funds for the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Australia.

Chris felt compelled to do something as Australia burned over the summer: "Being a designer, I didn't know what else to do than to grab pen and paper," he explains. The result was a poster which, with the scribbling help of Flack's two-year-old son Leo, turned the words' Climate Action Now' into 'Mate Act Now': a catch-cry all Australians and Kiwis can get behind.

Since then, the project has expanded into a collective global response, with over 100 designers now involved. These include DIA, Manual, Build, Wade Jeffree and Leta Sobierajski, Vince Frost, Mucho, Mash Creative, Seachange, Studio South, Hey Studio, Carla Scotto, Christopher Doyle, Paul Garbett, Megan Bowker (Collins) and Lorenzo Fanton (Pentagram) to name a few.

"In these uncertain and unprecedented times, it's powerful to know that the advertising and design community can come together to effect change," Chris adds. "We don't want to take away from the enormous toll COVID-19 is taking on human health and the global economy, but the most significant long term threat to everything we hold dear is climate change.

"It's important we don't lose perspective of that and continue to do what we all can, with the skills we each possess, to tackle the climate crisis with the same willpower and global collaboration being displayed in the fight against COVID-19. On Earth Day, we want designers and creatives to share the posters on their social media feeds as a collective protest for the digital generation."

Designers have been asked to represent what climate change means to them. Posters form part of a curated online site​ (built by ​New Territory Studio​) launching on Earth Day today where you can download and share the posters for free. A limited-edition publication will be sold, designed by Liam Ooi of ​Studio South​, with proceeds going to the Australian Bushfire Relief Fund.