In spite of the serious subject matter, this isn’t a doom and gloom book. It gives actionable information to help you reduce your organization’s carbon footprint.

If you’re looking for a way to use your leverage at work, this is the book for you. It shows how sustainable content aligns with other content best practices to improve usability and reduce environmental and financial costs — all while boosting audience satisfaction.

Beyond the book, I’m also opening my calendar for 2025 training, workshops, or guest lectures in classrooms. Learn more about my speaking experience, and contact me to learn about opportunities that align with your organization’s needs.

It’s decentralized

Climate Week NYC is less of a conference and more of a loosely connected series of events held throughout the city. Sure, there’s The Nest Climate Campus over at the Javits Center, which is a good starting point, but many of the more interesting events are held throughout the city.

This leads to two sets of challenges. The first is that you need to find the other events. You can’t simply search for “Climate Week NYC” and get a master list of events to register for. You need to keep your eyes open and follow other people who are planning to attend. The other challenge is that many of the events are listed as “location revealed with event confirmation” or similar language. This means that you will inevitably find that you have scheduled yourself for a series of things that can’t possibly work together. For example:

• 8:00 AM: Panel discussion, Midtown
• 9:00 AM: Interesting speaker, Brooklyn
• 10:00 AM: Workshop, Governors Island

Getting from Midtown to the venue in Brooklyn takes 45 minutes. Brooklyn to Governors Island is a two-ferry combination that takes an hour. You see the problem. (Also, do not trust Google Maps with this, because it tells me that I should walk from Lower Manhattan to Governors Island. I’m all for walking, but any walking route across water really should have a bridge.)

My approach is to register for all the things, map out my calendar, plot the most reasonable path for the day, and then decline the events that I can’t physically get to.

Most events have waitlists

Just because you sign up for the Cool Event doesn’t guarantee you a spot. Most registrations require you to provide your LinkedIn profile so you can be vetted beforehand. One event got more than 600 applications for a venue that seated about 40 people.

Knowing this, it’s important to be respectful of the waitlist. If you can’t attend, contact the host to withdraw. Someone else will absolutely want your spot.

Seek out outdoor events

I don’t know about you, but I don’t love conference rooms and auditoriums. That’s why I was thrilled to find a Birding and Bagels event in Central Park. Was it out of my way? Of course. But it was probably my favorite event of the year. Casual networking, fresh air, and the beauty of Central Park.

Don’t expect to rely on taxis or buses

Due to the influx of people — and specifically the number of dignitaries with motorcades at the UN General Assembly meeting — the streets are particularly gridlocked. If you have any hope of getting where you need to be, it will not be using surface transportation. The only way to get from here to there is either taking the subway or walking.

The NYC subway is incredibly convenient. It goes almost anywhere, and doesn’t require a special app or fare card. Just tap your phone or credit card and go. MTA caps your 7-day spend at $34, so after 12 rides you’ll be traveling for free, which is less than you’d spend on a taxi. Just make sure that you use the same card every time.

Wear comfortable shoes

Look, I understand that it’s New York and your inclination is to dress fashionably. I gave up on that this year in favor of sneakers. Why? Maybe I learned from the Great Doc Martens Bleeding Heels Debacle of 2023. Mostly it’s because I just don’t feel like suffering for the sake of fashion.

In the first two days, I logged nearly 40,000 steps. This is not something you want to attempt in heels. You want cushion and support.

Good luck with hotels

Climate Week is held at the same time as the UN General Assembly meeting. This draws upwards of 100,000 people to the city at once. This is less than ideal in terms of room availability, particularly in midtown where you’ll have the best access to everything. I have already pre-booked a refundable room reservation for September 2025.

Pre-book restaurant reservations

Again, it’s a busy time in the city. If you plan ahead, you have a good chance of enjoying a sit-down meal at the venue of your choosing. If you wait until mid-afternoon to figure out what to do for your evening meal, you’ll end up at the food court in Grand Central Station. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially since Veselka now has an outpost there. But after a long day, a leisurely meal has its benefits.

I hope that these tips help you to plan your 2025 Climate Week experience!

This was a pleasant surprise. My work doesn’t always fit into neat little boxes. It’s not “just content” or “just sustainability.” To be recognized at one of the top international conferences for sustainable development issues is a really big deal. It’s an honor to be awarded at a conference attended by researchers and practitioners that include heads of state, U.N. officials, executives, economists, and academics. It helps to validate that my work is on the right track.

• File size
• Number of hits
• The kWh/GB of data transferred (provided in the talk)
• A link to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator

I then proceed to walk them through the metrics using an example web page. I explain that I use web pages because they are the most ubiquitous form of digital content. It doesn’t matter where you work, it’s likely that your organization has a website.

A few years ago, I started by choosing an example from the industry that I was presenting to. Something from a tech company, nonprofit, bank, or university, for example.

At one of those conferences, the website was from an attendee’s organization. They went ballistic. How dare I single them out as an example?

Fair enough. I don’t want to lose anyone in the audience because they feel like they’re being chastised. So I’ve since opted to use a consumer-facing website from an industry unrelated to the attendees.

The principles remain the same: file size, multiplied by hits, multiplied by kWh/GB can give you a number to plug into the EPA calculator.

In feedback from a recent talk, one of the attendees gave me a one-star review. “She’s clueless. She used a consumer-facing website, but I work for a B2B organization. It’s like she doesn’t even know who she’s talking to.”

It looks like I have to find a new way to explain my examples so I don’t lose the audience.

The Content Design Manifesto is intentionally brief, straightforward, and sets the groundwork for what to expect from good content and its collaborators. Understanding the elements of the Manifesto will help organizations maximize the value of their content, emphasizing the importance of UX research, inclusivity, and sustainability.

Anyone who has worked with me already knows my feelings on the importance of content. For those who are new here (hi!), content is more than words. It is the breadth and depth of all information that is communicated: information about your product, service, company, or values.

As a result, content isn’t simply words that fill an empty box at the end of the design process. It is developed in collaboration with engineering, research, product management, design, legal, marketing, customer service, and upper management to truly reflect the needs of a given audience.

I hope that you’ll take a few moments to look at the Manifesto and consider how content design can be more effectively used in your organization.

Thank you to the amazing Torrey Podmajersky for leading this initiative.

As she talked about this, I distinctly remember thinking that I couldn’t imagine getting to a point in life where I knew one subject so well that I could get up and talk about it on a regular basis.

(Looks at my list of speaking engagements)

Hmm. Funny how things change in the intervening years.

People often ask how to get started as a speaker, which is a lot like the old “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” joke. The answer is practice.

• Start small. You’ll be doing this for free, or for comped conference attendance. You’ll speak in small breakout rooms for small audiences.
• Find your voice. When you do these small speaking engagements, you’ll figure out what makes you stand out. Is it your topic? Your style of delivery? Your slides? Something has to set you apart.
• Own your topic. Are you the only person who has ever spoken on this topic? Unlikely. What you do have is your unique take on it, based on your unique experience.
• Self-promote. I am the worst at this. Truly. But add your speaking engagements to your website or LinkedIn profile. Demonstrate experience and competence.
• Get yourself a hype squad. You know that person in your life who wants you to succeed? Make use of that. Have them re-share your posts, attend your sessions, ask the questions that make you sound like a genius.

It won’t happen overnight, but one day you’ll look at your schedule with surprise and realize how far you’ve come.