When it comes to Arctic sea ice loss, we see a big problem and very little change.

Time is running out. A global climate emergency has been declared and it’s clear that we need big change. Vegan lattes, conscious fashion and ocean plastic will not be enough to save the planet.

For big change to happen we will all have to change our behaviours.

And that is exactly where the BIG problem lies, because whilst 92% of adults globally SAY they want to live a sustainable life, only 16% actually DO change their behaviours*.

For Montessori Schools in India, our brief was to find ways to overcome this ‘Say Do Gap’ and to trigger much-needed behaviour change.

*Kantar Who Cares Who Does Study 2021

Changing the world, little by little.

While big words are used to talk about Arctic sea ice loss amongst big people… we aren’t making big progress. We’re too stuck in our habits which dire previsions don’t see changing anytime soon.

So, we talked to the littles ones, the ones that can still change their habits easily.

We talked about a little part of the problem: the disappearance of the living environment belonging to one polar bear called Polly.

Letting them discover the problem…little by little.

Giving them little actions they can do every day to make things better.

And so, little by little, we are creating an army of real-life influencers. Thousands of little Greta Thunbergs-in-the-making to change our behaviours, day in day out, because even though they are little themselves, they can (and will) change the world.

We teamed up with Montessori schools in India to create a book that could reveal the problem and encourage behaviour change through the visual metaphor of a melting iceberg.

We created a layered 3D design that visualizes complex data in a simple way.

The book is made from natural and sustainable materials and lets kids discover the problem little by little, layer after layer, while building a relationship with the protagonist Polly.

This communicative design system enables the creation of a playful, empathy-building educative experience that makes a big problem easy to grasp, tangible and induces the behaviour change as the happy ending of the story.

We also designed a paper version of the behaviour changes to act as a conversation starter for our little real-life influencers to start lobbying and changing behaviours with the whole family at home, page by page, day by day.

The book is loved by the children and teachers alike and has been effective at raising awareness, sparking many discussions at school and at home. Two weeks after its deployment, many of the families reported having changed their habits at home including turning out the lights when not needed and being more mindful with their air conditioning, all under the same mission of saving energy and preventing our planet’s temperature rising.

This first project is just the beginning of more stories to come to continue recruiting more influencers and shift behaviours little by little, until we can all together (big and small) create the big change our planet and Polly so desperately need.