Global Insights

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental non-profit organization working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. On the in-house Global Communications team, I create visual content that touches on the complex intersections of nature, climate and global society to help government and business leaders understand how nature can help them achieve political and economic goals. This plays out through science reports, infographics, illustrations, targeted social campaigns, newsletters, video content and more across the Global Insights blog, among other channels. We aim to communicate wonky topics with clarity, sophistication and a bit of levity too, when appropriate.

Design, Illustration, Web Layout, Video Editing & Motion Graphics: Rhiannon Hare
Copywriters: Wilson Peden, Kay Dakin

3 Keys to Creating a More Sustainable World in 2022

This annual feature looked to the year ahead, exploring some of 2022’s biggest opportunities to turn environmental ambition into action, centered around the three themes of community participation, global policy, and conservation finance. TNC experts provided video commentary on these topics that we built into the page and social assets.

image of a web mockup with editorial illustration of three speech bubbles and blue, yellow and orange gradient

an image of four phone mockups with instagram graphics of text against blue and yellow backgrounds

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report Releases

The IPCC (the UN’s climate science group) releases reports that compile the latest science on climate change, which are often dense and daunting. This offers an opportunity for TNC to distill the most critical findings for our constituents, and highlight the brights spots of hope and solutions. Our web feature offers findings from the latest reports, what they mean for our climate future and what actions communities, governments, and businesses can take now to avoid further warming. In tandem, social graphics simply distill some of the findings to help educate followers within platform.

mockup of a website with image of a mangrove at night and headline about the ipcc report, with image of a social graphic against a yellow background with text

five square social graphics photos with text over top

A Year in Review: 2021 in Five Trends

The December 2021 issue of the Global Insights newsletter highlighted five key topics for the year that could contribute to positive trends for the planet in the eyes of future historians, from Indigenous leadership to preventing future pandemics through green recovery. The newsletter was republished on the Global Insights blog and promoted throughout the end of the year. We tied the varying subject matter together with repeat patterns used throughout the piece.

a green editorial illustration of a radial design picturing leaves, hands, birds and repeating text that reads 2021, and a mockup of the illustration on a website

mockup of two websites with pattern illustrations and text

a blue repeat pattern with hand elements in a range of skin tones

COP26 Social

TNC CEO Jen Morris shared some on-the-ground audio reactions at COP26, which we adapted into video pieces to share on social and on a COP26 explainer web feature to give TNC constituents a glimpse into the progress and announcements being made in Glasgow.

mockups of social graphics with blue, yellow and green gradients and text

Carbon Offsets, Illustrated

This approachable, visual content helped break down carbon offsets and their potential for immediate climate action, if done correctly. It was released as the May 2021 issue of the Global Insights newsletter and was later republished as a web piece with a targeted social campaign. Loose, gestural marks combined with clean vector graphics and handwritten text to create a colorful and relaxed take on what can be a wonky and complex topic.

Copywriting: Kay Dakin

a mockup of three views of an illustrated email

a graphic of handwritten text with yellow highlights that reads 'the point is, it's not feasible to eliminate all emissions today. and that's where offsets come in'

a graphic representation of a scale, with one side showing factory smokestacks and the other side showing tree roots locking carbon

a handwritten graphic and illustration that shows a toolbox and two people holding a hammer, with text that reads 'carbon offsets are not a cure-all for climate change, they are just one near-to-medium term solution for difficult to achieve reduction

Will Nature Go Mainstream in 2021?

One of the many things we’ve learned from the global shock of COVID-19 is just how intertwined humanity is with nature. The annual look ahead feature for 2021 focused on highlighting nature’s central role in our lives—and what that meant for this critical year and the decade ahead. Illustrations and patterns wove natural elements together with topics such as health, food, travel and tech.

an editorial illustration of a blue stream with rainbow leaves floating, and an overlay of an eye. with image of web mockup showing editorial illustration

two web mockups showing colorful leaf illustrations and text

a maroon, blue and red pattern showing abstract shapes representing microscopic elements

a green pattern showing technologic nodes

four social graphics with text and repeat pattern elements

Closing the Nature Funding Gap: A Finance Plan for the Planet

In order to sufficiently fund the protection of nature, we need to know exactly how much we’re currently spending—and how much more is needed. In essence, we need to determine what our nature funding gap looks like. The Nature Conservancy, the Paulson Institute and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability took a deep look at these numbers as part of a 2020 report, “Financing Nature: Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing Gap.” My team produced an in-depth feature breaking down the findings of the report in a high-level way to promote the research to a targeted audience of policy makers and financiers.

infographic showing flow of spending for biodiversity

Clean & Green Pathways for a Renewable Energy Buildout

We are at the beginning of an enormous global buildout of clean energy infrastructure, but renewable energy infrastructure requires a lot of land. Siting renewable energy in areas that support wildlife habitat not only harms nature but also increases the potential for project conflicts that could slow the buildout—a prospect we cannot afford. A 2020 TNC report highlights six ways for governments, corporations and lenders to promote a clean and green renewable energy buildout. Isometric illustrations helped visualize abstract swaths of land to map out smart citing approaches for nature and people.

a mockup of a website with infographics showing clean energy siting

infographic showing clean energy siting in isometric perspective

Conservation in the Time of COVID-19: Notes From the Field

When COVID-19 shut down TNC offices and conservation projects back in 2020, we reached out to staff around the world to hear how they were forging ahead, adapting their work, and finding inspiration and hope in their communities and nature. Sketchy illustrations and handwritten text inspired by field notebooks aimed to bring a human touch to a world that felt so suddenly digital.