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Hi, I’m Sam. I’m a mechanical engineer from Montreal, Canada.
Throughout my career I’ve been fortunate enough to work on rockets, drones, turbines, energy storage, and even electric flying cars – I never imagined that a board game would be next.
I’m also a core team member and organizer of a highly active and entrepreneurial climate community called Work on Climate.
The idea for Solutions came about during the first Project Drawdown conference in September 2019. I met Henk Rogers, the entrepreneur behind Tetris, who proposed turning Drawdown into a board game. I immediately loved the idea of gamifying the Drawdown framework to reach a wider audience and spark conversations. While Henk was too busy with his work at the Blue Planet Foundation (the driving force behind Hawaii’s tremendous renewable energy transition), with his blessing, I got to work designing the game.
The original Drawdown book was such an inspiration to me – it was so easy to read and brainstorm ways I could help make a difference in each solution. My goal for this game has been to distill this incredible content into an approachable and fun format filled with deep discussion and a sense of both urgency and empowerment.
It has been a long journey to develop the game, filled with countless playtests, revisions, and iterations. Perhaps the most challenging part was condensing the pages of incredible information in the Drawdown book and website into 20-30 words on a card, while still retaining enough meaning to allow players to think deeply about each solution (thanks to my girlfriend for spending countless hours helping me proof them!).
My favorite climate solution is Cloning Woolly Mammoths, because it’s crazy, but it could also be one of the most impactful climate solutions if it works! An excerpt from the game:
Woolly mammoths once toppled arctic trees, letting grasses grow. This fed animals that trampled the snow, exposing permafrost to the cold and keeping it frozen. Cloning mammoths could help keep the 1,400+ tons of carbon stored in permafrost.
I hope this game gives you hope that climate change is still a solvable problem, and a sense of urgency that it’s almost (but not quite) too late. I hope that it reveals the incredible solutions at our disposal to fight it, and perhaps even encourages you to pick a solution and take action.
I come from a product & operations background working with corporates and startups in the Middle East, where I spent the last decade of my life. I currently reside in Sacramento.
When I moved back to California in 2020, I embarked on my own climate journey, networking in climate-focused communities and learning about the various climate solutions. That’s where I met Sam, in the Work on Climate community and was introduced to what he was working on. Having worked in EdTech for the last 2 years, I saw the potential positive impact of the board game, that is not only fun to play, but also engages players in discussion and debate about climate solutions.
My favorite climate solution is Aquaculture, specifically kelp farming.
