Julius Lindsay
…is building a digital game grounded in Black and Indigenous culture and community-building to allow users to create different and expansive climate futures.
Julius was inspired to create the Prismatic project based on a game he used for a climate planning exercise in Richmond Hill, Ontario, a mostly white, affluent area where discussion of race, class and equity were not foregrounded in the work. Despite some initial resistance, the participants tried a game, and realized through their scenario planning that equity was actually a key value for them in building their climate plan — and today, it’s a central plank of their strategy because of it. Prismatic shares values data from the scenario-planning outcomes back with participants, and the project will partner with Black and Indigenous artists to bring these alternative futures to life through dynamic, vivid pieces that help imagine a more hopeful future through integrated climate action.
Julius is one of the many climate justice leaders who wears multiple hats in the field. In addition to his work at The Prismatic Project, which he’s supported through awards and fellowships, he is also the founder of the Black Environmentalist Alliance, a network he started in 2020 to connect and support other Black leaders working in the climate and environmental sector. Julius is also the Director of Sustainable Communities at the David Suzuki Foundation.
Photo: Julius with his son, Julius III, at a community event looking at animal hides
On why games make sense for engagement:
“Part of the reason I went with a game is because everybody in Canada has played a card game at some point in their life, right? And so if I give you a card game and ask you to play it, you can figure it out. Everybody's picked up a game and read the rules and figured out how to do that. We're lowering the bar for engaging folks in a climate conversation.”
Photo: Julius Speaking at the City of Brampton Earth Day Event
On connecting climate to people’s lived priorities:
“When I started talking to communities about climate in Toronto, overwhelmingly the response was: I don't understand what that means. It's not meaningful. So what are the issues that folks find important and how are we speaking about climate through those? Here in Ontario, healthcare is a big one. Affordability is a big one. Housing is a big one. How are we having that conversation through those various lenses?”
Photo: Julius Lindsay at the Black Environmentalist Alliance’s (a NGO he helped found) first event. Other two in the picture are Laurian Farrell (top left) and Nicola Lashley (top right) two of their other co-founders (Photo Credit: Black Environmentalist Alliance).
On bringing new players into the climate movement:
“I can think of any number of programs focused on marginalized communities that would jump at the chance of working with a climate organization. But that connection needs to be drawn: we can bring this value to you. For example, an organization that's working on vulnerable youth in a community: “we think planting trees or shade structures and reducing the heat island effect is a way to help address some of the challenges you're seeing.”
“Communities have the solutions. They have power. How do you embolden them to be a part of the climate conversation and take action? And that's the piece that I think we don't do enough of.”
“I think that centering community from a social justice perspective is where this work needs to happen. If you want to do this kind of work properly, you should be figuring out how to let others set the agenda and you support them.”
On the support leaders need:
“There's already a lot of really amazing leaders out there that are doing this type of work, but the 75% of them I know are doing it on the side of their desk. They're constantly having to fight for resources. They're constantly have to fight people who think that their work is not valid or isn't real climate work, isn't real environmental work. And so that's what leaders need. Leaders need support to be able to move the needle. And there isn't a lot of resources out there for people to do that. They need opportunities. They need space. They need support. They need sponsorship.”
“The stuff I’m doing outside of DSF, I do one day a week and evenings. There’s an idea among BIPOC folks around a fellowship: do what you want to do, or don’t! There is so much burnout. Sometimes you need a sustained period of rest. There is so much harm, so much fatigue, just fighting for people to take you seriously. Leaders who are BIPOC or from marginalized communities, they need that. They don’t need more training, mentorship – they need sponsorship: money and space to develop their ideas.”