“The Megafire Crisis is Solvable”: How a new Non-Profit is Calling for Action on the Wildfire Crisis

Wildfires are synonymous with devastation. In just one year - 2020 - blazes in California caused so much damage to the environment that they wiped out the progress made in reducing carbon emissions from a fifteen year period between 2003 and 2019. It’s a phenomenon which carries a naturally apocalyptic tone, with coverage of wildfires typically involving red skies and footage of flames roaring higher than the eye can measure. 

But this isn’t a story about despair. Rather, it’s a story about hope. Or at least it needs to be. 

That’s part of the central message behind Megafire Action, an organisation focused solely on enacting policies aimed at solving the wildfire crisis. And, to bring that message to life, Megafire Action enlisted the help of the independent brand and creative studio I/D.W. At the outset of an ongoing relationship, the team at I/D.W lent their expertise across brand identity, web design, content strategy, art direction, photography, videography, information design, and animation. 

To find out more about how they helped to refine and communicate Megafire Action’s urgent and essential message, LBB’s Adam Bennett caught up with managing principal Alex Ashton, creative director & principal Leigh Okies, art director & buyer Carolyn Hackett, senior designer Tay Bird, and creative strategist Sarah Thorpe. 

Above: The I/D.W team put together a brand identity for a new nonprofit organisation dedicated to ending the megafire crisis in a decade.

From The Ground Up 

Having helped to create a clear and memorable brand identity for Megafire Action, the I/D.W team have been part of an evolutionary journey alongside the organisation. “The team recognised the need and opportunity to create a convening organisation to help articulate means towards a solution on the wildfires crisis, but there was no name or entity set up yet”, recalls Leigh as she reflects on the early days of the team’s work together. 

The Megafire Action engagement provided IDW with an opportunity to collaborate with a visionary founding team. Together, they successfully combined brand strategy and creative development to tackle a significant problem right from the beginning stages of a groundbreaking initiative. “One of I/D.W strengths is the ability to work in this ambiguous space, where things are still in flux and priorities are being hashed out”, notes Alex. “We love working with founders and founding teams for that reason, because we’re able to be close creative collaborators to help set up a foundational chapter for the brand and creative content”. 

Somewhat ironically, the result of that once-ambiguous process is a message for Megafire Action which is utterly unambiguous. Specifically, that we can stop the wildfire crisis - provided that action is taken now. 

It also fed through into several kinds of integrated communications for the organisation. That included video, photography, web and identity design and, interestingly, a TED Talk delivered by Megafire Action’s co-founder - and the former Virgin Galactic CEO and NASA chief of staff - George Whitesides. 

Above: The team worked alongside George Whitesides to craft a moving presentation that shares solutions from the TED main stage. 

“The beauty of TED is that some of the best talks really unfold as stories, a blend of both intellect and heart, and we tried to work to achieve both in George’s talk”, says Sarah. “We did that mainly by pairing his script and solutions framework with incredible imagery sourced from a committed network of publications, photographers, and documentary filmmakers across the US. To make the TED talk dynamic and engage our audience, we built a video open and close to George’s talk, including a custom series of animated infographics”. 

Artwork included editorial footage, sourced from publications and first-person accounts from the Santa Rosa and Tubbs fires of Northern California and an image series from ten separate contributors. “It was ambitious to licence and edit original footage and media from over ten contributors over the span of about two weeks, but we felt it was important to keep editorial authenticity and honour those impacted by the fires, rather than sensationalise in any way”, explains Carolyn. 

Beyond the deliverables, however, the I/D.W team had important work to do when it came to messaging as well. One of Megafire Action’s core messages is focused around the concept of ‘good fire’ - the practice in which certain areas of forest are lit intentionally in order to contain blazes and restrict their growth. As the team tells us, breaking down this potentially paradoxical idea was essential to their work with Megafire Action. 

Above: Telling the story of planned burns through a network of photographers, including Sashwa Burrous (article thumbnail & image one) and Kiliii Yuyan (images two to five).

Explaining ‘Good Fire’

Importantly, ‘good fire’ is not a new concept. Far from it, in fact. 

“We had the opportunity to learn more about planned burns, or ‘good fire’, as an Indigenous American practice through our work with Megafire Action”, says Tay. “The Karuk Tribe of Northern California, for instance, have practised this method to help manage forests for millenia. We learned that what we have come to view as a healthy forest, in our generation, is actually too dense and might not be as healthy or resilient as it should be”. 

As Alex notes, our cultural relationship with ‘good fire’ is rather revealing when it comes to the issues that define the current wildfire crisis. “In the early 20th century, the practice was banned and only over the past 25 or so years has the US Forestry Service begun incorporating this into their own forest management practices. We also thought it interesting that it was a paradigm around seeing timber of the forests as a commodity, and therefore something valuable to ‘protect’, that also helped set the stage for our current megafire issue during the period around World War II”, he says. “It’s a humbling lesson in drawing conclusions too quickly based on an overly simplistic worldview, and not being open to solutions that seem, at first, counterintuitive”. 

Fortunately, Megafire Action’s messaging is quick to dispel any doubts around the use of good fire. On the organisation’s website, the copy leans into the practice’s deep indigenous roots to say, clearly and plainly, “we know what works”. 

Another quality which shines through Megafire Action’s communications is saliency - or the sense that this is a non-partisan fight in which all federal decision-makers, regardless of political leanings, must play a role. Interestingly, the I/D.W team reveals they looked back to posters and comms surrounding the Second New Deal in the 1930s to ensure they hit the right tone. 

Above: The team's branding work involved building out a website and content to help create policy and change around megafire prevention.

“The scale of response and action needed to reframe forestry, fire prevention and response is on par with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) from the New Deal, which is why we returned to these posters for inspiration”, says Leigh. “We did go back to the “Smokey the Bear” campaign as well, just for reference, but it’s worth noting that this was developed in times when the distinction of planned burns and destructive fire was not made”. 

Despite the accessible nature of the organisation, the team is clear that the critical audience is decision-makers in Congress. “There are many partner organisations and contributors making major progress related to wildfire strategy and response, Megafire Action is uniquely positioned in its focus on policy, and a primary audience is federal policy-makers and decision-makers”, says Sarah. “The good news is that this issue is primarily non-partisan, but it does need more focus in Congress”. 

Ultimately, it’s a powerful recipe for delivering change: goals which are understandable for all and actionable for those in power. And that, fundamentally, is why this remains a story of hope. 

“On a personal level, this project was a reminder for the studio that in contributing and taking action on issues that might otherwise frighten or overwhelm us, there’s a natural progression towards hope and resilience”, surmises Alex. “We know the wildfire challenge is a huge one, but we feel honoured that our work has enabled us to be a conduit for solutions”.