When legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser created the “ I Love NY ” symbol in 1977 for a government ad campaign, he didn’t know it would be a ubiquitous icon nearly 40 years later. Now, at the age of 85, Glaser is hoping to recreate some of that viral success for an issue he’s personally most passionate about: fighting climate change.

“It’s the most important issue on Earth–the end of the Earth,” Glaser says. “At a certain point you say, why are people not paying attention to this? Partially, it’s that people are cynical about anything they hear after being subjected to advertising and persuasion their whole lives. You cannot affect people through persuasion anymore.”





Instead of creating a campaign with complex messages, Glaser decided to make a simple symbol that people could wear to acknowledge the fact that climate change is happening. As more people don the image–a green dot that’s almost covered in black, designed to be worn as a button–he hopes that it will serve as a recognizable symbol that climate deniers and policymakers will notice.

“By wearing it, you simply say this is happening,” Glaser says. “The acknowledgment itself produces change. For instance, once politicians see this, they know it’s going affect reelection if they vote against climate issues. That moves you from the fact of acknowledgment to action.”

The campaign’s slogan is “It’s not warming, it’s dying.” Glaser wanted to change the language around climate change. “The words ‘global warming’ can’t provide a sense of desire to act, but rather sound sort of reassuring, like a warm fireplace in the wintertime,” he says. “The phrase itself is the beginning of misunderstanding.”

Glaser chose to make ’60s-style buttons, rather than only having a social media campaign. People can order five buttons for $5, which covers the cost of making and shipping them, and then give the extras to friends.





“The idea of making the button is so that you materialize or visualize a person’s commitment,” Glaser explains. “You look at a guy, you don’t know what they believe. They put on a button, you know what they believe.”