> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Man Behind I  NY Tries Branding Climate Change
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/man-behind-i-heart-ny-tries-branding-climate-change/
- Published: 2014-08-16T00:33:43.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:42.000Z
- Description: Global warming is a phrase that pops up just about everywhere, ensuring that we confront our planet's worsening climate changes. Designer Milton Glaser, however, is aiming to stress that the reality of the environmental situation is much worse than the term 'warming' would suggest.
- Author: Claire Voon
- Tags: Opinion, Climate Change, global warming, Milton Glaser, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![(itsnotwarming.com gif by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/08/glaser-logo-640.gif)

(itsnotwarming.com gif by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)

Global warming is a phrase that pops up just about everywhere, ensuring that we confront our planet’s worsening climate changes. Designer Milton Glaser, however, is aiming to stress that the reality of the environmental situation is much worse than the term ‘warming’ would suggest.

Best known for creating the ubiquitous [I ♥ NY](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%5FLove%5FNew%5FYork?ref=hyperallergic.com) logo in the 1970s, Glaser recently designed a series of buttons as part of a [new campaign](http://itsnotwarming.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which adopts the slogan “It’s Not Warming, It’s Dying” to send and spread a weighty message of the planet’s decline.

“There is no more significant issue on earth than its survival,” Glaser told [Dezeen](http://www.dezeen.com/2014/08/04/milton-glaser-its-not-warming-its-dying-climate-change-campaign/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “The questions is, ‘How can anyone not be involved?'”

Representing Earth, the button is simple, colored mostly black with a glow-in-the-dark sliver of lime green bordering one edge to represent “the disappearance of light.” The designs are currently [selling online](http://www.busybeaver.net/it-s-not-warming-it-s-dying-button-pack.html?product=837&qty=1&full%5Fname=first+last&email=user%40sva.edu&ref=hyperallergic.com) for $5 in packs of five to encourage their dissemination, and all proceeds go towards costs of shipping and production of more buttons.

Glaser [expressed his hope](http://www.dezeen.com/2014/08/04/milton-glaser-its-not-warming-its-dying-climate-change-campaign/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that an increased presence of his button will move “the masters of the universe” — politicians and influential corporations, that is — to action. The campaign, which has been [tweeting climate change reports](https://twitter.com/ItsNotWarming?ref=hyperallergic.com), also employs the hashtag #itsnotwarming to encourage buyers to promote the cause by posting photos of themselves wearing the button to their social media accounts.

Despite Glaser’s good intentions, our planet *is* warming and actually *isn’t* dying, inaccuracies numerous publications [have](http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/14/3469579/climate-slogan-its-not-warming-its-dying/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [pointed](http://www.fastcoexist.com/3034104/the-climate-movement-needs-rebranding-but-these-milton-glazer-buttons-wont-do-it?ref=hyperallergic.com#4) [out](http://www.salon.com/2014/08/08/the%5Fguy%5Fwho%5Fgave%5Fus%5Fi%5Fheart%5Fny%5Fhas%5Fa%5Fdepressing%5Fnew%5Flogo%5Ffor%5Four%5Fdying%5Fplanet/?ref=hyperallergic.com). *Grist* even [links](http://grist.org/climate-energy/no-climate-change-wont-kill-the-planet-but-itll-kill-plenty-of-people/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to a talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson in which he says, “Earth will survive this … earth will be here long enough after we render ourselves extinct.” 

![The original poster for the 1979 sci-fi film Alien (via Wikipedia)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/08/alien_movie_poster.jpg)

The original poster for the 1979 sci-fi film Alien (via Wikipedia)

Imprecisions aside, the visuals of the button aren’t exactly compelling, especially for a product intending to influence a movement as monumental as this one. Presenting such a stripped down design, Glaser isn’t offering any hints to his campaign’s purpose; the logo doesn’t spark associations to the meanings it is supposed to embody. If I saw the button on the street, I wouldn’t recognize the positive change Glaser is attempting to kindle, especially through such a dark, somber illustration. While the glowing green may evoke toxic waste, the color more quickly brings to mind sci-fi related imagery, like the poster for the classic [*Alien*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien%5F%28film%29?ref=hyperallergic.com) (1979) movie. The entire pin, in fact, could resemble a mystifying planet, breeding more indifference than inspiration.

In comparison, the [moving graphic on the website](http://itsnotwarming.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (and translated into a GIF at the top of this post) does a fair job of representing with simplicity the enveloping of the planet by toxins through an animated black cloud that washes over the verdant area — unfortunately, this can’t be easily translated through a badge.

In this age when we’re inundated with imagery, a logo only has the power to influence culture when it actually triggers recognition of its goals. Sadly, Glaser’s image simply falls flat.