Charlotte McCurdy is an interdisciplinary designer and researcher whose work focuses on making existential threats, such as climate change, more tractable through design. Her goal: counteract the narrative of climate change as a problem without a solution. For her project “After Ancient Sunlight,” McCurdy fashioned a water-resistant raincoat from a plastic-like material she developed made of algae, which naturally sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The carbon-negative jacket debuted as part of “Nature — The Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.” Fast Company selected it as the winner in the Experimental category in 2019 Innovation by Design awards and it has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Wallpaper, Gizmodo, Grist, and beyond.