POWER POSTCARDS
15 hand-painted watercolors from places fighting climate change. A biweekly newsletter by Outriders.
Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards
Winner - Social Media & Engagement
The Covering Climate Now awards recognize outstanding climate journalism. Power Postcards won for its approach to environmental storytelling through hand-painted watercolor illustrations and direct-to-inbox delivery.
POSTCARDS, NOT ARTICLES
A biweekly newsletter series of 15 hand-painted watercolor postcards, each sent from a different place on Earth where communities are already fighting climate change. Published by Outriders between April and November 2021, within the framework of the Paris Agreement.
Each postcard told the story of a specific local solution - from cycling infrastructure in Groningen to Twitter-funded wells in Nigeria, from rooftop farms in Bangkok to plastic recycling collectives in Gambia. Every edition was illustrated by watercolorist Grzegorz Chudy, turning data-driven environmental journalism into something intimate and collectible.
"Climate journalism defaults to alarm. Power Postcards proposed a different register - grounded, local, human-scale."- Jakub Górnicki
THE COLLECTION
Each postcard told the story of a community already taking action.
GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS
Transport · Cycling city
KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
Water · #buildawell initiative
KAWASAKI, JAPAN
Waste · Industrial symbiosis
LIMA, PERU
Agriculture · Urban farming
CONGO BASIN
Conservation · Peatland protection
GRENOBLE, FRANCE
Policy · Green laboratory
PATAGONIA
Environment · Ecosystem protection
FIJI
Marine · Locally managed marine areas
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Agriculture · Rooftop farming
PONTEVEDRA, SPAIN
Mobility · Pedestrianized city
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA
Urbanization · Green corridors
CAIRO, EGYPT
Water · Aquaponic farming
BELARUS
Biodiversity · Bird conservation
NJAU, GAMBIA
Waste · Women's recycling collective
RORAIMA, BRAZIL
Land rights · Yanomami territory
THE FORM
Power Postcards rejected the dominant visual language of climate journalism - satellite imagery, infographics, stock disaster photos. Instead, each story arrived as a hand-painted watercolor postcard.
The form was deliberate. Postcards are personal, warm, analog. They carry greetings, not dread. The project framed climate action not as crisis management but as a collection of human ingenuity from places most media never visits.
All illustrations were painted by Grzegorz Chudy, a watercolorist whose work gave each edition its tactile, hand-made quality - a counterpoint to the digital medium through which the postcards were delivered.
TOPICS COVERED
"The screen delivers. The watercolor transforms. Each postcard carried a verified story of environmental action from a community that rarely makes international headlines."- Jakub Górnicki