Harvesting Climate Action translates climate science into embodied participatory experience through the cultural lens of Chinese diasporic food. Building on Ling's 4-year Low Carbon Chinatown initiative, developed with climate & food experts, urban farmers, local authority and communities, the project demonstrates how shared meals, culturally grounded data, and collective deliberation reshape how communities enact climate responsibility.

For 6 weeks, a municipal building became an interactive space for climate action. At its heart were 100 recyclable cardboard stools, each a dual-sided data object, one face a ‘Climate Action’, forming 100 Climate Actions, the other tracing a meal ingredient's carbon footprint through life cycle analysis and geospatial mapping. Data maps, video, audio and living produce are integrated not as instruction, but as something to sit with and reflect on.

The 100 Climate Actions, now an online toolkit, co-developed with climate scientists, an economist, design strategists, council staff and residents, present carbon impact at three levels: individual, 100-person, and district-wide. Some contradict one another; others overlap, mapping the complexity and tension of routes available as we collectively shape our future.

The installation then transformed into a live banquet for 100 people: residents, families, scientists, teachers, civil servants, councilors, and the borough Mayor. Each harvested a Climate Action stool and sat with strangers over a low carbon East & Southeast Asian feast. Through provocations and voting, they debated impact and feasibility, exposing the gap between perceived and measured impact. Each left with their stool as an artefact of responsibility.

The project uses Chinese diasporic food culture as a culturally specific entry into climate science that dominant climate narratives rarely make space for. The local authority now references 100 Climate Actions, and an annual Children's Banquet is embedded in a local school curriculum.

Harvesting Climate Action is a project by Ling Tan. Developed in collaboration with Hackney Council’s Climate Team. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Delivered in partnership with Growing Communities, Gainsborough Primary School, and MadLeap. The project is part of Low Carbon Chinatown, originally commissioned by Kakilang.

With contributions from Stephanie Li and Ander Zabala from Hackney Council Climate Team; Tim Jones, Ronald Springer, and Tom Kirk from Hackney Service Centre Facilities Team; Dr Alice Garvey from Priestley Centre for Climate Futures; Catherine Chong from C.L.E.A.R. Consortium; data scientist Raphael Leung; food writer and photographer Uyen Luu; chef Neil Eakapong; Jenna Clark, Rab Brownell, Debby Lewis, and participating students from Gainsborough Primary School; Danny Fisher, Sophie Verhagen, and Richenda Wilson from Growing Communities; Rokiah Yaman and Katrina Wright from MadLeap; food writers Shu Han Lee and Mimi Aye; designer Usman Haque; Rachel Bronstein from Design Council; Alexie Sommer from Design Declares; Dr Peter Walton from Priestley Centre for Climate Futures; Dr Andy Yuille from Lancaster University; production assistant Jennie Gilman; fabricator Studio Makecreate; photographer and videographer Nick Turpin. 

Ling Tan (SG/UK) is an award-winning artist, designer and creative technologist whose work explores how people can collectively reshape urban systems and structures they inhabit, using culture, participation, and technology as catalysts for dialogue and action. Trained as an architect, her projects range from permanent public art to large-scale participatory events and have been exhibited at V&A, Barbican, HEK, Ars Electronica, STRP Festival, and Science Gallery. Awards include the STRP ACT Award, S+T+ARTS Prize nominations, and Seoul Design Awards Finalist. She co-founded the art and design studio HAQUE TAN.

Ling Tan’s project Harvesting Climate Action (HCA) combines digital technologies with social engagement and demonstrates how technology can be used in a humanistic and community-oriented way to raise climate awareness. The project clearly illustrates that climate protection is not a simple challenge that can be addressed through top-down measures and simplistic solutions: The project’s three-tiered structure—comprising individual actions, measures tailored to groups of 100 people, and district-wide initiatives, which in turn may conflict with one another—makes it clear that communities need an ongoing dialogue about solutions to the climate crisis in order to address the complexity of the problem. HCA also explores the connection between culinary identity—using the example of Chinese diaspora food culture—and environmental responsibility, and brings digital cultural diplomacy and social creativity to life.