We Tried to Warn You!

For design enthusiasts and environmentalists, We Tried to Warn You! chronicles the use of the poster as a tool for environmental warning, protest, and hope from the first Earth Day to present time. Showcasing this work, the book investigates how visual culture has shaped and reflected our collective response to our planet in crisis.

The poster provides a unique snapshot of popular sentiment—and graphic design—at different points in time. We Tried to Warn You! provides a one-of-a-kind visual timeline of environmental issues as the public began to understand and face them. Spanning decades of ecological messaging, the book brings together striking works from across the world, from deforestation protests from the 1970s to twenty-first-century climate justice graphics shared across social media.

Inspired by the popular Poster House exhibition of the same name, the book highlights both iconic and lesser-known environmental posters paired with information on the history, politics, science, and people that have influenced the field over the decades. With essays by leading environmentalist Bill McKibben, scholar Carolyn Finney, and curator John Kenneth Paranada, the book is sure to engage poster enthusiasts, students of environmental activism, fans of the graphic history of public service announcements, and casual readers who just want to understand how we arrived at the present state of environmental history.