Hi Hunters,
climate change is complex, scary, real and the mother of all collective action problems. So let's get collective. We're building a social network focused exclusively on saving the planet.
In my own climate journey, a few insights led to building (and now launching) climatelink. First, climate is hard. I took the (excellent) terra.do course last year, and once you really study climate science, it's hard not to freak out. When you dig into something so massive, the human tendency is to look away, or to stay on the surface. "Don't Look Up" illustrated that beautifully.
Second, I talked to a whole bunch of people in a similar situation ("what can I do?"), and it's really hard to figure out how YOU can actually make a meaningful difference in climate. Everyone has a different background, and at the same time, climate touches every sector and profession, so how can you combine those?
Third, even today, we only have a tiny fraction of the people that we need working on climate.
And finally, what I felt, and what many other people during conversations confirmed to me, is that once you really dig into climate, and if you don't look away, you get kind of radicalized. And I am using that word carefully, in the positive sense: a radical change means a change that is not just incremental. We need to radically move our energy system off fossil fuels, for example.
So we figured, first, to fix the "Don't Look Up" problem, we could use a social network, with its inherent addictive qualities (if we do it right). That turns a major social media issue (I can't look away) into the solution of a major climate issue (Don't Look Up).
Second, we can use a second negative side effect of social networks, that they tend to "radicalize" people, for good. Because we need radical change.
So that's all to say, I really hope you will check out climatelink.io, share it, and let us know what to improve. Because there's a LOT to do!
@peter_van_dijck Do you have a business model? How is this project going to be supported/governed. Please don't take this the wrong way because I believe that this could be a very important and powerful tool for climate organizing, but in order for it to be most effective, I believe it should basically take the exact opposite approach to mainstream social networks (e.g., not-for-profit, democratically governed, and open-source). Good luck!!
@ryanfobel Yep that's a great point. I go back and forth on the different arguments on that, but right now, I feel it's better to launch and we'll figure it out. There's just no time to waste, it's already 2022... 8 years left this decade.
@peter_van_dijck Yes, I appreciate the urgency too. I just literally think that these questions (governance, integrity, funding, etc.) are at the foundation of the any true solution. Personally, I am unlikely to invest my time or promote any such network unless I am convinced that it isn't going to become another shitty force of evil. Again, I assume that's not your intention, but I also think that we can't afford to not talk about these things early on.
@ryanfobel Fair enough and you should totally do what you feels right. I honestly don't have deep answers for "prove to me you won't sell out to Exxon". Yet :)
