Hello, I’m Laurent Cousineau, the founder of the Climate Change Guide. I’m looking at ways to improve the website and the Substack. I’ve only posted twice so far in the Substack, and my website was created back in 2011. It has evolved a lot since then.
What suggestions do you have on how to improve the website or how to make the Substack posts better?
Hi Laurent! What you're doing is important, your page being hacked also proves it. I've been subscribed to your newsletter for a while now and like getting news from you, I respect every person fighting the good, most important, all-encompassing, fight. I understand you keep your work scientific-only, without mentioning politics or business at all, because you want to reach a wider audience that way. And there are others, both activists and academics who already cover the political part of the story. Still, if you're already getting hacked, you might as well go all the way :) Just for your consideration:
- add in your vocabulary 'private interest', 'public interest', 'commons', 'degrowth', 'planetary boundaries', 'technodeterminism', 'technooptimism', 'permaculture'...
- Andreas Malm is an outstanding scholar who wrote 'Fossil capital' (on techno-determinism etc.) and while doing that, a compendium in which he briefly and wittily tackles bad climate theory and and presents good one 'Progress of This Storm' (both on https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/search/authors/andreas%20malm)
- if you want to laugh while crying and learning about how worthless COP agreements are, I'd recommend this debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsKkP6ZK9xE (great channel in general)
- check Katharina Pistor who teaches law at Colombia Uni, she explains how law is the code that makes the brutal, everyday, intentional violence of profit-crazed capitalism possible
- also see Elinor Ostrom's work maybe, difficult to read, but good to know (find a summary)
- artist Oliver Ressler (also has a great YT channel)
- youtube climate scientist Climate Town (did you know usa actually had good public transportation before Ford, and then GM & co literally crashed (financially and physically) it all and zombied people into private transportation and tax-paid roads and highways!)
I understand if don't want to go public with this knowledge, maybe use it in a strategic way. Still, if you ask me, these are some of the key nodes of knowledge to understand things better and move in the right direction.
In the future I will try to focus on more long-term politics so that the content I have on my page can still be relevant if people read it many years later. If I get too specific on politics there will be very few views I think and people will lose interest over time. What do you think?
Alright, good job with the Trump article! You did mention how private (financial) interest crushes public interest (of humans and the rest of nature), in a mild way that average people can swallow, I get it. I cannot advise you on strategy, I'm sure you'll find a smart way to speak up about politics (find someone you admire and copy their way? eg. i loove the Juice Media on youtube, their videos on green tech and anything climate are brilliant!), I can only advise you on content, direction, material (and ofc, take that with a grain of salt : ). Personally, I think it is high time that people understand as they did 100 years ago that capitalism is legalized destruction, codified madness. The political spectrum between 'left' and 'right' is a false dichotomy in itself, I mean 'right' means legalized exploitation, irreversible and unnecessary slaughter of millions of years of colorful evolution and hate towards lots of people - why is that even a thing? So I hope you like my 'best of' of sources climate crisis, I learned a lot from those. If you like it too, I hope you find a good way to use them and spread the word :) I'll continue enjoying your work, rock on!
First of all, I have no idea how you found me but I'm glad you did. I've been wanting to see a space that will appeal to the masses who are immobilized with overwhelm/fear in a way that empowers them to act. For those of us who aren't scientists or engineers designing climate solutions, our best path forward is to help build political will that broadcasts to those in power (at all levels) that we want solutions and action at the highest levels. Most folks (I think) have the basics about climate change but don't know what they can do that will actually move the needle. And I think that is what they want. I firmly believe it is building political will... passing climate friendly legislation, passing building codes that accelerate electrification and policies that reduce carbon emissions... that is most needed right now. In other countries, where progress is happening, it is because their leaders are mostly on the right side of the issue. There is a consensus that climate change is real and man-made so they are developing solutions and policies to shift to renewable energy. Our country is stuck in a political battle because constituents in certain districts are not demanding climate action. At least 70% of Americans want to see a shift to renewables and for the US to be carbon neutral by 2050 (that includes Republicans under the age of 30) according to Pew Research studies... so while politicians in certain districts resist climate policy, they do have a constituency who wants it. These folks just aren't making their voices heard. Yes, special interests play a role, but when push comes to shove, politicians want to keep their jobs and how they do it is by winning elections and listening to what their constituents want. So, if you can build a platform that empowers your audience to demand climate action... even suggest specific climate friendly bills that they can easily reference, you will be mobilizing people and we'll be moving in the right direction. So, my suggestion is to focus on climate action as the central element of the website and give people streamlined tools to reach the ears of all of the people/leaders that represent them.
This Substack sends emails to people who subscribed to my newsletter on my website Climate Change Guide. You may have subscribed a very long time ago (I started the website in 2011). So you think I should write more articles on climate action?
I want more daily visitors, and I would like to spread awareness more efficiently, if possible.
I’m thinking of making a large section on “How to Help” and perhaps even a section refuting common claims by climate skeptics (I will reference the website Skeptical Science which is good at showing the evidence of climate change).
Side note: my Facebook Page, “Climate Change Guide,” was hacked several times between 2018 and 2023; therefore, I decided to spend less effort on my page for the time being due to security issues. Hence, I will focus on the website and Substack. I may also do a YouTube channel in the future. If I do a YouTube channel or TikTok account, it will be not just about climate change but other topics as well.
But aren't there a lot of people who are neutral about the issue and may be curious to know more? They may use the info to spread awareness. I think the website Skeptical Science did a very good job
I would put much more emphasis on the two actions that more and more climate advocates are recognizing are essential to ameliorate the climate crisis and restore a safer planet.
That is removing massive quantities of the excess CO2, which is the direct cause of the climate crisis. But because both removal and reduction of current emissions will take decades to accomplish the case, the world does not have time to do either before activating irreversible tipping points.
Thus we need to directly cool the climate through various means of sunlight reflection. See a paper that I cowrote for more information:
That's a tricky topic to approach. A lot of environmentalists are not a fan of geoengineering (like reflecting sunlight) since it can have side effects.
Everything has side effects. The rare minerals needed for solar panels and electric vehicles, cause vast environmental destruction in their mining all over the world. Yet you don’t hear many environmentalists say that we shouldn’t produce electric vehicles and solar panels.
Every time a country or community reduces levels of air pollution that warms the atmosphere accelerating Climate Change.
We’re way past the point where we can only look for solutions that are 100% perfect. People living in a hellush dystopian world 50 years from now are unlikely to say how happy they were that we didn’t use geoengineering that could’ve cooled the entire planet and saved millions of lives because it might’ve had some side effects.
The fact is that an emission reduction strategy alone has utterly and completely failed. The world has had 30 years to demonstrate that relying on emission reductions could alleviate climate change. It is now imperative, that we move beyond that failed paradigm to encompass other modalities, in addition to emission reductions
The need is to accelerate research to determine as best as as one can the nature of the side effects and weigh them against the incredible benefit of slowing down temperature increases, and even reducing temperatures.
Thanks for the link. I think that’s a reasonably fair assessment of stratospheric aerosol injection. What it doesn’t emphasize enough is that every indication is that living conditions and tipping point activation will be such that we will not have the luxury to wait till near the end of the century to deploy geoengineering. It’s almost inevitable that the climate will be literally out of human control at that point and since it is likely to take at least 15 to 20 years of additional research field testing and construction of the aircraft and governance arrangements we have to begin that process right now, so that the world would be in a position to say yes or no in the next decade or so
Unfortunately, even tragically, there are influential groups of scientists and activists, who are demanding that even research on geoengineering be stopped and prohibited, which is perhaps the most irresponsible position imaginable in light of the risks of the collapse of civilization in the coming decades, without geoengineering
Can't we deploy new technology to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or use GMO technology on trees so that they absorb more carbon dioxide? I think there may be other solutions than spraying things in the atmosphere which may cause serious side effects. We should also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become carbon neutral as soon as possible, in my opinion.
In fact there are many scientists (climate, social, etc.) who oppose e-vehicles. At least private motorized vehicles. If you ask me, it is more important then ever to understand the harm of private interest and property crushing public (not only human) interest. Private transportation is a great example. Cities and almost the whole world are designed around it! Did you know tires are the n1 source of plastic pollution in the world? Did you know that up to 80% of city car usage is for trips >2km? And the destruction that roads and highways bring! I could go on and on. Transportation is an insane topic, not just because of rare materials, slavery and all that. Again, people must understand the madness of normalized private property and private interest. All that is today held private was (until basically recently) held in common. The biggest win of the 'rightwing' is not only did they steal what belong to nature and all humans together, but they also succeeded at this magic trick that humans forgot in the last 50 years that this is insane and not necessary to be that way.
Hi Laurent! What you're doing is important, your page being hacked also proves it. I've been subscribed to your newsletter for a while now and like getting news from you, I respect every person fighting the good, most important, all-encompassing, fight. I understand you keep your work scientific-only, without mentioning politics or business at all, because you want to reach a wider audience that way. And there are others, both activists and academics who already cover the political part of the story. Still, if you're already getting hacked, you might as well go all the way :) Just for your consideration:
- add in your vocabulary 'private interest', 'public interest', 'commons', 'degrowth', 'planetary boundaries', 'technodeterminism', 'technooptimism', 'permaculture'...
- Andreas Malm is an outstanding scholar who wrote 'Fossil capital' (on techno-determinism etc.) and while doing that, a compendium in which he briefly and wittily tackles bad climate theory and and presents good one 'Progress of This Storm' (both on https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/search/authors/andreas%20malm)
- to learn more about planetary boundaries check https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/the-nine-planetary-boundaries.html
- if you want to laugh while crying and learning about how worthless COP agreements are, I'd recommend this debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsKkP6ZK9xE (great channel in general)
- check Katharina Pistor who teaches law at Colombia Uni, she explains how law is the code that makes the brutal, everyday, intentional violence of profit-crazed capitalism possible
- Silvia Federici's book 'Feminism and the Politics of the Commons' (online pdf https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/book/6bdecd4d-7e9a-4c96-ba70-7ffac5a61e99)
- also see Elinor Ostrom's work maybe, difficult to read, but good to know (find a summary)
- artist Oliver Ressler (also has a great YT channel)
- youtube climate scientist Climate Town (did you know usa actually had good public transportation before Ford, and then GM & co literally crashed (financially and physically) it all and zombied people into private transportation and tax-paid roads and highways!)
I understand if don't want to go public with this knowledge, maybe use it in a strategic way. Still, if you ask me, these are some of the key nodes of knowledge to understand things better and move in the right direction.
All the best to you, good luck and thank you! :)
I was thinking of talking about politics more. This is one of my recent pages: https://www.climate-change-guide.com/donald-trump.html
In the future I will try to focus on more long-term politics so that the content I have on my page can still be relevant if people read it many years later. If I get too specific on politics there will be very few views I think and people will lose interest over time. What do you think?
Alright, good job with the Trump article! You did mention how private (financial) interest crushes public interest (of humans and the rest of nature), in a mild way that average people can swallow, I get it. I cannot advise you on strategy, I'm sure you'll find a smart way to speak up about politics (find someone you admire and copy their way? eg. i loove the Juice Media on youtube, their videos on green tech and anything climate are brilliant!), I can only advise you on content, direction, material (and ofc, take that with a grain of salt : ). Personally, I think it is high time that people understand as they did 100 years ago that capitalism is legalized destruction, codified madness. The political spectrum between 'left' and 'right' is a false dichotomy in itself, I mean 'right' means legalized exploitation, irreversible and unnecessary slaughter of millions of years of colorful evolution and hate towards lots of people - why is that even a thing? So I hope you like my 'best of' of sources climate crisis, I learned a lot from those. If you like it too, I hope you find a good way to use them and spread the word :) I'll continue enjoying your work, rock on!
First of all, I have no idea how you found me but I'm glad you did. I've been wanting to see a space that will appeal to the masses who are immobilized with overwhelm/fear in a way that empowers them to act. For those of us who aren't scientists or engineers designing climate solutions, our best path forward is to help build political will that broadcasts to those in power (at all levels) that we want solutions and action at the highest levels. Most folks (I think) have the basics about climate change but don't know what they can do that will actually move the needle. And I think that is what they want. I firmly believe it is building political will... passing climate friendly legislation, passing building codes that accelerate electrification and policies that reduce carbon emissions... that is most needed right now. In other countries, where progress is happening, it is because their leaders are mostly on the right side of the issue. There is a consensus that climate change is real and man-made so they are developing solutions and policies to shift to renewable energy. Our country is stuck in a political battle because constituents in certain districts are not demanding climate action. At least 70% of Americans want to see a shift to renewables and for the US to be carbon neutral by 2050 (that includes Republicans under the age of 30) according to Pew Research studies... so while politicians in certain districts resist climate policy, they do have a constituency who wants it. These folks just aren't making their voices heard. Yes, special interests play a role, but when push comes to shove, politicians want to keep their jobs and how they do it is by winning elections and listening to what their constituents want. So, if you can build a platform that empowers your audience to demand climate action... even suggest specific climate friendly bills that they can easily reference, you will be mobilizing people and we'll be moving in the right direction. So, my suggestion is to focus on climate action as the central element of the website and give people streamlined tools to reach the ears of all of the people/leaders that represent them.
This Substack sends emails to people who subscribed to my newsletter on my website Climate Change Guide. You may have subscribed a very long time ago (I started the website in 2011). So you think I should write more articles on climate action?
I want more daily visitors, and I would like to spread awareness more efficiently, if possible.
I’m thinking of making a large section on “How to Help” and perhaps even a section refuting common claims by climate skeptics (I will reference the website Skeptical Science which is good at showing the evidence of climate change).
Side note: my Facebook Page, “Climate Change Guide,” was hacked several times between 2018 and 2023; therefore, I decided to spend less effort on my page for the time being due to security issues. Hence, I will focus on the website and Substack. I may also do a YouTube channel in the future. If I do a YouTube channel or TikTok account, it will be not just about climate change but other topics as well.
I would not bother wasting your time w climate deniers. People need to know that we don't have much time to get it right. We need to Act.
But aren't there a lot of people who are neutral about the issue and may be curious to know more? They may use the info to spread awareness. I think the website Skeptical Science did a very good job
ok, last one, promise! :)
Rob Nixon: Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (https://library.memoryoftheworld.org/#/search/authors/rob%20nixon)
I would put much more emphasis on the two actions that more and more climate advocates are recognizing are essential to ameliorate the climate crisis and restore a safer planet.
That is removing massive quantities of the excess CO2, which is the direct cause of the climate crisis. But because both removal and reduction of current emissions will take decades to accomplish the case, the world does not have time to do either before activating irreversible tipping points.
Thus we need to directly cool the climate through various means of sunlight reflection. See a paper that I cowrote for more information:
https://pdfhost.io/v/sZR6yz2f0_HPAC_Vision_for_a_Healthy_Planet
That's a tricky topic to approach. A lot of environmentalists are not a fan of geoengineering (like reflecting sunlight) since it can have side effects.
Check out the MEER project.
I think we have effectively offed ourselves and most other beings that can’t evolve fast enough to keep up.
Everything has side effects. The rare minerals needed for solar panels and electric vehicles, cause vast environmental destruction in their mining all over the world. Yet you don’t hear many environmentalists say that we shouldn’t produce electric vehicles and solar panels.
Every time a country or community reduces levels of air pollution that warms the atmosphere accelerating Climate Change.
We’re way past the point where we can only look for solutions that are 100% perfect. People living in a hellush dystopian world 50 years from now are unlikely to say how happy they were that we didn’t use geoengineering that could’ve cooled the entire planet and saved millions of lives because it might’ve had some side effects.
The fact is that an emission reduction strategy alone has utterly and completely failed. The world has had 30 years to demonstrate that relying on emission reductions could alleviate climate change. It is now imperative, that we move beyond that failed paradigm to encompass other modalities, in addition to emission reductions
The need is to accelerate research to determine as best as as one can the nature of the side effects and weigh them against the incredible benefit of slowing down temperature increases, and even reducing temperatures.
I highly recommend this video for those who are curious since it gives a good overview of the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSu5sXmsur4&t=478s
I also strongly recommend their videos on climate change which I listed and described here: https://www.climate-change-guide.com/kurzgesagt.html
Dear Laurent, please be careful.
1/ in-depth "Kurzgesagt and the art of climate greenwashing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCuy1DaQzWI (1h 49min), great channel btw
2/ "How Kurzgesagt Cooks Propaganda For Billionaires" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjHMoNGqQTI (24min)
Thanks for the link. I think that’s a reasonably fair assessment of stratospheric aerosol injection. What it doesn’t emphasize enough is that every indication is that living conditions and tipping point activation will be such that we will not have the luxury to wait till near the end of the century to deploy geoengineering. It’s almost inevitable that the climate will be literally out of human control at that point and since it is likely to take at least 15 to 20 years of additional research field testing and construction of the aircraft and governance arrangements we have to begin that process right now, so that the world would be in a position to say yes or no in the next decade or so
Unfortunately, even tragically, there are influential groups of scientists and activists, who are demanding that even research on geoengineering be stopped and prohibited, which is perhaps the most irresponsible position imaginable in light of the risks of the collapse of civilization in the coming decades, without geoengineering
Can't we deploy new technology to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or use GMO technology on trees so that they absorb more carbon dioxide? I think there may be other solutions than spraying things in the atmosphere which may cause serious side effects. We should also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become carbon neutral as soon as possible, in my opinion.
In fact there are many scientists (climate, social, etc.) who oppose e-vehicles. At least private motorized vehicles. If you ask me, it is more important then ever to understand the harm of private interest and property crushing public (not only human) interest. Private transportation is a great example. Cities and almost the whole world are designed around it! Did you know tires are the n1 source of plastic pollution in the world? Did you know that up to 80% of city car usage is for trips >2km? And the destruction that roads and highways bring! I could go on and on. Transportation is an insane topic, not just because of rare materials, slavery and all that. Again, people must understand the madness of normalized private property and private interest. All that is today held private was (until basically recently) held in common. The biggest win of the 'rightwing' is not only did they steal what belong to nature and all humans together, but they also succeeded at this magic trick that humans forgot in the last 50 years that this is insane and not necessary to be that way.
I just shared this to our group called Canada Waking Up the Masses. If you would like to join us, please do.
Thank you. Is it a Facebook group? Can you tell me more?