When We Are with Alex Steffen

Hey folks— How do I remain an optimist about the human future, even as the planetary crisis worsens? A few thoughts. Alex PS: A little more to chew on: * More here on the mythological universal conversion event , and how we might think more clearly about the future . * Why real optimism springs from grasping what fights are now winnable and why outspoken optimism is actually critical to winning th...

Hey folks— We’ve moved from the era when avoiding the planetary crisis was the most pressing mission on Earth, to one where avoiding further catastrophe is now a subset of the challenge of responding to a climate and biosphere now in crisis. Could there be a better time to have unchecked corruption, reinvigorated predatory delay and a general collapse of competance in Washington, D.C.? In this imp...

“We know we need to move, but how soon do we need to do it?” is a question I get a lot. There are no simple answers: every personal climate strategy is a unique set of solutions for a particular set of problems. But some of the key questions we need to ask ourselves are: * What are we gaining by staying put? Are there future events (e.g., a child’s graduation, retirement, a job promotion) we’re lo...

In this brand new When We Are podcast, I discuss why our concept of “natural disaster” — a sudden and unexpected calamitous natural event bringing great loss from which we then recover and return to normal life — is less and less useful for understanding the world we now live in. I also briefly discuss the movie Jaws . Please note that When We Are is now available on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spot...

Hey Folks— This is episode zero of my new casual podcast for subscribers. Give it a listen to find out more (it’s about 10 minutes long). Here’s the show description: “The climate crisis is no longer something happening to other people, somewhere else. It's changing all our lives, right now. Few of us are ready. Join renowned climate futurist Alex Steffen and guests as we show the patterns behind...