Welcome to the first episode of Climate Workers Anonymous. If you are listening on your usual podcast app, you might notice that the old feed for Carbon Removal Newsroom has been officially repurposed for this new project. It’s hosted by me, Ross Kenyon. I’m a former cofounder of the Nori carbon dioxide removal marketplace and registry. This show is a dedicated space for the hard, often unspoken truths of working in the climate and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) sectors.
Founding a company or working in the climate sector is notoriously difficult. Beyond the business mechanics, climate workers face a unique burden: they are actively trying to capture a dilute gas and stabilize the atmosphere for the survival of humanity, often while relying on an economic system that doesn’t reward this behavior at scale. (We still haven’t quite figured out how to even decarbonize…)
Workers and founders frequently have to project unwavering strength to buyers and investors. They have to suck up to companies that they might actively wish didn’t exist in the first place. Expressing this feeling, or any of the doubts, exhaustion, or frustrations can feel like a massive professional risk. Bottling up these feelings takes a severe emotional toll.
When I was a teenager, I really loved the collaborative art project PostSecret, which encouraged (and actually, still encourages), people to share their true feelings about things without attribution. Climate Workers Anonymous continues in this mold and invites you to share your hidden thoughts, moral dilemmas, artwork, and naive hopes without fear of career repercussions. Whether you are wrestling with the ethics of doing business with billionaires who seemingly don’t care about much of anything but themselves, or of pulling polluting companies into marginally better behavior, or are simply exhausted by the quickening grind towards a world immiserated by the rise of right-wing populism, this is a place to be heard.
Telling the truth about the reality of working in climate is a productive, necessary action. It is anti-authoritarian calisthenics. I hope you will join us in this experiment!
Send us your stories for audio and text publication here or at climateworkersanonymous@protonmail.com.
Thanks for listening!
Sincerely,
Ross Kenyon
Recommended supplemental listening: “When Bad Companies Buy Good Carbon Removal” from my other show, Reversing Climate Change
