Crowdsourcing Sustainability Newsletters
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3 year anniversary updates & opportunities to help!
It's May 2021, meaning I've been writing this newsletter and building this organization full-time for more than 3 years now. (saving the enormous thank you to everyone who has helped to make this happen for the end 🙂 Here's some of what we've accomplished so far:...
Reality check
This week I'm just going to share excerpts from some important articles I read recently. To be honest, I don't care much for their titles, but the articles themselves are all worth reading. And then I'll share some brief thoughts. “Big Words, And Little Action”:...
Exciting news!
So...something kinda cool happened: I was recently recognized by the UN! The 1M2030 initiative is working "to build a global movement of one million global youth leaders for sustainable development to carry the 17 SDGs to 2030 and beyond." I got nominated in the Fall...
How to make your company a climate leader
Last Friday I had the pleasure of speaking with Bill Weihl who has been a true pioneer in the corporate sustainability world, spearheading the efforts at Google and Facebook since 2006. In 2020 Bill started a new organization called Climate Voice which is on a mission...
Climate solutions 101 & a heartwarming story
Climate Solutions 101 You probably know that I love Project Drawdown. That's because they're the world's leading resource for climate solutions. They recently came out with a free mini-series of videos called Climate Solutions 101. Here's the trailer:...
Tipping points 🧊 , US democracy 🇺🇸, and a better future 😍🌍
The assault on democracy in the US continues. "The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot...
What makes someone a sustainability leader?
I believe being a sustainability leader is fundamentally about saving and improving as many lives as possible. It's about helping life on earth to consistently thrive. The best way to do this will inevitably change over time as circumstances change. But right now, in...
Climate chess ♛♘♝♔♜♙
Climate chess: big picture strategy on climate solutions. Long-time readers will know that I'm a huge fan of Project Drawdown and their rigorous research on climate solutions. Their Executive Director, Dr. Jonathan Foley, just published "We Need to See the Whole Board...
“Biden is blitzing” & two questions for you
Short one for you this week. And I'd love to hear what you think about the two questions in bold near the end! The US is playing catch-up on climate action It's been hard to keep up with climate action in the US recently - a welcome change. David Roberts (who has a...
Best Climate and Sustainability Books
Happy Friday - hope all is well with you! Today I’m sharing my favorite climate and sustainability-related books. I decided to have a little bit of fun and weave the titles into an overarching message (you can also find the full list of books with links and...
$25,000 prizes for climate projects & help debunking deniers
I don't know about you, but I got another wave of deep relief this week. Possibly the most powerful person in the world has just changed from someone who was actively making the climate crisis worse, to someone who is working to rapidly accelerate climate solutions....
Hope, an easy way to help, and two ideas to explore💡
Happy new year! I hope it's off to a good start (aside from, you know...that whole attempted coup thing I can't stop thinking about) and that you're as grateful as I am about the greater potential for bold climate action that Georgian's and organizers just unlocked. A...
Reasons for hope going into 2021
I hope all is well with you! As we near the end of 2020, I've started to reflect on where we stand and found myself looking for reasons to be hopeful. For starters, the vaccine is here (thank you scientists!). We can finally see the light at the end of this awful...
What on EARTH?! 🌍
We're mixing it up and going back to the original "What on EARTH?!" structure for the Crowdsourcing Sustainability newsletter this week! For those who don't know, this was my way of using an acronym to balance the newsletter when I first started writing it in 2018 -...
My TEDx Interview on all things climate
Two things for you this week. First, an enormous thank you to everyone who has donated to Crowdsourcing Sustainability so far! I am so grateful for your help to keep this work going and our impact growing. Y'all rock 🙂 Also, to those of you who tried to donate but...
Will you consider supporting Crowdsourcing Sustainability?
Next week I'll be sharing an interview I did with TEDx Archivorum! But today...well, I feel like I'm about to do a trust-fall via email. And quite frankly, it's terrifying haha. Will you support my work with a donation?Some of you may know this, others may...
Wisdom from Carl Sagan
Two quick things for you this week. First - Hallelujah! Seriously, what a relief. I hope you have celebrated and found some moments of peace 🙂 More than 78 million Americans stood up and voted to get Trump out of power. (Of course, Trump is still...
Dear Tomorrow – letters to loved ones in 2050
I've got something a bit different for you this week. But first things first. A friendly reminder that the 2020 US election ends in 5 days. Your vote matters. And just as important, you are a trusted messenger for your friends, family, and colleagues. Get the...
Climate action helps improve *every other issue at the same time*
I hope all is well with you in these trying times. Living in 2020 is a lot, isn't it? I'm just coming back from a brief, much-needed break from work (I swear, time has never moved as fast as it did last week). Today, as promised, I'll be connecting the dots between...
“The Climate Voters Are Coming”
Need some good news? I know I do. Which is why I was thrilled to read this article by Nathaniel Stinnett: "The Climate Voters Are Coming". In 2016, only 2% of US voters said climate change was the issue they cared about most. In 2018, that number more than...
The *Most Important* Action of the Year
(*The views in this article are the personal views of Ryan, not the organization.) I hope you are well or coping to the best of your abilities in these trying times. As Benjamin Franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention in 1787,...
100,000 readers 🏟️, our new podcast 🎧…and my deep concerns 🇺🇸
Guess what? 100,000 people now read Crowdsourcing Sustainability newsletters Kind of crazy, right? That's more than two-and-a-half Fenway Parks full of people! Surprisingly, to me at least, LinkedIn has been where these newsletters really took off: (I have three...
Democracy itself is on the ballot this November
(*The views in this article are the personal views of Ryan, not the organization.) I would regret keeping my mouth shut on this...part of me already regrets keeping it shut for this long. The United States of America I am terrified of what's happening in the US...
Latest climate crisis fueled disasters
Wildfires send California into a state of emergency "It’s been an apocalyptic few days, even by California standards." - Julia Wick As if the historic heatwave, rolling blackouts for hundreds of thousands (because of the heatwave), and the ongoing pandemic weren't...
Pollution, power, propaganda…and some promising actions to take
Pollution is killing us at an insane rate. We're talking 7 million people are dying prematurely from air pollution every year. That's 19,178 people dying prematurely every day. One person every five seconds. A whopping 91% of people "breathe air containing high...