Here it is: the first show with anonymous submissions to Climate Workers Anonymous. In this episode there are six short thoughts (or four depending upon whether technology has its say), and one longer one.

There are big thoughts and analysis. There are feelings of dread and hope. Listen in for yourself.

Also, this episode starts with some of my thoughts on some of the ethics and aesthetics of a show like this, as well as a few quotes:

" I am human. Nothing human is foreign to me."

— Terence

" Your energy recycles into every possible relation to everyone else's energy, even Brad's. You've been predator and prey with him, friends, enemies, brother, sister, mother, child."

— I Heart Huckabees

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Thank you for listening to and reading Climate Workers Anonymous. Subscribe on Substack here, and be sure to subscribe in whichever podcast app you use. An amazing rating and review on those podcast apps does a world of good. Would you please give Climate Workers Anonymous a full rating and great review for me now? Here’s the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

If you’d like submit your anonymous hopes, fears, or experiences to Climate Workers Anonymous, you can use this Tally survey or email climateworkersanonymous[at]protonmail.com, though I believe the Tally survey is more secure. Do not communicate anything you wouldn’t want a hacker to have access to, including an email address that could be linked to you if you email the account on Protonmail.

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. I started Carbon Removal Newsroom a very long time ago. My name is Ross Kenyon, and 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 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. Climate Workers Anonymous 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, heavily polluting companies, or are simply exhausted by the slow pace of global change, this is a place to be heard.

Telling the truth about the reality of working in climate is a productive, necessary action. 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.

For the full experience, community, and to support the project, please subscribe to Climate Workers Anonymous on Substack here.

So much is happening in the world of biochar. It's both a physical product and can also be a more abstract concept called a "carbon removal". How is the industry balancing the divergent business logic of these two different markets, and what challenges and opportunities will it face?

In today's episode of Carbon Removal Newsroom, producer and guest host Asa Kamer interviews Myles Gray, the program director of the US Bicohar Initiative about their 2023 Global Biochar Market Report.

Biochar is responsible for a huge amount of currently delivered durable carbon removals. It's more shovel-ready than other forms of carbon removal, which have much higher CapEx requirements and are betting more on future cost-curves than present deployment. However, some participants in biochar production can face challenges from those concerned about additionality, among other issues.

The discussion covers the production scale, market dynamics, economic challenges, and the growing number of biochar producers, particularly in the Global South. Gray also highlights the importance of high-quality standards, the role of innovative business models, and the need for better market development for physical biochar to help scale the industry globally. Listen in to learn more.

On This Episode

⁠⁠Asa Kamer

Myles Gray

Resources

US Biochar Initiative

USBI's 2023 Global Biochar Market Report

Connect with Nori

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori’s X account⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Nori’s other podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reversing Climate Change⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Nori’s CDR ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠meme X account