Welcome to Planet Days, a green newsletter for a greenwashed Planet.
If you’re new to Planet Days, every other week I send out a three-minute read on what it means to go green — ranging from topics on gas stoves and recycling bins to lawns and electric vehicles.
🧠 😵💫 Brain update: I spent much of last summer recovering from post-concussion syndrome (think concussion symptoms but for three months). Unfortunately, three weeks ago I hit my head again and suffered another concussion that has forced me to stay off screens. That’s why it’s been a month since my last post.
Anyway, I’m back at it, working on a more detailed piece for later this month. But for now, here’s a little roundup of sorts — an easier lift for my bruised brain.
Not long ago, Planet Days looked a lot different. Rather than short reads on what it means to go green, the newsletter was mostly roundups of the week’s top climate stories (like this one or this one or this one).
To prep the weekly posts, every morning I read through dozens of newsletters, eventually sorting and summarizing the most important stories. The whole process took between 15 and 20 hours, and that was with my friend Sam Liptak helping me.
Eventually, it became too much — but it wasn’t a total loss. The practice let me stay updated on all things climate, while establishing a reading habit that’s essential to writing this newsletter.
Though Planet Days is no longer a news roundup, we’re still indebted to all the great reporting and writing in the climate space. So today I thought I’d share some of my favorite climate newsletters from my two-plus years writing Planet Days.
If I missed any you love, drop them in the comments!
Roundups
Axios Generate
Axios is known for its short, snappy format with bullet points. But I especially love its daily newsletter, Generate, because of its accessibility: It cuts through the policy, science, tech jargon that makes up energy and climate news, both in the United States and abroad.
Climate Nexus: Hot News
Maybe my favorite daily newsletter, Hot News by Climate Nexus summarizes the day’s top stories, aggregated from dozens of outlets, and still manages to be succinct. The newsletter includes three main stories and a list of smaller headlines and editorials.
The Washington Post: Climate 202
Climate 202 is long-winded at times, but it’s probably the most accessible look at federal climate politics in the U.S. This daily newsletter breaks down the push and pull on the Hill, as well as the status of environmental legislation.
Other good reads: Carbon Brief: Daily Briefing and Weekly Briefing; Grist: The Daily and The Weekly; The Hill: Energy & Environment (nightly); The New York Times: Climate Forward (weekly); POLITICO: Power Switch (nightly); TIME: Climate Is Everything (weekly); USA TODAY: Climate Point (weekly).
Deep-dives
Battleground
Not exclusively climate, but Justin Brown’s twice-weekly Substack, Battleground, is one of my favorites. He breaks down election cycles in every state, combining sharp analysis with maps to illustrate voter trends and preferences.
HEATED
Emily Atkin’s immensely popular Substack is required reading for “people who are pissed off about the climate crisis.” Atkin offers original reporting and analysis on climate accountability, while tapping into a key emotion often absent from the climate debate: anger.
Slow Boring
When the world zigs, Slow Boring zags. Through his Substack, blogger Matthew Iglesias offers necessary context, often overlooked by popular media, on American politics and policy. “A better world is possible,” writes Iglesias, “but its realization requires conversations that are difficult and rigorous and that do not always flatter our biases.”
Other good reads: David Wallace-Wells; Distilled; Drilled; ExxonKnews; Volts.
Activists
The Crucial Years
If you’ve read his articles or books, you know that Bill McKibben is a damn good writer. In The Crucial Years, the activist, author, and founder of 350.org uses fiery rhetoric to take aim at climate deniers, while highlighting ways we can win the climate fight.
The Green Fix
The Green Fix has a little bit of everything: personal essays, news roundups, activist Q&As, and, my favorite, practical resources (tools, petitions, events, explainers) to create a greener world. The newsletter is managed by Cass Hebron, a climate communications consultant in Belgium.
Other good reads: Green & Salty; Project Mushroom.
Best of the rest
The Atlantic: The Weekly Planet – not as good since Robinson Meyer left, but still worth checking out.
Bloomberg: CityLab – a must-read for fellow city-dwellers or car-haters: a brief roundup on one of my favorite topics, transportation.
Bloomberg: Green Daily – gets a little wonky for me, but climate finance and tech may be your thing.
Canary Media – a daily newsletter that mostly covers the U.S.’s transition to clean energy.
Covering Climate Now: Climate Beat – I love this weekly newsletter; it’s written for journalists but can be read by everyone.
E&E News: Greenwire and Climatewire – though great, these newsletters require a subscription that’s often inaccessible for those outside the climate field.
Gen Dread – a newsletter to “strengthen our emotional intelligence, psychological resilience, and mental health” in the face of climate change.
Grist: The Beacon – “Reporting on climate progress and news that has us feeling hopeful.”
Heatmap Daily – a new project by former Atlantic writer Robinson Meyer.
Katherine Hayhoe – the popular climate scientist offers a “clear-eyed and hopeful look at climate science and solutions.”
Semafor: Net Zero – has gotten flack for China ties and fossil fuel ads, but does give good analysis on climate policy, energy, and geopolitics.
The Washington Post: Climate Coach – pretty new, but I like journalist Michael Coren’s advice on tackling climate in the everyday.
Are you and Sarah competing for most concussions???
Thank you so much for the mention!! It’s an honor to be listed among all of these great climate publications.