Welcome to Planet: Coordinate

What to do for a world in crisis

Over summer, I was speaking online at a conference about why the world is in crisis. I spoke of the interrelationship of our energy, economic and ecological systems, of how language obfuscates material reality, and that the human project of modern civilisation is likely to crash in this century.

At the end of the panel an audience member asked me: “But what can I do?”

This was not the first time I’d been asked and, with every repetition, I was becoming more frustrated. I don’t know what you can do, I thought. I don’t know who you are, where you are, who the people around you are. I cannot answer that question for you. You’re going to have to figure it out for yourself.

And, rather than couch my response with platitudes, I said exactly that, bluntly, without apology: “Myself and the other panelists have given you a wealth of information today. It’s also up to everyone who listens to figure out how to apply that to their own lives, we can’t do it for you.”

But being honest didn’t alleviate my frustration because, in truth, I was frustrated with the fact that despite the wealth of information I have gleaned over the past four years from interviewing experts about the state of the world, I didn’t have any answers. I was also frustrated that because of the vacuum of imagination in Western economies, the “solutions” getting airtime were those that fit perfectly into the current economic paradigm of scaling up rather than scaling out. If I know anything about what a sustainable world looks like, it is one without immense centralised power. To avoid falling prey to the same systems that got us here, we need to create networks of alternatives and possibilities, not behemoth substitutions.

I also knew, through my work on Planet: Critical, that those alternatives and possibilities already exist, predominately in the Global South where communities who have battled existential threat for generations are getting their hands dirty planting the seeds of a better world. I also knew that their stories rarely get told due to the uni-polar nature of Western media, and the wariness of highlighting that which challenges existing systems of power. There is a fundamental inequality, if not outright racism, in our story-telling tradition. However, I also had first-hand experience of leveraging that inequality when I worked as an environmental journalist reporting on stories coming out of Papua New Guinea and Malaysia—I used my platform as a Western journalist to bring the fight of indigenous communities to international attention.

A thought began to form: What if I could use my platform, which goes out to subscribers in 180 countries, to highlight communities effectively dismantling the polycrisis in their part of the world? What if, in doing so, we could build a library of ideas for people to deploy in their part of the world? What if, by informing people, we could empower them?

People are frightened. I am too. But one message we need to broadcast loud and clear is a better world is already here. For those who wish to fight back or speak up or build better—you are not alone. You would be joining a movement of millions around the world who are already part of a future we are told is not possible.

And so, at 4am at my kitchen table, Planet: Coordinate was born.

Planet: Coordinate is a call to action and a map of where to go. It is a library of things to do and ways to think. It’s a pattern of human wonder and courage. It’s a network of our beautiful humanity.

On December 31st, my partner and I leave for 12 months, filming these communities all around the world. We will be filming and editing on the go, and so I expect the first film will be published in Spring 2025. I will publish written features on each project which will reach your inboxes every month. For safety reasons, we won’t announce where we’re going beforehand, but will be starting in Latin America. We’re looking for projects to film all around the world, so please, if you have an idea, get in touch: info@planetcritical.com

The first question everyone asks me is how I’m funding this project. The answer is the always the same: the community. On the road, I will continue Planet: Critical’s weekly podcast and newsletter meaning those subscribers technically support Planet: Coordinate. Both projects are built on a “commons journalism” ethos meaning there will never be ads or paywalls. I am 100% powered by the communities who support this work, and wouldn’t have it any other way. If you’d like to support this project in particular, please take out a paid subscription today.

I hope the community which coalesces around this project will be active, that the comments will become a place for people to share ideas and resources. I hope to see members of the Coordinate and Critical communities cross-pollinate. I hope to see hope itself. I hope to see a world that is built with all of us in mind. I hope to build it with you all.

Get coordinated,
Rachel