Making Smart Moves on a Planet in Crisis
Making Smart Moves on a Planet in Crisis
A new version of my in-depth crash course on personal ruggedization begins October 17th.
Short version: On October 17th, I’m launching the sixth cohort of my acclaimed six-week Crash Course in Personal Ruggedization.
As a subscriber, you’re eligible for a special early discount of 25% off. There are limited spots and this rate (and they are first-come-first-served). Please enter code CCPR25OFF at checkout.
If you’re the sort of person who reads people like me, you will not be surprised when I say that climate change (and the larger planetary crisis which it drives) is going to change our lives.
To live a good life, you and I (and everyone else on the planet) are going to have to get real about the massive discontinuity unfolding around us. We’re going to have to ruggedize our lives.
Having now had hundreds of conversations with people about their plans to manage climate chaos in their lives, I'm struck by how almost all of us begin thinking about where to live in terms of havens — places where we won't have to worry about the crisis at all. Those don't exist.
When we figure out that there’s no place to go to completely escape climate and ecological upheaval, though, it’s tempting to jump to the other extreme — to assume that because every place faces risks, no place is safer than any other, and there's nothing to do but wait for some weather disaster to ruin our lives. This is untrue.
In a time of planetary upheavals, the whole art of planning a good life is found in between these two beliefs. It is in accepting that risks are severe, and growing rapidly, while also seeing that some places are relatively safe compared to others (sometimes a lot safer) — and that some of those places will also be better positioned and prepared to manage the climate impacts they do face.
Finding these places isn’t simple. Finding the ones that will work best for our families, (with our particular circumstances, needs, time frames and tolerances for risk) is a process, and there’s no one right answer. Wherever we land, there will be work to do. There’s no perfect solution, but better odds matter a lot.
Personal ruggedization involves making smart decisions about where we choose to live, the systems we embed ourselves in, and the ways we work with others to improve our odds. It’s intelligent, optimistic, purpose-driven engagement with deep uncertainties, making ourselves at home on a planet none of us have ever seen before. Over the past years, I’ve helped hundreds of people gain the tools to improve their own odds.
If you’re ready to develop a personal climate strategy, my Crash Course in Personal Ruggedization shows you where to begin and how to plot your course forward.
Read on for more complete description of the class.
“The best way to get smart about how to live through the cascading climate chaos of our time is to always read Alex Steffen.”
Jeff Goodell, Author of, “The Heat Will Kill You First”
Why take this course?
Smarter choices.
The past is no longer a reliable guide to future choices, and old thinking can lead us quickly into error. This course delivers new, clear frameworks for spotting emerging patterns in the chaos and making clear-headed decisions about where (and how) we live, how we pursue our careers, how we raise our kids and plan our retirements and serve our communities.
Powerful insights.
Our careers, investments, philanthropic choices and political engagements are increasingly entangled with discontinuous change. This course offers tools to both build a strong personal ruggedization strategy and to forge climate foresight into strategies for purpose-driven success in our working lives.
Deeper connections.
Climate isolation is real. One of the things I’ve heard most frequently in this work is how hard it can be to talk with family members, friends and colleagues who are just beginning to grapple with the rough realities ahead of us. This course can help frame genuine, heartfelt conversations that bring us together as we look ahead. In addition, taking action to reduce personal climate risks has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to reduce climate anxiety.
Here’s what we’ll cover in our six weeks together:
Week One: How to get ready for what’s coming.
What is the scale of the change unfolding around us? How do we inform ourselves in the face of deep uncertainty and unprecedentedly rapid change?
Why is where we live so important?
What is personal ruggedization?
The mindset for personal ruggedization, the importance of grounded optimism, and the costs of outdated thinking.
“One of the most impactful learning experiences I’ve had on any topic in the last decade.”
Tiago Forte, FORTE LABS, participant
Week Two: Brittleness and economic risks.
The Triangle of Brittleness. Understanding the three pressures that undermine brittle places.
The Brittleness Bubble. How unpriced climate, ecological and economic risks have led to an unstable overvaluation of endangered assets.
The Brittleness Trap: How waiting too long to avoid danger can undermine an individual or community's ability to act.
The Undertow: Spillover effects, climate displacement and social costs of a widespread collision with unreadiness.
When all the others are just talking about what systems-collapse or planetary crisis look like, Alex's work already gives you a framework on how to navigate it with confidence and with the clear possibility of creating a thriving and hardened future for you, your loved ones, and the communities you serve.”
Justin D'Atri, Group Sustainability Transformation Lead, Zurich Insurance Group, Participant
Week Three: Getting safer.
The first rule of emergency response is don’t become a victim yourself. The first step in the climate emergency is placing yourself wisely.
While it's true that nowhere is safe it doesn’t follow that nowhere is safer than anywhere else. Understanding relative safety.
Judging climate and ecological vulnerabilities: What makes one place riskier than another?
How far ahead should we think? Balancing uncertainty and the long view when planning our retirements, out kids’ futures, and our careers.
"Consistently, Alex Steffen is one of the world’s shrewdest thinkers about this fraught moment in human history.”
Bill McKibben
Week Four: Building stronger.
Assessing systems strengths. What makes one place more rugged than another place, when both face similar risks?
How does ruggedization work? How do readiness for discontinuity, risk reduction, the development of new capacities, and the seizing of opportunities all work together?
Assessing the potential for future ruggedization of a given place. Even if a place is not yet rugged, how can we estimate how ruggedizable it may be, with wise plans and policies?
“Alex has been thinking about the impacts of climate change longer than most people. Through the Crash Course in Personal Ruggedization, Alex provides insight to the more likely future scenarios and helps attendees position themselves, physically and mentally, to avoid the worst impacts and take advantage of the opportunities that are created. It is a very thought-provoking course and also provides the opportunity to network with like minded people around the globe. Highly recommended.
Jeff Roulston, participant
Week Five: Moving faster.
Speed is everything: How to evaluate local governments and institutions — and their capacity to ruggedize quickly.
The Climate Squeeze. What happens when a limited supply of rugged places gets hit by a massive demand for those places? How do you make sure you get through the coming bottleneck?
The coming snap forward in public awareness of the depth of the crisis ahead, and the tempo of disruption it’ll bring to our society, politics and economy. When s*** gets real, it won’t be slow or fun.
Bargain-hunting for a rugged home — and avoiding the danger of getting priced out of a viable future.
“When CEOs want to navigate the world's mega-challenges and prepare for a volatile world, they look to business strategists like me. And when business strategists want to challenge and hone our own thinking about the future, we look to Alex Steffen.”
Andrew Winston, author Net Positive and Green to Gold
Week Six: Planning for success.
Making personal ruggedization an ongoing practice, thus turning it into a platform for learning, growth and success.
Becoming native to now. Understanding our own climate isolation and personal discontinuities. Developing a healthy relationship to discontinuity. Moving from climate isolation to community.
Bringing others along. How we engage critically important conversations in a high-tension time, with kindness, clarity and optimism. How we connect with those we love, in order to form a shared vision of how to move forward together as the heat rises.
Building a platform for personal (and shared) success in tough times.
How personal ruggedization can become a powerful form of climate action advocacy.
Class Details:
A Crash Course in Personal Ruggedization
Dates: Thursdays, October 17, 24, 31; Nov 7, 14 and 21
Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm Pacific Standard Time (PST)
Where: Zoom
Each session will include a deep-dive on that week’s topics, with time for discussion. Classes are recorded for those who cannot attend live, and recordings are sent out to participants on the Monday following each class.
There are still a few seats at the special early discount of 25% off. They are first-come-first-served. Please enter code CCPR25OFF at checkout.
- Stay connected on social: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky
- Check out my books: Worldchanging and Carbon Zero
- View my TED Global talks on sustainability and cities.
- I’ve spoken with the media hundreds of times. Recently, I was featured in a NY Times Magazine piece, "This Isn't the California I Married." My writing was the jumping-off point for an episode of This American Life titled Unprepared for What Has Already Happened, as well as the podcasts Without; The Big Story; Everybody In the Pool and 99% Invisible’s Not Built for This series.
- Visit my Bookshop shop to discover some of my top reads.