HEATED - Four years of HEATED
Welcome to the final HEATED of 2023! Arielle here, and I’d like to say thank you to all our wonderful readers. We couldn’t do it without you. I’m especially grateful that your support made it possible for me to become HEATED’s first climate reporter. It’s a professional dream come true. Emily and I will be taking time off for the holidays, but we’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday, January 4. (Remember to enter our raffle if you want to win a free HEATED hat!) Happy holidays, and see you in the new year! 2023 has been a rocky year for climate journalism. Essential reporters on the beat were laid off; important climate publications permanently closed; and a once-critical tool for climate communication was transformed into a disinformation hellscape. But thanks in large part to our reader community, HEATED’s independent, ad-free climate journalism thrived in 2023. In fact, we think Year 4 was our best year yet.
These increases in readers and views gave us a new and honorable position: the number one climate newsletter on Substack. We think that’s something to be really proud of. But purely from a business perspective, the thing we’re actually most proud of this year is that we were able to achieve this growth sustainably. That’s something HEATED has never done before. As long-time readers will remember well, HEATED was built on a completely unsustainable foundation. In Year One, Emily published 205 newsletters on her own, an average of four newsletters per week. In Year Two, she published 134 newsletters by herself—and said she was embarrassed about it. That’s why, in Year Three, HEATED temporarily fell apart. “My brain feels in a constant state of fog and overwhelm,” Emily wrote in a post announcing HEATED’s indefinite hiatus. She then spent six months attempting to heal the damage of unrelenting self-extraction, and figuring out how to build a more resilient system of work. This year, Year Four, was the first test of that new system. With the added muscle of Arielle, we sent out a total of 95 newsletters. That’s an average of 2 newsletters per week, with a few weeks taken off for holidays and breaks. A normal, reasonable schedule. While we may have published less journalism in 2023, we published journalism we’re proud of. And we did it with juice remaining in our batteries—batteries we hope will power us for years to come. Here’s a summary of some of HEATED’s best journalism in Year 4: Arielle’s reporting revealed unique challenges.This year, HEATED’s new reporter published several creative enterprise stories found nowhere else in climate media, including but not limited to:
Emily’s analysis sparked new conversations.Emily also continued her tradition of publishing *spicy* climate arguments, including but not limited to:
But for most newsletters this year, we worked as a team.Here are some of our favorite results of that teamwork. Our reporting on fossil fuel propaganda.In an effort to inoculate our readers against disinformation, we reported on lots of polluter-funded B.S., including:
Our debunking of right-wing climate nonsense.We also had to combat disinformation from polluters’ power-seeking media mouthpieces. So, no,
Our efforts to hold mainstream media accountable.Though not as egregious as right-wing outlets, mainstream outlets had some slip-ups we had to call out this year, including:
Our exposes of climate villains.Our 2023 newsletters also highlighted many corporations, politicians, and billionaires promoting and profiting from climate delay, including:
Our stories of activists fighting injustice.In addition to exposing the villains, we tried to highlight people fighting for progress, including:
Our transformations of pop culture stories into climate stories.It is our mission to continually prove that anything can be a climate story, including:
Our newsletters this year moved readers to action.It can be hard for us as reporters to measure the impact of our journalism. But luckily many readers shared how HEATED’s journalism has helped move the needle for them this year. Here are some of our favorite comments this year:
Everything we accomplished was made possible by readers.Our accomplishments this year don’t just belong to us. They also belong to our paid subscriber community. Without this small but powerful group of readers, HEATED wouldn’t exist. The fact is, we rely on readers to fund our journalism so we can stay completely independent and free of corporate influence. Catch of the Day: To wrap up Year 4, we have the O.G. catch himself—Fish! Special thanks to Lara Hein, Fish’s forever companion and official bestie-of-the-newsletter, for creating this photo out of recycled party supplies from her mom’s house. What a good friend—and what a good boy! And thanks to everyone who shared their companions with us in 2023. Your dogs, cats, birds, and even turtles brought us joy all year long. See you next year! You're currently a free subscriber to HEATED. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Older messages
Win a free HEATED hat!
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Just tell us what you liked this year, and we'll enter you in our raffle for Very Cool and Very Official merch.
On climate deals, beware the word "historic"
Friday, December 15, 2023
It's a trap!
The 12-year-old who halted COP28
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
It is indicative of the world's total systemic failure to slow climate change that a child feels she must do the job of adults.
Top climatologists slam Sultan Al Jaber's "no science" claim on fossil fuel phaseout
Thursday, December 7, 2023
“There is no scenario to limit warming to 1.5°C that does not include the rapid phase out of fossil fuels.”
It’s official: COP28 has more fossil fuel lobbyists than ever
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
There are 2456 fossil fuel interests at this year's UN climate summit, nearly four times more than any past year, according to a new analysis.
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