A QUESTION

To those still listening—those the algorithm is still reaching

Image by Leo Lintang/Shutterstock

The wheels of change are grinding again. Of course the Substack honeymoon was always a chimera. Capitalism doesn’t leave space for honesty for long. An ad-free platform that grew audiences for longform writing, that fostered genuine discussion—dangling hope before us—was always destined to be short-lived. I just wished it would hang in longer.

I remain fiercely committed to forever-free climate collapse content. That will never change. But I’ve learned this week that Substack’s algorithm is being tuned away from growing all subscriber bases, and now only feeds the machine of paywalled paid subscriptions. In other words: if I refuse the paywall, the algorithm turns its face away. Free voices will be buried, unless we sell.

Already, writers are whispering in the background, watching subscriber numbers and comment interactions collapse. The message is clear. Paywall or silence. But to those of us who have poured our words, our labour, our very energy into this system without asking for payment or setting up tiers of subscriber importance—it feels like betrayal.

I remain resolutely committed to finishing the forever-free Collective Guide to Surviving Climate Collapse. But here’s the ugly arithmetic I am grapling with: if I must pay to be heard, what work should I chain behind the wall?

My soul will break if I am forced to paywall climate collapse writing. So I never will. That work will remain free. Always. But if I must build a paid stream to keep the free work visible, then tell me—what do you want? What might you pay for? What do you think others would pay for?

Here are some ideas I’d be content to tuck behind a gate:

1. Regular missives from my farm and community market garden, with photos and videos

2. Deeper reflections on growers growing communities

3. Deeper reflections on homesteading and self-sufficiency (in the city and the country) in the face of climate chaos

4. Something else?

I’d be prepared to drop the free collapse essays to monthly and write the paid stream weekly. As always, any subscription payments will go directly to the work of the Resilient Roots Grower Collective.

Let me know what you think in the comments or by email. I read and value every single one.

They can starve us of reach, but not of words.

Solidarity & Soil

---

I walked away from the algorithm’s choke-hold to work where it counts: hands in soil, words on the page, shoulder to shoulder and word to word with those adapting to climate chaos. Mine is fire-and-flood writing—scorched, storm-beaten, and stubborn. If it moves you, pass it on like a sandbag in rising water.

If you’ve got coin, become a paid subscriber. Every dime fuels the RESILIENT ROOTS GROWER COLLECTIVE, where we’re seeding trial-by-fire systems and hard-won knowledge.

And if you’re looking for practical tools, maps, and field notes for the road ahead, start here: