Introducing Planet: Coordinate

Some big news + send me your questions

It’s almost four years to the day since I launched Planet: Critical. The project began as nothing more than the leftovers of a plan I’d been working on to launch the world’s first sustainable publishing house. During those six months, I had become a broken record, obsessed with import tariffs, the paper industry’s emissions and whether or not any printing inks on offer were actually net positive to the planet. I was determined to figure it out, though, because the sustainability angle I was really excited about was providing an alternative economic model to authors, one built on collaboration and revenue sharing. I even had an attention-sharing marketing strategy figured out, which was based on producing a podcast where famous writers would come on and discuss the work of debut authors. I was convinced, in a world of self-promotion, what we really needed was other-focused media. I just really needed the material numbers to add up in order to launch it authentically.

Of course, the numbers didn’t add up. I wrangled with them for months but eventually admitted defeat: My vision for a truly sustainable publishing house just wasn’t possible to realise within a capitalist, extractive system.

I’d like to say it was this moment I decided to launch Planet: Critical with the mission statement of investigating that very system, but, in truth, I was just terrified of having nothing to fill my days. I was out of ideas, and a podcast would keep me emotionally afloat while I figured out my next move. I had no idea what I was creating, no grasp of what it would become, and certainly no understanding of how that “other-focused” question, Who would you like to platform? would be instrumental to the show’s growth.

With a few steps in between, Planet: Critical has since grown into a community of more than 21,000 subscribers in 180 countries. The podcast is one of the top in the world, examining that very system which drove me to abandon the publishing house. The climate corruption section has broken major world exclusives on resource wars. The newsletter has become a cited resource on the intersection of our global crises. And it’s all open source, thanks to the subscribers who choose to support it with a paid subscription. It’s also thanks to them that I can launch a new major project next year.

A few months ago, I noticed a knot of tension in my thoughts, a creeping awareness that the work I do stays very comfortably within the category of intellectual discourse. Discourse and deconstruction is critical, of course, but I was aware that while I could speak for hours on everything that’s going wrong, I couldn’t say very much on what is going right. I was also acutely aware the podcast platforms predominately thinkers from the Global North, and that I was missing out on a wealth of information and, crucially, experimentation happening in the Global South. My gut told me that, rather than change Planet: Critical, which is a goldmine of understanding with regards to deconstructing the problem, there was room for a sister project which examined how to construct a better world.

Importantly, I had also met my partner by that point, with whom new worlds really did feel possible. He is a fierce and loving man, with a background as kaleidoscopic a background as mine. There was no way I could take on something else on my own, but I was no longer on my own. We embarked on a series of conversations structured around simple questions: What if we could use this platform 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?

An idea started to form. But to finalise it, we needed a name.

Finding the name of a thing is a thrilling experience. I still remember the exact moment Planet: Critical came into existence, and how it bloomed in my belly like a solid and very real thing. When we stumbled across the name of this project at 4am at our kitchen table, the feeling in my body was identical and, as with Critical, it sharpened the focus of what we want to achieve.

Planet: Coordinate investigates what to do for a world in crisis. It is call to action and a map of where to go.

The project will be a series of films about people who are doing what needs to be done. The rebels and the fighters, the strategists and the dreamers; the restless and the daring, the quiet and determined. These films will be the stories of those who are busy planting the roots of the future, who are coordinating their communities to get through whatever comes next. The stories which need to be heard to remind us all that a better world is already here.

On December 31st, we leave for 12 months, documenting these stories all around the world. We will be filming and editing on the go, and so you can expect the first film in Spring 2025. I will also publish written features on each community which will reach your inboxes every month. We hope, in doing so, to create a library of things to do and ways to think, to reveal the pattern of human wonder and courage, to celebrate the network of our beautiful humanity.

We are beginning in Latin America but, for safety reasons, won’t announce where we’ve been exactly until we’ve already left. We have some projects lined up but are still looking for more. If you would like to platform a community and their story for this project, please fill out this form.

Everyone is always curious where we’re getting the money to do this. The answer is the same way I do all my work: in house, and 100% funded by the community which has grown around this publication over the past four years.

I know first hand that quality of media comes from the depth of conversation, not the quality of technology. I’ve also learned, over the course of building Planet: Critical, that perfection is the enemy of good. Sweet ignorance as to the arduousness of making films has helped me apply that lens to Planet: Coordinate and believe in our capacity to do this well. I have no doubt we’ve underestimated the workload, and no doubt we’ll do it anyway. My mother used to make full-length, award-winning documentaries in the 1990s when cutting the film was a physical rather than a digital process. When I asked her if she thought one month was enough for each project she laughed—one month was a luxury back in her day.

Alongside making these documentaries I’ll continue Planet: Critical as normal (and also squirrel away hours on the book I’m writing). You can expect the same volume of work from me over here and I would love to see you join us over at Planet: Coordinate. I hope the community there will be just as active and engaged, cross-pollinating ideas and resources in the comments. I would also love for the project to become financially independent so that, if it works, we can do more in the years to come. If you’d like to support that mission, you can take out a paid subscription over at Planet: Coordinate.

The reason for creating a sister project rather than another branch of the Critical brand was because I hope this project will speak to a wider audience, and to grow roots to travel between the trunks of Critical and Coordinate. Every ecosystem needs diversity to be healthy. This little corner of the internet is no different.

Sign up today as a free or paying subscriber to Planet: Coordinate to support the project and remember that it is a homage to all of you, your willingness to confront the truth and your kindness in supporting a renegade journalist in her crusade for the truth.

You may still have questions—you can submit them here. The first episode of Planet: Critical in 2025 will be a special episode where I answer your questions about Planet: Coordinate and anything else that comes to mind. 2024’s special episode was very popular and I was delighted to by how many of you wrote to me. Please send your questions via this form by December 28 and I will release it on January 2nd.

Thank you for a wonderful year together. I have deep hope for a world that is built with all of us in mind. I hope to build it with you all.

Auld Lang Syne,
Rachel