2023 - the year in review

A collection of climate stories mostly

10 years ago this week, Martha, Iona and Fin enjoying supper at Mission Burrito, Park St, Bristol.

This is one of my favourite weeks of the year, reviewing what I’ve written. More importantly, what to do next?

I’ve decided to try and get ahead today. Something I’ve been promising myself all year with this weekly letter but almost entirely failing to achieve. I’m keen to try and finish today.

It’s the last one for 2023 which I think makes sense. Anything that lands in an inbox on Friday 22nd December is expecting a lot, even for loyal readers, given that best made plans are just beginning. Good luck everyone.

Today is dim, a wet December Sunday, where daylight seems to be in short supply. I might as well be in Norway or Sweden where days seem to hold nights at bay in the winter. It also means I have no excuses and few distractions.

Saying that, the photo above is one of those Facebook memories which popped into my inbox this morning. Why was I even looking at email?

When I took the picture, I remember thinking at the time, it would be a good one. It was a school day, probably a Monday or Wednesday and the restaurant, Mission Burrito, a fast food Mexican was deserted. Any students, the most likely customers on Park Street, were long gone, perhaps to the pub or home for their own evening meals.

By the time I’d paid and turned around, they were already sitting in the window, watching the occasional bicycle puffing up the long hill and the shops opposite, closing up for the day.

One fashion shop across the road was called cooshti, the same immortal word of Del Boy’s from Only Fools and Horses. Cushty, slang for enjoyable or good, for some reason read Coo Shitty to me. I’ve been reminded with much mirth many times since.

Martha, in the middle, is now teaching geography in Bristol. Iona and Fin are at university. Ten years ago seems a world away.

Three years ago I started this Friday weekly, writing for friends and family. After 12 months, I wrote my first year in review. You can read it here, if you like. The second one is here.

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

My target is to write a minimum of 1,000 words. There isn’t a maximum, but I’m mindful to limit the reading time to about 5 minutes. I’m very grateful to be in your inbox and don’t want to be more than a short, welcome distraction.

Subjects change, but always gravitate back to the thorny subject of climate. I follow at least half a dozen climate journalists, mostly from the US ironically. Fortunately, climate is a global subject and their stories are not too myopic.

I subscribe to The Economist, The Guardian and Ethical Consumer and have recently started listening to one or two podcasts.

My new format earlier in the year, writing three of four short stories didn’t last, primarily because one idea is often challenging enough to contain to my word limit.

I post on two platforms. Substack, is the home of my email subscribers. I started with 16 friends and family, I’m now have 71 readers. Open rates are high, often creeping beyond 70% which is good. There’s more I could be doing to get noticed and I’ll be exploring ways of becoming stickier in the new year.

Medium is a subscription platform. Anyone who reads me here has paid for the pleasure, along with access to an amazing amount of talented writers on every conceivable subject you can think of. I’m a subscriber too.

On Medium, I have 58 followers and in the last 30 days had 413 views. The platform has a clapping feature which is a good sign of approval. Last week’s post, Fund Manager Logic has already had 62 claps and a written reply. Controversy is good for popularity.

On Friday’s when I publish, I also post last week’s old letter on social platforms including Facebook and LinkedIn.

Photo by Karim Ghantous on Unsplash

I stopped spending time coming up with click-worthy titles a long time ago. Scanning through this year, I see that my best article for email openings at 182 is, The Number 1 Climate Action which anyone can take.

It’s probably still familiar as it was only written this November. It will have performed better because of number 1 in the title. Reading it again, I’d take out which. Short and punchy is often better.

Malcolm Gladwell

According to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History (Hallelujah episode), a Canadian author - Talking to Strangers, The Tipping Point, there are two types of writer, conceptual and experimental innovators.

Without boring you, the conceptualist always writes with a plan. Jack Kerouac took 7 years researching and note taking for On the Road and then wrote it in a month.

Ian Fleming took eight weeks to write his first James Bond novel which shortened to six for everything that followed.

Experimentalists don’t plan, work slowly and are often revising what they’ve written. Famous examples include Ernest Hemingway, who rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms, 47 times. The same problem Mark Twain had with Huckleberry Finn which is why it took him 7 years to finish.

I’m not a great planner. Often I find an interesting topic or a reader suggests one -thank you. I love that. It’s enough for me to start writing. I have no idea where it will end up. Some of the joy is not knowing where I’m going.

It’s one of the reasons why I have this love hate relationship with mind maps. They force me to plan - not good, but I like seeing the article neatly defined in front of me.

Whenever I sit down to write, I always start by revising anything already written. There’s always a better way to say something, least I think so. My beginnings are often better than my ends, except when they’re not. If an interesting story draws me in enough, expect the opposite.

I’ve not been great with other writers, ignoring them largely apart from the occasional book. There are too many stacked on a chest of drawers in the bedroom, which might explain why there are always one or two on the go at the same time. Writers must read and I intend to be a bigger bookworm in 2024.

More books yes, and also more connection with writers publishing on my chosen platforms. Being in a club is good for morale as is finding others who choose to write about climate change.

A recent hidden gem now subscribed to, Katie Clapham is Terrible at Titles, has nothing to do with climate, apart from the odd weather report from her independent bookshop, pitting her wits and livelihood against the mighty Amazon. She often keeps her shop door open to encourage passersby in, despite the risk of frostbite.

52 things I learned in 2023 by Tom Whitwell - good title for clicks, revealed several good insights from 2023.

Canadian researchers gave homeless people $7,500 each in a bank account, saying they could do what they liked with the money. They all spent it on food, clothes and rent, moving into more stable housing.

In 2004, it took a year to install 1 gigaWatt of solar power. This year a gigaWatt of solar power was added every day.

Scotland’s forest cover is nearly back to where it was 1,000 years ago. England’s has risen to levels not seen since 1350.

Merry Christmas and see you all again in the new year.