Rachel Donald
@racheldonald.bsky.social
I investigate why the world is in crisis: planetcritical.com
I also investigate what to do about it: planetcoordinate.com
Join subscribers in 186 countries.
I also investigate what to do about it: planetcoordinate.com
Join subscribers in 186 countries.
Planet: Critical has left Substack!
Find out why visiting Samoa and Crete made me discover something "achingly human" which encouraged me to get away from the noise.
www.planetcritical.com/into-the-woo...
Find out why visiting Samoa and Crete made me discover something "achingly human" which encouraged me to get away from the noise.
www.planetcritical.com/into-the-woo...
Into The Woods
Dear community,
Welcome to the new and improved Planet: Critical. I'll go over housekeeping, including how to sign in etc, at the end of today's newsletter. First, let me explain more deeply why the ...
www.planetcritical.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Planet: Critical has left Substack!
Find out why visiting Samoa and Crete made me discover something "achingly human" which encouraged me to get away from the noise.
www.planetcritical.com/into-the-woo...
Find out why visiting Samoa and Crete made me discover something "achingly human" which encouraged me to get away from the noise.
www.planetcritical.com/into-the-woo...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Such a brilliant @racheldonald.bsky.social conversation with Nina Djukanovic on critical raw materials -- from the energy transition to political violence to #degrwoth: www.planetcritical.com/material-dep...
Material Dependencies | Nina Djukanović
The so-called “green transition” has triggered a mining boom all over the world which is leaving conflict, environmental devastation and political instability in its wake.
www.planetcritical.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Such a brilliant @racheldonald.bsky.social conversation with Nina Djukanovic on critical raw materials -- from the energy transition to political violence to #degrwoth: www.planetcritical.com/material-dep...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
Yale lab reports mass killings in Sudan, calls for student activism
The Humanitarian Research Lab was told this week that over 10,000 people in Sudan were killed within three days.
yaledailynews.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
New site: www.planetcritical.com
I've switched over to Ghost and would love your feedback now that I've been able to customise my design.
Comment below!
I've switched over to Ghost and would love your feedback now that I've been able to customise my design.
Comment below!
Planet: Critical
Investigating why the world is in crisis.
www.planetcritical.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
New site: www.planetcritical.com
I've switched over to Ghost and would love your feedback now that I've been able to customise my design.
Comment below!
I've switched over to Ghost and would love your feedback now that I've been able to customise my design.
Comment below!
NEED A SOURCE:
Community, I'm looking for an academic source showing the linear relationship between material footprint and GDP (I've heard they're tied 1:1 but can't find such a paper.)
Please help!
Community, I'm looking for an academic source showing the linear relationship between material footprint and GDP (I've heard they're tied 1:1 but can't find such a paper.)
Please help!
October 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
NEED A SOURCE:
Community, I'm looking for an academic source showing the linear relationship between material footprint and GDP (I've heard they're tied 1:1 but can't find such a paper.)
Please help!
Community, I'm looking for an academic source showing the linear relationship between material footprint and GDP (I've heard they're tied 1:1 but can't find such a paper.)
Please help!
"Were our justice system capable of justice, those who furnish their own lives at the expense of others would be held accountable for their actions long before they face threats to their lives."
www.planetcritical.com/p/free-speec...
www.planetcritical.com/p/free-speec...
Free Speech is a Responsibility
Freedom from consequence is a failure of justice
www.planetcritical.com
September 22, 2025 at 7:19 AM
"Were our justice system capable of justice, those who furnish their own lives at the expense of others would be held accountable for their actions long before they face threats to their lives."
www.planetcritical.com/p/free-speec...
www.planetcritical.com/p/free-speec...
The climate crisis is causing an invisible health crisis: brain health.
On this ep, neuroscientist and environmental reporter @compatibilism.bsky.social reveals how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/p/how-the-ec...
On this ep, neuroscientist and environmental reporter @compatibilism.bsky.social reveals how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/p/how-the-ec...
September 22, 2025 at 6:15 AM
The climate crisis is causing an invisible health crisis: brain health.
On this ep, neuroscientist and environmental reporter @compatibilism.bsky.social reveals how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/p/how-the-ec...
On this ep, neuroscientist and environmental reporter @compatibilism.bsky.social reveals how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/p/how-the-ec...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Canadian mining companies are 'getting away with atrocities' in South America and across the globe, says Brandi Morin. She shares the details with @racheldonald.bsky.social on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. Listen now @mongabay.com
Canada’s mining companies destroy biodiversity with impunity, Indigenous journalist reports
An international tribunal of environmental rights activists recently found extensive evidence that the Canadian mining sector is “guilty for the violation of Rights of Nature across South America and ...
news.mongabay.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Canadian mining companies are 'getting away with atrocities' in South America and across the globe, says Brandi Morin. She shares the details with @racheldonald.bsky.social on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. Listen now @mongabay.com
Reposted by Rachel Donald
The three most damning paras in the UN Report alleging that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza: Siege starvation, attacks on health care, direct targeting of children as patterns that cannot be explained except if group destruction is one animating purpose.
September 16, 2025 at 9:04 AM
The three most damning paras in the UN Report alleging that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza: Siege starvation, attacks on health care, direct targeting of children as patterns that cannot be explained except if group destruction is one animating purpose.
Reposted by Rachel Donald
"Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds"
The UN joins other experts including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Holocaust historians, and multitudes of lawyers in concluding this is genocide.
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
The UN joins other experts including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Holocaust historians, and multitudes of lawyers in concluding this is genocide.
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds
GENEVA – Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, a...
www.ohchr.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds"
The UN joins other experts including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Holocaust historians, and multitudes of lawyers in concluding this is genocide.
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
The UN joins other experts including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Holocaust historians, and multitudes of lawyers in concluding this is genocide.
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
The modern Left demands a form of empathy which refuses to confront the actions and speech of individuals, conveniently championing the fact of their humanness over evidence of their lack of humanity.
Kirk's only discernible quality was his homo sapiens DNA.
www.planetcritical.com/p/charlie-kirk
Kirk's only discernible quality was his homo sapiens DNA.
www.planetcritical.com/p/charlie-kirk
Charlie Kirk Probably Deserved To Die
In its quest for empathy, the Left has lost its moral clarity
www.planetcritical.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:43 AM
The modern Left demands a form of empathy which refuses to confront the actions and speech of individuals, conveniently championing the fact of their humanness over evidence of their lack of humanity.
Kirk's only discernible quality was his homo sapiens DNA.
www.planetcritical.com/p/charlie-kirk
Kirk's only discernible quality was his homo sapiens DNA.
www.planetcritical.com/p/charlie-kirk
I finally had the chance to interview neuro-philosopher @Iain McGilchrist and it was a delight.
Listen to us discuss the necessity of metaphors, the relationship between our brain hemispheres and giggle about his portrayal of the unconscious mind.
Episode: www.planetcritical.com/p/iain-mcgil...
Listen to us discuss the necessity of metaphors, the relationship between our brain hemispheres and giggle about his portrayal of the unconscious mind.
Episode: www.planetcritical.com/p/iain-mcgil...
September 11, 2025 at 6:57 AM
I finally had the chance to interview neuro-philosopher @Iain McGilchrist and it was a delight.
Listen to us discuss the necessity of metaphors, the relationship between our brain hemispheres and giggle about his portrayal of the unconscious mind.
Episode: www.planetcritical.com/p/iain-mcgil...
Listen to us discuss the necessity of metaphors, the relationship between our brain hemispheres and giggle about his portrayal of the unconscious mind.
Episode: www.planetcritical.com/p/iain-mcgil...
September 2, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Collapse: Who does it really hurt?
Listen to the full interview with Cambridge scholar for existential risk, Luke Kemp, to find out everything you couldn't have possibly imagined about what happens when empires collapse:
www.planetcritical.com/p/luke-kemp
Listen to the full interview with Cambridge scholar for existential risk, Luke Kemp, to find out everything you couldn't have possibly imagined about what happens when empires collapse:
www.planetcritical.com/p/luke-kemp
August 31, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Collapse: Who does it really hurt?
Listen to the full interview with Cambridge scholar for existential risk, Luke Kemp, to find out everything you couldn't have possibly imagined about what happens when empires collapse:
www.planetcritical.com/p/luke-kemp
Listen to the full interview with Cambridge scholar for existential risk, Luke Kemp, to find out everything you couldn't have possibly imagined about what happens when empires collapse:
www.planetcritical.com/p/luke-kemp
There is no going back. There is no going forward, either, when the path is giving way under your feet.
www.planetcritical.com/p/between-tw...
www.planetcritical.com/p/between-tw...
Between Two Worlds
Preparing for the worst while hoping for the best
www.planetcritical.com
August 27, 2025 at 4:38 AM
There is no going back. There is no going forward, either, when the path is giving way under your feet.
www.planetcritical.com/p/between-tw...
www.planetcritical.com/p/between-tw...
I recently spent 10 days with an Aboriginal community in one of Australia's remotest regions. What I learned from the elders is there is no going back.
www.planetcritical.com/p/there-is-n...
www.planetcritical.com/p/there-is-n...
There is no going back
Learning from Elders in Australia's remotest region
www.planetcritical.com
August 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I recently spent 10 days with an Aboriginal community in one of Australia's remotest regions. What I learned from the elders is there is no going back.
www.planetcritical.com/p/there-is-n...
www.planetcritical.com/p/there-is-n...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
The Trump administration has announced that the US will rewrite past climate reports, in a clear attempt to erase scientific history and undermine the consensus on human-caused climate change.
US to rewrite its past national climate reports
US President Donald Trump's administration is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate report -- its latest move to undermine the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming.
www.france24.com
August 8, 2025 at 6:26 AM
The Trump administration has announced that the US will rewrite past climate reports, in a clear attempt to erase scientific history and undermine the consensus on human-caused climate change.
Reposted by Rachel Donald
“Carbon credits show just how far economic doublethink has infected policymaking: The claim that emissions can somehow be cancelled out by paying to protect a forest or a wind power plant is ludicrous.”
Greenwashing is Gaslighting - @racheldonald.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/planetcr...
Greenwashing is Gaslighting - @racheldonald.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/planetcr...
Greenwashing is Gaslighting
How can you take action if you don’t know what the fuck is going on?
open.substack.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:21 PM
“Carbon credits show just how far economic doublethink has infected policymaking: The claim that emissions can somehow be cancelled out by paying to protect a forest or a wind power plant is ludicrous.”
Greenwashing is Gaslighting - @racheldonald.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/planetcr...
Greenwashing is Gaslighting - @racheldonald.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/planetcr...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Who has the most updated numbers on U.S. fossil fuel subsidies?
August 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Who has the most updated numbers on U.S. fossil fuel subsidies?
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM! CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!
Conspiracies are born when people have lived experience of abuse and exploitation but no language to make sense of it.
It's not a conspiracy—it's capitalism.
www.planetcritical.com/p/its-not-a-...
Conspiracies are born when people have lived experience of abuse and exploitation but no language to make sense of it.
It's not a conspiracy—it's capitalism.
www.planetcritical.com/p/its-not-a-...
It's not a conspiracy, it's capitalism
We can't make sense of the present without knowledge of the past
www.planetcritical.com
August 4, 2025 at 7:58 AM
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM! CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!
Conspiracies are born when people have lived experience of abuse and exploitation but no language to make sense of it.
It's not a conspiracy—it's capitalism.
www.planetcritical.com/p/its-not-a-...
Conspiracies are born when people have lived experience of abuse and exploitation but no language to make sense of it.
It's not a conspiracy—it's capitalism.
www.planetcritical.com/p/its-not-a-...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
A 17-year-old was among seven people who starved to death in Gaza as Israeli forces shot dead dozens more aid seekers.
Seven Palestinians die of starvation in Gaza as Israel kills 38 aid seekers
A 17-year-old was among seven people who starved to death in Gaza as Israeli forces shot dead dozens more aid seekers.
bit.ly
August 3, 2025 at 5:30 AM
A 17-year-old was among seven people who starved to death in Gaza as Israeli forces shot dead dozens more aid seekers.
Israel is being mythologised as exceptional rather than inevitable.
www.planetcritical.com/p/one-day-ev...
www.planetcritical.com/p/one-day-ev...
One day, everyone will have been against this
Israel is being mythologised as exceptional rather than inevitable
www.planetcritical.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Israel is being mythologised as exceptional rather than inevitable.
www.planetcritical.com/p/one-day-ev...
www.planetcritical.com/p/one-day-ev...
The biggest form of pharmaceutical pollution is us. By passing numerous drugs through our bodies and into the environment, we are having shocking effects on organisms and ecosystems.
Full interview with Health Economist Martin Hensher: www.planetcritical.com
Full interview with Health Economist Martin Hensher: www.planetcritical.com
July 25, 2025 at 4:25 AM
The biggest form of pharmaceutical pollution is us. By passing numerous drugs through our bodies and into the environment, we are having shocking effects on organisms and ecosystems.
Full interview with Health Economist Martin Hensher: www.planetcritical.com
Full interview with Health Economist Martin Hensher: www.planetcritical.com
Human bodies are no longer just in the factories. Now they are the factories.
Marxist Eco-Feminist, Silvia Federici, explains how exploitation of the body has now expanded beyond labor towards a new commerce of body parts.
Full interview at www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
Marxist Eco-Feminist, Silvia Federici, explains how exploitation of the body has now expanded beyond labor towards a new commerce of body parts.
Full interview at www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
July 21, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Human bodies are no longer just in the factories. Now they are the factories.
Marxist Eco-Feminist, Silvia Federici, explains how exploitation of the body has now expanded beyond labor towards a new commerce of body parts.
Full interview at www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
Marxist Eco-Feminist, Silvia Federici, explains how exploitation of the body has now expanded beyond labor towards a new commerce of body parts.
Full interview at www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
The capitalist class has always sought to control women's reproduction—it's not just promoting the birth of certain babies, but also reducing the number of potential rebel babies.
Listen to the full episode with Marxist-feminist scholar Silvia Federici now: www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
Listen to the full episode with Marxist-feminist scholar Silvia Federici now: www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
July 18, 2025 at 4:40 AM
The capitalist class has always sought to control women's reproduction—it's not just promoting the birth of certain babies, but also reducing the number of potential rebel babies.
Listen to the full episode with Marxist-feminist scholar Silvia Federici now: www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...
Listen to the full episode with Marxist-feminist scholar Silvia Federici now: www.planetcritical.com/p/why-earth-...