Rachel Donald
@racheldonald.bsky.social
I investigate why the world is in crisis: www.planetcritical.com
I also investigate what to do about it: www.planetcoordinate.com
Join subscribers in 186 countries.
I also investigate what to do about it: www.planetcoordinate.com
Join subscribers in 186 countries.
The Epstein Files reveal how sexual abuse sits hand in glove with capitalist exploitation.
www.planetcritical.com/epsteins-inn...
www.planetcritical.com/epsteins-inn...
Epstein's Inner Circle Normalised His Sex Crimes — Because They're All Guilty of Abuse
The Epstein Files reveal how sexual abuse sits hand in glove with capitalist exploitation
www.planetcritical.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:34 PM
The Epstein Files reveal how sexual abuse sits hand in glove with capitalist exploitation.
www.planetcritical.com/epsteins-inn...
www.planetcritical.com/epsteins-inn...
In my conversation with XR co-founder Roger Hallam, I asked him about his advising Palestinians to commit to non-violence in the face of genocide.
His response really surprised me.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
His response really surprised me.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
February 5, 2026 at 2:49 PM
In my conversation with XR co-founder Roger Hallam, I asked him about his advising Palestinians to commit to non-violence in the face of genocide.
His response really surprised me.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
His response really surprised me.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
OUT NOW: I interviewed Roger Hallam, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, about his vision of activism.
Roger is convinced of his methodologies and strategies. I am not. I end up asking him if he has a Messiah complex.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
Roger is convinced of his methodologies and strategies. I am not. I end up asking him if he has a Messiah complex.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
February 5, 2026 at 12:06 PM
OUT NOW: I interviewed Roger Hallam, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, about his vision of activism.
Roger is convinced of his methodologies and strategies. I am not. I end up asking him if he has a Messiah complex.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
Roger is convinced of his methodologies and strategies. I am not. I end up asking him if he has a Messiah complex.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/roger-hallam/
We can afford to unconditionally provide healthcare, education, housing, transport, food and more to everyone – and doing so would dramatically improve people's ability to contribute to society.
Universal Basic Services could change everything.
Learn how: www.planetcritical.com/andrew-percy/
Universal Basic Services could change everything.
Learn how: www.planetcritical.com/andrew-percy/
February 3, 2026 at 11:20 AM
We can afford to unconditionally provide healthcare, education, housing, transport, food and more to everyone – and doing so would dramatically improve people's ability to contribute to society.
Universal Basic Services could change everything.
Learn how: www.planetcritical.com/andrew-percy/
Universal Basic Services could change everything.
Learn how: www.planetcritical.com/andrew-percy/
@climatehuman.bsky.social Would love to interview you about your recent post, 'Get Organized'. I believe my DMs are open!
February 2, 2026 at 4:39 PM
@climatehuman.bsky.social Would love to interview you about your recent post, 'Get Organized'. I believe my DMs are open!
From storm-battered Cornwall to the highest hill in Paris, last week I learned all about how the best place to change the world is right where you already are:
www.planetcritical.com/how-to-chang...
www.planetcritical.com/how-to-chang...
How To Change The World
One self-sustaining hilltop in Paris became a beacon of artistic and political freedom, changing the landscape of modern art forever. We have everything to learn from the rebels of Montmartre.
www.planetcritical.com
February 2, 2026 at 4:37 PM
From storm-battered Cornwall to the highest hill in Paris, last week I learned all about how the best place to change the world is right where you already are:
www.planetcritical.com/how-to-chang...
www.planetcritical.com/how-to-chang...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Two things to learn from this.
1. The rightwing newspapers are lobby groups whose purpose is to advance the class interest of their proprietors.
2. Lobbyists for the rich and powerful lose their jobs if they are not prepared to lie.
www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...
1. The rightwing newspapers are lobby groups whose purpose is to advance the class interest of their proprietors.
2. Lobbyists for the rich and powerful lose their jobs if they are not prepared to lie.
www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...
Analysis: UK newspaper editorial opposition to climate action overtakes support for first time - Carbon Brief
Nearly 100 UK newspaper editorials opposed climate action in 2025, a record figure that reveals the backlash against net-zero in the right-leaning press
www.carbonbrief.org
January 26, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Two things to learn from this.
1. The rightwing newspapers are lobby groups whose purpose is to advance the class interest of their proprietors.
2. Lobbyists for the rich and powerful lose their jobs if they are not prepared to lie.
www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...
1. The rightwing newspapers are lobby groups whose purpose is to advance the class interest of their proprietors.
2. Lobbyists for the rich and powerful lose their jobs if they are not prepared to lie.
www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
"Non-violence is a posture which demands witnesses. Self defence is a response which demands participation. Only one can protect us in life or death situations."
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
Can Non-Violence Save the USA?
The American public are being held hostage by a ruthless, murderous, unconscionable government. They will not listen to non-violent demands.
www.planetcritical.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:35 PM
"Non-violence is a posture which demands witnesses. Self defence is a response which demands participation. Only one can protect us in life or death situations."
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
"Non-violence is a posture which demands witnesses. Self defence is a response which demands participation. Only one can protect us in life or death situations."
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
Can Non-Violence Save the USA?
The American public are being held hostage by a ruthless, murderous, unconscionable government. They will not listen to non-violent demands.
www.planetcritical.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:35 PM
"Non-violence is a posture which demands witnesses. Self defence is a response which demands participation. Only one can protect us in life or death situations."
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
www.planetcritical.com/can-non-viol...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
January 24, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
Reposted by Rachel Donald
The killings will continue until you give us the state voter rolls
Fox News: "I've gotten my hands that AG Bondi said she sent to Gov. Tim Walz. It is strongly worded. The AG calls for the governor to support the men and women of ICE, to repeal the state's sanctuary policies, and to allow the DOJ to access state voter rolls."
January 24, 2026 at 7:44 PM
The killings will continue until you give us the state voter rolls
The threatening and fascistic dictates of the Trump administration met a series of stumbling blocks over the weekend. From Minnesota to Denmark, and from protesters to politicians, people have had enough.
www.planetcritical.com/and-the-worl...
www.planetcritical.com/and-the-worl...
And the World Stood Up
All over the world, people have had enough of Trump. From Minneapolis to Canada, the world said: "No."
www.planetcritical.com
January 19, 2026 at 12:31 PM
The threatening and fascistic dictates of the Trump administration met a series of stumbling blocks over the weekend. From Minnesota to Denmark, and from protesters to politicians, people have had enough.
www.planetcritical.com/and-the-worl...
www.planetcritical.com/and-the-worl...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
big thanks to the brilliant @racheldonald.bsky.social for the opportunity to chat on Planet: Critical
we kicked off the new year by asking: what's up with climate fiction?
www.planetcritical.com/heather-mill...
we kicked off the new year by asking: what's up with climate fiction?
www.planetcritical.com/heather-mill...
How Fiction Makes Sense of the Crisis | Heather Milligan
How does literature reflect the crisis we're collectively experiencing—and why do some of the novels published today fail to grasp both the intensity and complexity of our world?
www.planetcritical.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:15 PM
big thanks to the brilliant @racheldonald.bsky.social for the opportunity to chat on Planet: Critical
we kicked off the new year by asking: what's up with climate fiction?
www.planetcritical.com/heather-mill...
we kicked off the new year by asking: what's up with climate fiction?
www.planetcritical.com/heather-mill...
Something a little different from me today, but racing around my mind all weekend.
www.planetcritical.com/europe-must-...
www.planetcritical.com/europe-must-...
To Defeat Trump, Europe Must Abandon Its Aryan Dream
The European elite who believe Trump in power is Whiteness in power fail to recognise just how little the New World cares about them.
www.planetcritical.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Something a little different from me today, but racing around my mind all weekend.
www.planetcritical.com/europe-must-...
www.planetcritical.com/europe-must-...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Thank you @racheldonald.bsky.social on your extremely humane and thoughtful latest episode of Planet Critical.
It's what I needed today.
www.planetcritical.com/for-the-futu...
It's what I needed today.
www.planetcritical.com/for-the-futu...
For the Future We May Never See | Rachel Donald
Welcome to 2026, and this special episode of Planet: Critical where I discuss hope, collapse, effective action and what may yet be in store for us all.
Here are your questions I chose this year:
1...
www.planetcritical.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:40 AM
Thank you @racheldonald.bsky.social on your extremely humane and thoughtful latest episode of Planet Critical.
It's what I needed today.
www.planetcritical.com/for-the-futu...
It's what I needed today.
www.planetcritical.com/for-the-futu...
Alex Kleytman was just a child when he survived the Holocaust. To have been killed by anti-semitic hatred 80 years after the end of WWII is like being crushed under the wheel of time. It should take the breath out of all of us.
www.planetcritical.com/an-unmistaka...
www.planetcritical.com/an-unmistaka...
An Unmistakable Beginning
Anger has kept me sane and determined in the face of injustice. But learning that one of the victims of the mass shooting at Bondi beach was a Holocaust survivor, I broke down in tears.
www.planetcritical.com
December 16, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Alex Kleytman was just a child when he survived the Holocaust. To have been killed by anti-semitic hatred 80 years after the end of WWII is like being crushed under the wheel of time. It should take the breath out of all of us.
www.planetcritical.com/an-unmistaka...
www.planetcritical.com/an-unmistaka...
Organisations like Our World in Data and folk like Steven Pinker would have us believe that everything is getting better because lines are travelling a certain way on charts.
This week's guest @smillermcdonald.bsky.social thoroughly debunks that.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
This week's guest @smillermcdonald.bsky.social thoroughly debunks that.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
December 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Organisations like Our World in Data and folk like Steven Pinker would have us believe that everything is getting better because lines are travelling a certain way on charts.
This week's guest @smillermcdonald.bsky.social thoroughly debunks that.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
This week's guest @smillermcdonald.bsky.social thoroughly debunks that.
Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
Geographer @smillermcdonald.bsky.social on the myth of progress — a delusion that's been following us for 5000 years and justified endless wars, genocides and ecological destruction.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
December 12, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Geographer @smillermcdonald.bsky.social on the myth of progress — a delusion that's been following us for 5000 years and justified endless wars, genocides and ecological destruction.
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
Full episode out now: www.planetcritical.com/the-myth-of-...
I read the White House National Security Plan so you don't have to.
It's bad btw.
www.planetcritical.com/trumps-natio...
It's bad btw.
www.planetcritical.com/trumps-natio...
Trump's National Security Strategy: Capture Latin America, Collaborate with Dictators and Bully Europe
You don't have to read between the lines to understand who Donald Trump is afraid of — and who he plans on beating into submission
www.planetcritical.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I read the White House National Security Plan so you don't have to.
It's bad btw.
www.planetcritical.com/trumps-natio...
It's bad btw.
www.planetcritical.com/trumps-natio...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
A pleasure to talk with Rachel Donald again on Planet Critical about hyper-local futures and my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age'
www.planetcritical.com/hyper-local-...
www.planetcritical.com/hyper-local-...
Hyper-Local Futures | Chris Smaje
Who's going to grow your food when our complex supply chains fail?
Chris Smaje, academic turned small-hold farmer, is an advocate for hyper-local agrarianism—because that's going to be our future whe...
www.planetcritical.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
A pleasure to talk with Rachel Donald again on Planet Critical about hyper-local futures and my new book 'Finding Lights in a Dark Age'
www.planetcritical.com/hyper-local-...
www.planetcritical.com/hyper-local-...
As a journalist, my mother knew the horrors that human beings can inflict on one another. She knew that things don't get better unless people push for justice. But she still believed, then, that justice was possible.
Her outlook is different today.
www.planetcritical.com/today-my-mot...
Her outlook is different today.
www.planetcritical.com/today-my-mot...
Today, My Mother is Worried
We used to sit and hash out the differences in our analyses of the global situation, now we scheme about how to navigate a world without commercial planes, without NATO, without food imports.
www.planetcritical.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:23 PM
As a journalist, my mother knew the horrors that human beings can inflict on one another. She knew that things don't get better unless people push for justice. But she still believed, then, that justice was possible.
Her outlook is different today.
www.planetcritical.com/today-my-mot...
Her outlook is different today.
www.planetcritical.com/today-my-mot...
Should You Have Kids?
Choosing whether or not to have children has been a critical component of cultures around the world for millennia, and the choosing not to has always been as important as the choosing to.
Read the full piece now on Planet: Critical: www.planetcritical.com/should-you-h...
Choosing whether or not to have children has been a critical component of cultures around the world for millennia, and the choosing not to has always been as important as the choosing to.
Read the full piece now on Planet: Critical: www.planetcritical.com/should-you-h...
Should You Have Kids?
Choosing whether or not to have children has been a critical component of cultures around the world for millennia, and the choosing not to has always been as important as the choosing to.
www.planetcritical.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Should You Have Kids?
Choosing whether or not to have children has been a critical component of cultures around the world for millennia, and the choosing not to has always been as important as the choosing to.
Read the full piece now on Planet: Critical: www.planetcritical.com/should-you-h...
Choosing whether or not to have children has been a critical component of cultures around the world for millennia, and the choosing not to has always been as important as the choosing to.
Read the full piece now on Planet: Critical: www.planetcritical.com/should-you-h...
Reposted by Rachel Donald
Natural Scientist Fernando Racimo, author of Science in Resistance: The Scientist Rebellion for Climate Justice, joins Planet Critical podcast to discuss what works/ doesn't in climate activism; how deep complicity rot goes in universities, & much more
www.planetcritical.com/fernando-rac...
www.planetcritical.com/fernando-rac...
The Future of Rebellion | Fernando Racimo
Natural Scientist, Fernando Racimo, on why the Scientist Rebellion movement is critical—and how it must evolve to truly confront the rot deep at the heart of universities.
www.planetcritical.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Natural Scientist Fernando Racimo, author of Science in Resistance: The Scientist Rebellion for Climate Justice, joins Planet Critical podcast to discuss what works/ doesn't in climate activism; how deep complicity rot goes in universities, & much more
www.planetcritical.com/fernando-rac...
www.planetcritical.com/fernando-rac...
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...