Just a friendly reminder that you’re not doing this work alone – in Ground Crew there are so many chances to collaborate, learn, and create impactful content that tells your story.
📅 Events + Opportunities
Hot & Bothered: V Spehar ft Hank Green
Tune in on the first Thursday of every month for our new live show where climate meets pop culture. Think hot goss energy with real-world stakes. Want to be a guest? Drop us a note.
📰 Climate News & Prompts
1. The world is giving fossil fuels a goodbye party
Over 60 countries are convening in Colombia for a first of its kind meeting to discuss how to phase out fossil fuels for good!
🎉 This is cause for celebration, so show us what your fossil fuel-free party would look like.
2. The Supreme Court’s “shadow docket” is spooky
These fast-tracked decisions with questionable legal justification are being used to stop clean energy initiatives.
🤫 Spill the tea on what happens behind the scenes during one of these secretive “shadow dockets.”
3. What do those numbers mean on our recycling?
Recycling can be a mystery – where does your plastic bottle really go?
♻️ Embody your true crime self and dive into the complexities of recycling and why plastic is such an enigma.
🎤 Creator Real Talk
Yuval is a former math teacher that plays at the intersection of language, culture and statistics. His incredible teaching style lends itself well to sharing the facts on complicated or misunderstood issues. Here’s what he had to say:
Why did you start creating content and why are you still doing it?
“Back in 2022 I started sharing a Wordle bot that I had made which is a bot that tells you the best guess to put in Wordle. I started using it to talk about word and math stuff more generally, and there was one day where I uploaded a video talking about the sentence ‘James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher’ which is a grammatically correct sentence that uses 11 ‘hads’ in a row. I uploaded it just on a whim and it immediately exploded. So then I kept going, and accidentally ended up having a lot more attention than I ever thought possible.”
How do you see climate showing up in culture right now?
“In my experience, when I think about political issues that are at the focus of content creation, it tends to be geopolitical issues or domestic issues. Less often environmental, although you do still see it. It comes up, just not to the same level as things that feel more immediate. And I think that's part of the problem. It doesn't feel as immediate as things happening right now that feel very drastic.”
When you talk about climate in your own content, how do you do it?
“People have referred to me as the ‘community notes’ of TikTok. When we talk about climate and the environment, some of the most important things for people to learn are the facts and the reality of the situation. There are interesting ways these things can be brought up where it doesn't feel like a political message or a climate change channel, because that's not what people expect from me. But when we talk about information or statistics or data that's very surprising, there are ways climate can show up.”
How has your audience reacted to your content when you speak about climate-related topics?
“When content is overtly political, reactions are often positive, but positive in a way that doesn't push it outside that circle. It's positive from people who already agreed.
It's more difficult to make content that reaches people who are not already on your side. I look for comments like ‘I never thought about it this way before’ or ‘this changed how I look at this.’ Those are what tell me the content was impactful. It's easy to get people who already agree with you to like your content if you already have a large following.”
What’s your recommendation for other creators who are hesitant to talk about climate in their content?
“If you're thinking about it, then some aspect of climate or the environment has already affected you. There is something you read or saw that mattered to you.
People are watching you because they want your voice. If it matters to you, it's likely it will matter to your audience. You don't have to present yourself as an authority or try to convince people—you can just express what aspects of climate, the environment, or how it's being handled matter to you.”
❤️ Community Content
We scrolled so you don’t have to. Here are a few posts that covertly or overtly spoke to climate this month:
If only all mobsters were this environmentally conscious
When changing ecosystems meet a talented makeup artist!
What happens to plastic bottles during major festivals and events?
What’s stopping us from progress if we already have the climate solutions?
That’s it for this month. As always, take what resonates, leave the rest, and make it your own. We love seeing how you turn these ideas into content that feels human, honest, and genuinely fun to watch. Can’t wait to see some of you online and IRL very soon!
With gratitude,
Louis + Marilla