Submissions to Climate Conscious

Photo by Dan Counsell on Unsplash

Submission Process

Please follow the steps below to be added as a writer for Climate Conscious and have your stories reviewed for possible publication:

1. Follow the Climate Conscious publication.
2. Complete this form that asks for your Medium username and a draft link to the article you wish to submit for review.
3. You will receive a notification in Medium once you are added as a writer for the publication (writers are added on a weekly basis).
4. Please choose at least one of the following tags to ensure your story is added to the correct section of the publication: Psychology, Vision, Policy, Politics, Climate Action, Activism, Science, Technology. If you do not choose one of these tags, one may be chosen for you.
5. Once you have a draft story ready to be submitted to the publication for review that follows the Formatting Guidelines below, use the “Add to publication” link in Medium and choose Climate Conscious. Please note: We do not accept published stories, only draft stories.
6. When submitting a draft story, please ensure that you allow readers to leave private notes in your Medium account settings. Private notes are how our editors communicate with writers to get a piece ready for publishing. If your story is rejected without explanation, you have disabled the feature. You’re welcome to resubmit the draft after updating your settings.
7. Your story will be reviewed to ensure that it complies with Medium’s Rules and Ad-Free Policy as well as the Formatting Guidelines. Partner Program stories must also comply with Medium’s Content Guidelines and Curation Guidelines. While your story is being reviewed, please do not submit additional stories. Any violations of Medium’s Rules or these submission guidelines will be grounds for removal as a writer for Climate Conscious. Additionally, writers may be removed if their stories repeatedly do not meet our minimum editorial standards.
8. Please keep in mind your story may be edited for grammar, spelling, and general formatting prior to having it published. However, stories with significant grammar, spelling, and formatting issues may be rejected if they require extensive editing time. It’s recommended that you use Grammarly prior to submitting your story to help fix common writing errors. Stories should generally be at least a 3-minute read time and no longer than a 15-minute read time. Make sure to regularly check your draft story (in Medium’s desktop version) once submitted as we may leave private notes that require action on your part before publishing your story.
9. The Climate Conscious logo at the bottom of your submission means it has been accepted and scheduled to publish. We aim to have all stories published within a week of submission.

Submission Guidelines

• Climate Conscious is, first and foremost, a solutions-focused publication. We typically publish stories that cover the following topics:
  — Psychology: The mental obstacles that prevent us from taking action and how to overcome them; grappling with the effects of eco-anxiety
  — Vision: Storytelling that describes what a more sustainable, regenerative, and/or resilient society might look like in the future; spotlighting progressive cities and countries that can inspire and provide a model for others to follow
  — Policy: Government policies that can help drive down emissions and/or adapt to climate impacts
  — Politics: Political progress/obstacles related to climate change from the local to the international level
  — Action: Specific individual or collective actions that can be taken to help maintain a habitable and thriving planet for future generations
  — Activism: Any form of activism that can raise awareness and support for climate action and environmental justice; how to hold those in power accountable for their actions
  — Science: Educational content that covers climate or environmental science accurately and in-depth; new scientific studies that improve our understanding of climate change
  — Technology: Breakthroughs in technology that can help us better mitigate or adapt to climate change; discussing the benefits, drawbacks, and obstacles to adoption of these technologies
• We are open to a wide variety of writing types including both narrative and informative stories. However, we do not accept poetry. We especially like creative writing in the form of personal storytelling as it relates to climate change or other related environmental issues.
• We do not accept stories that promote climate denial or climate doomism misinformation that is not aligned with the scientific consensus on climate change. Stories that advocate or endorse any form of harm to individuals or groups of people will also not be accepted.
• We’re committed to publishing work by human authors based on thorough research and scientific evidence. That’s why we reject articles written with generative AI tools. If you use AI tools to assist with the research process, disclose the details in your article as well as how you have gone about verifying the accuracy of the information.
• Overly self-promotional content (e.g., promoting your new book) or promotion of third-party products, services, or brands are not accepted.
• Either British or American English spelling is acceptable.
• Submissions must have a clear title and subtitle that speaks to what the story will be about. Titles must be written in title case. Subtitles can use title case, but should preferably be written as a sentence. Submissions should use Medium’s built-in title and subtitle formatting rather than a custom format.
• All submissions must include a featured image right below the title and subtitle. This image and any other images included must be something you have the legal right to publish and must include a properly cited source as the image caption.
• If a submission is broken into sections, it must use properly formatted section headings. Section headings should use Medium’s title format.
• Utilize Medium’s tools for formatting text. When importing a story from another source, ensure the formatting is correct before submitting for publication.
• Ensure lists utilize Medium’s automatic list formatting. This occurs when a list begins with an asterisk (*) or a dash (-).
• Do not use pull quotes as section headings or as a way to emphasize text. Pull quotes should only be used to draw attention to the text found within the content of a story. An example is shown below.

Pull quotes should only be used to draw attention to the text found within the content of a story.

• Ensure that all sources are properly linked throughout the story or referenced at the end of the story.

Interested in joining our editorial team? Please fill out our short application form below to be considered, which also includes more details about the role:

Climate Conscious Editor Application

If you’re selected, we’ll email you about the next steps.

Updated 04/10/22