Online Workshop Offers Guidance for Preparing for Climate Disruption

Growing Demand for Climate Planning

When Jason Haaheim, a principal timpanist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, found himself furloughed indefinitely during the coronavirus pandemic, without an apartment and increasingly preoccupied with climate change, he began thinking about how fragile life could become in an unstable and unpredictable society.

If a viral disease could displace him and wipe out his livelihood, he reasoned, a natural disaster could do the same. He felt he needed a plan.

In 2023, he signed up for the Personal Climate Strategy Workshop, an online course developed by futurist and former journalist Alex Steffen. The monthlong seminar is designed to help participants anticipate and prepare for the mounting disruptions of global warming.

A Climate Anxiety Industry Expands

The workshop is part of a growing cottage industry aimed at people worried about climate change and broader social breakdown. The offerings range from survival camps and bunker-design companies to firms advising clients on financial, real estate and insurance decisions.

Steffen’s class occupies a different niche, offering life-planning guidance in what the article describes as an almost therapy-like environment. Its appeal reflects a wider search for practical ways to respond to climate risks that can feel overwhelming or abstract.

For New Yorkers, the dangers of extreme weather are not theoretical. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was a stark example of how severe storms can upend lives and expose the vulnerabilities of a dense urban region.

Business Interest Also Rising

Demand for climate information is increasing beyond individual consumers, according to Sarah Kapnick, global head of climate advisory at J.P. Morgan. Kapnick, a former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said businesses are seeking to better understand both the risks and opportunities created by global warming.

Her position at the bank was created two years ago, a sign of how seriously major institutions are treating climate-related planning. Together with workshops like Steffen’s, that interest points to a broader effort to prepare for a future shaped by increasing environmental disruption.