My review: Alex Steffen’s Ruggedization Climate Course
Hi all, back in 2022 I took the first iteration of Alex Steffen’s Climate Ruggedization (Ruggedize Your Life) 6 week course. Below is a detailed review.
Overall ranking: 2/5 stars
Course Details: 6 week course directly with Alex via Zoom
Cohort: about 15 participants
Price: $2,800 USD
I will begin by saying I had high expectations for this course. I think those expectations also helped me justify the steep price tag for signing up for a course that, at the time, didn’t share much detail in terms of how it would be structured and what the format would entail on a lesson by lesson basis.
I had followed Alex online for years and really enjoyed his takes on many climate topics and he has been a leading voice in the space for quite some time.
The course drew me in with its hook around what I could do personally to help limit my risks and exposure to the climate crises. I was excited that someone was finally tackling these topics that many seemed too afraid to even write about.
So let’s start with the good:
The Pro’s:
Topics:
Alex knows his stuff. When it comes to articulating climate change, economic systems, urban planning — at macro levels, Alex does a magnificent job.
I made the joke during the class, and meant it as an honest compliment, I wanted to invite Alex over to Thanksgiving dinner to explain to some of my Trump-voting, non-climate believing family members, the importance of this work and the severity of the scope. For that, I felt, he would be amazing.
The topics of the course — thinking about physical location, thinking about systems risks, thinking about the governments you are both knowingly and unknowingly attached to where all very helpful in creating this overarching, 30,000 foot view of the problems. We all found ourselves nodding along frequently during these explainations.
Alex’s ability to take a complex topic and break it down, analyze it, are quite powerful (and hence why is writing is so popular).
Climate Risk:
Also getting his insights as to how bad he thinks the climate crises is and will continue to get in our lifetimes was both helpful and reassuring.
The classmates:
Another pro, was the people I met in the course. Obviously everyone was super engaged in this topic and cared deeply. But what surprised me was the vast breadth of peoples backgrounds. You had doctors, climate/sustainability folks, parents, retirees, and people who at the surface level you would never have known cared this deeply about climate change — which was a very helpful reminder for me personally, someone who has been working in climate/sustainability for quite some time.
Each lesson was delivered in a 1.5 hour zoom session. I did like that the course was delivered in a live zoom session and the timing felt right.
And now for the cons…
The Cons:
This will take a bit of time and I am not meant to be overly critical here. Much of this very well could be attributed to his first time delivering this course and in this format so I will provide some benefit of the doubt and it looks like in next iterations some of these issues were addressed.
Format and course delivery:
One of the biggest cons of the class was that we were talked at pretty much for 6 weeks. Each lesson had Alex speak for about an hour, we were not allowed to ask questions or comment during this time. Each session had about 30 minutes after for Q&A. Which was helpful, but clearly not enough time.
The course content was also unorganized. It took weeks for us to receive our lesson plans and accompanying recommendations and links/resources that were to go with each lesson. And we received the zoom video recordings weeks, and in one case, months late. This albeit an easy fix, did not feel great when everyone had paid $3,000.
In fact, our cohort felt so frustrated at the lack of organization, we asked Alex for an additional, not originally scheduled, session where we could get our notes organized with him, make sure we had all the content promised, and ask a few more questions. (which he obliged)
Being talked at:
We were essentially being lectured each week. Which, as a perceived leader in the space, I can understand Alex’s perspective here. But as we all quickly discovered, these topics are nuanced, personal, blend between macro and micro quite quickly.
It became very apparent, very early, that we course participants wanted tangible, personal things we could all do. “What should we do if X happens? Or Y happens?” was often asked. And unfortunately Alex neither had answers (not that one can possibly have all the answers) nor did he have a willingness/appetite to even go there. Which was disappointing.
As some other classmates pointed out, there was definitely an ego associated with the knowledge and presentation of this content, which is unfortunate as this was my first “real” interaction with Alex. A bit of I know this so well and am the leader, you better take good notes. Again, that is not a problem per se and often is the delivery method of choice but just not what I, nor most participants, seemed to expect.
So we often stayed at the 30,000 foot level, understanding principles, practices like insurance pulling out your area, and didn’t dive deep into the emotional, practical, nuanced space that so much of this touches. If you have to move, that is just as much an emotional decision as it is a financial. This was a big disappointment.
Some glaring omissions:
There were some glaring omissions that I won’t go into too much detail on but left me a bit puzzled and perplexed.
Two in particular:
Alex referencing the risks in California and omitting fire and earthquake risks, especially as they pertain to the rest of the US. This was head scratching for sure until you remember that Alex lives in California and we are all subject to our own blindspots, biases, which is EXACTLY what makes this work so challenging…
And perhaps, in my opinion, the biggest one:
I took this course after the 1st Trump presidency took place. And yesterday Trump was sworn in for his second term. At no point was getting out of the US or how to navigate a second Trump term even discussed. And looking back, that course was sandwiched squarely in between two Trump terms and look at how the US feels right now… does it feel be great to be there right now? Not exactly…Does it seem quite risky? You betchya.
Conclusion:
Alex is a welcomed voice on the topic and clearly knows his macro-level stuff. But the course was lacking in empathy, community, and concrete really-I-want-to-help-you-navigate-these-challenges type of stuff.
It very much felt more like, I would like you to listen to me explain these topics to you.
And finally, just a helpful (yet very expensive) reminder for me that through none of this can we rely on one voice, or an “expert” opinion on the challenges we will continue to face when it comes to climate change. This is messy, personal, global, macro, micro. Emotional and physical.
What we really need is each other.
For that, I think your money is best spent elsewhere.
Z
