The See Through Network’s four zero-budget arms combine hard science with sophisticated storytelling to ‘Speed Up Carbon Drawdown by Helping the Inactive Become Active’. Here’s how.

This article explains how the four arms of the See Through Network mesh to put stories, nudge theory, and behavioural psychology at the service of measurable carbon reduction, empowering ‘Unwilling Inactivists’ into action that promotes sustainable futures.

See Through Network

The See Through Network (ST Network) is a global collective of climate activists. Their shared Goal is Speeding Up Carbon Drawdown by Helping the Inactive Become Active.

• Approach: the Network’s ‘Transparent Trojan Horse’ methodology is based on sophisticated storytelling. Stories are our oldest, and most powerful, currency. 

• Target: ‘Unwilling Inactivists’, i.e. the large and growing majority who accept the science and reality of human-induced climate change but feel powerless to do anything about it.

• Storytelling: we still burn fossil fuels decades after scientists proved its harm. ’‘Listen to the experts! appeals have failed to cure our petrochemical addiction. But we remain driven by the need to be heroes of our own narratives. We readily adopt stories that support our hero status. The ST Network unites scientists, storytellers and do-ers to tell stories that make sustainable actions heroic.  Behavioural psychology, nudge theory, bedtime stories and Dad jokes all serve hard science. 

• Money: ‘Putting profit before planet’ drives rising emissions. Money creates false incentives. The ST Network’s focus on carbon reduction is yet to need money. Being zero-budget insulates the Network’s pro bono collaborators from money’s contamination. They assess impact not in dollars, clicks or petition signatures, but in the unit used by climate scientists – tonnes of CO₂  equivalent reduced or sequestered. If you can’t buy integrity, why should you be able to sell it?

• Transparency: commerce demands information asymmetry. Whatever the climate question, transparency tends to be the answer. The ST Network is radically transparent. Unlike commercial entities, from Big Oil to many NGOs, its data is public by default. The Network explains both its technical methodologies and behavioural manipulations in forensic detail on its websites and via its free weekly newsletter..
  
• Pragmatism: The ST Network focuses on influencing government regulation, rather than individual behavioural change per se. Science-based laws backed by meaningful enforcement are more effective than ‘voluntary’ efforts. The challenge is no longer ‘raising awareness’, but converting awareness into measurable impact. Actions, not words.

• Structure: the ST Network is made up of four interconnected arms, each focused on a different stage on the journey from inaction to effective climate action. Details below.

See Through Together

See Through Together (STT) is the attention-attracting arm of the See Through Network.

STT’s team of media professionals creates original video and audio content for distribution on social media platforms and Network websites. 

STT videos and podcasts ‘something for everyone’ broad appeal offers fresh takes on familiar genres and topics: podcasts, property shows, documentaries, speeches, music concerts or how-to videos on woodland craft. STT content is crafted to engage audiences looking for something familiar but distinctive.

STT’s global team of filmmakers, musicians, artists, advertisers, podcasters and digital marketers work for free to create entertaining, original content with an unambiguously human touch. On zero budget. 

Untainted by AI, STT content nudges people to start a journey that ends in carbon drawdown.

See Through Games

See Through Games (STG) creates live and online games inducing players to have fun while they think, learn and act on the climate crisis. 

STG’s interlocking games guide players from casual entertainment to measurable emissions actions, by inducing them to Think, Learn and Act.

The Think Game asks players, under time pressure, to rate the green credentials of various celebrities, brands, companies and countries. There are no right or wrong answers, but players still want to know what they ‘should’ have said.

The Learn Game does have right and wrong answers. Teammates collaborate to guess and rank the most effective ways to reduce emissions. The more confident the player, the more shocked they are at their ignorance.

The Act Game empowers players to make a measurable difference by challenging our leaders to implement and enforce specific emissions-reducing regulations, holding them to account.

See Through News

See Through News (STN) is the See Through Network’s  journalism, education and outreach arm.

Its global team of volunteer storytellers, researchers and educators targets ‘Unwilling Inactivists’. These are those of us who accept the science and reality of human-induced climate change, but who feel powerless to do anything about it. 

‘Unwilling Inactivists’ are the 80-89% and rising of the 8.2 billion humans who want their governments to do more to combat the climate crisis.

STN deploys a wide range of content designed to engage and entertain, in order to inform, across a wide range of registers, cultures and languages.

From videos to community projects, free school resources to podcasts and newsletters, STN moves ordinary people from Intrigued to Educated, ready to become Doers, and take action that will measurably reduce carbon.

See Through Carbon

See Through Carbon (STC) is the See Through Network’s hard science arm. It barters free carbon footprint calculations and emissions reduction advice for making the data public. 

Three decades of ‘voluntary reporting’ created a carbon reporting culture driven by PR and profit rather than science and transparency. Branded methodologies hidden in IP black boxes and data hidden behind paywalls enabled a profitable but ineffective carbon trading industry whose trillion-dollar growth has coincided with rising emissions.

Inaccurate, costly, opaque and proprietary ‘Carbon Reporting 1.0’ is no longer viable. Government regulation driven by Brussels and Beijing is finally introducing ‘compliance reporting’. Businesses no longer set their own rules, and non-compliance incurs financial penalties. 

STC facilitates ‘Carbon Reporting 2.0’ by providing an accurate, free open-source carbon reporting ecosystem. Both methodology and data are transparent by default.

As big business regulation becomes more stringent, STC’s transparency incentivizes emission reduction, providing high-quality data for regulators, researchers and policy-makers. 
Accessible to the small businesses that generate 70% of global business emissions, STC facilitates verifiable, compliant ‘Scope 3’ supply chain calculations, complementing the commercial services targeted at the 30% who can afford them.

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To join the Network, email: 

volunteer@seethroughnews.org