Celebrating two years out on the edge

To mark our second anniversary, we’re offering 20% off new annual subscriptions.

Clockwise from top left: Chief Copyeditor, Dobby, negotiates new contract (“more bones”); Collapse Life ‘marathon’ strategy summit at the Gage Hotel; Elvis and Asher submit applications for role as Senior Lap Dog; restocking critical office supplies (a.k.a. wine run); high production values in the old Collapse Life recording studio, low tolerance for nonsense.

On a hot August day two years ago, we took a deep breath and hit ‘publish’ on the very first Collapse Life post. It was a short piece about the 2023 BRICS meeting in South Africa, when membership was expanded to include six more countries — a headline that we argued marked a turning point in the global order.

We didn’t know if anyone else would want to join us to wade through broken supply chains, gaslighting media narratives, privacy crackdowns, the fight for real food, and the slow-motion trainwreck of the global economy. But, as it turns out, thousands of you did. And we’re so grateful to be stuck on this little island of misfits together with you beautiful souls!

Since that first day, we’ve written over 400 Substack posts and produced nearly 100 podcast episodes. We’ve covered stories the mainstream press ignores and interviewed dissidents, homesteaders, economists, and troublemakers — big names and small names alike! We’ve dug into the collapse of modern medicine, the slow death of private property, what went wrong with capitalism, why USAID needed greater scrutiny decades ago, and so much more.

Most importantly, to us at least, we’ve gathered a community of people who refuse to sleepwalk into collapse. (That’s you!) You’re sharp, funny, skeptical — and you never let us get away with fuzzy thinking or cryptic writing. Heck, some of you won’t let us get away with asking for coffee money without calling us out for it. We appreciate each and every one of you for holding our feet to the fire and inspiring us to do better.

The world feels wobblier today than when we started, and that’s saying something. That only makes us think this project is even more necessary than ever. We didn’t set out to chase meteoric growth or overnight wealth — and we still don’t. Everything that we have achieved has been 100% organic, with help from a cadre of amazing high profile supporters who like what we do and recommend us, like

John Rubino

and

Pierre Kory, MD, MPA

and

David Haggith

and

Ian Brighthope

and

Geopolitics & Empire

— among many others. And we’d be remiss not to recognize you, our loyal readers and followers, who’ve made these two years fly by.

The Collapse Life journey was never about metrics. It was about paying attention, refusing to look away, and saying out loud what so many can sense but can’t quite name.

By unveiling the insanity, finding patterns in the noise, and sharing the occasional laugh, we can sharpen our edge together and with each week become calmer, clearer-headed, and harder to fool. We’d keep at this even if there was only one of you readers left, because doing something feels better than doing nothing, and this is the thing we do best.

And yet here you are, thousands strong. That’s what makes this work not just bearable but worth it.

So to celebrate our two year anniversary, we’re running a limited promotion (from now until September 7):

• New paid subscribers (or free readers upgrading to paid) get a special discounted annual rate.

• Current paid subscribers get early access to our new project — Hidden Histories: 8 Events You Didn’t Know Shaped Our World, a book tracing forgotten crises and overlooked collapses, from the Bronze Age to Bretton Woods. (PAID SUBSCRIBERS: watch for the book to land in your inbox in the next few days)

This is all our way of saying thank you. You’ve carried us through two years of publishing from the ragged edges — and you’re the reason we’re still here.

If you’ve been reading for free, now’s the moment to step up. Support our work, get the deeper dives, and help keep Collapse Life alive for the next two years (and the ones after that).

Subscribe today — and strap in for year three as things get wild and wooly!