Climate-focused startup Soapbox Project, founded by Nivi Achanta, is attracting tech workers who are concerned about the planet’s environmental future and want to engage in positive activism. The organization, which recently launched its weekly meeting space at Slip Gallery in Seattle, aims to bring people together over climate anxiety. Soapbox sends out a weekly email with “changeletter” containing bite-sized climate actions and offers online resources for event organizing and learning about climate issues in a positive and upbeat manner. Although primarily drawing tech workers, Soapbox is open to everyone and is partnering with various organizations to attract participants from different sectors such as the arts and food industries.
The tech sector is showing interest in Soapbox for several reasons, including employees feeling lonely due to remote work or new to the region, and people looking for a supportive community to cope with the overwhelming and often hopeless climate crisis. Additionally, the growing use of energy-intensive artificial intelligence is creating increased angst among tech workers. Many tech employees enter the industry with optimism about using technology to improve lives, but there is disillusionment when they realize that this is not always the case. Tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft are making sustainability efforts and climate tech investments, but are also building power-hungry data centers that rely on fossil-fueled power, leading to concerns among workers.
In Seattle, known for being socially chilly, there are various community-building initiatives in business and climate spaces. The U.S. Chamber of Connection is using Seattle as its pilot city to help new residents connect, and 9Zero launched a climate-focused co-working and event space. Despite positive community response, financing the effort remains a challenge. Soapbox offers memberships with access to in-person events, online resources, and a book club, available on a sliding scale from $99 to $450 per year, with weekly events priced according to pay-what-you-can. The group recently secured nonprofit status and three grants.
Soapbox’s climate action content manager, Kayla Hidayat, is helping lead the organization’s efforts in hosting occasional in-person events in New York City and plans to expand to other tech hubs like the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Achanta hopes that Soapbox’s dedicated space in Seattle for weekly meetups will allow people to realize the power of coming together regularly with like-minded individuals. Despite the challenges of the climate crisis and disillusionment in the tech industry, Soapbox’s mission of fostering community around climate anxiety is resonating with tech workers and individuals across different sectors who are looking to make a positive impact on the environment.
