Paid Call for Personal Essays on Climate Change and Climate Issues
Open Secrets Magazine will publish at least one personal essay per month by in a new Climate category
Open Secrets Magazine is currently accepting submissions of unpublished first person 1,000-2,000 word personal essays written entirely by the author without use of AI and based on the author’s life experience relating to climate change and/or cliimate issues. Deadline: May 31, 2025 (check this post to see if the deadline has been extended).
We ONLY accept essay submissions from Open Secrets Magazine free or paid subscribers from anywhere in the world. If we are interested in publishing your essay, you will receive a response within one month. If you haven’t heard back after one month, we weren’t able to publish your essay.
In response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and other recent climate-related events, Open Secrets Magazine is launching a new vertical called Climate. In addition to our weekly Monday essays, we will run at least one personal essay per month in 2025 on the impact of climate change and climate issues, provided we receive enough submissions. We may run more than one essay depending on submissions and available funds.
Like all Open Secrets Magazine essays, these will not be op-eds or rants or educational articles about climate change. These will be memorable, revealing personal essays from authors anywhere in the world about how the modern climate has impacted their lives. This could be about climate-related disasters such as wildfires or floods, the impact of droughts or food shortages, how climate change has impacted your personal life, health, and/or decision-making, or any other approach. Essay writers from marginalized groups will be given priority.
See our personal essay archives for examples of what we are looking for.
Read and follow the guidelines in full before submitting.
For questions not answered in these guidelines, email opensecretsmag at gmail dot com with “Climate submission question” in the subject line and we will respond as soon as possible.
At this time we are ONLY considering climate-related essays. Any non-climate-related submissions will be deleted. If we are able to issue another general call for submissions in the spring, subscribers will be notified and this post will be updated.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or make a donation to help fund new essays. Funds from all subscriptions and donations go directly to pay our writers.
We don’t consider essay pitches, but all essay submissions that follow the below guidelines will be considered.
Essays must use first person point of view (“I” statements) and should give insight into the author’s life and show a major change or lesson they’ve learned between the start and end of the essay, rather than simply recounting an experience they’ve had. The reader should clearly understand the author’s takeaway from their experience with climate change or climate issues. For an idea of how this works in practice, see any of our published essays.
No part of the essay can have been published, posted, or appeared anywhere, including in newspapers, magazines, websites, personal or other blogs, paid or unpaid Substacks, newsletters, or elsewhere. Essay submissions must be written entirely by the author without the use of AI (artificial intelligence).
FAQ
What is the deadline to submit personal essays on climate change or climate issues?
We will consider climate-related essays on a rolling basis through May 31, 2025. We may extend the deadline further if we are still in need of essays and have available funds. This post will be updated if we make any changes to the guidelines.
How do I submit an essay to Open Secrets Magazine?
Only submissions from Open Secrets Magazine subscribers that include ALL of the below requirements will be considered. Be aware before submitting that we will only respond if we are interested in publishing your essay; if you haven’t heard back within one month of submission, your essay was not accepted and you’re free to submit it elsewhere.
Submissions of only an essay without a headline/subhed, photo, and bio will not be considered. If you reference a website, article, book, or group or organization, please embed a link to that entity (for books, you can link to the publisher, author’s website listing, or a major retailer).
Instructions: Make sure you are a free or paid subscriber to Open Secrets. Then submit the following 3 items in a single email to opensecretsmag@gmail.com with “Climate submission” in the subject line:
Word document or RTF with 1,000-2,000 word unpublished essay with headline, 1-line subhed (a tagline elaborating on the headline), and author name at the top
Include a 1-paragraph, 150-word-maximum author bio with links embedded at the end of your essay
Attach a horizontal photo you own the rights to that will accompany the essay OR a URL of a stock photo from Unsplash. Include the photo as a jpg attachment.
Do you accept pitches or queries?
No. We only accept full essay drafts in the above format.
Can authors use pseudonyms?
Yes, provided they’ve indicated they’re using a pseudonym in their cover letter and include a bio for the pseudonym with their submission. The bio can be as short as one sentence.
Can authors who’ve previously published essays with Open Secrets Magazine submit a new essay?
Yes, but priority will be given to authors we haven’t worked with yet.
Will I receive an acknowledgment that my submission has been received?
No. You will only hear back from Open Secrets Magazine if your essay has been accepted for publication or if the editor has a question about your submission.
How much does Open Secrets Magazine pay for climate-related personal essays?
Open Secrets Magazine pays $50 for each original climate-related essay published. Payment will be made once the text has been finalized and the author has approved the preview link in Substack provided by Open Secrets Magazine.
Do authors retain rights to their work?
Yes, authors retain all rights to their Open Secrets Magazine essays, though we ask that any future reprints credit Open Secrets Magazine as the originating publication. Open Secrets Magazine doesn’t issue contracts to authors.
Why is payment $50?
Open Secrets Magazine is funded by paid subscriptions, so our financial resources are currently extremely limited. We have chosen to prioritize publishing new essays rather than taking further breaks from publishing to acquire additional funding. If you’d like to help fund future essays, consider becoming a paying subscriber or making a donation.
Who can submit an essay to Open Secrets Magazine?
Authors who are Open Secrets Magazine free or paid subscribers located anywhere in the world are welcome to submit their climate-related essays. Submissions must be made by the author, not an agent or representative. Authors whose work is accepted for publication will be paid $50 via Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle upon finalization of the text and approval of the draft in Substack. If you can’t receive payment via Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle and wish to submit without receiving payment, you may opt for a comped 1-year paid subscription.
What is the deadline to submit a climate-related essay to Open Secrets Magazine?
The deadline for submitting climate-related essays is May 31, 2025. Earlier submissions have the best chance of acceptance.
When will I hear back about my submission?
Due to time constraints, Open Secrets Magazine will only respond to authors whose work we want to publish. If you haven’t heard back within one month of submission, your essay has not been selected for publication and you’re free to submit it elsewhere.
When will an accepted essay be published?
At least one climate-related essays will be published during each calendar month of 2025.
Why is this call only open to Open Secrets Magazine subscribers?
During our previous open submission periods without this rule in place, we received numerous submissions from writers who clearly didn’t do any research into the work Open Secrets Magazine publishes and likely had never read a single essay we published. These submissions often read like the work of AI, weren’t personal essays and/or didn’t follow our guidelines or meet our word count.
To save authors’ time and our editor’s, for this submission period, we are only accepting submissions from Open Secrets Magazine subscribers, who are more likely to be familiar with our needs. We strongly recommend reading at least two of our published essays prior to submitting yours to get a sense of what we publish.
How many essays can an author submit?
An author can submit one climate-related essay.
I have a question not answered in this call for essay submissions.
Email opensecretsmag@gmail.com with “Climate submission question” and we will respond ASAP. Make sure your question isn’t already answered above.
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Title: When the Rain Stopped: A Personal Reckoning with Climate Change
Growing up in northern Nigeria, the rains were a promise. They were a song sung by the wind before the sky split open, drenching the red earth and breathing life into our fields. My father would watch the horizon with a calm certainty, knowing that no matter how scorching the sun had been, the rains would come. They always did.
Until they didn’t.
It started gradually, like a whisper that no one wanted to hear. One year, the rains came late. The next, they barely came at all. Our fields, once lush and green, turned brown and brittle. The yam vines struggled to climb, and the millet stalks bowed low as if apologizing for their weakness. My father, once confident in his knowledge of the land, now stared at the empty sky, his face etched with worry.
At first, we told ourselves it was just an odd year — an anomaly that would soon correct itself. But when the next rainy season came and went with barely a drizzle, the village grew anxious. Elders gathered under the old baobab tree, debating what could have gone wrong. They consulted traditional diviners, offered sacrifices to appease the spirits, and held prayers in the mosque, hoping to bring back the rain.
I remember asking my father one evening, “Why won’t the rains come?” He didn’t answer at first, just traced lines in the dust with his foot. “The world is changing,” he finally said. “The land doesn’t know us anymore.”
It wasn’t just our family. The entire community was affected. Wells that once gushed with clear, cool water ran dry. The livestock grew thin and restless, their ribs visible beneath dull coats. Neighbors began selling their cattle at desperate prices or migrating to cities in search of work. Those who stayed whispered about curses and angry spirits. No one wanted to face the truth: that the climate itself was shifting beyond our control.
My mother tried to keep hope alive by planting smaller gardens closer to the house, using what little water we could spare. She grew leafy greens and groundnuts, insisting that even in hardship, we should not give up. “The land will remember us,” she would say, tending to the parched soil with her bare hands. “We just have to remind it who we are.”
One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, I sat with my grandmother by the cooking fire. She told me stories from her youth — tales of endless rains that filled the rivers to the brim and made the fields bloom like a paradise. She spoke of how the women would gather by the riverbank, washing clothes and singing while their children splashed in the shallows. I could barely imagine it. The riverbed was nothing but cracked earth now, littered with dry leaves and forgotten dreams.
Despite the struggle, life went on. We adapted in small ways, planting drought-resistant crops like sorghum and cowpea. Women formed cooperatives to buy water tanks and shared what they could. Children learned to carry water from distant wells, their small hands chafed and blistered from the effort. My father built makeshift canals to catch whatever rain might come, but more often than not, they sat empty, baking in the sun.
When I left for university, I carried the weight of those parched fields with me. I studied environmental science, hoping to find answers, but the deeper I dug, the more helpless I felt. Industrial emissions, deforestation, global warming — problems too vast for one person or one village to solve. Yet, I couldn’t forget my father’s words: The land doesn’t know us anymore.
At school, I met students from other parts of the country, and we shared stories of our struggles with climate change. Some spoke of coastal erosion swallowing up entire villages, while others described the harm caused by desertification creeping steadily southward. It was then I realized that we were not alone in this fight — that the forces reshaping our lives were larger than anything we could comprehend.
One holiday, I went back to my village. The fields were barren, but the community was still resilient. They had formed a cooperative, experimenting with drought-resistant crops and learning water conservation techniques. It wasn’t enough to reverse the damage, but it was something — a stubborn refusal to give in. My father’s hands were rough from digging irrigation ditches, and despite the exhaustion, there was a flicker of hope in his eyes.
One day, as we worked together to clear debris from a dried-up streambed, he spoke with a kind of quiet resolve. “We cannot make the rains come,” he said, wiping sweat from his brow. “But we can prepare for them when they do. We can’t sit idle, waiting. We have to keep moving forward, even when it feels hopeless.”
His words struck a chord in me. Back at university, I joined a group of students advocating for sustainable agriculture and climate adaptation in rural communities. We organized workshops and brought experts to discuss ways to maximize water efficiency and reduce soil degradation. I shared stories from my village, using my family’s experience as a lens through which to understand the broader crisis.
I learned that while policy changes and international agreements were crucial, they often felt distant from the people most affected. Grassroots initiatives — the simple, practical solutions forged by necessity — made a more immediate difference. I spoke about how my mother had started planting groundnuts closer to the house, and how neighbors had pooled resources to buy water tanks. It wasn’t grand or revolutionary, but it was something tangible and real.
Eventually, I started writing about our experiences, weaving stories of struggle and resilience with research on climate adaptation. One of my essays caught the attention of a local NGO, and they reached out to support our community with seeds for drought-resistant crops and training on water management. The help was small but meaningful — a spark of hope amid the uncertainty.
Today, I still wrestle with guilt and frustration, knowing that those who bear the brunt of climate change are often the least responsible for causing it. Wealthy nations continue to emit carbon at unprecedented rates while communities like mine pay the price. Yet, despite the anger, I hold on to the spirit of my village, refusing to let despair win. We are not just victims of a changing world; we are survivors, learning to bend without breaking.
As I work alongside my community to build more resilient systems, I realize that true resilience is not just about adapting to change — it’s about preserving the dignity and spirit that make us who we are. My father still watches the horizon, but now his gaze carries a deeper resolve. He no longer waits for the rains as a matter of faith; he prepares for them with the certainty that, one day, they will return.
And maybe, just maybe, the rains will remember us someday.
Chris White: Trump’s Energy Secretary Pick
Chris White’s appointment as energy secretary represents a calculated shift toward environmental degradation. Behind his polished image lies a network of corporatism and corruption, eroding ecological safeguards to benefit powerful fossil fuel interests.
White’s career is deeply tied to the fossil fuel industry, notably through his tenure at BlackHydra Energy, a multinational linked to global environmental destruction. His policies promote deregulation disguised as economic growth, enabling unchecked resource extraction and dismantling of green initiatives like methane emission standards. Token gestures like subsidizing “clean coal” distract from his broader agenda.
Though White postures as a technocrat, his disdain for climate science is clear. He champions speculative geoengineering projects that gamble with Earth’s climate systems while ignoring urgent carbon reduction efforts. His dismissal of scientific consensus fosters public doubt and stalls meaningful climate action.
White’s true power lies in bureaucratic sabotage. By embedding loyalists into regulatory agencies, he obstructs environmental reviews, benefiting corporate polluters. His attacks on renewable energy, framed as “energy independence,” polarize public discourse and delay the transition to sustainability.
Ultimately, White’s tenure accelerates environmental degradation for short-term profit, threatening the planet’s future. Recognizing and resisting this trajectory is critical to preserving a livable world.
GQ