David Wallace-Wells

“Potent and evocative … Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change … He avoids the ‘eerily banal language of climatology’ in favor of lush, rolling prose.”— Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

The Uninhabitable Earth predicted much of the dizzying, disorienting situation we’re in now—not just the growth of pandemics, but the cascading way that multiple climate-fueled crises (wildfires, air quality hurricanes, infectious disease aided by ecological destruction) undermine our ability to respond effectively to any single one. Thankfully, the underlying solution to all of these challenges is the same: stabilizing the world’s climate. By doing so, we also strike a blow for prosperity, justice, and equality of all kinds, says the book’s author and celebrated climate change speaker David Wallace-Wells. Neither a scientist nor an environmental activist per se, Wallace-Wells is an acclaimed journalist who uses the power of storytelling to move the needle on climate action. His book looks beyond what needs to be done, to consider what the world will actually look like if we don’t move fast. How will humans live together on a degraded planet? Will carbon become a central topic of the 21st century the way human rights were to the 20th? How will the map of global power shift as coastlines are redrawn?

The coronavirus lockdowns have demonstrated just how much about our lives and politics can change on a dime. We’ve seen over the last year how fragile the world is — and how much more resilient it needs to be — but also, simultaneously, how changeable it is. Those hoping to inspire dramatic climate action need not be discouraged, but be inspired. We’re designing the future climate of the planet right now, says Wallace-Wells. This is the timeline we always needed to adopt, but the pandemic has made it unavoidable.