Emily, thanks so much for your continued outstanding reporting on this urgent crisis that is being ignored by too many greedy entities who have it within their power to improve the situation. You and Fish take care.
Brava, Emily! Important, under-explored arena here. The narrative "the climate crisis is here to stay, but we could make it LESS bad if we fight hard now!" isn't the easiest to sell an emotionally exhausted public. But this kind of reporting -- stories and visuals that connect people to specific communities-- offers a clearer understanding of the stakes of action vs no action. May it move some GQ-ers to help us dethrone big oil :)
Absolutely wonderful piece in GQ. You are completely correct that a lot of discussion about the 1.5C vs 2C worlds is mostly focused on the broad agreement that a 2C+ world is worse, but that doesn't acknowledge how bad some places will get at 1.5C+, which is largely not reported on but should be.
Thank you so much for reporting on things that really matter and are important but are missed everywhere else.
OMG! I saw this on Twitter this morning and thought, "hold up...climate change in GQ!?!" Congrats on your contribution. This is a huge accomplishment -- people are talking about climate change more and more! I hope you enjoy some rest. Thanks for all of your hard work.
"The executives at these companies have known since at least the seventies (as far back as has been reliably documented) that fossil fuels cause climate change, that climate change would be catastrophic."
Hi Nate. That is not actually true I'm not going to argue it out with you, as you're 'on the same side' as me but maybe you should consider that all 'sides' - alarmist, denialist and activist - often use deceit and misdirection to make their cases. Almost all of the 'Big Oil is evil and has known for decades' meme comes from Greenpeace's 'Exxon knew' documents and latterly from Oreskes and Supran. I think that if one actually goes back and reads the various documents IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TIME they were sent, bearing in mind the state of climate science knowledge AT THE TIME, one finds that even the cherry picked documents used by Greenpeace et al do not really support that Big Oil knew 'the truth' for certain, and decided to lie about it. I am afraid Greenpeace et al's conclusions are is mostly strawman arguments. It's true that around 20+ years ago, Big Fossil Fuel started using lobbying organisations and Institutes that DID use provably deceptive and dishonest stories to spin their stories but this was largely a business move by the fossil fuel corporations to protect themselves against anti-capitalist activists lobbying governments to bring in anti-business solutions to climate change rather than business friendly solutions - it was a chess move...
Wow, Emily and Caitlin--that is some incredible reporting! So gripping and personal, and so realistic in painting the scientific realities of the two less-than-catastrophic climate realities.
Love your Substack. Read it whenever it comes out. Smart and helpful. Many thanks. [Quick (friendly) note from a discerning eye. Justin's PB contains palm oil. No need for palm oil in a PB product. Mother Earth would be grateful for the world consuming less palm oil.]
Thanks for the update! I can't wait to read the article and will definitely hunt down the issue of GQ (admittedly, those are words that I never imagined that I would write!)!
And, Fish needs MORE treats. #thingsthatarealwaystrue
This is the kind of contribution to journalism that we need - the discussion of climate change belongs in all magazines, as it connects to all topics in one way or another. Brilliantly done, may your words ripple out to many more people from your article!
Good reporting as always, Emily. So nice to make your acquaintance through studying the very critical book, All We Can Save, by AE Johnson and KK Wilkinson. More folks need to read, study, and act upon the essays in it by becoming climate activists. Thank you!
Have not read this article yet but from the overview can I assume you included your perspective on carbon? It is represented by 0.4% of the entire atmosphere and it's release from the soil & ocean is a direct result of warmer temperatures & NOT the cause. Astronauts have claimed that the earth is getting greener over decades of pictures. That in history the earth has experienced warmer temperatures WITHOUT people or the Oil & Gas Industry. Of course the ever present idea that no matter what we do in Canada our effect on lowering the temperature will be miniscule even if we got to ZERO. Or the fact that the biggest polluters are in China who does absolutely NOTHING about their contribution to world emissions 34%. Canada's carbon footprint is 1.6%.
Does it also include our global plastic garbage problem? That rich countries try to pawn their garbage off on Third World Countries to disastrous results like clogged rivers & dams that stop working because of GARBAGE.
I look forward to reading your article and see these things discussed in a manner that reaches a wider audience.
CONGRATULATIONS on such an incredibly stellar accomplishment!!! Since I found your newsletter, I've known you were meant for great things... this just proves how right I am! ;) Still, so proud of you & your collaborators for putting out such an awesome piece, in one of the least expected places. As you noted, however, it definitely IS the audience you wish to address! <3
Only problem is the parts where it asserts that it is all the fault of the fossil fuel corporations. NO, NO, NO. This is just blatantly wrong. While they have some responsibility, the overwhelming responsibility is actually that of the great mass of the general public continuing over decades to buy and use the energy and products created using fossil fuels without demanding that climate friendly alternatives should be found. I realise blaming Big Oil suits the narratives of some activists with underlying political motivations but deceitful propaganda such as this should have no part in the dialogue.
Emily, thanks so much for your continued outstanding reporting on this urgent crisis that is being ignored by too many greedy entities who have it within their power to improve the situation. You and Fish take care.
Brava, Emily! Important, under-explored arena here. The narrative "the climate crisis is here to stay, but we could make it LESS bad if we fight hard now!" isn't the easiest to sell an emotionally exhausted public. But this kind of reporting -- stories and visuals that connect people to specific communities-- offers a clearer understanding of the stakes of action vs no action. May it move some GQ-ers to help us dethrone big oil :)
Absolutely wonderful piece in GQ. You are completely correct that a lot of discussion about the 1.5C vs 2C worlds is mostly focused on the broad agreement that a 2C+ world is worse, but that doesn't acknowledge how bad some places will get at 1.5C+, which is largely not reported on but should be.
Thank you so much for reporting on things that really matter and are important but are missed everywhere else.
OMG! I saw this on Twitter this morning and thought, "hold up...climate change in GQ!?!" Congrats on your contribution. This is a huge accomplishment -- people are talking about climate change more and more! I hope you enjoy some rest. Thanks for all of your hard work.
Excellent!
In our house I get first pass at the pb jar the Ben the pooch gets the final pass. :)
"The executives at these companies have known since at least the seventies (as far back as has been reliably documented) that fossil fuels cause climate change, that climate change would be catastrophic."
Hi Nate. That is not actually true I'm not going to argue it out with you, as you're 'on the same side' as me but maybe you should consider that all 'sides' - alarmist, denialist and activist - often use deceit and misdirection to make their cases. Almost all of the 'Big Oil is evil and has known for decades' meme comes from Greenpeace's 'Exxon knew' documents and latterly from Oreskes and Supran. I think that if one actually goes back and reads the various documents IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TIME they were sent, bearing in mind the state of climate science knowledge AT THE TIME, one finds that even the cherry picked documents used by Greenpeace et al do not really support that Big Oil knew 'the truth' for certain, and decided to lie about it. I am afraid Greenpeace et al's conclusions are is mostly strawman arguments. It's true that around 20+ years ago, Big Fossil Fuel started using lobbying organisations and Institutes that DID use provably deceptive and dishonest stories to spin their stories but this was largely a business move by the fossil fuel corporations to protect themselves against anti-capitalist activists lobbying governments to bring in anti-business solutions to climate change rather than business friendly solutions - it was a chess move...
Wow, Emily and Caitlin--that is some incredible reporting! So gripping and personal, and so realistic in painting the scientific realities of the two less-than-catastrophic climate realities.
Thank you--shared, and Caitlin followed!
Love your Substack. Read it whenever it comes out. Smart and helpful. Many thanks. [Quick (friendly) note from a discerning eye. Justin's PB contains palm oil. No need for palm oil in a PB product. Mother Earth would be grateful for the world consuming less palm oil.]
Thanks for the update! I can't wait to read the article and will definitely hunt down the issue of GQ (admittedly, those are words that I never imagined that I would write!)!
And, Fish needs MORE treats. #thingsthatarealwaystrue
This is the kind of contribution to journalism that we need - the discussion of climate change belongs in all magazines, as it connects to all topics in one way or another. Brilliantly done, may your words ripple out to many more people from your article!
Good reporting as always, Emily. So nice to make your acquaintance through studying the very critical book, All We Can Save, by AE Johnson and KK Wilkinson. More folks need to read, study, and act upon the essays in it by becoming climate activists. Thank you!
Awesome article. Thanks so much, and take care!
Have not read this article yet but from the overview can I assume you included your perspective on carbon? It is represented by 0.4% of the entire atmosphere and it's release from the soil & ocean is a direct result of warmer temperatures & NOT the cause. Astronauts have claimed that the earth is getting greener over decades of pictures. That in history the earth has experienced warmer temperatures WITHOUT people or the Oil & Gas Industry. Of course the ever present idea that no matter what we do in Canada our effect on lowering the temperature will be miniscule even if we got to ZERO. Or the fact that the biggest polluters are in China who does absolutely NOTHING about their contribution to world emissions 34%. Canada's carbon footprint is 1.6%.
Does it also include our global plastic garbage problem? That rich countries try to pawn their garbage off on Third World Countries to disastrous results like clogged rivers & dams that stop working because of GARBAGE.
I look forward to reading your article and see these things discussed in a manner that reaches a wider audience.
CONGRATULATIONS on such an incredibly stellar accomplishment!!! Since I found your newsletter, I've known you were meant for great things... this just proves how right I am! ;) Still, so proud of you & your collaborators for putting out such an awesome piece, in one of the least expected places. As you noted, however, it definitely IS the audience you wish to address! <3
Only problem is the parts where it asserts that it is all the fault of the fossil fuel corporations. NO, NO, NO. This is just blatantly wrong. While they have some responsibility, the overwhelming responsibility is actually that of the great mass of the general public continuing over decades to buy and use the energy and products created using fossil fuels without demanding that climate friendly alternatives should be found. I realise blaming Big Oil suits the narratives of some activists with underlying political motivations but deceitful propaganda such as this should have no part in the dialogue.