Happy Monday y’all! Today’s newsletter is just a quick note that I’ll be taking this week off from writing the newsletter. I need a catch-up week.

What’s a catch-up week? Great question. It means I’m taking a few days to catch up on stuff that’s in danger of slipping through the cracks: Emails (there are thousands), story leads (there are dozens), and updates to various other projects (there are three). I also need some time to catch up on my least favorite activity: business stuff. Paperwork, am I right??

The independent nature of this newsletter is what gives me the flexibility to take a week like this. So thank you for supporting this work, and the frenzied, unorthodox way in which I often do it.

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I do feel bad for leaving you for so long, though. So here’s a caveat: If there are any important updates to stories I’ve been reporting, I’ll be sure to send out brief notes about those.

Also, if you’re new here, this might be a good time to catch up on the HEATED podcast, our limited-run series on coronavirus and climate change. It was produced by myself and Mikel Ellcessor, the co-creator of RadioLab, as a rapid-response to the pandemic back in April.

We made the podcast because, in the beginning of *waves around* all this, we were having trouble figuring out our place in the national conversation. How could we continue operating as People Concerned About The Planet in the midst of a pandemic? What we learned, over the course of 6 episodes, was that we have a far larger role and responsibility now to talk about climate change than ever before. The two crises are inseparable.

Here’s a rundown of the episodes if you missed them, or want to refresh your memory:

• Episode 1: The basics of climate and COVID-19. (Bill McKibben).

• Episode 2: Congressional failure and inaction. (Kate Aronoff).

• Episode 3: The pandemic’s unjust impact on polluted communities. (Anthony Rogers-Wright).

• Episode 4: The public health argument. (Dr. Aaron Bernstein).

• Episode 5: The mental toll and how to deal with it. (Mary Heglar)

• Episode 6: The media’s complicated role. (Ali Velshi)

AND:

• BONUS Episode 7: What we learned from making the podcast.

The lessons we learned while making this podcast are still relevant, if not more relevant today, especially as this summer’s extreme weather makes the reality of overlapping global crises more apparent. I hope you enjoy it as much as you can.

Anyway, have a wonderful week. Stay hydrated, break a sweat, and eat all the plants—I hear cherries are really great right now.

See ya in a bit.

OK, that’s all for today. Thanks for reading HEATED!

Looking for climate content that’s a little weirder than this? Follow HEATED on Instagram for climate memes, tweets, and pictures of food.

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Bye!