Some Truths
10/12/23 – A conversation about the health of the planet
Hello everyone:
Here’s a new feature of the Field Guide, the quote of the week. I’ll inaugurate the feature with something from Bill McKibben, in “The Rays of the Sun,” the latest issue of his Crucial Years newsletter:
The global temperature readings for September should have been the top story on every newscast in the world, because they were bonkers. June, July, and August were historically hot – we saw the hottest days recorded on the planet in 125,000 years. September wasn’t quite as hot, of course, because it’s fall. But in relative terms September was even more outrageous. It was, the scientists tell us, the most anomalous month we’ve ever seen, with temperatures so far beyond historical norms that the charts don’t even seem to make sense… We have, in effect, turned September into July. That’s not hyperbole, that’s just data.
As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.
Now on to this week’s writing:
