"The Uninhabitable Earth" is an article by American journalist David Wallace-Wells published in the July 10, 2017 issue of New York magazine. The long-form article depicts a worst-case scenario of what might happen in the near-future due to global warming. The story was the most read article in the history of the magazine.[1][2]
[Global warming] is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today. And yet the swelling seas — and the cities they will drown — have so dominated the picture of global warming, and so overwhelmed our capacity for climate panic, that they have occluded our perception of other threats, many much closer at hand. Rising oceans are bad, in fact very bad; but fleeing the coastline will not be enough.
David Wallace-Wells, "The Uninhabitable Earth", opening paragraph
The article became the inspiration for The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, a book-length treatment of the ideas explored in the original essay.[3]
- ^ Mann, Michael; Wallace-Wells, David (November 20, 2017). "The 'Doomed Earth' Controversy" (Interview). Interviewed by Hotz, Robert Lee. Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
- ^ Laura Miller (July 26, 2017). "What Kind of Novel Do You Write When You Believe Civilization Is Doomed?". Slate. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
'The Uninhabitable Earth,' the most-read story in New York magazine's history
- ^ Wallace-Wells, David (March 17, 2020). The uninhabitable earth: life after warming. New York, USA: Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 978-0-525-57671-6. Paperback version.