Emily Cunningham

I wonder if being on the climate desk is a bit like being on the sustainability team of a large corporation. You’re working your ass off, doing good work, yet the constraints of the org’s larger priorities limit what you can do.

Meanwhile you’re getting criticisms left and right about NYT coverage of the climate crisis while you’re pouring your soul into this work. If was in your shoes I know my first reaction would be to want to defend what the NYT is already doing.

Could there be space to consider that — as hard as all of us are working on climate — no one is yet rising far enough to the challenge? To have room to reimagine? To try different approaches? Experiments? I want you and the NYT to succeed.

I want the public to have a true sense of the existential threat we're facing and the urgency. What do *you* think it will take for them to understand this? To help them understand what concrete things need to happen for us to avoid the worst of what's coming?

The sustainability team analogy might be a good one; even the best sustainability ppl can’t, alone, make a company good on climate if they are siloed or lack adequate influence. I wonder if the protests will prompt those at NYT who really need to reflect on this to do so.

Wow. "Less visible"? The devastation to Chennai, Beira, Paradise, island countries hit by Maria are... quite visible. The consequences are absolutely known, what's uncertain is how much warming/devastation we'll cause. We still have a great amount of control over this.

"Less visible" reminds me of @bethsawin's excellent thread on paradigm shifts and why for instance, Miami realtors in "their fancy realtor outfits, but with rubber boots to slog across the flooded sidewalks... almost weren't seeing the rising water at all."