climate change

The Yellowstone fires that burned more than a million acres in and around the park in 1988 were the signal fires of a new world. They signaled that we would live in a different world in the American West at the beginning of the 21st Century. The fires and ecological processes we assumed were natural had already fallen under the influence of human civilization's dependence on fossil fuels. The 1988 fires also signaled that our world was getting dryer and hotter. The drought that year across North America was the worst since the 1930s.

Yes, it finally happened. We’re down to two in the race. The others have dropped out, the final holdout brushed aside and the main event begins. Of course I’m talking about the NBA finals. Great east-west rivalry with two teams that have very different DNA and game plans. Sounds a bit like the Presidential race, but whatever your “home team,” let me offer some advice to the next President no matter whose jersey he wears.

ISTANBUL—The workshop I’ve been attending in this ancient city drew 31 people—ranging from a member of the British parliament to a Dutch women’s rights advocate to a Hungarian environmentalist—to talk about whether it makes sense to bring population into the global debate on climate change.