Elizabeth Kolbert
Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999. Previously, she worked at the Times, where she wrote the Metro Matters column and served as the paper’s Albany bureau chief. Her three-part series on global warming, “The Climate of Man,” won the 2006 National Magazine Award for Public Interest. In 2010, she received the National Magazine Award for Reviews and Criticism. She is the editor of “The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009” and the author of “The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit,” “Field Notes from a Catastrophe,” “H Is for Hope,” and “The Sixth Extinction,” for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2015. She received the Blake-Dodd Prize, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, in 2017.
The International Court of Justice Takes On Climate Change
Thanks to the maneuverings of the tiny nation of Vanuatu, the entire industrialized world is effectively on trial in The Hague.
At COP29, the Sun Sets on U.S. Climate Leadership
Just how bad a second Trump Administration will be for climate policy remains to be seen, but the most likely scenarios are all pretty bleak.
A Climate Harbinger in Greenland
From the daily newsletter: a report from the ice sheet. Plus: Rachel Kushner’s eerie new spy novel; growing up with Ved Mehta; and should you just give up?
Why Hurricane Milton Is a Sign of the New Abnormal
Weather-wise, the world has entered uncharted territory.
The Rat Studies that Foretold a Nightmarish Human Future
At first, scientists just wanted to figure out the best way to kill these pests. Then they decided that studying rat society could reveal the future of our own.
Should We Kill Some Wild Creatures to Protect Others?
Where humans have tilted the game in favor of one species, some believe we should cull predators to save their prey. Others think it’s a mistake to pick sides.
Vermont Moves to Hold Fossil-Fuel Companies Liable for Climate-Change Damage
A new constituency is willing to stand up to Big Oil (and Gas and Coal): state government.
The “Epic Row” Over a New Epoch
Scientists, journalists, and artists often say that we live in the Anthropocene, a new age in which humans shape the Earth. Why do some leading geologists reject the term?
How Captain James Cook Got Away with Murder
When he died, admirers believed that he deserved the “gratitude of posterity.” Posterity, of course, has a mind of its own.
Why Is the Sea So Hot?
A startling rise in sea-surface temperatures suggests that we may not understand how fast the climate is changing.
The Obscene Energy Demands of A.I.
How can the world reach net zero if it keeps inventing new ways to consume energy?
The Perverse Policies That Fuel Wildfires
We thought we could master nature, but we were playing with fire.
What Did COP28 Really Accomplish?
At the end of the day—or record-hot year—what matters is not what language countries agree to but what they actually do.
Looking for a Greener Way to Fly
The Treasury Department is about to announce tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel, which raises the question: What fuels are actually “sustainable”?
The Road to Dubai
The latest round of international climate negotiations is being held in a petrostate. What could go wrong?
Hurricane Otis and the World We Live in Now
The unexpected Category 5 storm is just the latest in a series of unprecedented climate disasters this year.
The Real Cost of Plundering the Planet’s Resources
Our accelerating rates of extraction come with immense ecological and social consequences.
The Supreme Court Looks Set to Deliver Another Blow to the Environment
Two upcoming cases take aim at the government’s power to regulate.
Can We Talk to Whales?
Researchers believe that artificial intelligence may allow us to speak to other species.
The International Court of Justice Takes On Climate Change
Thanks to the maneuverings of the tiny nation of Vanuatu, the entire industrialized world is effectively on trial in The Hague.
At COP29, the Sun Sets on U.S. Climate Leadership
Just how bad a second Trump Administration will be for climate policy remains to be seen, but the most likely scenarios are all pretty bleak.
A Climate Harbinger in Greenland
From the daily newsletter: a report from the ice sheet. Plus: Rachel Kushner’s eerie new spy novel; growing up with Ved Mehta; and should you just give up?
Why Hurricane Milton Is a Sign of the New Abnormal
Weather-wise, the world has entered uncharted territory.
The Rat Studies that Foretold a Nightmarish Human Future
At first, scientists just wanted to figure out the best way to kill these pests. Then they decided that studying rat society could reveal the future of our own.
Should We Kill Some Wild Creatures to Protect Others?
Where humans have tilted the game in favor of one species, some believe we should cull predators to save their prey. Others think it’s a mistake to pick sides.
Vermont Moves to Hold Fossil-Fuel Companies Liable for Climate-Change Damage
A new constituency is willing to stand up to Big Oil (and Gas and Coal): state government.
The “Epic Row” Over a New Epoch
Scientists, journalists, and artists often say that we live in the Anthropocene, a new age in which humans shape the Earth. Why do some leading geologists reject the term?
How Captain James Cook Got Away with Murder
When he died, admirers believed that he deserved the “gratitude of posterity.” Posterity, of course, has a mind of its own.
Why Is the Sea So Hot?
A startling rise in sea-surface temperatures suggests that we may not understand how fast the climate is changing.
The Obscene Energy Demands of A.I.
How can the world reach net zero if it keeps inventing new ways to consume energy?
The Perverse Policies That Fuel Wildfires
We thought we could master nature, but we were playing with fire.
What Did COP28 Really Accomplish?
At the end of the day—or record-hot year—what matters is not what language countries agree to but what they actually do.
Looking for a Greener Way to Fly
The Treasury Department is about to announce tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel, which raises the question: What fuels are actually “sustainable”?
The Road to Dubai
The latest round of international climate negotiations is being held in a petrostate. What could go wrong?
Hurricane Otis and the World We Live in Now
The unexpected Category 5 storm is just the latest in a series of unprecedented climate disasters this year.
The Real Cost of Plundering the Planet’s Resources
Our accelerating rates of extraction come with immense ecological and social consequences.
The Supreme Court Looks Set to Deliver Another Blow to the Environment
Two upcoming cases take aim at the government’s power to regulate.
Can We Talk to Whales?
Researchers believe that artificial intelligence may allow us to speak to other species.