Thread by @yayitsrob

1/ Okay, this is a special one.

2/ A few months ago, I brought an idea to @AdrienneLaF and leadership at @TheAtlantic.

I wanted to make a new kind of climate journalism, written for people who recognize that climate change will be the backdrop of the rest of our lives, reshaping how we work, play, and shop.

3/ Today, I’m thrilled to introduce Planet, The Atlantic’s new section devoted to climate change.

We want to be your source of stellar reporting, expert information, and thoughtful analysis about how to live at this moment.

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…

4/ I’m also thrilled to announce THE WEEKLY PLANET, our new newsletter.

It will be your guide to living through climate change, written and reported by me, every Tuesday morning.

Go, now, and subscribe here: theatlantic.com/newsletters/si…

5/ At Planet, we understand that climate change isn’t only a science story or a politics story.

It’s a business story, a culture story; a story about tech, money, and style. It’s about the weightiest geopolitics and the tiniest details of geology. It’s about being alive now.

6/ That’s one of the big ideas that will guide our work at Planet: We think the world today *only makes sense* if you understand that the climate upheaval and resulting economic transition have already begun.

7/ We also think the economy is made of real stuff: fields of wheat, concrete slabs, flesh and bone.

A gallon of gas isn’t a price by the side of the road—it’s a physical reserve of fossilized sunlight. If we want to zero carbon emissions, we must get elbow-deep in that reality.

8/ Third, climate change is too serious to be taken seriously all the time. When people put off having kids because of climate change, it’s a sex story. When Tulsa repaints its giant oil-driller statue to look like Elon Musk, it’s hilarious (and a pathetic use of tax dollars).

9/ I think the climate story is the most fascinating thing going. We need to run the Industrial Revolution back at the same time we take the knobs of Earth’s thermostat. That’s a technical-intellectual challenge as would make Smith or Schumpeter giddy. There’s so much to be done.

10/ So here’s just a taste of the type of stories you can expect from Planet in the weeks and months to come…

11/ Read Vann Newkirk II on how the heat crisis is here.

From Cambodia to Florida, an unnoticed epidemic of kidney failure is afflicting people who work outside. It is the defining human-rights crisis of our time: theatlantic.com/health/archive…

12/ Read @aznfusion on how to think about your gas stove:

- How bad is the indoor air pollution it causes, really?
- What are the alternatives? (Are they… actually good?)
- What if you’re a renter and can’t do anything about your stove? theatlantic.com/science/archiv…

13/ And finally read Lawrence Weschler (!!!) on the case for determined engagement with climate change—and how to find the path between the Scylla of climate denial, and the Charybdis of climate despair:
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…

14/ We’ll have more to share soon.

For now—and to make sure you see everything that’s coming!—subscribe to The Weekly Planet: theatlantic.com/newsletters/si…

The first issue goes out next Tuesday.

15/ Finally, it took a village to make this Planet. I’m beyond grateful to @elcush, @slaskow, @fhill_official, @AnaCarano, @PaulBisceglio, @CaitlinFrazier, Caroline Smith, @emgollie, @mollie_leavitt, @Alyosius_says; and @gdbysky, @gillianbwhite, @AdrienneLaF and @JeffreyGoldberg.