The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

As of 2020, David Wallace-Wells is a deputy editor and climate columnist for New York magazine, where he published the 2017 long-form article on which The Uninhabitable Earth is based. An alum of the University of Chicago and Brown University, Wallace-Wells was previously a fellow at the public policy think tank New America. Upon the publication of “The Uninhabitable Earth” in New York magazine, Wallace-Wells was criticized by Michael E. Mann and other climatologists for overemphasizing worst-case projections to the point of being alarmist. In an interview with The Washington Post, Wallace-Wells defended his reliance on worst-case scenarios on the basis that “the public does not appreciate the unlikely-but-still-possible dangers of climate change” (Mooney, Chris. “Scientists Challenge Magazine Story About ‘Uninhabitable Earth.’” The Washington Post. 12 Jul. 2017). Mann and Wallace-Wells later shared the stage at an event organized by New York University titled “The ‘Doomed Earth’ Conspiracy.”

In the book, Wallace-Wells addresses “texts of climate alarmism” and admits to the reader, “you may even feel the book in your hands is one. That would be fair enough, because I am alarmed” (213). Coexisting alongside this alarmism, however, is genuine though cautious optimism. Wallace-Wells worries that his decision to have a child was a consequence of “climate delusion.” At the same time, he maintains that while the horrors of climate change are a certainty if no action is taken, that script can be rewritten with each passing day should humanity develop the collective political will to reduce emissions.