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In our new issue on the topic of Climate, the Quarterly examines one of the most pressing issues of our present day, as the warming of the planet continues to rise while a capitalist economy reaps the riches at a steep price.
The foremost question, as editor Lewis H. Lapham poses in his preamble, is: Does capitalism survive climate change, or does a changed climate put an end to capitalism?
The rest of the issue pursues this and other questions about humans’ relationship to climate since antiquity. Ptolemy foretells the influence of the stars, while Kate Luckie, Leonardo da Vinci, and Henry Adams predict the end of the world. John Calvin turns to God for the weather report, while James Inhofe makes an argument with a snowball. A map surveys the influence of our ocean currents and atmospheric winds on more than simply our trade routes; a chart instructs the reader which big-budget “cli-fi” movie he or she is trapped in. Original essays include a history of climate refugees by Thomas Meaney, a report by Astra Taylor on how long we have to prevent total climate catastrophe, Kyle Harper on the volcanic eruption that destroyed the Roman Republic, and Philipp Blom on how the Little Ice Age ushered in the modern world. |
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