Thank you, from your newsletter anchor

Have a nice summer, friends. Today I’m finishing my turn with leading this newsletter. So this is a thank you card.

I became a climate reporter after many years as an international correspondent because I could see how the climate crisis affected everything from how people farm to how nations rearrange geopolitics.

That is why I have chosen to anchor this newsletter for you. I wanted to show you, in short bite-sized chunks, not only the dangers of global warming, but also who is doing what to tackle it. I wanted to share with you the great work of my colleagues. I wanted to guide us through sometimes impenetrable debates and simply explain how it matters to ordinary people in our daily lives. I wrote from a place of neither hope nor despair, exactly, but from the perspective of an OK-now-what-do-we-do pragmatist.

So, for nearly a year and a half, supported by Douglas Alteen, Manuela Andreoni, Claire O’Neill, Adam Pasick and many others who came along to help, Team Climate Forward has pulled things off like stupid climate negotiations in Sharm el Sheikh (“a parade of men as I described on my postcard) and the biggest U.S. climate law act of my life (plus tips on how U.S. residents can benefit from some of that climate aid).

We reported on the news of India’s fatal heat and teased the geopolitical ramifications of Europe’s unusually warm weather (“Winter is dragging the Kremlin,” I wrote).

You joined me on road trips with The Teenager, once to Costa Rica, another through Central California. You have sent us your stories about the wild creatures around you. You told us about intergenerational impasses in your families. Some of you wanted to know why we didn’t write about population growth. So we did. And showed you why that’s not really a big deal.

You sent us sweet messages. You complained. I’ve read it all. It has made me a better journalist. Sometimes it moved me. Thank you.

I learned three things from my Climate Forward experience.

First, it is impossible to look away from the climate crisis. Burning fossil fuels is scorching even the countries that burn a lot of them, such as the United States. The latest, most frightening example came last month, when people in many parts of the United States suffered dangerous, record-breaking heat. There is little doubt that it is being amplified by human-induced climate change.

Second, we live in a time of great change. The global economy is no longer driven solely by coal, oil and gas. Solar energy is expanding faster than even the champions imagined. Every automaker in the United States is rolling out electric vehicles. Electric heat pumps are on the rise in Europe. Of course, change is not coming fast enough. Greenhouse gas emissions are rising dangerously. But two things can be true at the same time. The challenge of writing about climate change is to keep both in mind.

Three: The people most aggressively changing their daily lives are the ones who are not responsible for the problem of climate change. I’ve shared their stories with you, from South Korea to Bangladesh to Uganda. Sometimes their strategies work. Sometimes they don’t, with dangerous consequences.

This is perhaps the most important lesson for me, which I have tried to distill in a recent essay. “As a climate journalist, I get an eternal question from my fellow Americans: What should I do in the face of a crisis this big and complicated?” I wrote. “The answer I saw on a recent reporting trip to East and Southern Africa: everything.”

I want to write more about this in the coming months. It everything.

First I’m going to take a long summer vacation. The pace of the newsletter has kept my quick-thinking brain very fit. But my slow thinking brain is really weak.

When I get back I’ll record it a new role, travel and write about how people are changing their lives in the face of the climate crisis. Spoiler alert: expect to read more about food. To keep my quick-thinking muscles in shape, I jump in to offer climate analysis on major news events.

I now pass the baton to the capable hands of David Gelles, whose voice you have heard several times in the newsletter. Luckily for you, Manuela Andreoni (read her essay about her mother) will continue to write for Climate Forward.

Thanks again for going on this ride with me.

Essential news from The Times

Global heat records have been broken: The past three days have very likely been the hottest in Earth’s modern history, and we may be entering a multi-year period of exceptional warmth.

Talks between the US and China resume: John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, said he would travel to China next week to resume negotiations after a year-long freeze.

A deal on shipping emissions: Negotiators from almost all countries reached a tentative agreement to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from freighters by the middle of the century.

The economic toll of global warming: Wildfires in Canada have disrupted oil and gas operations, dampened tourism and imposed innumerable costs on the country’s health system.

A new kind of disaster relief: Countries are experimenting with handing out small amounts of money to help their poorest citizens protect themselves and their homes from extreme weather events.

A plan to change quickly: Michigan has long been a laggard when it comes to climate action, but disruptions caused by global warming appear to be changing the state’s lawmakers.

More wind energy: A federal agency approved the construction of 98 wind turbine generators off the coast of New Jersey. It is a major step in President Biden’s energy transition plans.

A Times book review

Why aren’t we more afraid of heat? In “The Heat Will Kill You First,” Jeff Goodell documents the deadly effects of rising temperatures.

From outside The Times

• The Atlantic explained why Antarctica is the last place every tourist should go.

• From The Associated Press: The United States has decided to make it easier for scientists to move plants and animals outside of their native ecosystems as a last resort to save species.

• Smith Island, in Maryland, could soon be wiped off the map by rising seas. But according to The Washington Post, home sales are skyrocketing.

• Grist interviewed experts who say hackers are targeting EV chargers. Most breaches are harmless, but more elaborate plots can bring down entire electricity networks.

Before you leave: a star predator in a surprising place

There would be no wolves in New York State. When a hunter shot one near Cooperstown in 2021, it opened up a new front in the wars over what is arguably America’s most beloved and reviled predator. Some conservationists say the episode proved wolves are making a comeback and government agencies need to do more to track down and protect the animals.

Manuela Andreoni, Claire O’Neill, Chris Plourde and Douglas Alteen contributed to Climate Forward.

Thank you for being a subscriber. We’ll be back on Tuesday with a new host, David Gelles.