The New Yorker - USA (2019-09-30)

see how poorly democracies have fared

in the past few decades—just ask Fran-

cis Fukuyama or George Soros. If we

want to confront the coming climate

apocalypse, we must, as Franzen says,

“institute draconian conservation mea-

sures.” Left to our own devices, most of

us will keep destroying the planet, one

Amazon Prime order at a time, and we’ll

keep voting for whichever Trump or

Bolsonaro lets us do it. Democracy may

well be the worst answer to the ques-

tion of climate change.

Emily Otto Kaplan

St. Louis, Mo.

My only complaint about Franzen’s piece

is that it should have been published in

1970, when we still had a chance.

Walter Haugen

Fougax-et-Barrineuf, France

Franzen’s essay is a welcome discussion

of reality. At our current rate of prog-

ress, we cannot stop global warming. But

Franzen says he is not a scientist, and it

shows. In the last few decades, science

has enabled us to manipulate molecules

of DNA as easily as a carpenter builds

a table. Technologically speaking, devel-

oping safe and controllable methods to

combat rising temperatures is a much

easier task. Franzen deserves credit for

advancing the discussion, but he should

recognize that what we need is a large

government-funded research program—

one that gives science the chance to stop

global warming.

Robert Eisenberg

Chicago, Ill.

Yes, the climate reality is desperate. But

caving like this? Pathetic. I could never

explain to my classroom of fourth grad-

ers this kind of moral surrender.

Siri Bardarson

Freeland, Wash.

CAN WE STOP CLIMATE

CHANGE?

Jonathan Franzen argues that it is de-
lusional to think we can still save the
planet from climate change, because
rising temperatures will inevitably
cause global catastrophe (“What If We
Stopped Pretending?,” September 8th,
newyorker.com/franzen). He says that
we should resign ourselves to the de-
struction to come. This argument pro-
motes complacency and hopelessness,
and it gives an easy out to people who
might otherwise advocate for the po-
litical action we need. I trust the cli-
mate scientists and activists who be-
lieve we have the resources to create a
hopeful future. Franzen does not offer
reality—he offers defeat.
Judy Schneier
Brooklyn, N.Y.

If environmentalists resent Franzen’s
piece, it is only because it presents the
state of human inaction on climate in a
well-reasoned, clear-sighted, and com-
plex way. We cannot prevent cataclys-
mic temperatures and extreme weather.
Wouldn’t we all feel better if we acknowl-
edged that fact and acted accordingly?
Linda J. Drake
Denver, Colo.

The most exemplary of the new books
on climate change—David Wallace-
Wells’s “The Uninhabitable Earth”
and Bill McKibben’s “Falter”—strug-
gle for an honesty that does not coun-
sel despair. Franzen’s argument, which
suggests that attempts to mobilize are
at odds with conservation and even with
moral clarity, is an unhelpful distortion
of the truth. We have the money and
the technology to save ourselves. The
tragedy, if it comes to that, will be that
we don’t do so, even though we can.
Tom Athanasiou
Albany, Calif.

I quibble with Franzen’s assertion that
one of our best defenses against global
chaos is to maintain functioning de-
mocracies and civil society. Franzen must

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