David Wallace-Wells On The State of The Climate Crisis And Our Lack of Preparedness

This week, David Wallace-Wells is back on the show for a wide-ranging conversation on the climate crisis unfolding in 2025. I was struck by David’s recent essay, “We Can Adapt and Prepare for Floods. But Will We?” in the wake of the horrific flooding in Texas. As David explains, the climate disasters we face today are increasingly unpredictable and widespread, challenging our traditional understanding of what our climate risks are where they can happen.

Despite the rising frequency and cost of these disasters, David notes that increasingly it appears that our most commons response is largely to normalize these events. He suggests that instead of being jolted into action, we are adapting to these new realities mostly by just accepting it as inevitable. 

In this conversation, we also discuss a number of other recent events, from the repeal of major parts of the Inflation Reduction Act to budget cuts to federal services to China’s big clean energy in push in recent years. It’s wide-ranging and the kind of fascinating talk you can always expect when David joins the show.

David Wallace-Wells is the New York Times essayist, best-selling science writer and author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. His subscriber-only newsletter he explores climate change, technology, the future of the planet and how we live on it. His recent piece on the tragic floods in Texas “We Can Adapt and Prepare for Floods. But Will We?”

Check out our past conversations with David, first in 2021 and later with Ty in 2023. He’s always an exceptional guest and a very considerate person.

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