The New York Times Magazine - Sept. 20, 2026 - The Climate Issue

Sep 20, 2026

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A magazine issue focused on climate and resilience explores recovery after disasters, including perpetual climate disaster and rebuilding debates. It features reported reflections and long-form columns shaped by major events, such as the Sept. 11 attacks, and interviews and cultural commentary spanning ethics, language, and public life. The issue also includes puzzles and crosswords, plus recurring features and photography credits.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages64

Reading Time1 h 39 min

AccessFree to download

The Climate Issue

In an Age of Perpetual Climate Disaster: Rebuilding Is the Wrong Goal

After a Tornado: He Resurrected Schools at Lightning Speed, Then Came the Hard Work

New York's Subways Weren't Made for This

'We’re Going to Bring It Back to Life': The Long Road to Reviving a Maui Town

Six Strangers Connected by Catastrophe

Columns and Interviews

The Context: Did the Sept. 11 attacks really change everything?

On Language: “woke” go the way of scalawags and mugwumps?

The Interview: Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor say the end of the world is now on the table.

IRan It: Is racing in $300 “supershoes” cheating?

How should we recover from devastating storms and wildfires when they never stop coming? egentThe CaribbeanNOBODY DOESIT BETTER”Elegantly Spacious All-Suite,All-Balcony ShipsNo More Than 411 SuitesNearly One DedicatedExquisite Fine Dining,Wines and SpiritsSailing the World with Over 3,400 4Sept.20,2026Columns6The ContextDid the Sept.1l attacksreally change everything?By Charles Homans10OnLanguageWill"woke"go the wayof scalawagsand mugwumps?By Nitsuh Abebe一12The InterviewNaomi Klein andAstraTaylor say theend of the world is nowon the table.By David Marchese16IRan ItIs racing in $300“supershoes”cheating?Not ifyouconvinceyourselfotherwise.By Willy Staley一18The EthicistMyfriend pocketedthe money from our charityevent.What shouldIdo?By Kwame AnthonyAppiahPlus:JudgeJohn HodgmanPuzzles一 58,60Variety Puzzles&Answers一62Crossword che Neu lork cimesllagazineThe Climate Issue22 In an Age of Perpetual ClimateDisaster,Rebuilding Is the Wrong GoalBy DavidWallace-Wells28 Aftera Tornado,He ResurrectedSchools at Lightning SpeedThen Came the HardWork.By Eve Fairbanks34 New York's Subways Weren't Made for ThisBy Mark Chiusano44 'We’re Going to Bring It Back to Life':The Long Road to Reviving aMaui TownByJaime Lowe50 Six Strangers Connectedby CatastropheBy David Gelles CopyrightO2026 The New YorkTimes.Photograph by Bily Dinh for The Now York Times. WESAVE 5 FOOTBALL FIELDS OFTREESPRATTEVERY HOUR100%RECYCLEDwww.prattindlistries.com The New York Times Magazine Sept.20,2026 One of the best firsthand accounts ofthe Sept.1l attacks I've read is a shortessay titled"Diary of Disaster"by Nicho-las Spangler,at the time a 25-year-oldjournalism-school student and today arepoter for Newsday on Long Island.Spangler happened to be downtown thatmorning,close enough to theWorld TradeCenterto arrive on the scene betweenthefirst and second planes.Like many earlyrecollections of the first hours at groundzero,written before memories had beencorrected to fit the dimensions ofhistory,his is as strange as it is horrifying. Hehears the bodies of the north tower'sjumpers hitting the pavement,and alsothe easy-listening music still drifting outof the building's outdoorspeakers.Undera tree newly stripped of its leaves lies asevered leg wrapped in burlap.Barely anhour after the second tower's collapse,onlookers enlist Spangler to take a sou-venir photo of them posing in front of thewreckage with a disposable camera.It'sthe end of the world,orat least of aworld,and people have notyet figured out howthey are supposed to act. Days later,trying to make sense ofwhat he has seen,Spangler writes:"Ibelieve that our present way of life endedin those minutes or hours.The Americanethos—the way we see theworld and ourplace in it—fractured and will perhapshave to be discarded." When he revisits that passage threemonths later,however,it feels wrong tohim."Our way of life did not end so muchas it was interrupted,"he writes,"andif there is such a thing as an Americanethos,it has not been significantly altered.There are those relative few whose livesbear the permanent bloody brand of thatday but most of us continue to be shapedby much more banal events.” Did 9/11 change everything?For years,people who agreed on nothing else aboutthe attacks'aftermath would have agreed Source mages:Angel Franco/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images;Tim Robberts/Gettylmages;Nathan Posner/Anadolu,via Getty Images. | that the answerwas yes.Arguingotherwise
would have been an affront to the victims, | end of history.Our retrospective under-
standing of the nation's immediate reac- | | Trumps path from reality-TV celebrity
to the presidency ran through the Islamo- | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | to the war on terror's civilian and military
casualties and to the common sense
of anyone who has had to take off their
shoes at airport security.But question and
answer alike have always been colored by
the assumption that 9/11 was supposed t

FAQs

What is the issue’s main focus regarding disasters and climate?

The issue centers on how societies should respond to ongoing climate disasters, arguing that “rebuilding” alone is the wrong goal.

What long-form analysis is included about the Sept. 11 attacks?

A column revisits whether the attacks truly changed everything, linking public assumptions and later interpretations with critical distance.

What other disaster-related stories appear alongside the climate coverage?

Reporting covers recovery efforts after extreme events, including post-tornado school rebuilding, infrastructure challenges like New York subways, and efforts to revive a Maui town.

Sep 20, 2026

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