Letters to the Editor

The New Yorker

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Editorial Irony?

A letter in response to Elizabeth Kolbert's article placement (January 13, 2020)

Nancy Anderson, Ph.D.
The Sallan Foundation
New York City

Is the New Yorker engaged in subtle editorial irony?

The January 13, 2020 Talk of the Town leads with Elizabeth Kolbert's urgent call to wake up, act immediately and apply the brakes to our climate crisis. Then, Talk of the Town follows with Brent Crane's Let It Snow

Crane deadpans about Magic Snow, a company that produces "interactive snow experiences" in hot places like Malaysia, Brazil and Southern California, presumably for customers with more cash than climate awareness.

If this juxtaposition is deliberate editorial irony, great. But the time for subtlety when it comes to the climate is over.