Few writers have done more to document the scale and complexity of environmental change than Elizabeth Kolbert. Through her reporting and books, including The Sixth Extinction, she has chronicled the forces reshaping the natural world and the consequences of human activity across ecosystems.

In conversation with Kourtney Collum, whose work explores the intersections of food systems, power, justice, and sustainability, Kolbert reflects on what it means to bear witness to these changes over time, and how scientific understanding, storytelling, and public awareness intersect in shaping our response. Together, they consider not only the scope of the challenges we face, but the choices—individual, institutional, and collective—that will determine how we respond.

Grounded in both evidence and lived systems, they examine what it means to act in a moment defined by uncertainty, urgency, and responsibility, and how a clearer understanding of the planet we inhabit can inform the choices we make in response.