Great Gray Owl. Mosaic: Charis Tsevis. Owl reference photo: Niall Benvie/NPL/Minden Pictures. Photos: Dominic Arenas/Audubon, Camilla Cerea/Audubon, Mike Fernandez/Audubon, Luke Franke/Audubon, Hillary Shedd/Audubon

Audubon Magazine, Fall 2019 Climate Issue 


It's been five years since Audubon magazine published our first special climate issue. Since then, the crisis has only worsened—and the need to act grown more pressing. That's why in this follow-up issue we chose to focus on solutions. As you can see from the below photo essay, Our Climate Crisis Today, people and wildlife are already suffering from the effects of climate change. But there's still time to take meaningful action. From the coasts of North Carolina and Maine to the Upper Mississippi River basin and the far reaches of Canada's boreal forest, we highlight people who are working hard to protect habitats and their wildlife from the worst of climate change.

In this issue, we also dive into Audubon's newest scientific report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Species on the Brink, which builds on our original climate study and provides even more detailed forecasts for birds in North America under various warming scenarios. The upshot? As many as 389 out of 604 species could be at risk if we don't substantially curb carbon emissions, starting now. And while two stories in this issue show how some companies and states are leading the way, we still have a long way to go. Thankfully, a diverse array of voices are helping us forge a new future, one in which we can prevent a worst-case scenario for birds and people alike—and you can help.

Audubon Magazine

Our Climate Crisis Today

From raging wildfires in the west to flooding from coast to coast, extreme weather events remind us that we need to act now to save people and birds.
News

Birds Are Telling Us It's Time to Take Action on Climate

Global warming poses an existential threat to two-thirds of North American bird species—but there's still time to protect them. Audubon's new climate report says we have to act now.
Climate

Explore Our Climate Change Cover

Using a zoom tool, you can peruse the photos of Audubon members that make up this image of a Great Gray Owl.
Letter From the Editor

This Is What Climate Solutions Look Like

We dedicated our entire fall issue to tackling the challenge of climate change, because humanity has no other choice.

A Field Guide to the Future of North American Birds

Audubon’s new climate report warns of massive avian losses if we don’t change course and stabilize global carbon emissions.

Blackburnian Warbler. Shirley Donald/Audubon Photography Awards
Audubon Magazine

Meet Eight Trailblazers Changing the Climate Conversation

These leaders come from the grassroots and positions of power, from the left and the right, from arts and science, but they share one thing in common: the urgency of this moment.

Guardians of the North

Thaidene Nëné, Canada's newest national park, is a milestone for an Indigenous-led conservation movement that can help keep carbon in the ground while protecting crucial bird habitat. 

Audubon Magazine

Five Climate-Threatened Birds and How You Can Help Them

Audubon's newest climate report projects the potential range losses and gains for more than 389 North American species.
From Audubon Magazine

How State and Local Governments Are Leading the Way on Climate Policy

With the federal government failing to act, many states and cities are taking it upon themselves to cut emissions and increase resiliency.
News

Bird Jobs of the Future and Other Avian-Inspired Stories From the Year 2100

In Audubon’s first foray into climate fiction, or cli-fi, we asked writers of compelling—and sometimes strange—fiction to imagine what climate chaos will bring for birds and people. From there, they created these tales of the somewhat familiar future.
News

Reverse Engineering the Climate Crisis Is Not Only Possible—It's Necessary

We can't merely cut emissions to preserve a livable planet. We'll have to invent technologies to take back the carbon we've already released.
Climate

The Audubon Guide to Climate Action

Feeling like you can’t make a difference? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Here’s where to begin and how to ­amplify your efforts to make lasting change in the world.

A Moveable Feast

Rapid warming in the Gulf of Maine has shifted the marine food web, putting already endangered Roseate Terns and their broods at even greater risk. Figuring out how to help these seabirds could point the way for safeguarding other species. 

A Roseate Tern adult and chicks. Chris Linder
Audubon Magazine

A Better Way to Decrease Disastrous Flooding on the Mississippi River

Our attempts to wall in a surging Mississippi have failed up and down the river, leading to catastrophic flooding. Now momentum is building to work with nature, not against it.

Island Retreat 

As rising seas imperil historic structures and waterfowl flocks at Audubon's Pine Island Sanctuary, staff remain determined to defend the North Carolina refuge by saving its wetlands.

Illustrated Aviary

Reimagining 200 of Audubon’s Birds

Artist Jenny Kendler creates a birds’ eye view of climate change. In her artwork, it’s us they’re watching.

Survival by Degrees:
389 Bird Species on the Brink

Read Audubon's newest scientific climate report and explore how species in your state will be affected. 

The Audubon Bird Guide