“When wells run dry, farmers are forced to fallow fields, and some people get hungry, thirsty and often very angry.” Reveal has gone through some secret conversations among diplomats to piece together one very consistent storyline: We’re running out of water, and the world’s powers are very worried.

+ “A lot of people want to go back to something. They think, If we just stop doing things, maybe the reef will come back to what it was. Really, what I am is a futurist. Our project is acknowledging that a future is coming where nature is no longer fully natural.” Humans are making life difficult for nature. Can we save it by assisting evolution to make the environment tougher? The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert talks to some “glass is half-full” researchers about what it will take to save the world’s reefs and forests. (In the meantime, maybe let’s ease up on ruining everything…)