This week, we’re sharing stories from Elizabeth Weil, Amirah Mercer, Jason Motlagh, Esmé E. Deprez, and Michael Paulson.

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1. The Climate Crisis Is Worse Than You Can Imagine. Here’s What Happens If You Try.

Elizabeth Weil | ProPublica | January 25, 2021 | 17 minutes (4,374 words)

“A climate scientist spent years trying to get people to pay attention to the disaster ahead. His wife is exhausted. His older son thinks there’s no future. And nobody but him will use the outdoor toilet he built to shrink his carbon footprint.”

2. A Homecoming

Amirah Mercer | Eater | January 14, 2021 | 23 minutes (5,810 words)

“The imagery of veganism propagated by the wellness industry erases the long — and often radical — history of plant-based diets in the Black diaspora.”

3. Highway to Hell: A Trip Down Afghanistan’s Deadliest Road

Jason Motlagh | Rolling Stone | January 22, 2021 | 28 minutes (7,027 words)

“The $300 million Kabul-Kandahar road was meant to be a symbol of the new Afghanistan. Today it reveals everything that has gone wrong in America’s longest war.”

4. How I Helped My Dad Die

Esmé E. Deprez | Bloomberg Businessweek | January 27, 2021 | 22 minutes (5,600 words)

“His body wrecked by ALS, my father insisted that his death, like his life, was his to control.”

5. ‘Moulin Rouge!’ Was Their Ticket. Then 2020 Happened.

Michael Paulson | The New York Times | January 21, 2021 | 18 minutes (4,540 words)

It was a smash Broadway hit, then 25 company members got sick and the shutdown put everybody out of work. An oral history of a tumultuous year.