Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart welcomed The New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert to Monday’s taping of The Daily Show to promote her new book and prophesy impending doom on the environment. As Kolbert tells it, all the things that have come to define civilization have contributed to this impending catastrophe, and Manhattan itself is at risk if nothing changes. Stewart led Kolbert with a half-decent question, “What is it about—because if you are an environmentalist, so, if you think, ‘Okay, global warming is real and it is caused by human activity,’ is it realistic to think—because what we have been told over the last 35 years is, human activity is the cause and we've just got to reduce human activity, but that seems to go against 10,000 years of human activity, which is, I like that easier, faster, smaller, tastier, deader. So, how do we square those things?     Kolbert replied, “Well, I think that that, you could argue that’s the question of our time, but I will answer that question with a story, which I first heard from a climate scientist on the top of the Greenland ice sheet.” If Stewart wanted Kolbert to reconcile human nature with the demands of climate action, Kolbert’ story made it obvious that she thinks the former needs to change: And if you think about your geological history, so, New York about 10,000 years ago looked a lot like Greenland, right? Where we are sitting now was under about a mile of ice. The ice retreated, we entered this period of unusual climate stability, and we know this from a lot of different lines of evidence, including the ice on Greenland. We entered this period of climate stability. We invent what we call civilization, we invent agriculture, writing, towns, cities, we become sedentary and set in our ways, and what do we use these 10,000 years to do, to invent ways to disrupt the climate? Kolbert also claimed, “Now, if you are thinking about what you need to do when you are—inherit very fortunately— a period of unusual climate stability would be to try to keep it that way. But we have gone—chosen to go in the opposite direction with all the evidence mounting, mounting evidence of the risks that that entails, and once again, that is a fascinating thing to do but not exactly what you would recommend.” Stewart then quipped, “See, what I hear from that story is, if we keep this up, we could turn Greenland into Manhattan.” A more solemn Kolbert warned, “That is absolutely true. Keep it up, but there's 20 feet of sea level rising. So Manhattan will not be here.” We are currently in the last month of 2025, but according to people like Kolbert, New York should have been underwater 10 years ago. If Stewart and Kolbert want to know why nobody takes anti-civilization environmentalists seriously, that would be a good place to start. Here is a transcript for the December 1 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 12/1/2025 11:29 PM ET JON STEWART: What is it about—because if you are an environmentalist, so, if you think, “Okay, global warming is real and— ELIZABETH KOLBERT: I can guarantee you that. STEWART: — It is caused by human activity,” is it realistic to think—because what we have been told over the last 35 years is, human activity is the cause and we've just got to reduce human activity, but that seems to go against 10,000 years of human activity, which is, I like that easier, faster, smaller, tastier, deader. So, how do we square those things? KOLBERT: Well, I think that that, you could argue that’s the question of our time, but I will answer that question with a story, which I first heard from a climate scientist on the top of the Greenland ice sheet. STEWART: You were standing with him on the top of the Greenland ice sheet. KOLBERT: Yes. Yes. Yes. And if you think about your geological history, so, New York about 10,000 years ago looked a lot like Greenland, right? Where we are sitting now was under about a mile of ice. The ice retreated, we entered this period of unusual climate stability, and we know this from a lot of different lines of evidence, including the ice on Greenland. We entered this period of climate stability. We invent what we call civilization, we invent agriculture, writing, towns, cities, we become sedentary and set in our ways, and what do we use these 10,000 years to do, to invent ways to disrupt the climate? Now, if you are thinking about what you need to do when you are—inherit very fortunately— a period of unusual climate stability would be to try to keep it that way. But we have gone—chosen to go in the opposite direction with all the evidence mounting, mounting evidence of the risks that that entails, and once again, that is a fascinating thing to do but not exactly what you would recommend. STEWART: See, what I hear from that story is, if we keep this up, we could turn Greenland into Manhattan. KOLBERT: That is absolutely true. Keep it up, but there's 20 feet of sea level rising. So Manhattan will not be here.