COVER STORY this issue: How we Survived Climate Change. It’s 2050. The world has changed forever, but we averted the worst. Here’s what we did. By Bill McKibben. Let’s imagine for a moment that we’ve reached the middle of the century. It’s 2050, and we have a moment to reflect-the climate fight remains the consuming battle of our age, but its most intense phase may be in our rearview mirror. And so we can look back to see how we might have managed to dramatically change our society and economy. We had no other choice…To understand the world we live in, read TIME.

The Amazon rain forest has existed for 10 million years. It might not survive the next 100. By Matt Sandy/União Bandeirantes, Brazil. On the southern crest of the unscathed Amazon rain forest, a storm inundates a wooden shack just off a sodden mud road. Inside, Antonio Bertola sits clutching a $1 beer under a painting of the Virgin Mary, his face ruddy and his clothes tatty from a lifetime of work on the land. The frontier town of Realidade is a mere speck on a changing map. To the north stretch hundreds of billions of trees and more than 1 million species never charted by man…

From sinking islands to drought-ridden savannas, women bear an outsize burden of the global-warming crisis, largely because of gender inequalities. In many parts of the world, woman hold traditional roles as the primary caregivers in families and communities, and, as the main providers of food and fuel, are more vulnerable when flooding and drought occur; the U.N. estimates 80% of those who have been displaced by climate change are women…