The New York Times Magazine has done something unprecedented. On Wednesday, it released an entire issue containing just one article on the subject of global warming. “Losing Earth,” by Nathaniel Rich, chronicles the ten-year period from 1979 t0 1989 in which scientists reached consensus about human-caused climate change, and politicians nearly came to a global-scale solution. Informed by more than 100 interviews and 18 months of reporting, the piece twists and turns around a zany cast of characters who bravely risked their careers to solve the climate crisis.

There’s no spoiler alert needed for the ending: They failed. But it’s a fascinating look at how close the world once came to a binding emissions reduction agreement. Given the polarization on climate change today, it’s almost hard to believe there was a time when a left-wing environmental lobbyist from Friends of the Earth could help persuade Republican members of Congress to consider phasing out coal. That detail alone makes the lengthy story worth reading, along with several others.

But as with most large-scale, pioneering works of climate journalism, “Losing Earth” has quickly come under fire. The bulk of the criticism surrounds Rich’s conclusion: That neither the fossil fuel industry nor Republican politicians can “be blamed” for inaction on climate change. The reason they can’t be, Rich says, is because both entities were on board with climate action in the ten-year period he describes. Thus, the real blame for climate inaction belongs to all of humanity. “Human nature has brought us to this place,” he concludes. “Perhaps human nature will one day bring us through.”

The Atlantic’s Robinson Meyer was among the first to take issue with this thesis. Not only was Rich’s conclusion wrong, he argued on Wednesday, it paints a false picture about what humanity must overcome to solve the climate crisis. “Telling the wrong story makes the case for action look easier than it is,” Meyer wrote.

In other words, Meyer argues that Rich’s focus—the decade during which consensus was built and action attempted—can’t possibly tell the whole story of who’s to blame for inaction. Because even if the fossil fuel industry and the Republican Party were on board with climate action in 1989, it’s been 30 years since then. And both have engaged in coordinated campaigns to prevent action on the climate crisis within those three decades.