I love my New York Times newsletters. I would probably read them even if they weren’t usually in an ABT format. But they are! So I don’t have to worry about the content losing my attention.

Here’s an example from the “Climate Fwd” newsletter, written by Henry Fountain and published on Jan 19, 2022:

“When the Hunga volcano in the Pacific island nation of Tonga erupted with a huge explosion on Saturday, climate scientists took notice. Eruptions emit sulfur dioxide gas, and if enough of it is shot high enough into the atmosphere, it can have a cooling effect on the Earth. But eruptions that are big enough to do that are rare. The last one was at Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which pumped about 20 million tons of the gas into the air when it erupted in 1991. That led to global cooling of about 1 degree Fahrenheit, or half a degree Celsius, for nearly two years.

If the eruption of the Hunga volcano was anything like Pinatubo, climate scientists would have a lot to study about natural influences on climate. NASA has even developed a rapid-response program to quickly deploy balloon-laden instruments to gather data after such a large eruption. From satellite pictures of the Hunga eruption, it seemed like it might be another Pinatubo-like event. But looks turned out to be deceiving. Satellite sensors measured a relatively small amount of sulfur dioxide, about 2 percent of Pinatubo’s output. Not enough to provide a temporary respite from the inexorable march of global warming.”

Not only does he use “But” all over and in perfect ABT fashion, he also deploys the powerful If/Then statements too. Great job NY Times!