 Inside the April 2020 issue
This is a special edition of The Reader, your weekly round-up of stories you need to know from Fortune editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf.
Last year, 50 experts in disaster response from the government, military, academia, and the private and nonprofit sectors participated in a war-game simulation called Urban Outbreak.
The aim was to learn about how people respond in real time to the sudden arrival of a deadly pathogen in a dense metropolis, amid resource gaps, communication failures, biases, and confusions.
Today, the real-life coronavirus outbreak has revealed a striking, if not unexpected lesson: We weren’t—and still aren’t—ready.
Consider the stories in our April issue as our version of a war game for a crisis that may pose an even greater threat to civilization: the warming of the planet.
The goal is the same: to shine a light on the gaps and ineffectiveness of the business community’s current efforts—and perhaps mount a more robust response moving forward.
To be sure, global industry—and yes, those of us who rabidly consume the products and services these businesses provide—caused many of the climate and environmental problems we face today. But business is also in a position to try to fix them. There’s even a $26 trillion market opportunity for those who do, according to one estimate.
The alternative to acting boldly, it should be emphasized, isn’t “business as usual.” It’s “game over.”
Scroll on for the stories.  Clifton Leaf
 COVER Business is finally starting to reckon with climate change
Companies are responding to a new set of vital needs. Increasingly, consumers want to know they’re spending money with businesses that are on the right side of sustainability. And talented recruits are demanding that employers demonstrate their commitment to mitigating climate change. Not to mention that there are huge amounts of money to be made. In this Fortune Special Report, we explore the complexity of this crucial juncture for business and the planet.
BY BRIAN O'KEEFE, DEPUTY EDITOR
 BEST OF The 100 greatest designs of modern times
In 1959, Fortune set out to discover the 100 best-designed products of the modern era. Surveying the era’s top designers, the result perfectly illustrated mid-century design philosophy: sleek sports cars by Porsche, even sleeker armchairs by Eames, appliances with forms foreshadowing Sputnik and the start of the Space Age. Now, to recognize the 60-year anniversary of the original list, Fortune has re-created the survey to present the 100 iconic designs of today.
BY DANIEL BENTLEY, SENIOR EDITOR
ENVIRONMENT 
Plastic that travels 8,000 miles: the global crisis in recycling
With the world drowning in plastic, the need for recycling is more acute than ever. But the industry that handles all that waste is on the verge of collapse. BY VIVIENNE WALT
TECH 
‘We digitized ourselves’: Accenture CEO Julie Sweet on her company’s rapid-fire transformation
At age 42, Julie Sweet jumped from an elite New York City law firm to Accenture. Now, a decade later, she’s running the place—and it’s a vastly different company than the one she joined. BY CLIFTON LEAF
Why dog walkers make more than childcare and eldercare workers
When it comes to the hard work of care, Americans pay the most—$14.80 an hour—to the people who walk their dogs. Those who tend to children and the elderly make considerably less. BY ERIKA FRY
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