The cover image, designed by David Crespo, depicts Earth as the sand in an hourglass and incorporates quotations from several contributors included in this special collection to illustrate the diversity of ways of reframing and responding to the question “Is it too late (to stop dangerous climate change)?”

School children protesting about climate change in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany. Many recent civic protests have used the idea of ‘limited time’ in order to call for urgent new climate policies. This editorial introduces the WIREs Special Collection of articles that reflect on the question, ‘Is it too late (to stop dangerous climate change)?’ [Credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash].