A Scientist’s vision for a cleaner Future

You’d forgive me for being slightly surprised when, during a recent conversation, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson admitted she’s not an optimist.

“I think it’s probably important to note that I’m not hopeful. I’m a scientist. I’m a realist.”

This wasn’t what I was expecting to hear from the writer of the 2020 US best seller on climate solutions All We Can Save. Johnson is an author, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab think tank, and a marine scientist. You also might know her from her podcast How to Save a Planet.

The title of her latest book might also suggest a certain tone of optimism. What if We Get it Right? is a collection of interviews with 20 climate leaders. It’s an eclectic collection of climate wisdom: part clean energy policy from US government official Jigar Shah, who works as the director of the Loan Programs Office in the Department of Energy, part poetry from the American farmer and activist Wendell Berry, with a view from Hollywood for good measure, courtesy of the American screenwriter and director Adam McKay.

Johnson is quick to point out that the message of her book is far from doom and gloom.

“The word that I really embrace is possibility,” says Johnson. “We’re not just sitting around waiting for the apocalypse. We are building the future that we will be living in,” she says.

 

Johnson’s aim, she says, is to look to a future where we, as a global community, reshape the way we live to meet our climate goals. She explains that the book is a “welcome into climate work for anyone who is concerned but hasn’t yet figured out where they fit in. Because there’s something each of us can do.”

Of the 20 contributors Johnson worked with to create this book, she says the interview that stood out to her most was with the American environmentalist and author Bill McKibben on the role that banks play. “Where we keep our money makes a huge difference,” says Johnson. “If your money is in a fund that invests in fossil fuels, that could be doing more harm than all the good you do in other aspects of your life.” (Read about ways to make your pension greener.)

Getting it right

But the number one thing Johnson gets asked is a more general, if heartfelt question: “what can I do to help in terms of the climate crisis?”

There’s a “very generic” list of activities that remain relevant, says Johnson: “To vote, protest, march, donate, spread the word.” But she believes it’s also about finding out where your own skills, interests and motivations lie.

“The framework that I offer people is a very simple Venn Diagram of three circles,” Johnson says.

The first circle represents: what are you good at? What are your skills, resources and networks? What can you specifically bring to the table? The second is: what work needs doing? What are the climate and justice solutions you want to work on? And the third circle is: what brings you joy or satisfaction? Or as Johnson puts it, what gets you out of bed in the morning?

“Finding your way to the centre of that Venn diagram is, I think, what everybody needs to be doing,” Johnson says.