Our climate future is not yet written. What if we act as if we love the future?
Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side. This provocative and joyous book maps an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures.
Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data and poetry, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take—from every one of us, with whatever we have to offer—to create.
If you haven’t yet been able to picture a transformed and replenished world—or to see yourself, your loved ones, and your community in it—this book is for you. If you haven’t yet found your role in shaping this new world or you’re not sure how we can actually get there, this book is for you.
With grace, humor, and humanity, Johnson invites readers to ask and answer this ultimate question together: What if we get it right?
On imagination, possibility, and transformation with
Paola Antonelli • Xiye Bastida • Jade Begay • Wendell Berry • Régine Clément • Steve Connell • Erica Deeman • Abigail Dillen • Brian Donahue • Jean Flemma • Kelly Sims Gallagher • Rhiana Gunn-Wright • Olalekan Jeyifous • Corley Kenna • Bryan C. Lee Jr. • Franklin Leonard • Adam McKay • Bill McKibben • Kate Marvel • Samantha Montano • Kate Orff • Leah Penniman • Marge Piercy • Colette Pichon Battle • Kendra Pierre-Louis • Judith D. Schwartz • Jigar Shah • Ayisha Siddiqa • Bren Smith • Oana Stănescu • Mustafa Suleyman • Jacqueline Woodson
*This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing photographs, diagrams, and an Anti-Apocalypse mixtape.
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"This is the book we’ve been waiting for—a brilliant mix of creativity and wisdom that feels like we’re eavesdropping on intimate conversations with the world’s most brilliant change-makers. In What If We Get It Right?, Ayana weaves together art, poetry, and expert interviews into a deeply human exploration of the interconnected challenges we face. The result is a vision of a future filled with joy and possibility, where fixing one problem helps us solve many more."
— Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist, author, and UN Champion of the Earth
With a thoughtfully curated series of essays, poetry, and conversations, Johnson has assembled a group of dynamic people who are willing to imagine what seems impossible, and articulate those visions with enthusiastic clarity. The problem of climate change is a significant one, but What If We Get It Right? reminds us that with passion and ingenuity, there is so much we can accomplish.
— Roxane GayAn optimistic bent and eager embrace of solutions . . . these conversations are as much about ‘getting it right’ as they are about what we are currently getting wrong. Johnson is a top-notch interviewer, and her guests are insightful and candid . . .
— Scientific AmericanAn entirely credible (and entirely enchanting) voice . . . Ayana Johnson is no Pollyanna. She’s a hard-nosed and extremely competent scientist who has not shied for a minute from facing the hard truths.
— Bill McKibbenRigorous, elucidating, and hopeful in the most catalytic sense, this volume will stiffen your political will and open your mind and heart. It could arrive at no better moment.
— Rebecca Traister, bestselling author and writer for New York magazineI believe that this is a book that the young among us have been waiting for. It is certainly the reset that we as societies and as elders owe to coming generations of humanity—and to our magnificent natural world.
— Krista Tippett, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times bestselling authorThe climate crisis is terrifying, but also exhilarating—exhilarating because spectacular new ideas, approaches, and values are arising to address the terrifying stuff . . . Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's fantastic new anthology lets you listen to dozens of them.
— Rebecca Solnit, author, feminist, environmentalistCritically, What If We Get It Right? reminds us of the most important solution of all: protecting and restoring nature, the magic of photosynthesis and water cycle. If you need a kick in the pants to roll up your sleeves on climate solutions, this book is for you.
— Yvon Chouinard, founder of PatagoniaIf you are enamored with possibility, as I am, let the perspectives gathered in these pages fill you up and propel you on. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has prepared a genuine feast for us. Savor every ‘what if’ for our shared future.
— Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, co-editor of All We Can Save and lead writer of DrawdownAn exuberantly hopeful read . . . an inspiring compilation of voices from the environmental justice movement.
— Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewThere are countless means by which a sustainable future is possible, if only society has the political will to enact them. . . . Johnson’s account is buoyed throughout by her adamant belief that sweeping change is possible, with a little push. This is a much-needed antidote to ‘climate grief.’
— Publishers Weekly, starred reviewThis book had me at its title. Through a collection of thoughtful essays and interviews, Johnson explores the possibility of getting it right with a visionary group of environmental leaders, activists and other big thinkers working on the front lines. Johnson, who has become a prominent voice on climate solutions, reminds us that there is also joy in working toward a future where we can all thrive.
— Los Angeles TimesAn optimistic bent and eager embrace of solutions . . . these conversations are as much about ‘getting it right’ as they are about what we are currently getting wrong. Johnson is a top-notch interviewer, and her guests are insightful and candid.
— Scientific AmericanBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is co-founder of the non-profit think tank Urban Ocean Lab, co-founder of the climate initiative The All We Can Save Project, and co-creator of the podcast How to Save a Planet.
Jacqueline Woodson, named national Young People’s Poet Laureate, is a multiple-award-winning author of more than two dozen acclaimed books for young adults, middle graders, and children. She won the 2019 Indie Champion Award for advocacy of independent bookstores. Among her many other honors are the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the NAACP Image Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, among others. She is the 2018 winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.” She was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.