WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT?

Renowned primatologist Jane Goodall shares her life-long love for nature and the impact of environmental degradation. She emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness between humans and nature while addressing the emotional toll of witnessing ecosystem decline. Goodall celebrates youth activism, praising their clarity and urgency in environmental issues. With a focus on hope, she believes in the transformative power of stories and local action to inspire real change, leaving listeners motivated to make a difference in the world.

Jigar Shah, a clean energy entrepreneur and former director of the U.S. DOE Loan Programs Office, discusses the rapidly evolving landscape of clean energy. He highlights the importance of local generation and the complexities emerging from political change, including the impact of recent climate legislation rollbacks. Jigar emphasizes the need for civic engagement, advocating for community involvement in clean energy initiatives. He also explores the potential of geothermal energy, battery recycling, and modular nuclear solutions while urging a focus on practical implementations for a sustainable future.

Earthlings, hello! 👋🏽 This week’s guest is Ari Matusiak, CEO of Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on accelerating the clean energy transition.With the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits expiring on December 31st, I wanted to sit down with Ari to talk about our energy bills, how we can still install heat pumps and more before those incentives run out, how your home could become energy infrastructure for your community. Plus, soba noodles, K-pop, and the very sexy topic of group scheduling. Hold onto your hats. This episode is going to be electrifying. ⚡️CALL TO ACTION 🗣️ from Ari: Visit www.rewiringamerica.org/save to learn about the Save on Better Appliances (SOBA) campaign and, in Ari’s words: "Get yourself a tax credit. Get yourself an electric coach. Get yourself a contractor. And get yourself something electric at the electric store."Notes:Check out Rewiring America’s new report: Homegrown Energy: How household upgrades can meet 100 percent of data center demand growth.This podcast is ad-free thanks to the support of Future Being, a grant making and special project studio, which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity.This episode was produced and edited by Gabby Bulgarelli, and me, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, with help from associate producer Jenisha Shrestha.If you're enjoying the show, follow, rate, review, and to help others find us. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

This August marked 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation that storm had across the Gulf South is still reverberating throughout the country. Today I’m talking with Dr. Samantha Montano, a professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and co-founder of Disaster Researchers for Justice. She wrote a great book called Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis. Now, amidst a continuing string of disastrous storms and wildfires, there are massive cuts at FEMA. We are clearly getting this very wrong. So I wanted to check back in with Samantha to understand what’s really going on at FEMA under the Trump Administration 🧐 (from the horror of “Alligator Alcatraz” to dealing with cyberattacks), whether we’re more prepared for hurricanes now than we were 20 years ago (spoiler: nope!), and what we can do individually and collectively to up our preparedness game.🙋🏽‍♀️CALLS TO ACTION from Samantha:* ☎️ Call your member of Congress — (202) 224-3121: They don’t get many calls supporting FEMA, so this is helpful. Let them know: (1) we need funding for FEMA, (2) we need to hire more people at FEMA, (3) we need to remove FEMA from under the Dept of Homeland Security and re-establish it as a standalone agency, and (4) we need a qualified, Senate-confirmed emergency manager leading the agency.* 👩🏽‍💻 Sign up for emergency alerts!: Absurdly, there is no centralized way to do this. So, embark on a tiny research project: google your town name + “emergency management,” and then find your county and state alerts too. This was you can be informed and ready to be a good neighbor.* Advocate for local resources: Look into you local emergency management agency. Do they have funding? Do they have staff? Do they have a qualified person leading? Be the advocate in your community for emergency management — they don't have a lot of advocates at the local level, so this can really help.NOTES:If you're enjoying the show, please help others find us — follow, rate, review, and tell your crew! Keep up with Dr. Montano's work via her Substack newsletter: Disasterology, a monthly dispatch of interesting and/or important disaster things.This podcast is ad-free thanks to the support of Future Being. This episode was produced and edited by Gabby Bulgarelli, and me, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, with help from associate producer Jenisha Shrestha.Alright, Earthlings 🌎 see you next week. xo Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

In this discussion, Bill McKibben, an influential environmentalist and founder of the non-profit Third Act, shares insights on the urgent need for climate action. He highlights the significance of Sun Day, emphasizing the rapid adoption of solar and wind energy. The conversation explores global advancements in renewable energy, spotlighting Indonesia's ambitious solar initiatives. McKibben also discusses the geopolitical impacts of renewable versus fossil fuel energy and advocates for community-driven climate activism, urging everyone to participate in building a sustainable future.

Hey there Earthlings. 🌎 Season 3 is launching next week! Thus, here’s a trailer with tidbits from previous seasons to get you stoked. We’ve got a dozen ace guests booked, and 4 episodes already recorded. We’re diving all the way in — on clean energy, FEMA, farming, messaging, and so much more. I’ll be re-interviewing a few of the experts I interviewed for my book because, turns out, some things have changed in the last year. 🫠 Anyway, follow/subscribe, rate/review, share with your homies. More coming very soon... Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Dive into a hopeful vision of a resilient future where we tackle climate change with rewilding and clean energy. Explore the essential themes of joy, love, and connection that define a meaningful life. Discover what it truly means to live well while fostering community and sustainability. This uplifting conversation encourages listeners to imagine and shape a greener, more equitable world.

Hey there Earthlings. I’m living a more analog life this summer (highly recommend). 🛶🏕️📚 So for this week’s episode, I want to introduce you to another podcast I think you just might love.It’s called Science Vs., hosted by Wendy Zuckerman. In each episode they tackle a different topic to sort out what’s fact, what’s fiction, and what’s still TBD.As a scientist and lover of facts, I super appreciate how Wendy and her team dig into the scientific literature, fact check everything, share their sources, and interview experts. So I think you’ll enjoy the episode “Climate Crisis: We’re Solving It?!” Their description:“The climate is a mess. It's hot. There's fires, floods, hurricanes — and we may have even crossed some rather scary climate tipping points. But there is hope. So today, we’re answering your questions about solving the climate crisis. We find out how you can help in the fight against climate change, if carbon offsets are a scam, whether renewables really work and what exciting new technologies could help save the planet. Our guests are Dr. Sven Teske at the University of Technology, Sydney, and Wei Sue, head of strategy at Monash University's Climateworks Center.”If you dig it, subscribe! Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Hey there Earthlings. 🩵 If you’ve been paying any attention to U.S. politics, these past 2 weeks have been a doozy.So, let’s get into the Big Brutal Billionaire Bailout Bill of it all. Welcome to this very special collab episode of What If We Get It Right? x Twigg & Jenkins. Carri Twigg (hey bestie) and Brad Jenkins (who was her officemate in the Obama White House) host my favorite politics podcast. So smart, so incisive, so fun. Yes, you should definitely follow/subscribe.We hopped on a call to sort through the wreckage together. WTF just happened with climate, healthcare, militarization, and our democracy? What should the Democrats do next? Sometimes you gotta dive way in to how things went so wrong to see what getting it right would have looked like. Also, the Beyoncé tour.Looking for what to do next? Here's my take.HOT TIPS:* If you were thinking about getting an electric vehicle, BUY IT NOW. The new budget bill cancels the $7,500 tax credit for EVs that was established through Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the tax credit for leasing EVs too, effective Sept 30th.* If you were thinking of making energy efficiency/electrification improvements to your home, DO IT NOW. The new budget bill cancels the IRA tax credits for everything from solar panels (30% credit!), to induction stoves, heat pumps, insulating your attic, installing more energy efficient windows and doors, etc., effective December 31, 2025.CREDITS: This podcast is made possible with the support of Future being a grant making and special project studio, which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. This episode was produced and edited by Matthew Nelson and me (Ayana) with help from Associate Producer Jenisha Shrestha. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

If you have a Republican senator: call, email, comment on all their social posts. Tell them to vote NO on the abominable budget bill. Get your friends to do it too. ☎️ Seriously, call Congress: (202) 224-3121. (Especially if you live in Maine or Alaska.) Details in this week's newsletter and all over the news.Okay, Season 2 is a wrap — 12 delightful conversations with people showing us the ways forward on climate. This summer, we’ll be dreaming up season 3… so if have any wishes, ideas, or requests, drop a note over on Substack and let us know: ayanaelizabeth.substack.com. Piping hot new content coming in autumn, and in the meantime, enjoy the 24 episodes in the full back catalog. We’ll also drop some other treats in the feed for ya over the summer.But for now, a rerun of one of my favorite episodes from Season 1: a conversation with adrienne maree brown, best-selling author, activist, facilitator, a songwriter, a poet, and a doula. I've read and highly recommend her books Emergent Strategies and Loving Corrections. This was recorded November 2024, just a few days before the presidential election, but these insights from adrienne, and the topics we grappled with, are still right on time — including major questions of our era like which one of us would be Rhianna and which one of us would be Beyoncé. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe