WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT?

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

Today’s guest is Ben Wolkon. Ben is founding partner at MUUS Climate Partners, a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in climate solutions, and operates on the belief that “climate is the biggest business opportunity of the 21st century.”To be honest, when I think of venture capital, I often think of like that "greed is good" mentality and just corny finance bros. And maybe that's a bit unfair. But I'm also very pleased to say that Ben is nothing like that. He's thoughtful, and generous, super funny, and cares so deeply about this sweet planet we live on.We discussed the role of venture capital in climate solutions, the cool high tech emerging technologies that he’s most excited about, and how critical it is that we keep a sense of humor.Ben’s CALLS TO ACTIONMake your voice heard to policymakers at the federal level. Right now, there is a bill in the Senate that has massive ramifications for climate policy. Call your reps and tell them not to cut funding for climate solutions!Make your voice heard at the state and local levels. Advocate for more bike lanes, or more trees planted, or better transportation policy. The more you do that, the more the politicans who count on your votes will understand that these issues should be a priority for them.If you want a climate-focused job, get proactive about finding one. Breaking into climate tech or breaking into some job that has an environmental benefit is actually super easy once you start looking and start trying. Make cold calls! We need you.Mentioned in this episode* MUUS Climate Partners* Vox: Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign is all about climate change* Clean tech companies: BrightNight, Panthalassa, Cache Energy* Data centers in the U.S. consume about 4.4% of the country’s total electricity demand in 2023, and that is expected to triple to 12% by 2028.* The Inflation Reduction Act could have put the U.S. on a path to reduce emissions by up to 48% by 2035.CREDITS: This episode was made possible with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. This show is produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me (Ayana), with help from Jenisha Shrestha. And many thanks to our guest Ben Wolkon. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Kate Marvel, a climate scientist and writer from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, discusses her new book, 'Human Nature,' exploring the emotional aspects of climate change. She shares her journey from astrophysics to climate science, emphasizing the urgent need for public engagement in climate advocacy. The conversation touches on the challenges scientists face amid political resistance, the significance of understanding climate impacts, and the power of personal narratives in fostering connections with our changing planet.

Alexia Leclercq is a face of the youth climate movement — something that, as we discussed, is a tricky thing to be.She is a grassroots environmental justice organizer and scholar in Austin, Texas. Alexia is also co-founder of the Colorado River Conservancy and of Start:Empowerment, an education non-profit that provides students and teachers with an immersive climate justice curriculum. She’s led campaigns at the international and local levels to phase out fossil fuels, fight for clean water, and so much more — and she’s still in her mid-20s!In this conversation, we talk about the impact of social media and influencer culture on the climate movement, how the generations – from Alpha to Boomer to Zoomer – can collaborate, and what getting it right looks like in her home state of Texas.There’s nothing like hearing someone half your age describing their strategy and devotion to climate solutions — what a kick in the pants to step up your own work! Tune in, get inspired, and take up her call to action.ALEXIA’S CALL TO ACTION* Find an ongoing campaign happening in your community/town/city and do one thing to show up for that existing campaign — whether it’s social or environmental justice, affordable housing, whatever it is, do something for a local campaign.Mentioned in the episode:* More than 90% of Democrats, Republicans and Independents consider right to clean and clean water to be “essential rights important to being an American today.”* Young Scholars for Justice* Alexia’s organization, Start:Empowerment is a youth BIPOC-led non-profit at the nexus of climate education, solutions, and environmental justice.* Alexia’s op-ed on Teen Vogue: Social Media Influencers Get Media Attention on Climate Change — Grassroots Activists Don’t* Colorado River Conservancy* People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER)CREDITSThis episode was made possible with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity.This show is produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me (Ayana), with help from Jenisha Shrestha. And many thanks to our guest Alexia Leclerq. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

For this live event at the WBUR Festival, Gina McCarthy and I discussed the EPA, the IRA, what’s at stake for us all... and, why we must never, ever pave paradise.Gina led the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Obama, was president of NRDC, and then, under President Biden, became the first ever National Climate Advisor, setting up a climate team in the White House.Perhaps Gina’s crowning achievement was her work on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Congress passed this landmark bill in 2022, which allocated about $400 billion to the clean energy transition and has so far created over 400,000 clean energy jobs. It also reframed climate action as an economic opportunity — America can move away from fossil fuels, while reinvigorating the economy.It was a huge deal, pivotal both in dollars and in shifting the status quo. But much of this climate progress, much of Gina’s work, is now under threat from the Trump administration. 🤬 So, Gina's shared her take on where we go from here.Gina’s Calls to Action* Work in your communities at the local level. Build constituencies. It’s all about working together.* Don’t let young people think they don’t have a future. Show them they have a hand in building the future.Mentioned in this episode:* EPA’s clean power plant rule* The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the largest investment for climate in U.S. history.* Roughly 80% of IRA benefits in republican districts.* More than 400,000 new clean energy jobs have been created since the passage of IRA.* Texas and Iowa lead on wind energy generation.* Utility-scale solar is the cheapest form of energy, in most places.* America is All In initiative* My op-ed in Rolling Stone: What Now for Climate under Trump? Act Locally* Almost half the drinking water in the country is contaminated.* They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah BlakeCredits: This episode was made possible with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. This show is produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me (Ayana), with help from Jenisha Shrestha. Thank you to WBUR and Grist for hosting us, and many thanks to Gina McCarthy. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s episode is a very sweet reunion with my former podcast co-host Alex Blumberg. Alex and I co-created How to Save a Planet, which ran for 2 years as Spotify’s flagship climate show. This episode opens with the hilariously unlikely origin story of our fab collab. (Note: When you hit play, remember to also follow this podcast :)Podcast nerds will be familiar with Alex’s work, but for the rest: Alex was a longtime producer at This American Life, one of the biggest radio/podcast shows of all-time. He went on to co-create to show Planet Money, and then co-founded Gimlet Media, a podcast company that launched huge shows like Reply All and Science Vs. Gimlet also made How to Save a Planet. This was our first time back in a recording studio together since 2022. He’s now retired from podcasting — he hung up his headphones and launched something entirely different, something that makes him a legitimate guest on this show about getting it right on climate. What exactly is that something? Well, Alex taught me the importance of a good narrative tease, so if you want to find out, you’re just going to have to listen.Alex’s CALLS TO ACTION* Less hectoring and less judgment and more doing. Just figure out something to do that can affect somebody beyond you. (Climate Venn anyone?)* Join your condo/HOA boards to advocate for clean energy and energy efficiency measuresMentioned in the episode:* How to Save a Planet — check out the back catalog on Spotify or Apple* Alex’s company: Daisy Chain Energy* Buildings and construction account for 38% of CO2 emissions globally—cement manufacturing alone accounts for 8%* NYC’s building energy grading law requires buildings to benchmark their energy and water consumption. (Get an A on* NYC’s Local Law 97 (enacted in 2019) aims to drive deep emissions cuts from buildings, which are responsible for more than two-thirds of NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions.* IRS residential clean energy credit (30% of installation cost)CREDITSThis episode was made possible with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity.This show is produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me (Ayana), with help from Jenisha Shrestha. And many thanks to our guest Alex Blumberg. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

A tale of over-ups, poison, sludge, and the last bipartisan environmental issue. They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake is a true crime story on the scale of what the tobacco and fossil fuel industries have done to knowingly imperil our health and our futures. But this book also highlights what’s possible when unlikely advocates, regular folks, come together and unite for a common cause. In other words, there are heroes in this story too.The book is a landmark investigation that required years of her on-the-ground reporting and reviewing tens of thousands of documents. The topic is PFAS, substances that are more commonly called “forever chemicals.” Mariah's book tells the story of these incredibly dangerous substances and the lives they’ve impacted — from their genesis in the Manhattan Project, to becoming so ubiquitous that they are present in the blood of virtually every human being, and in the drinking water of about half the people in America.Mariah Blake is an incredible investigative journalist. She’s written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, The New Republic, and other publications. She was a Murrey Marder Nieman Fellow in Watchdog Journalism at Harvard University. And I was truly honored that she asked me to be in conversation with her to launch her book tour.As Mariah explains, PFAS chemicals affect us all. And her reporting especially timely because just last week the Environmental Protection Agency announced that they plan to weaken restrictions for certain forever chemicals in our drinking water.CALLS TO ACTION:* Advocate for stricter standards and a class-wide ban on PFAS. Find a local organization working on this and join them. (Like Brunswick Area Citizens for a Safe Environment, some of whose members were in the live audience.) Track your state’s progress here.* Reduce your own PFAS exposure — use natural materials for cooking and storing food, filter drinking water (consider reverse osmosis, look for NSF certification).Mentioned in the episode:* Mariah’s book:They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals* Washington Post’s review of Mariah’s book: Chemical makers they the harm. It didn’t matter.* News: EPA will weaken rule curbing ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water* News: Massive Brunswick PFAS spill is Maine’s largest ever firefighting foam contamination* Op-ed in Washington Post (coining the term ‘forever chemicals’): The EPA is trying to regulate 6 forever chemicals. Just 10,000 to go.* News: America’s Dairyland May Have a PFAS Problem* Story of Fred Stone: The curious case of tainted milk from a Maine dairy farm* News: Maine bans use of sewage sludge on farms to reduce risk of PFAS poisoning* News:Taco Bell to remove chemicals of concern from packaging* Overview of NSF certification* Research Article: Outside the Safe Operating Space of a New Planetary Boundary for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)* Research Article: Historical Comparison of Perfluorooctanesulfonate, Perfluorooctanoate, and Other Fluorochemicals in Human BloodCREDITS: This podcast was made possible in part with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. It’s produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, with help from Jenisha Shrestha. Thank you to This episode was taped in front of a live audience at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine for hosting this event. And many thanks to our guest Mariah Blake. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest, Sarah Stillman, is a Pulitzer and MacArthur genius award-winning journalist. She founded and leads the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale, and she's been a staff writer at The New Yorker for about a decade. Sarah’s writing typically focuses on our immigration and justice systems, but increasingly (and in some part due to my nudges), she's also writing about climate change.Sarah's first piece about climate was an essay, “Like the Monarch,” she wrote for my first book, All We Can Save, an anthology I co-edited with the wonderful Dr. Katherine Wilkinson. And, fun fact, Sarah is also a very dear friend. During the pandemic we would have long telephone conversations while we were going on walks in the woods on opposite coasts. We’d talk about work and writing and climate change, and also dating and family and heartache — the whole spectrum of comedy of errors that is life. 🫠I am so excited to let you in to one of our meandering, deep dive conversations. Welcome to the inner circle, with the one and only Sarah Stillman.Sarah's Calls to Action:* Interview the people you love about what they love about nature that they want to defend* Find something to investigate. Document the extreme weather events that are happening to you and the causes — and cite that climate attribution science* Support local and national public media. Visit your local public library.Mentioned in the episode:* Sarah's articles: The Migrant Workers Who Follow Climate Disasters; When Climate Change and Xenophobia Collide; 'The Missing White Girl Syndrome': Disappeared Women and Media Activism.* Her full New Yorker archive and website* International Refugee Assistance Project* Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale* ProPublica’s investigative series on Sacrifice Zones: Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air PollutionCREDITS: This podcast was made possible in part with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. It’s produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from Jenisha Shrestha. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

Hey there Earthlings. 💛 We’re talking sustainability and fashion, again. It’s a major industry impacting the environment and shaping the cultural context within which we make climate decisions... and I may be overcompensating for having not given fashion a chapter in the What If We Get It Right? book.A few weeks ago, I shared here a conversation on Sustainable Fashion and the Art of Care with supermodel/artist Cameron Russell. And what better time to continue this discussion than in the wake of the 2025 Met Gala. Our guest this week is phenom Gabriela Hearst, a super-eco designer.I spoke with Gabi in her Manhattan studio, at a table she’s had for decades, on chairs she’d upcycled. We discussed her commitment to sustainability across her entire supply chain, how she turned iconic French fashion house Chloe into a B-corp while she was creative director there, how growing up on a ranch in Uruguay informed her worldview and approach to climate work, and her complete obsession with fusion power.GABI’S CALLS TO ACTION* Be kind. Reach for the balance of heart and mind.* Meditate — just close your eyes and breathe.* Buy less. Buy high quality items that will last.REFERENCES:* Gabriela Hearst at COP27 - Fusion: Clean Energy for All* Overview of B-Corp* Article on Designers for Democracy* Fossil fuels account for 82% of global energy mix.* More than 23 million people face severe hunger due to drought in Horn of Africa.CREDITS: Produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from assistant producer Jenisha Shrestha. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe

This week, I’m chatting with Jainey Bavishi, an expert in climate adaptation and resilience. We cover everything from social aid and pleasure clubs, to recovering from climate disasters, civic infrastructure, why we should absolutely not privatize weather forecasts, and – of course! – what getting it right in coastal cities looks like, in New York City, New Orleans, and beyond. I’m so glad to be sharing this conversation with you, because local action matters so much right now.One in seven people in the U.S. live in coastal cities — that’s more than 47 million Americans. Plus, the U.S. coastal economy supports 54.6 million jobs and contributes $10 trillion to our total GDP. And this is certainly not a so-called "coastal elite" issue — poverty and unemployment rates are higher in coastal cities than the national average. Plus, coastal areas face the threats of sea level rise and storms made stronger and more damaging by climate change. Climate adaptation for coastal cities is what we work on at Urban Ocean Lab, the nonprofit policy think tank I co-founded, and where Jainey is an advisor. But Jainey and I first met back in 2011, when we both worked in Washington, DC in the policy office at the headquarters of NOAA, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. She’s since gone on to work in the Obama White House, served as the director of climate resiliency for the City of New York, and headed back to DC to be the deputy administrator for the entire federal agency of NOAA under the Biden Administration. Now, she is a Senior Climate Resilience Fellow at the University of Miami.JAINEY’s CALLS TO ACTION* Take care of yourselves and take care of your communities.* Invest in civic infrastructure, like mutual aid organizations.* Call your member of Congress and ask them to protect NOAA and defend the services it provides.REFERENCES* Urban Ocean Lab policy think tank for climate adaptation in coastal cities (and our Urban Ocean Lab Substack newsletter)* New York City’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project* Rebuild By Design’s Big U Project* California’s $10M Bond Act (Proposition 4 Spending Plan)* University of Miami Climate Resilience Institute* NOAA Programs under attack:* Office for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research* National Estuarine Research Reserves* National Coastal Zone Management Program* Sea Grant Program* National Weather Service* In New York City, scientists project sea levels could rise up to six feet by 2100.* During Superstorm Sandy, although 85% of the wetlands in New York and New Jersey had already been destroyed by development, what little remained prevented $625 million of damage.CREDITS: Produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from Jenisha Shrestha and many thanks to our guest Jainey Bavishi. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe