Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — What If We Get This Right?

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Society, Spirituality, Society & Culture, Sociology, Culture, Science, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Social Sciences, On Being, Arts

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amidst all of the perspectives and arguments around our ecological future, this much is true: we are not in the natural world — we are part of it. The next-generation marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson would let that reality of belonging show us the way forward. She loves the ocean. She loves human beings. And she’s animated by questions emerging from those loves — and from the science she does — which we scarcely know how to take seriously amidst so much demoralizing bad ecological news. This hour, Krista draws out her creative and pragmatic inquiry: Could we let ourselves be led by what we already know how to do, and by what we have it in us to save? What, she asks, if we get this right?

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Being With Christa Tippett is supported in part by the Fetzer Institute, helping build the
0:04.8	Spiritual Foundation for a loving world. Fetzer's sharing spiritual heritage report asks,
0:10.8	how will we reimagine our spiritual infrastructure for today's time? Learn more at Fetzer.org.
0:18.3	Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson is a next-generation marine biologist. She loves the ocean. She loves
0:25.7	human beings, and she's animated by questions emerging from those loves and from science,
0:32.2	which we scarcely know how to take seriously amid so much demoralizing, bad ecological news.
0:39.9	This hour, we join her creative and pragmatic inquiry. Can we let ourselves be led by what we
0:46.9	already know how to do and by what we have it in us to save? What, she asks, if we get this right?
1:01.4	I'm Christa Tippett, and this is on Being. I interviewed Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson before a small
1:07.0	audience at the 2022 TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. So Ayanna, you and I met on as one does
1:20.8	on Twitter. Yes, and it's so lovely to experience you in all this dimensionality and flesh.
1:27.1	Yeah, at least three dimensions. So I will formally introduce you. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
1:39.4	is a marine biologist, a policy expert, and writer, and a Brooklyn native. I think that's an
1:45.2	important part of your credential. That is an important credential. She is co-founder of the
1:50.3	Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for coastal cities. She co-created Spotify, Gimlet's podcast,
1:57.0	how to save a planet on climate solutions. She co-edited this beautiful climate anthology,
2:03.8	which I had not discovered until now, and I so recommend it. All we can save, truth, courage,
2:09.3	and solutions for the climate crisis. And also your co-founder of the All We Can Save project,
2:15.2	which I recommend that people look up online. I love how you stress in the description of that
2:22.2	work that you're nurturing the we in that All We Can Save. People mistydle that book all the time
2:30.4	as all you can save. And I'm like, you've already entirely missed the point of the book.
2:37.7	And I have also been fortunate to read a bit of a book in becoming a manuscript,
	...

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