How Trump Plans to Gut the Environment to Pay for Iran (w/Ayana Elizabeth Johnson)

Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While the war with Iran rages on, President Trump has asked Congress for a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, offset in part by further draconian cuts to environmental programs. This week, Stacey is joined by marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, to talk about what climate scientists and activists can still do in the face of an administration that pretends the climate crisis doesn’t exist. They talk about the environmental impacts of military conflict, how race plays into climate politics, and how local action is a powerful frontier when fighting the crisis. With Earth Day and the paperback release of Johnson’s book, “What If We Get It Right?” coming up, they also focus on reframing the conversation around what is possible if we continue to fight for change.

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Learn & Do More:

Be Curious: Pick up a copy of Dr. Johnson’s smart, action-oriented book “What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate Futures”
Solve Problems: Join a local group like Sunrise Movement (for youth), Third Act (for seniors), and Citizens Climate Lobby, 350.org, Surfrider, and the Sierra Club for everyone. And finally, visit the Environmental Voter Project at environmentalvoter.org to donate and get involved. Together, you can let your state and local electeds know it is time for city governments to take the lead when it comes to protecting our climate and environment, and demand that candidates for local office commit to supporting pro-environmental policies. The fossil fuel industry is often inadvertently financed by us through our investment portfolios. Make sure to take a closer look at where your money is and divest from fossil fuels.
Do Good: The 10 Steps Campaign in partnership with the National Domestic Workers Association, The National Educators Association, The American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, and others have launched the Read Them Home Initiative – a 12 hour vigil and month-long activation to call attention to the scourge of family detention centers. We are encouraging participants to pick your favorite children’s story, record yourself reading and post it to social media - every child deserves a story of hope.Visit readthemhome.org to learn more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams from Cricket Media.
0:12.3	I'm your host, Stacey Abrams.
0:14.6	With so many competing problems that are dominating the news, the climate crisis has receded from the headlines,
0:22.3	but not from our reality. Today's episode with Dr. Ayanna, Elizabeth Johnson, brings that
0:28.9	conversation back home, exploring how our energy and climate choices impact issues like
0:35.2	the war in Iran, the deregulation of corporate pollution, the expansion
0:39.4	of environmental injustice, and the implications for immigration's next massive challenge.
0:45.6	I personally spent this last week in Dilley, Texas, launching the Ten Steps campaign
0:50.8	Read Them Home Initiative, which brings together national and local organizations
0:56.0	to use reading as a public act of care, resistance, and demand for change on behalf of the
1:03.6	families being held indefinitely in the Dilley Family Detention Center. As a writer and an
1:10.1	activist, the origin of the vigil and this
1:13.2	initiative was to focus our attention on how critical books are, children's books are,
1:20.0	to learning about who we are. I talk about this and the climate issue because both are about what we dream, what we imagine,
1:31.0	what we need to know. One of my dreams as a kid and well into my freshman year of college
1:36.4	was the dream of space. You see, my older sister, Andrea, was the only person in our family
1:43.4	who had a separate TV. There was one in the living room.
1:46.0	And then for her senior graduation gift, my aunt and uncle gave her TV. And it was the height of joy when Andrea invited you into her room to watch a show with her.
1:59.3	And I got the invitation in 1987 to come and watch this weird new show called Star Trek
2:05.4	The Next Generation.
2:07.6	And it blew my mind.
2:10.0	It wasn't the first time I'd seen a show about space, but it was one of the best.
	...

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