'What If We Get It Right?' envisions new possibilities for our climate future

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

It can be difficult to feel optimistic when faced with the existential threat of climate change. But a new book from marine biologist and writer Ayana Elizabeth Johnson asks us to imagine a different version of our climate future: one in which things work out. What If We Get It Right? is a collection of essays and interviews with environmental experts, farmers, advocates, architects, investors and others on what it would look like to "get it right" on climate change. In today's episode, Johnson speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about tailoring climate conversations for different audiences, moving from an extractive to a regenerative economy in this decade and the effort it will take to create a new future.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Ampera's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Sometimes when it comes to climate change,
0:07.6	the news brings you stories that are mostly gloom and doom, right? That a giant meteor is coming
0:12.8	and there is nothing you or I can do to stop it. I'm guilty of this too, you know, with all the
0:18.2	dystopian fiction we talk about on here. But anyway, today's book is not that.
0:23.0	It's a survey of the current situation and an exclamation that we already have the tools
0:28.7	we need to fix climate change.
0:31.0	The book is titled, What If We Get It Right by biologist Ianna Elizabeth Johnson?
0:35.4	Now, don't get me wrong, the book isn't naive about the
0:37.8	challenges. But she tells NPR's R. Shapiro that the doom and gloom conversations we've been
0:42.3	having are all wrong, and what she thinks a better conversation would sound like. That's coming up.
0:49.4	A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more.
0:56.5	On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15
1:02.6	minutes because no one's story can capture all that's happening in this big, crazy world of ours on any given morning.
1:10.1	Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR.
1:13.7	The title of a new book by Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson asks a provocative question,
1:19.6	What if we get it right? The it there is the climate crisis. Johnson structures this book
1:25.2	around 20 interviews with experts, ranging from architects to farmers to investors, and she asks all of them what getting it right on climate looks like in their slice of the world.
1:36.8	Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson, welcome to all things considered.
1:39.4	Thanks so much for having me.
1:40.7	This book is big and sweeping, and also it gets into some very specific details. So I want to
1:45.8	start very small. There is a phrase that comes up early in the book that totally stuck with me.
1:52.0	The phrase is, bring the seeds. Can you explain what that means and how it applies to the work
	...

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