A few summers ago, I went to my friend’s house for a gathering (you know how much I love gatherings!) and met a woman named Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Excuse me—Doctor Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. There is much to be said about Ayana. She is so many things to so many people that it’s hard to summarize them all in one short intro. She’s a marine biologist, author, climate solutions aficionado, and policy expert who has developed U.S. federal ocean policy at the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She is also the biggest ball of light and joy and someone who you will never find missing from a dance floor, ever, if you’re lucky enough to be tearing it up with her.
Proof that the dance floor is always in full effect with Ayana. Video from my 40th birthday extravaganza featuring special appearances by Raquel Willis, Nelini Stamp, and Questlove on the ones and twos:
Ayana and I immediately bonded and soon became friends—best friends, I would even dare to say. I chuckled to myself as I wrote those words because one of the many reasons I really admire and love Ayana is because of her honesty and her ability to put things bluntly while still bundling them up with love. For instance, years ago I gave her a copy of my book Era of Ignition and asked for her honest opinion. She enjoyed it, but had two points of feedback: 1. I was WAY wrong for calling my mom’s ideas about carbon capturing “hippie nonsense,” and she shared this piece on how effective it actually is. (Ugh, I still cringe that I wrote that. Sorry, Mom!) and 2. I referred to the contributors of the book as “my friends” too much. Yes, many of them are my friends, but her critique was that by stating that fact constantly throughout the book, it was like a weird humble brag that detracted from the work standing on its own two feet. I was truly horrified, because she was absolutely right. So now I call her one of my best friends all the time as a nod to this exchange, and also, because she is. #HumbleBrag
Ayana is also a celebrated author who, along with Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, co-edited the 2020 book All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. At our local restaurant and bar in Brooklyn where Ayana and I became regulars, the bartender was such a fan of Ayana’s work, he placed a copy of the book on the shelf to display. I don’t remember if it was this same night or a different night—there were always so many Negronis, but who’s counting?—that Hurricane Ida struck and all of New York flooded to hell. Ayana and I, quite tipsy, had just gotten our sweet potato fries when the entire place started gushing with water. We very casually got up on our chairs and sat on the bar eating our fries while watching the river tear through the restaurant. “Well…this is going to be fun!” Ayana said. (I think she said that or something like it. Either way, I reserve the right to write dialogue, whether true or false, for my bestest friend.)
Everyone scattered into the pounding rain that night as Ida beat down on the whole city, and Ayana and I ran to my house which was close by. There, we spent hours drinking the best peanut butter whiskey around and helping my husband, David, sweep out what water we could from our completely flooded basement. “Welcome to the future!” Ayana (probably) said that night, still with a smile on her face, dancing around the basement with a broom and helping to push the water down the sump pump drain.
This is the thing about Ayana: even in the most grim and ironic scenarios (the climate expert sweeping gallons of water out of her friend’s basement during a hurricane taking place due to climate change), she always finds a way to bring joy, humor, and some kind of optimism to it all. It’s probably due to her decades of work in one of the bleakest studies—climate change and the destruction of our planet as we know it. But this is what makes her different and what makes her message—that there is still optimism to be had in the face of the ever-encroaching climate crisis—so powerful. That message radiates in her new book (which comes out tomorrow!), What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures. (She’s also started an amazing newsletter here on Substack under the same title and with that same beautiful vision in mind. How lucky are we?!)
“Our climate future is not yet written,” Ayana writes, “What if we act as if we love the future? Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side.” That is exactly what Ayana does in this vital collection of conversations, essays, and poems, not only leading us through the practicals of how and why we must participate in this work, but giving us a roadmap to believing in our future again instead of writing this planet off as something already doomed and done for.
For our interview series, I sat down with my very, very, closest, most bestest best friend to talk about her incredible new book; how art, music, and design can be used to introduce complex topics in an accessible way; and the surprising connection between which bank you use and your impact on the environment. (Truly, that banking thing shocked me.) I hope you enjoy it! And make sure to catch Ayana on her book tour starting tomorrow night in Brooklyn!
Want to get involved with climate solutions but don’t know where to start? You can download Ayana’s Climate Action Venn Diagram (discussed in the interview) here to figure out exactly how you—specifically you—can help with climate solutions in a way that excites and energizes you.
Love,
Amber
More from today’s conversation:
Urban Ocean Lab
The All We Can Save Project
How to Save a Planet (podcast)
Patagonia
Science & Society at Pioneer Works
Green New Deal
"This Living" by Amber Tamblyn (The New Yorker)
"What to Do with Climate Emotions" by Jia Tolentino (The New Yorker)
Dark Sparkler by Amber Tamblyn
Banking on Climate Chaos
Boris Khentov of Betterment
Definition of "fintech"
Environmental Voter Project
Lead Locally
Olalekan Jeyifous
The Day After Tomorrow
Girls5eva
Note: This interview was recorded prior to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic presidential nomination.
REMINDER: The first official virtual gathering of our new series, The Short and Sweet, will take place over Zoom on Sunday, September 29th from 1-2pm ET. Our inaugural gathering will be a political decompression and discussion on how to turn election anxiety into action. (You are welcome to have your camera and microphone on or off and participate as much or as little in the conversation as you'd like to.) Bring something to write with, as the last few minutes will consist of a more tangible release of our collective election fears on paper. The Zoom link will be emailed to paid subscribers thirty minutes before the start of the Zoom.
Further Ado: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson