WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT?
This podcast focuses on climate solutions and the practical steps needed to address the climate crisis, from legal changes to building electrification and improvements in fashion and media. Each week, host Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson invites an expert guest to explore these topics in an engaging way. The show aims to help listeners envision a positive climate future and work toward making that vision a reality.
Episodes
A critical local election in the sunniest state 🌅 with Clara Pratte
This week and next we’ve got two episodes for you, all four are conversations with climate candidates — running for local office, for governor, and for congress. In other words, a sampling of people we’d love to be calling the shots in the halls of power, and a glimpse of the good changes they would lead us toward. Home stretch to Election Day, Earthlings. 🌎 Get involved — no regrets on Nov 4th!Ou
Climate villains, TikTokers, grandkids, and the messages that break through 📢 with Jamie Henn
As we know, facts are not enough to win on climate — we need the right messages and the right messengers. So for this episode, we’re taking a step back to talk about climate communication with one of the very best in the biz, Jamie Henn. We cover everything from naming the villains, TikTok against Arctic drilling, Beyoncé as a clean energy acronym, and the under-leveraged power of grandkids.Jamie
The Fight for Public Lands 🏕️, with Patagonia + Protect Our Winters
This episode is a double feature, recorded live during NYC Climate Week in a Patagonia store. It’s about fighting to protect our public lands, leveraging outdoor athletes as effective advocates, and (once again) getting environmentalists to vote. Plus, the scoop on Patagonia’s get-out-the-vote project that will give you a $100 incentive for encouraging friends to vote. Today’s episode features:Eri
Mamdani’s team is making moves 🌇, with NYC’s Chief Climate Officer Louise Yeung
In honor of NYC Climate Week, we’re diving into the climate initiatives happening right here in this city. There is so much going on.Our guest is Louise Yeung, New York City’s Chief Climate Officer.We interviewed Louise to give you a real sense of what we actually get when we elect someone who is committed to climate justice. Spoiler: We get a lot of good stuff!We covered everything from battery-p
Rewind: Connecting the dots on climate and democracy 🔄 with Stacey Abrams
First, happy 2nd birthday to What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures (the book version). Thank you for welcoming it into the world so warmly (NYT bestseller! 10,000+ of you coming to book tour events!) that it continues on in podcast form. 💛✨If you haven't yet checked it out, find the (massively updated) paperback edition at your local library or bookstore. The 20 interviews it contai
Clean energy super PAC says “don’t mess with solar” ☀️💰, with Tom Matzzie
The clean energy industry is getting aggressive, Super PAC style. And, honestly, it’s pretty exciting.Our guest this episode is Tom Matzzie, founder and CEO of Clean Choice Energy, an energy supplier whose mission is to make clean energy accessible to all. Highly relevant: he’s also a veteran political strategist.Clean energy entrepreneurs and advocates have largely relied on affordability, effici
How the climate movement can build political power 🌎💪🏽 with Nathaniel Stinnett
The environmental movement has a voter turnout problem: 11.2 million environmental voters did not vote in the 2024 election. Over 11 MILLION! That’s over half of the people who say climate/environment is their #1 voting issue.On the one hand: Are you kidding me?! WTF 😖 — especially when elections are often decided by mere thousands of votes. On the other hand: So much room for improvement!So, what
Climate hushing, EVs 🔌 and creating “The Carbon Wave,” with Leah Stokes
Welcome to Season 5 of What If We Get It Right? 💫 While it may seem counterintuitive given the electoral subject matter, Bill McKibben and I are having a blast gabbing with all these wonderful folks who work on climate and politics.Our first guest is Dr. Leah Stokes, professor of environmental politics, energy policy wonk, activist, and writer. During the Biden administration, she also became a DC
Trailer: Ayana and Bill McKibben are teaming up as podcast co-hosts! ✨
Season 5 of the What If We Get It Right? podcast is dedicated to environmental issues in the midterm elections — what’s at stake and how the planet can win. We are going to get INTO IT. Perhaps grappling with this requires a dynamic duo? Well, it can’t hurt. I’m thrilled to be co-hosting this season with the magnificent and wise journalist, activist, and OG climate legend Bill McKibben. We’ve been
On reciprocity, photosynthesis, and berries 🍓 with Robin Wall Kimmerer
Earlier this month at College of the Atlantic, I was over the moon to speak alongside the one and only Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist, teacher, Earth lover and legendary author of Braiding Sweetgrass.Our conversation went deeper than I expected — but that’s on me for not having higher expectations! We discussed everything from the value of books in this age of shrinking attention spans, to how to s
What climate leadership looks like in Maine 🌲, with Hannah Pingree
This conversation had an odd effect on me. I found it... relaxing? To hear a politician speaking competently, calmly, clearly, practically and with nuance about climate policy was so soothing, reassuring. More of this please!How can we make things happen when your federal leaders are climate deniers in the pocket of fossil fuel industry? One answer is that state government leaders need to majorly
Climate Wayfinding 🧭 with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
Today’s conversation is a special one. I’m joined by someone who’s been a collaborator and a dear friend in this work: Katharine K. Wilkinson.And tomorrow, May 5th, is publication day for Katharine's new book that’s the culmination of the last 5 years of her work — or perhaps of her lifetime. It’s called Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home.It’s such an important book
An Ocean Love Story 🐠
In the spirit of the What If We Get It Right? paperback launch, sharing an excerpt of the audiobook. The heart of this audiobook is 20 interviews with people who have shaped my understanding of the answer to the titular question. It’s kind of like a whole season of a podcast packaged up with essays by me and poetry by others. Also, ahem, the audiobook was a finalist for the Audie Award. (If you’re
Rewind: That time we made a Climate Variety Show. 🤪
Back in September 2024, on the day my book What If We Get It Right? was published, I did one of the most absurd and delightful things I’ve ever done. I co-hosted an over-the-top goofy Climate Variety Show with actor Jason Sudeikis at the Brooklyn Museum. Sold out crowd. Strong high school talent show energy. And we took the “variety” in variety show seriously – magic, music, hula hoops, comedy, co
For the love of nature, culture, and the future 💖 with Dr. Heidi Roop
Hello Earthlings, we are back with a new episode of the What If We Get It Right? podcast. This is the first episode of Season 4, which will be a short season — maybe 6 episodes? Not sure! We’ll see how it goes.Today’s conversation, with Dr. Heidi Roop, was recorded at The Great Northern festival’s Climate Solutions Series in Minneapolis on January 31st.Dr. Roop is an expert in climate science and
Winning the narrative battle 🎥, with dream hampton
Hello Earthlings! Welcome back to What If We Get It Right?While you and I know that we already have most of the climate solutions we need — it’s more a matter of how quickly and justly we are going to implement them — most people do not know this. And you kinda can’t blame them because most of the news, plus movies and TV and social media, focus on climate problems.This is a massive storytelling c
Earth is our only shareholder 🌏, with Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert
What if businesses got creative to unleash funding, political influence, and cultural clout to address our environmental challenges?What if corporations were driven not by maximizing quarterly earnings and shareholder profits, but by being good citizens of planet Earth?There are some companies truly trying to get it right. I happen to be on the board of one of them – the outdoor company Patagonia.
The Current Politics of Food and Farming 👨🌾 with Dave Herring
About a third of our climate problem is caused by agriculture and land use. So, what are we gonna do about it?One key solution is shifting to regenerative agriculture, aka growing food in ways that are actually good for soil and ecosystems and water and air.Our guest this episode is Dave Herring, executive director of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment. It’s is a farm-based ed
How to deal with the heat 🌎🥵 with Jainey Bavishi and Jeff Goodell
Today’s episode is all about HEAT, that climate change bummer from which so many other impacts ripple out. The Earth is hotter now than at any other point in all of human history. From our homes and our jobs, to our policies and culture, how do we adapt? My guests for grappling with all this are Jainey Bavishi and Jeff Goodell.Jainey served as deputy head of NOAA under President Biden, and as head
How do you convince a room full of influential people to care about climate change… in 6 minutes? 🎤
Last week, I received the TIME Earth Award at the TIME100 Next gala. I worked really hard on my acceptance speech because it was an opportunity to recruit those 100 culture-shaping rising stars to get more involved in climate solutions. We need them! I’m sharing this speech with you in the hopes that hearing the way I speak about climate issues in rooms of power will encourage you to also speak up
Climate hushing, fart jokes, and love. 😝 John Marshall on how to market climate action.
For those of us trying to advance climate solutions (go team!), there’s always the question of how to be more impactful, how to bring more people along with us into this work. And often the answer is not fancier technology or more brilliant policy, it’s more compelling communication for recruiting and persuasion.Today’s podcast guest, John Marshall, is an expert in marketing. He spent the first ha
Presenting — Sabotage: The Splat 🥫🖼️
Almost exactly three years ago (Oct 14, 2022) a couple of climate activists hurled tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers.” It got a whole bunch of press. Do you remember this? Did you ever look into who did it and why?Well, this week on the What If We Get It Right? podcast, we’re gonna get to the bottom of it. I’m sharing the first episode of the climate podcast Sabotage: “The Spl
What now for climate law? ⚖️ Abigail Dillen has answers.
This week I’m chatting with environmental lawyer Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm whose tagline is “because the Earth needs a good lawyer.” Indeed, it does.The stakes, in her words: “We could come out of this time with neither presidential authority nor congressional authority to create, and enforce strong environmental laws.”Oof. But we are not quitters, right team?
Climate Change vs. Coffee, Wine, and Chocolate ☕️🍷🍫 with Sam Kass
Food is a major driver of our environmental problems. It uses ~38% of Earth’s land, drives ~70% of our water use, and emits ~22-34% of our greenhouse gas pollution globally. I know it’s not popular to say it, but a lot of that impact is driven by beef and dairy.On the one hand, agriculture is driving deforestation and warming the planet. And on the other hand, our changed climate is determining wh
My conversation with Jane Goodall 🐒🌿🕊️, on hope, courage, and action.
"Every single day you live you make a difference in the world, and you get to choose the difference that you make." — Jane GoodallLast week, when I heard that Jane Goodall had died, it knocked the wind out of me. It hit me as more than a loss; it felt like the end of an era. A naturalist, a deep thinker, an expert, and so elegant, Jane's animals, of nature, set the bar for how much we each could a
What now for clean energy? ⛅️ with Jigar Shah
Today’s guest is Jigar Shah, a clean energy entrepreneur who served as director of the Loan Program Office in the US Department of Energy during the Biden administration. Previously, he was co-founder of Generate Capital, founder of Sun Edison, and founding CEO of the Carbon War Room. Now, he’s advising clean energy companies. He’s also a devout optimist. (I know, go figure.)I interviewed Jigar fo
We're going to the electric store, ⚡️ with Ari Matusiak
Earthlings, hello! 👋🏽 This week’s guest is Ari Matusiak, CEO of Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on accelerating the clean energy transition.With the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits expiring on December 31st, I wanted to sit down with Ari to talk about our energy bills, how we can still install heat pumps and more before those incentives run out, how your home could become
How to Prepare for (Climate) Disasters 🚨, with Dr. Samantha Montano
This August marked 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation that storm had across the Gulf South is still reverberating throughout the country. Today I’m talking with Dr. Samantha Montano, a professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and co-founder of Disaster Researchers for Justice. She wrote a great book called Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines
Photons ☀️, Fogies 👴🏼, and Energy Liberation, with Bill McKibben
Welcome to Season 3 of the What If We Get It Right? podcast! 🥳 If you’re new here: This show is about what we need to do to address the climate crisis, and how to make those things happen. Here, we take climate change seriously but absolutely do not take ourselves seriously. We take a brutally honest look at the science, policy, economics, and culture of climate issues, and dive in on solutions an
WIWGIR Season 3 Trailer 🎙️
Hey there Earthlings. 🌎 Season 3 is launching next week! Thus, here’s a trailer with tidbits from previous seasons to get you stoked. We’ve got a dozen ace guests booked, and 4 episodes already recorded. We’re diving all the way in — on clean energy, FEMA, farming, messaging, and so much more. I’ll be re-interviewing a few of the experts I interviewed for my book because, turns out, some things ha
Away From the Brink
I'm aiming to live a more analog life in August (🛶🥾🏕️), so, until September, leaving you with this summer listening: an excerpt from my audiobook, the chapter titled “Away From the Brink.” To remind you, that book (which inspired this podcast) is What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures.This chapter is essentially my answer to the BIG question: What if we get it right? What would that
Debriefing the unconscionably brutal budget bill 🤬, with Twigg & Jenkins
Hey there Earthlings. 🩵 If you’ve been paying any attention to U.S. politics, these past 2 weeks have been a doozy.So, let’s get into the Big Brutal Billionaire Bailout Bill of it all. Welcome to this very special collab episode of What If We Get It Right? x Twigg & Jenkins. Carri Twigg (hey bestie) and Brad Jenkins (who was her officemate in the Obama White House) host my favorite politics podcas
Are you f*$%ing kidding me with this budget bill
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 fo
Investing in our climate future 💸, with Ben Wolkon
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 u
9 ways to feel about our changing planet 🌎, with Dr. Kate Marvel
Today is publication day for our favorite climate scientist. Dr. Kate Marvel wrote a book called Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. Kate is a researcher at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (one of the world’s leading research centers), where she specializes in climate modeling. Although, given the various infuriating, retrograde, anti-climate science shenanigans
Climate influencers, organizers, education 👩🏻🏫, and Texas, with Alexia Leclercq
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 c
EPA, IRA, WTF 🤬, with Gina McCarthy
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
A sweet How to Save a Planet reunion 🎙️, plus electrifying buildings 🌇, with Alex Blumberg
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:
The true crime story of forever chemicals ⚠️, with Mariah Blake
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
Investigative journalism 📝 and climate migration, with Sarah Stillman
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 f
Fashion, fabrics, and fusion ⚡️, with Gabriela Hearst
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 supe
The Future of Coastal Cities 🏙️, with Jainey Bavishi
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
The Wild World of Environmental Law ⚖️, with Michael Burger
What the heck is going on in environmental law right now? Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University’s has some answers for us. In this episode, we talk federal climate funding, the billions of dollars that are at stake (frozen, impounded, and otherwise), and what’s going on with climate law at the international and local levels.Michael’s C
Sustainable fashion and the art of care 🧶, with Cameron Russell
This episode, we're talking sustainable fashion and the simple joys of care and repair with supermodel, author, activist, and friend Cameron Russell. Also: why stats on the climate impacts of fashion are super sketchy.If you haven’t heard of Cameron, chances are you’ve seen her. As a model, she’s appeared on many magazine covers for Vogue and Elle, and on runways and billboards for brands like Pra
How What We Watch Changes Our World 📺, with Carri Twigg
Greetings, Earthlings! 🌏 Welcome to Season 2 of the What If We Get It Right? podcast.If you’re new here (hi!) let me quickly read you in: I wrote a book called What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures (which became a NY Times Bestseller! 😮). The heart of that book is 20 interviews with people sharing what getting it right on climate could look like and how we can make those visions int
Playing the Long Game on Policy Change 🩵, with Jean Flemma
My guest this episode is The Jean Flemma. Jean spent over two decades working on Capitol Hill as staff to members of Congress, making magic behind the scenes over and over again. She is an absolute wizard of ocean and climate policy and the politics of achieving policy change. Jean and I co-founded Urban Ocean Lab, a nonprofit think tank for the future of coastal cities. So you’ll hear a bit about
On making the world softer and safer ❤️🩹, with Rhiana Gunn-Wright
In the last few months, the term “Green New Deal” has been popping up a lot again. And it’s the Trump administration bringing it up — as a boogeyman, as a foil for everything his crew fears about accelerating the clean energy transition.So I thought it would be a good time to discuss: What actually is the Green New Deal? How far have we gotten on implementing the concepts it includes? And why do t
A feel-good holiday episode 💝, with poet Steve Connell
Near the end of my book tour, I found myself gazing up at those large concrete guard lions outside the New York Public Library, astounded to be entering for an event about my book.The occasion was all the more sweet because it was a family affair: I was in conversation with my cousin Steve Connell, whose incredible poem “This Living Earth” appears in my book (and which you get to hear him read in
Don't get it twisted 🤨, a conversation with my fact checker
I was originally going to title this episode “Facts Matter,” but instead chose the 90s hiphop version of that sentiment, as I’m prone to do.Today, we are peeling back the curtain on how I achieved the maximum possible accuracy and precision in my book What If We Get It Right?: I hired a fact checker named James Gaines.James is a freelance science writer, journalist, and fact checker with a special
Until the sun blows up ☀️ with adrienne maree brown
I am home from my book tour (50 days!) and it feels soooo good. 😮💨 Towards the end of the tour, in Detroit, Michigan, I got the chance to sit down with adrienne maree brown. We’d been following each other’s work for years, and it was such a treat to gab and snack and joke in person.adrienne is a best-selling author, activist, facilitator, a songwriter, a poet, and doula. She also has a new book o
The questions we ask matter 🧐, with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
Hi everyone. We recorded this episode before Election Day, when we had no idea what new version of the world this would reach you in. Wherever and however this finds you, I hope you’ll enjoy this sweet and lighthearted conversation with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, the Georgia-native, social scientist, bestselling writer, strategist, teacher, and dear friend with whom I co-edited the All We Can Save a
What the Ocean Loses 🌊 if Trump Wins
Election Day is TOMORROW, y’all. 🫠 So I thought the best conversation to share with you right now would be one about some of the really important progress the Biden-Harris administration has made on ocean and climate policy. This progress is very much at risk if Trump and his fossil-fuel funded, climate-denying cronies end up back in the White House. This conversation took place in Washington, DC
Whiskey 🥃, Home, and Showing Up — with Colette Pichon Battle and Jade Begay
This episode is about the importance of home and community. It’s about the role of culture, of traditions, of protecting democracy, and how all of that is woven together in the context of the climate threats that we’re facing.This is a conversation with two incredible and grounded women: Colette Pichon Battle, attorney and co-founder of climate justice organization Taproot Earth, and Jade Begay, a
Love politics 💛 with Bill McKibben and Abigail Dillen
Recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, for the Climate One radio show and podcast, this episode features journalist and environmental legend Bill McKibben, founder of Third Act, and tenacious environmental attorney, Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice. Both are interviewed in What If We Get It Right?, but we covered new ground here, together: fossils for fossil fuels, changes in
Connecting the dots with Stacey Abrams
I’ve always been impressed with Stacey Abrams from afar, so when I got an invitation to be directly in conversation with her, I was thrilled. In addition to her political leadership, Abrams is also a small business owner, a New York Times best-selling author, and —something far fewer people know — a champion for clean energy and climate justice.In 2023, Abrams joined the team at Rewiring America a
Vote Climate ✅, with Nathaniel Stinnett and Whit Jones
The environmental movement has a voter turnout problem: 8 million environmental voters did not vote in the 2020 election. Eight MILLION! In a presidential election decided by thousands of votes. This 2024 election is similarly, stressfully close.On September 20th, at Bowdoin College (where I teach), I sat down with Whit Jones, founder and executive director of Lead Locally, and Nathaniel Stinnett,
Climate Variety Show 🚀 AKA my book launch with Jason Sudeikis
Welcome to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT?: the podcast! Here, we'll continue exploring answers to the big (huge!) question “What if we get it right?”, beyond what’s in the (New York Times bestselling!!! 😮) book. Our vibe is to take climate seriously, but don't take yourself seriously. Irreverent, nerdy, soulful, goofy.I’m on a 7-week book tour 🫠 across the USA, and I’m taking you with me: 20 cities, 40
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