“Do whatever you are good at, and do it in the service of climate justice” — A fireside chat with Dr. Ayana Johnson
By Bianca Santos
It was during 2020, amid my pandemic-stay-at-home “spending all my free time reading” stage, that a picture of a bright yellow book on my Twitter feed caught my eye. “All We Can Save” read the cover, “Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.” As a budding marine biologist concerned about climate change, the book piqued my interest, and I immediately jumped down the Google rabbit hole reading all about Dr. Ayana Johnson.
Dr. Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native, who works at the nexus of science, policy, and communication to bring communities together in the quest for climate solutions. “How have I not heard about Dr. Johnson earlier?!” Similar to Dr. Johnson, I am also deeply interested in the science-policy intersection and was excited to learn that we had both completed the same Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. During the following months, I began following Dr. Johnson across social media platforms, read (and fell in love with!) All We Can Save during winter break, and started listening to her new podcast, How to Save a Planet, over my morning coffee.
Fast forward to 2021, and the day an email came through my overcrowded inbox announcing Dr. Ayana Johnson as the guest speaker for Stanford’s 9th annual Schneider Memorial Lecture! After months of fangirling in private, I eagerly signed up. When the day finally arrived one late February afternoon, I made my favorite cup of tea, snagged the front row seat at my work-from-home desk setup, and ecstatically logged into Zoom.
Organized and sponsored by Students for a Sustainable Stanford, with additional support from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Dr. Johnson joined a fireside chat moderated by Dr. Emily Polk, an environmental justice scholar who I work closely with as part of Stanford’s Environmental Justice Working Group. It began with a short video of the late Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford professor and world-renowned climate scientist — an important reminder of how our actions today can tip the scale of events for the next 50 or 100 years.
The Blue New Deal and Youth Climate Movements — After the short introduction, Dr. Johnson appeared on my Zoom screen, where her pink “climate feminist” sweater immediately sparked joy! Dr. Johnson discussed how she always thought about science and policy in the same breath, and she shared how when she first read the Green New Deal, she was shocked it took until page 10 or 11 (out of 14 total pages!) to see the first mention of the ocean.
This eventually led her to co-author the Blue New Deal and advise Elizabeth Warren’s campaign on this plan. She outlined several key priorities: renewable offshore energy, protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems, and regenerative coastal farming. While Dr. Johnson reflected positively on new Biden administration hiring climate and ocean experts, she reminded us that we must not get complacent. She credited the boldness of the youth climate movement in the last few years, with polling showing how young voters are becoming increasingly concerned with climate change. “Grow up fast, and be loud!” advised Dr. Johnson, causing me to crack a smile and think optimistically towards our future.
Solution-Oriented Approaches to Climate Justice — Dr. Johnson highlighted the intertwined roles of climate and racial justice. While we often discuss these problems as being interconnected (e.g., how poor and Black communities will experience the greatest impacts of climate change), we tend to talk about climate justice like it is an isolated part of the bigger picture. In reality, climate change is coming for all of us.
As Dr. Johnson noted, standing by and letting certain communities get pummeled by climate change’s impact doesn’t make it any safer for the rest of us. “If we leave the ocean out of climate policy, it will fail,” said Dr. Johnson, “If we leave Black people out of climate policy, it will fail.”
She noted that research has demonstrated that people of color are a key constituency for advancing climate solutions. Polling by Yale and George Mason University shows that people of color care more about the climate than other racial groups. While many people may think individuals of color care more about climate change because they are most significantly impacted by it, researchers have attributed this difference to the more egalitarian worldview held by POC communities.
Dr. Johnson points out that if we are going to build a climate team to tackle these issues, it is important to hire the people who care deeply about this issue, including people of color. If the climate movement continues to be dominated by white men, not only will it not have the diversity of ideas and solutions we need to tackle this enormous, global problem, but we also will not have people leading change in every community. Combating climate change will require rapid transformations across sectors, such as electric, manufacturing, transportation, and land use. To implement these changes effectively, we will need leaders in all types of communities leading others.
As Dr. Johnson pointed out, if we think about climate change at the level of complexity within which it exists, we need to also think about solutions with the same level of complexity. She noted that it is important to think about diversity across multiple scales, such as racial diversity, generational diversity, geographical diversity and religious diversity, so that all types of perspectives and communities are included in this solutions-oriented approach.
Background & Finding Your Place — At one point, Dr. Polk, asked Dr. Johnson to explain what she meant when she said, “I’m not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful” during an earlier 2019 TED Talk. Dr. Johnson shared how growing up, her father instilled in her the importance of giving back and would repeatedly ask her how she planned to give back to others. It made her think deeply about how she will contribute to society, and she still centers this thinking in her work today. Although she might not have all the answers, she strives to make sure the right questions are being asked.
Her advice for others searching for their role in the fight for climate justice is to think about things like a Venn Diagram. In one circle is everything you bring to the table, such as your skills, resources, network, and education. In a second circle is the actual work that needs to be done, including the full spectrum of climate solutions and elements you want to work on. Finally, the third circle is joy, including the things that get you out of bed in the morning and what you could be reasonably content doing. Dr. Johnson advised us to think about how we can get at the epicenter of that diagram; often we think we can’t have it all, but at the same time, we’ve never truly taken the time to think about what that intersection is.
Final Reflections
Dr. Johnson’s talk exceeded my expectations and was immensely inspiring. During the final Q&A portion of the event, Dr. Johnson reminded us that one of the most important things we can do to contribute to the environmental movement is to listen. There are so many ways to knowing and understanding the world that are not academically-based, and answers to many of our climate problems will require patience, listening, and collaboration. Dr. Johnson reminded us of a popular climate justice statement: “we need to move at the speed of inclusion.” Further, Dr. Johnson highlighted that if environmental justice remains a niche sector, then we will fail. No matter what you are working on, you can bring justice into your work wherever you are. If you care about other people than that can manifest in your work, no matter where you are sitting.
Dr. Johnson encouraged us to move from thinking about “how to survive the future climate apocalypse,” to think about it as what is the world we want to build? The more we have a clearer picture of the future and what it could look like, the more we will be excited to run towards it.
In short, as Dr. Johnson so eloquently stated, “do whatever you are good at, and do it in the service of climate justice.”
Resources
Interested in learning more about Dr. Ayana Johnson?
· Read this blog post by Students for a Sustainable Stanford summarizing some of Dr. Johnson’s accomplishments
· Read about Dr. Johnson’s recent appointment as a 2021 TIMES100 Next Leader, which recognizes 100 emerging leaders who are shaping our future
· Follow Dr. Johnson on Twitter (@ayanaeliza) & Instagram (@ayanaeliza)
· Learn more about Dr. Johnson’s projects: https://www.oceancollectiv.co/, https://urbanoceanlab.org/, https://www.allwecansave.earth/project
· Read her book: All We Can Save
· Listen to her podcast: How to Save a Planet
Bianca Santos is a PhD student at Stanford University whose research applies interdisciplinary methods from the fields of marine science, ocean governance and policy, and environmental decision-making. You can contact her at bsantos9 ‘at’ stanford.edu.
