What If We Get It Right?
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and climate advocate, pushes past doom to ask a different question: what if we manage to get climate change right? The book is built as a mosaic of conversations with farmers, architects, investors, organizers, and scientists, mixed with poems, artwork, and notes from her own family. Across topics from clean energy and food to finance and Indigenous leadership, she lays out the solutions already within reach and the futures they could create. The tone is honest about the stakes but firmly hopeful, treating climate work as something to build toward rather than merely survive.
What you might want to know about What If We Get It Right?
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A marine biologist gathers interviews, essays, poems, and art to imagine what a good climate future could actually look like.
Yes. While honest about the dangers, the book focuses on solutions and possible futures, framing climate action as something to build rather than just a crisis to fear.
She is a marine biologist, policy expert, and climate communicator, known for co-editing the anthology All We Can Save and co-creating the podcast How to Save a Planet.
What If We Get It Right? was written by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, published in 2024 by One World.
What If We Get It Right? is 512 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, What If We Get It Right? takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
What If We Get It Right? is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.