What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures
About the book
Author: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Publisher: One World
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)
My Review
What If We Get It Right? is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and almost certainly the best audiobook specifically. I am going to be pushing this into people’s hands (or headphones) for years.
In What If We Get It Right?, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson — who brought us All We Can Save back in 2020 — interviews a ton of the smartest people working toward climate justice in all different areas, from farming to finance to legal action and even museum curation. She talks to all of them about their area of expertise and then asks them what the world would look like if we “get climate change right.”
What makes the audiobook so incredible (and long, relative to the length of the book) is the fact that instead of having a narrator read the book, aka the edited transcripts of these interviews, she just…plays the whole interview itself. It actually feels more like a series of podcast episodes than a book, tbh, and it works SO well.
I started this book a few days before the election to give myself some optimistic media to focus on rather than the news, and it turned out to be a fantastic choice for that entire week. Johnson is hopeful without ever being saccharine or cheesy, and listening to it felt productive and active but never overwhelming, even in the midst of terrible news.
I truly cannot recommend this audiobook enough. (But also get yourself a hardcover copy, because it’s gorgeous!)