Ayana Elizabeth Johnson – What If We Get It Right? @ Hannaford Hall, University of Southern Maine

Join SPACE Gallery, Sierra Club Maine, Print, and a coalition of environmental organizations at Hannaford Hall for a special appearance by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. Johnson will be joined by special guest performers and discussing her provocative and joyous new book that asks the important question, “What If We Get It Right?”

This special evening is a homecoming celebration for the book, as Dr. Johnson currently serves as the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College, and culminates her 28 stop book tour across the country, including signature “climate variety show” events.

Through clear-eyed essays and 20 vibrant conversations, infused with data, poetry, and art, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. Sugarcoating nothing, while imagining the myriad of opportunities we have to still get the future “right,” Johnson’s book invites musings from friends and contributors across the fields of culture and science. Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take—from every one of us, with whatever we have to offer—to create.

In October and November, SPACE Gallery is thrilled to present the work of Olalekan Jeyifous in the SPACE Window Gallery, a visual artist featured in the book and part of Dr. Johnson’s curatorial project “Climate Futurism” which began at Pioneer Works in 2023. Jeyifous’s newly commissioned works are an extension of his project Frozen Neighborhoods, which reimagines Brooklyn from the 1990s on an alternate timeline—set within an alternate world in which the government combats climate change through a market-based system of so-called “mobility credits” that curtails movement of the poor and working classes.

Books will be available for purchase through Print: A Bookstore, and local environmental orgs will table in support of their work in the Hannaford Hall lobby.

Presented by SPACE Gallery at Hannaford Hall with support from Sierra Club Maine, Print: A Bookstore, Citizens Climate Lobby, Maine Conservation Voters, Maine Youth for Climate Justice, The BTS Center, Maine Climate Action Now, Lead Locally, The Climate Initiative, Third Act Maine, the South Portland Land Trust, the First Parish Church in Portland’s Climate Action Team, and the Environmental Club at South Portland High School, and more TBA…

Made possible with support from Becky Bartovics, Roger Berle and Lesley MacVane.

Our climate future is not yet written. What if we act as if we love the future?

If you haven’t yet been able to picture a transformed and replenished world—or to see yourself, your loved ones, and your community in it—this book is for you. If you haven’t yet found your role in shaping this new world or you’re not sure how we can actually get there, this book is for you.

With grace, humor, and humanity, Johnson invites readers to ask and answer this ultimate question together: What if we get it right?

PRAISE FOR WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT?

“With a thoughtfully curated series of essays, poetry, and conversations, the brilliant scientist and climate expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has assembled a group of dynamic people who are willing to imagine what seems impossible, and articulate those visions with enthusiastic clarity.”—Roxane Gay

“An optimistic bent and eager embrace of solutions . . . these conversations are as much about ‘getting it right’ as they are about what we are currently getting wrong. Johnson is a top-notch interviewer, and her guests are insightful and candid on topics ranging from community farming to environment-focused litigation.”—Scientific American

“An entirely credible (and entirely enchanting) voice . . . Ayana Johnson is no Pollyanna. She’s a hard-nosed and extremely competent scientist who has not shied for a minute from facing the hard truths. So if she thinks there remain ways we can use this crisis to build a better world, then rejoice, listen, and act!”—Bill McKibben

“In addition to asking perspicacious questions and curating a diverse and brilliant set of voices, Johnson leads us through the material with a witty, brainy frankness. . . . An exuberantly hopeful read . . . an inspiring compilation of voices from the environmental justice movement.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“There are countless means by which a sustainable future is possible, if only society has the political will to enact them. . . . Marine biologist Johnson draws on in-depth interviews with experts in earth science, tech, design, and agriculture, as well as activists and journalists, to showcase the vast array of potential solutions and to help readers envision what the future could look like. The interviews are remarkably insightful. . . . Johnson’s account is buoyed throughout by her adamant belief that sweeping change is possible, with a little push. This is a much-needed antidote to ‘climate grief.’”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities, and is currently the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College. She authored the forthcoming book What If We Get it Right?: Visions of Climate Futures, co-edited the bestselling climate anthology All We Can Save, co-founded The All We Can Save Project, and co-created and co-hosted the Spotify/Gimlet climate solutions podcast How to Save a Planet.

Recently, she co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. Previously, as executive director of the Waitt Institute, she co-founded the Blue Halo Initiative and led the Caribbean’s first successful island-wide ocean zoning effort. She also developed U.S. federal ocean policy at the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Ayana earned a BA from Harvard University in environmental science and public policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology. She serves on the board of directors for Patagonia and GreenWave, on the advisory board of Environmental Voter Project, and on the steering committee for the Ocean Justice Forum. Recent recognitions include, the Schneider Award for climate communication and the Time 100 Next List.

She is the proud daughter of a teacher/farmer and an architect/potter. Above all: Ayana is in love with climate solutions.