Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Jordan sits down with marine biologist, writer, and climate advocate Ayana Johnson to talk about her mission to fight climate fatalism, her love of Rachel Carson, and her skepticism of the impulse to look for "hope" in the face of climate change -- as opposed to possibility, or joy. 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 the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College. She authored The New York Times bestseller What If We Get it Right?: Visions of Climate Futures . Previously, she co-edited the 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 . She also 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. Early in her career, she developed U.S. federal ocean policy at the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is an episode from Thresholds by Jordan Kisner.

This episode is 37:24 long.

This episode was published on Oct 8, 2025.

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