Right on Earth

BOWDOIN: In your book, you talk about the climate reality and how we might get it right as both really, really complicated and incredibly simple. Is that fair? Can you elaborate on that?

AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON: That’s a phrase, or a framing, introduced to me by NASA climate scientist Dr. Kate Marvel. She’s the first interview in my book, and she describes the climate science in those terms. It’s actually very simple, what happens when we burn fossil fuels and we cut down trees and reduce photosynthesis. We’re throwing our atmosphere and our ecosystems out of balance in this dangerous way. And it’s actually quite simple how to not do that on a very practical level. And then, of course, the question becomes, how do we deal with the entrenched systems that prevent us from doing the obvious, simple things? And pursuing this transition away from an extractive economy into a regenerative one.

And, of course, there are a million details, but the open secret is that we have the solutions we need. It’s just a matter of how quickly and how justly we’re going to deploy them—from clean energy to improved transportation to regenerative agriculture to green buildings, et cetera. We know what to do. We don’t have to wait for a magical technology before we can get started. And I think that’s both reassuring and also a challenge that’s presented to us: that we have no excuse not to act, because it’s actually very clear what needs to happen—even when the headwinds are against us because of politics or money interests.

BOWDOIN: In a recent podcast you were talking with your guest about how cultural change has to precede policy change. What do you see as the path forward to generate the kind of cultural change that would precipitate policy change in this splintered, difficult world?

JOHNSON: I think a lot of it is just a quantity game. We need a lot more storytelling about what the future could look like if we get it right. We need a lot more media about solutions. We need more creative approaches to the news and sharing information. We need to meet people where they are. You can’t just create culture out of nowhere. It’s a constantly evolving collective thing. And so, I think the opportunity is to say, “Where could we add climate solutions into the conversation, into TV episodes, into film scripts, into social media, into podcasts? How are we showing up where the conversations are happening that are shaping culture and seeing what we can do to inject some forward motion on solutions into those places?”

BOWDOIN: Do you see interest in that from Bowdoin students you meet and talk to here?

JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely. This semester has been an absolute delight working with these students. I was enamored with all of my students last year as well, but, this year, my having restructured the syllabus a bit has given them even more opportunities to do their assignments in these really creative ways. The way they’re doing art projects and writing poetry and film reviews and op-eds and social media posts, all thinking about what are the best ways to engage people in these complex but simple quests for climate solutions and really grappling with what it means for the places where they’re from—there’s such incredible geographic diversity among the students at Bowdoin. I’ve just been absolutely delighted by the assignments they’ve pulled together and truly the creativity that they’ve brought to this. It’s been really quite lovely to get to witness.

BOWDOIN: Something you talk about is loving the earth, loving nature, biophilia. You called it “rekindling the spark of childhood.” What should we do to make sure that people can foster that sort of love of nature and foster that feeling of caring about what the world is beyond our built environment?

JOHNSON: In some ways, there’s a universal answer, and in some ways there’s not. The universal answer is, go outside wherever you can find a bit of nature. Even in cities, there are parks and all of these ways to just remind ourselves that we’re part of ecosystems, not just living on top of them. And the more specific answer is, I think everyone has their own proclivities, their own curiosities about specific aspects of nature, whether it’s shooting stars or fireflies or owls. There was an owl outside my window the other day! It’s just so exciting still at this very basic level to see the living world up close. It’s very hard not to look. I mean, on a cold, muddy day, fine, but even then, I’m always glad I’ve been outside. This is a little bit of a pep talk to myself, because I spend way too much time in front of the computer.

BOWDOIN: It’s easy to do, that’s for sure. Another thing I felt as a through line in your work was the idea of this as being a long game. What does it take to get people onboard with the long game? You mention that we need to make consumerism uncool. How?

JOHNSON: The long game. I think a lot of consumerism stems from some sort of dissatisfaction with our lives or our perception of our own social status or place in things. I’m never thinking about buying stuff when I’m on a hike—unless it’s like, “Oh my god, these boots are terrible!” [laughter] I think the more we find meaning in the various aspects of our lives, the less we’ll get sucked into that. But it’s very important to me to always say we’re not going to overnight have a different economic system.

There are some people who say, “Well, it doesn’t matter what we try to do if we’re still living in capitalism.” And we don’t have time to wait until we have a perfect economic system before we start charging ahead on environmental solutions. We need clean air and clean water regardless of whether we have shareholder capitalism, so we’re going to have to figure that out. And, I don’t know, I feel like part of it is just individual fortitude and determination and tenacity, just not giving up on what we know is right and what we know is needed. And I think there are two sides to that. There’s being tenacious, and then there’s also imagining the future you want to live in, so that you have something to aim for—as opposed to just a bad future you’re trying to avoid. I find that really helpful for myself, that thinking.

The primary motivation for writing this book was feeling that there wasn’t enough literature or anything, more broadly, on what getting it right on climate could look like—the subtitle says, these visions of climate futures—and the realization that I didn’t have all the answers, of course. Not by a longshot. So, the book became this collection of twenty interviews with all sorts of experts, from policy to finance to technology to design to Hollywood to agriculture. That helped me personally weave together a sense of the way forward and what getting it right could look like. I feel like our motivation for the long game really does require some vision of what we’re working toward, even if we’re just doing a little part of it.

BOWDOIN: You’ve talked about solutions, some of which you say are underway. What are some good things that are already happening?

JOHNSON: Here in Maine I think we have the most small farms of any state, probably per capita. There’s this very interesting shift in agriculture, this flourishing of small farms and farmers markets, which is really wonderful to see, this local food economy and places like Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment right down the road from Bowdoin doing wonderful work supporting that transition.

We’re seeing more and more new buildings meet energy efficiency standards. There are some on campus, and more and more people generally are realizing that it makes good sense to insulate your buildings and even retrofit your buildings, insulate your attics, et cetera, because it just saves money. So, we’re seeing the economics of these things start to make sense—in terms of solar energy as well, the cheapest new energy we can add to the grid. There are endless examples of this. I think the congestion pricing in New York City, where I’m from, is another interesting one. We’re charging cars for driving into the center of the city so that we can have reduced traffic, reduce air pollution, and increase the amount of money there is to improve public transit. There are endless examples of this, which is really bolstering.

BOWDOIN: Some of them you describe as sort of boring. What’s some of the boring stuff that people wouldn’t necessarily know about because it doesn’t get written about?

JOHNSON: How do we figure out where to build more transmission lines so that we can add more solar and wind energy into the grid is a pretty boring one. I think there’s certainly some stuff about political campaigns and mobilizing voters to support candidates who get it on the environment. Some of that I find boring, but I appreciate how necessary it is. I think there’s also just a lot of project management and spreadsheets and emails and Zoom meetings, and all of those are part of making ideas into reality. But that’s just the stuff of life. And if we can do these things with people we respect and enjoy and with as much creativity as we can muster, then it becomes maybe a little less boring, or maybe it just feels a little bit more worth it.

BOWDOIN: You mentioned Maine, and of course fishermen are trying to deal with this, and it seems like they’re doing many things. I don’t know if you’ve had contact with Maine fishermen at all, but do you think there’s positive change in that industry?

JOHNSON: I haven’t had very much. The group of people I’ve spent a little bit more time with are the oyster farmers and the kelp farmers who are doing regenerative ocean farming, which I find to be really interesting. And my understanding is that more and more fishermen are either turning to farming or doing that just to supplement their wild catch. And I think that’s super exciting, this idea that Maine could become or already is sort of the Napa Valley of oysters.

But that, of course, requires that we are very vigilant about our water quality, because oysters are filter feeders, so anything that runs down our rivers and streams to the sea is going to impact the ability of that industry to thrive. But here too there’s a boring part, which is permitting and making sure there’s enough people working in the state government and permitting offices that that paperwork doesn’t take years, so that people can start these sustainable businesses that are good for our food system and good for the environment.

BOWDOIN: On the flip side of that, you’ve also said that cities are a place where it makes sense to concentrate efforts. Why is that?

JOHNSON: Especially in this moment, where it seems very hard to get anything through Congress, like new pieces of legislation, I’ve been thinking more and more about local governments and cities in the US. So many people live in cities, and something like 50 million Americans live in a coastal city. So, that’s like one in seven Americans living in a coastal city. If we think about the power of that level of government to implement environmental practices, climate solutions, there’s actually a lot of opportunity there. And local governments are often more responsive to their constituents and often in some ways less polarized and more focused on problem solving, the local stuff. And so, yes, I would encourage people to get more involved in their town councils or city councils and figure out what’s going on that they can support.

BOWDOIN: You talk about the idea that wildlife tend to create the environment in which they thrive, reindeer for example. So, given that this is something the natural world is geared toward, is there anything you would say to people to help them think of themselves as creatures who can create the environment in which they would thrive?

JOHNSON: That example that you gave was from an interview with Judith Schwartz. One of the themes that kept coming up again and again in the interviews I conducted for this book was the idea that community was the foremost thing we needed to invest in. And that word “community” gets thrown around a lot and can mean any number of different things—it does even in the context of this book. For example, there’s a community of very wealthy investors who may have been hesitant to invest in climate companies, but when they’re doing it together, it becomes less scary.

“The most important thing I want people to do is take quitting off the table as an option. This is our home planet. This is where we live. We need to figure out how to get it right on Earth.”

We’re not all going to Mars. And if we accept that, then the question becomes, how do we get it as right as possible given all of the parameters and realities and challenges we’re facing? What is my role in making that best possible future become the reality in which we live? Who can I collaborate with? What skills and resources and networks do I have to offer? How can I be more creative? How can I do this in a way that’s more fun so that I’m motivated to keep going?

I’m never going to give up on life on Earth, not just for humans but for the millions of other species we share it with. And so, that means that so many doors are open for how to contribute.

Alison Bennie is editor of Bowdoin Magazine.

Karsten Moran ’05 is a New York–based photographer who is a regular contributor to The New York Times and has worked for Fortune Magazine, Newsweek, ProPublica, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

This story first appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Bowdoin Magazine. Manage your subscription and see other stories from the magazine on the Bowdoin Magazine website.