Book #27: What If We Get It Right?
Radical and audacious future-proofing and future-visioning with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
We’re Book Club for the Planet, a book club dedicated to reading about the climate crisis in community. Want to see all of the 2025 book picks and recommendations in one place? Here you go. Need a refresher for how book club works? Right this way.
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
What a strange time to read a book titled, What If We Get It Right? Right now, it feels like we’re only getting it wrong and it will only continue to get worse. But I believe—and we have to collectively try to believe—in visions beyond this moment. I stand by what I said when I made our book list for this year:
It’s not enough to name and fight the many problems that got us here. We have to have shared, collective visions of where we’re going. We must conjure a tangible, beautiful, just and equitable future worth fighting for. And then, we can do the work of mapping out how we get there.
This is the first time an author has made a repeat showing in our book club! Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and climate policy expert, was editor of our second book club read, All We Can Save. Now, she has edited a new compilation of essays, poems and conversations that imagine “an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures.”
This book is a long one, folks, so prepare accordingly. I will personally be both reading the print version and listening to the audiobook version of this book (it’s 22 hours long!) to plow through it in time for our meet-up. The audiobook looks especially delightful, with readings from a range of writers including Wendell Berry, Marge Piercy, Bill McKibben, Rhiana Gunn-Wright and many more.
Book club dates: Sunday, March 23 (virtual); Monday, March 24 (in-person)
Don’t live in Baltimore? Join us virtually via Google Meets!
If you live in or near Baltimore, join us at Greedy Reads' Remington location for an in-person meet-up!
Take care of yourself and each other, friends. Talk to you soon.
Honored that you've chosen my book! 💛 Hope you all have a wonderful discussion.
I’m so excited for this discussion - I bought this book a month ago but have felt too discouraged by the news to read it - but reading it in camaraderie will be good for the soul.