In the spirit of the What If We Get It Right? paperback launch, sharing an excerpt of the audiobook. The heart of this audiobook is 20 interviews with people who have shaped my understanding of the answer to the titular question. It’s kind of like a whole season of a podcast packaged up with essays by me and poetry by others. Also, ahem, the audiobook was a finalist for the Audie Award. (If you’re gonna lose, lose to Stephen King.)
The prelude, the first chapter, is “An Ocean Love Story.” It’s about how I fell in love with coral reefs at 5 years old, and how the ripples that flowed from that have shaped the unfurling of my life ever since.
This chapter is my origin story, in brief. From Brooklyn, New York, to Key West, Florida, to Washington, DC, and the Caribbean. It is one of the most personal things I’ve ever published. A little funny. A lot honest. It’s the start of my quest to understand how we, humans, can get it as right as possible here on this magnificent planet. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it has similarities with your story, too.
Okay, without further ado...🥁🥁🥁... here is me reading to you the first chapter of the audiobook for What If We Get It Right?
Truly I’m just out here trying to make 5-year-old me proud. (TBH, I may have peaked at 5.) And I know Little Ayana would have been extremely down for these CLIMATE DANCE PARTIES 🌎🕺🏽 in aquariums and natural history museums (aka my paperback tour). So, if you’re in or near NYC, LA, Monterey, San Diego, or Maine, there are a few tickets left. Meet me on the dance floor.
Because it can’t just be all climate doom and gloom. Yeah, I know the facts. But we can take climate change seriously without taking ourselves seriously. (Perhaps we must?!) For me, this work is all about possibility. We have the climate solutions we need, y’all. So let’s boogie on a Saturday night next to the kelp tank, with the otters. 🦦 And on Monday let’s team up with the friends we made on the dance floor, joyfulling rolling up our sleeves together to do the work that needs doing.
It’s an honor to be in this with you. 💖
CREDITS: This podcast is ad-free thanks to the support of Future Being, a grant making and special project studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. This episode was produced by Remoy Philip and me, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, with support from Jenisha Shrestha. The original audiobook was produced by Olivia Langen for Penguin Random House audio, recorded at Expanding Sky Studios in Brunswick, Maine.
