WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? podcast | Listen online for free

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Investigative journalism 📝 and climate migration, with Sarah Stillman
Today's guest, Sarah Stillman, is a Pulitzer and MacArthur genius award-winning journalist. She founded and leads the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale, and she's been a staff writer at The New Yorker for about a decade. Sarah’s writing typically focuses on our immigration and justice systems, but increasingly (and in some part due to my nudges), she's also writing about climate change.Sarah's first piece about climate was an essay, “Like the Monarch,” she wrote for my first book, All We Can Save, an anthology I co-edited with the wonderful Dr. Katherine Wilkinson. And, fun fact, Sarah is also a very dear friend. During the pandemic we would have long telephone conversations while we were going on walks in the woods on opposite coasts. We’d talk about work and writing and climate change, and also dating and family and heartache — the whole spectrum of comedy of errors that is life. 🫠I am so excited to let you in to one of our meandering, deep dive conversations. Welcome to the inner circle, with the one and only Sarah Stillman.Sarah's Calls to Action:* Interview the people you love about what they love about nature that they want to defend* Find something to investigate. Document the extreme weather events that are happening to you and the causes — and cite that climate attribution science* Support local and national public media. Visit your local public library.Mentioned in the episode:* Sarah's articles: The Migrant Workers Who Follow Climate Disasters; When Climate Change and Xenophobia Collide; 'The Missing White Girl Syndrome': Disappeared Women and Media Activism.* Her full New Yorker archive and website* International Refugee Assistance Project* Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale* ProPublica’s investigative series on Sacrifice Zones: Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air PollutionCREDITS: This podcast was made possible in part with the support of Future Being, a grantmaking and special projects studio which supports the healing of our planet and the safeguarding of biological and cultural diversity. It’s produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from Jenisha Shrestha. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe
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1:17:04
Fashion, fabrics, and fusion ⚡️, with Gabriela Hearst
Hey there Earthlings. 💛 We’re talking sustainability and fashion, again. It’s a major industry impacting the environment and shaping the cultural context within which we make climate decisions... and I may be overcompensating for having not given fashion a chapter in the What If We Get It Right? book.A few weeks ago, I shared here a conversation on Sustainable Fashion and the Art of Care with supermodel/artist Cameron Russell. And what better time to continue this discussion than in the wake of the 2025 Met Gala. Our guest this week is phenom Gabriela Hearst, a super-eco designer.I spoke with Gabi in her Manhattan studio, at a table she’s had for decades, on chairs she’d upcycled. We discussed her commitment to sustainability across her entire supply chain, how she turned iconic French fashion house Chloe into a B-corp while she was creative director there, how growing up on a ranch in Uruguay informed her worldview and approach to climate work, and her complete obsession with fusion power.GABI’S CALLS TO ACTION* Be kind. Reach for the balance of heart and mind.* Meditate — just close your eyes and breathe.* Buy less. Buy high quality items that will last.REFERENCES:* Gabriela Hearst at COP27 - Fusion: Clean Energy for All* Overview of B-Corp* Article on Designers for Democracy* Fossil fuels account for 82% of global energy mix.* More than 23 million people face severe hunger due to drought in Horn of Africa.CREDITS: Produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from assistant producer Jenisha Shrestha. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe
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55:00
The Future of Coastal Cities 🏙️, with Jainey Bavishi
This week, I’m chatting with Jainey Bavishi, an expert in climate adaptation and resilience. We cover everything from social aid and pleasure clubs, to recovering from climate disasters, civic infrastructure, why we should absolutely not privatize weather forecasts, and – of course! – what getting it right in coastal cities looks like, in New York City, New Orleans, and beyond. I’m so glad to be sharing this conversation with you, because local action matters so much right now.One in seven people in the U.S. live in coastal cities — that’s more than 47 million Americans. Plus, the U.S. coastal economy supports 54.6 million jobs and contributes $10 trillion to our total GDP. And this is certainly not a so-called "coastal elite" issue — poverty and unemployment rates are higher in coastal cities than the national average. Plus, coastal areas face the threats of sea level rise and storms made stronger and more damaging by climate change. Climate adaptation for coastal cities is what we work on at Urban Ocean Lab, the nonprofit policy think tank I co-founded, and where Jainey is an advisor. But Jainey and I first met back in 2011, when we both worked in Washington, DC in the policy office at the headquarters of NOAA, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. She’s since gone on to work in the Obama White House, served as the director of climate resiliency for the City of New York, and headed back to DC to be the deputy administrator for the entire federal agency of NOAA under the Biden Administration. Now, she is a Senior Climate Resilience Fellow at the University of Miami.JAINEY’s CALLS TO ACTION* Take care of yourselves and take care of your communities.* Invest in civic infrastructure, like mutual aid organizations.* Call your member of Congress and ask them to protect NOAA and defend the services it provides.REFERENCES* Urban Ocean Lab policy think tank for climate adaptation in coastal cities (and our Urban Ocean Lab Substack newsletter)* New York City’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project* Rebuild By Design’s Big U Project* California’s $10M Bond Act (Proposition 4 Spending Plan)* University of Miami Climate Resilience Institute* NOAA Programs under attack:* Office for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research* National Estuarine Research Reserves* National Coastal Zone Management Program* Sea Grant Program* National Weather Service* In New York City, scientists project sea levels could rise up to six feet by 2100.* During Superstorm Sandy, although 85% of the wetlands in New York and New Jersey had already been destroyed by development, what little remained prevented $625 million of damage.CREDITS: Produced and edited by Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media and me, with help from Jenisha Shrestha and many thanks to our guest Jainey Bavishi. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe
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58:20
The Wild World of Environmental Law ⚖️, with Michael Burger
What the heck is going on in environmental law right now? Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University’s has some answers for us. In this episode, we talk federal climate funding, the billions of dollars that are at stake (frozen, impounded, and otherwise), and what’s going on with climate law at the international and local levels.Michael’s CALLS TO ACTION: (1) Don't despair. (2) Solutions require political support, so don’t run away from the politics. (3) Find resources that help inform your activities — like those at climate.law.columbia.edu.Bonus — Ayana’s CALL TO ACTION: Follow/rate/review 🌟 the show (I feel so dorky asking, but it legit matters) and tell your fellow Earth lovers to tune in.REFERENCES:Explainers on the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy ActSabin Center for Climate Change LawKey resources from the Sabin Center: Climate Change Litigation Database, Climate Backtracker, and New York State Climate Law Tracker.International Court of Justice: Obligations of States in respect of Climate ChangeAnnouncement from Lee Zeldin (EPA Administrator) about the Trump Administration’s massive push to roll back environmental regulationsUrban Ocean Lab’s Climate Readiness Framework for Coastal CitiesCREDITS: Producer and editor Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media, associate producer Jenisha Shrestha, and executive produced by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe
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56:58
Sustainable fashion and the art of care 🧶, with Cameron Russell
This episode, we're talking sustainable fashion and the simple joys of care and repair with supermodel, author, activist, and friend Cameron Russell. Also: why stats on the climate impacts of fashion are super sketchy.If you haven’t heard of Cameron, chances are you’ve seen her. As a model, she’s appeared on many magazine covers for Vogue and Elle, and on runways and billboards for brands like Prada, Calvin Klein, and Victoria’s Secret.But Cameron’s not only recognized for her modeling. She's been an activist and organizer her entire adult life – particularly on workers rights in the fashion industry and on climate. She co-founded Model Mafia, a network of hundreds of models to use their platforms to advocate for “a more equitable, just, sustainable industry and world."CALLS TO ACTION: 1. Do care work, and value the care work of others. 2. Share resources, be it clothing, food, or soccer cleats your kids grow out of.While you’re listening, please take a second to follow this podcast, rate it, leave a review 🌟, and tell your people to tune in. Support more climate content getting out into the world!REFERENCES: To learn more about Cameron’s work, head to cameronrussell.org. Video Cameron produced in 2009 to explain the name of climate group 350.org. Her 2012 viral TED Talk, “Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model.” (Just re-watched; still so good.) Art show she co-curated in 2025 called The Art of Care. Cameron's poignant and expertly-crafted memoir, How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone.CREDITS: Produced and edited and Matthew Nelson/Stramash Media, with help with from Jenisha Shrestha.For podcast bonus content and my written musings on climate and culture, subscribe to the What If We Get It Right? newsletter. Get full access to WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? at ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/subscribe
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1:14:03