Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Katharine K. Wilkinson

Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE • “A feast of ideas and perspectives, setting a big table for the climate movement, declaring all are welcome.”—Rolling Stone There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection, creativity, and collaboration. While it’s clear that women and girls are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, they are too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, it’s a dynamic that sets us up for failure. To change everything, we need everyone. All We Can Save illuminates the expertise and insights of dozens of diverse women leading on climate in the United States—scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists, innovators, wonks, and designers, across generations, geographies, and race—and aims to advance a more representative, nuanced, and solution-oriented public conversation on the climate crisis. These women offer a spectrum of ideas and insights for how we can rapidly, radically reshape society. Intermixing essays with poetry and art, this book is both a balm and a guide for knowing and holding what has been done to the world, while bolstering our resolve never to give up on one another or our collective future. We must summon truth, courage, and solutions to turn away from the brink and toward life-giving possibility. Curated by two climate leaders, the book is a collection and celebration of visionaries who are leading us on a path toward all we can save. With essays and poems by: Emily Atkin • Xiye Bastida • Ellen Bass • Colette Pichon Battle • Jainey K. Bavishi • Janine Benyus • adrienne maree brown • Régine Clément • Abigail Dillen • Camille T. Dungy • Rhiana Gunn-Wright • Joy Harjo • Katharine Hayhoe • Mary Annaïse Heglar • Jane Hirshfield • Mary Anne Hitt • Ailish Hopper • Tara Houska, Zhaabowekwe • Emily N. Johnston • Joan Naviyuk Kane • Naomi Klein • Kate Knuth • Ada Limón • Louise Maher-Johnson • Kate Marvel • Gina McCarthy • Anne Haven McDonnell • Sarah Miller • Sherri Mitchell, Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset • Susanne C. Moser • Lynna Odel • Sharon Olds • Mary Oliver • Kate Orff • Jacqui Patterson • Leah Penniman • Catherine Pierce • Marge Piercy • Kendra Pierre-Louis • Varshini • Prakash • Janisse Ray • Christine E. Nieves Rodriguez • Favianna Rodriguez • Cameron Russell • Ash Sanders • Judith D. Schwartz • Patricia Smith • Emily Stengel • Sarah Stillman • Leah Cardamore Stokes • Amanda Sturgeon • Maggie Thomas • Heather McTeer Toney • Alexandria Villaseñor • Alice Walker • Amy Westervelt • Jane Zelikova

Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

All We Can Save

"Two powerful phenomena are simultaneously unfolding on Earth: the rise of the climate movement and the rise of women and girls. The People's Climate March and the Women's March. School strikes for climate and the #MeToo movement. Rebellions against extinction and declarations that time's up. More than concurrent, the two trends are deeply connected. From sinking islands to drought-ridden savannas, the global warming crisis places an outsized burden on women, largely because of gender inequalities. In many parts of the world, women hold traditional roles as the primary caregivers in families and communities, and as the main providers of food and fuel, they are more vulnerable when flooding and drought occur; the U.N. estimates 80% of those who have been displaced by climate change are women. Women are on the front line of the climate-change battle, and are uniquely situated to be agents of change--to find ways to mitigate the causes of global warming and adapt to its impacts on the ground. Today, across the world, from boardrooms and policy positions to local communities, from science to activism, women everywhere are using their voices to take leadership and call for action on climate change. This anthology is a collection and celebration of these diverse voices, asking critical questions and providing invaluable insight and solutions. Curated by two climate leaders, this book leads us away from the brink and toward the possibility of a life-giving future"--

Boothby

The editors drew together a really strong cast of VIPs from the climate movement. The best chapters brought forward their perspectives into incisive observations that I don't think we hear about anywhere else. There were some weaker chapters but I don't really fault anyone for this. If I had to diagnose why some chapters didn't work, it seems there was some trouble making sure the writers were advancing a specific argument beyond simply describing their work in environmental justice.

Bryan Alexander

All We Can Save is a collection of writing about climate change. All of the authors are women, and that's the book's intention: to emphasize women's experiences and thoughts on this vast and vital topic. Another key theme is focusing on the roles of black, Latina, and indigenous women. These women are activists, authors, scientists, politicians, and more.

The resulting collection covers a huge range of ground. Geoengineering, the history of climate change, intersectionality by race and gender, practical tips on organizing, the many psychological dimensions of the crisis, Green and Blue New Deals, changing journalistic practices, climate citizenship, urban planning, architecture, underwater construction, classroom teaching, mental health and trauma, mothering, and migration. There's much more, including a handy outline of climate solutions (377ff).

The results are powerful. The book offers an introduction to the climate crisis for those who need it. It also provides inspiration for readers seeking to participate in activism.

I have many questions and thoughts about this. My Kindle copy is quite marked up. In order to not overwhelm you, let me share several here. My intent is not to criticize the book so much as to use it as a way of scrying an emerging socio-political approach to climate change.

1: Across some of the readings is an interesting attitude towards technology. All We Can Save isn't a luddite work, but there's definitely some opposition to tech. An early article asks us to avoid geoengineering (34-5). Another criticizes the popularity of spaceflight stories as being more appealing than narratives about climate change mitigation, and that the former may be "hurting us" (140-1). A third piece distinguishes between technologies and people, implying the latter aren't really part of the former (271). In contrast, there are few positive descriptions of technology, and those are usually quiet, established, and instrumental: scuba gear for underwater work, improved insulation to reduce buildings' carbon footprint. 

2: There's a strong tension over economics and class across much of the book. Some articles call for an end to capitalism and the start of a more equal distribution of wealth. Elizabeth Warren is positively name-checked (but not Bernie Sanders, nor Karl Marx). In contrast "Catalytic Capital" asks us to work with the 1%, helping them maintain their riches in order to point them in good directions: "advancing climate solutions requires money." (172) The final outline for climate action is about improving how (post)industrial society works, not overturning its ownership. Indeed, it has a header for "Improve Society - Fostering Equality for All," under which is a sole bullet point about improving access to education and health care. All We Can Save is neither pro- nor anti-capitalist, but a contradictory mix of attitudes along that axis.

3: Overall the book criticizes masculinity. It urges a social shift away from men and male ideals, towards a greater role for women and female identities. That's in wide strokes, but it bears out through the collection. Men lead the system that causes the climate crisis:in the city
one finds it simple to conceive nothing
but a system, and nothing but a world of men. (Joan Naviyuk Kane, "The Straits," 170)Another piece complains about "doomer dudes," men who proclaim the futility of climate action "with glee." (279) "They're almost always White men, because only White men can afford to be lazy enough to quit.... on themselves." (280; italics in original) 

At the same time while the book praises women, it reaches for gender essentialism at many points. Amy Westervelt's article celebrates women as mothers, both domestically and politically, as "community mothers." (250-1) Another piece praises a "collaborative, holistic, and inclusive approach [a]s distinctly feminine." (297) The concluding Alice Walker poem ends on this note:& I call on all men
of Earth
to gracefully
and gratefully

stand aside
& let them
(let us)
do so (335)The "so" is saving the Earth through collective action. This isn't a surprise, given the collection's gynocentric purpose.

Recommended.

All We Can Save Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

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