The Creative Justice Institute and Climate Stories Collaborative will bring an inspiring voice to the campus of Appalachian State University in February —Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

Johnson is a leading voice in the climate conversation and co-editor of the new anthology “All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis,” a powerful collection of writings by women spanning backgrounds, approaches, and generations at the forefront of the climate movement.

The climate crisis is an enormous tangle of problems, born of and amplifying injustices, including racial injustices. The daily news on these problems can cause feelings of overwhelm, so we must counter that by stoking our inspiration to participate in the transformations necessary for a just and livable future. Feed your inspiration for action by joining us for a virtual conversation with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, policy expert, and leader/cultivator of the climate movement.

Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for coastal cities, and founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv, a consulting firm for conservation solutions. She recently co-created the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. She is co-creator and co-host of the podcast How to Save a Planet, co-editor of the anthology All We Can Save, co-founder of The All We Can Save Project, and she has written and presented widely on hope, strategy, and the intersections of race, racism and the climate crisis.

She has been named to the Grist 50, UCSD 40 Under 40 Alumni, and Elle’s 27 Women Leading on Climate. Outside Magazine called her “the most influential marine biologist of our time.” As co-director of partnerships for the March for Science, Johnson created a coalition of over 300 organizations that inspired over 1 million people around the world to take to the streets to support the role of science in policy-making.

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The Creative Justice Institute and Climate Stories Collaborative are grateful to the following cosponsors for helping us make this event possible:
College of Fine & Applied Arts
College of Business
College of Arts & Sciences
Reich College of Education
Office of Sustainability
Department of Sustainable Development
Department of Biology
Department of Communication
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Schaefer Center for Performing Arts
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The Creative Justice Institute (CJI) encourages faculty, staff and students to collaborate and reimagine our culture, work toward a more just and inclusive future using our innovation and creative energy. The CJI was founded in 2020 by Cara Hagan, the College of Fine and Applied Arts Dean’s Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion and Associate Professor of Dance Studies. The CJI incorporates the possibilities that the arts, humanities and design offer our community in working toward real, systemic change.

The Climate Stories Collaborative (CSC) is a trans-disciplinary learning community aimed at growing the capacity of faculty and students to use a variety of creative media to tell compelling climate stories, including the stories of those who are affected by, and/or taking action to address, climate change. The project began in the spring of 2017 in the College of Fine & Applied Arts, but is now university-wide in scope. Collaborative co-facilitators include Laura England (Sustainable Development), Derek Davidson (Theatre & Dance), and Jennie Carlisle (Art).