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

Piercy emphasizes the value of jumping into work. She admires those who work hard like an ox, doing what has to be done over and over again. She says that she wants to be among people who are doing common, rhythmic work. She notes that we put Greek amphoras and Hopi vases in museums when they were actually made to be used. She makes the analogy that the pitcher cries for water to carry and humans cry for work that is real and meaningful, even when it is common work (60).

In her essay, climate activist Mary Anne Hitt describes her relief, gratitude, compassion, and hope upon learning that yet another US coal plant, the 300th in 10 years, would shut down permanently. This coal plant was located in a low-income neighborhood and community of color, and its effects were extremely damaging to the population’s health. Using information about the plant’s pollution and how much money it would cost its customers, Hitt and her organization, Beyond Coal Campaign, persuaded the public and local governmental leaders of the harm of this plant and shut it down.

At the time of writing the essay, Hitt’s campaign had shut down 315 plants and had 215 more to go. Beyond Coal has also blocked the construction of more than 200 new coal plants. Thanks to this campaign, the United States is now getting less than a quarter of its energy from coal. Though this progress has been very significant, Hitt says that it is not enough. We must meet the goal of clean energy by the end of this decade while also taking care of those affected by the shutdown of the coal plants.

Hitt shares ten lessons that she’s learned being a climate change activist.

1. Advocacy grounded in strategy is essential (64).

2. Advocates need to understand economics (65).

3. State and local decisions move the needle (66).

4. Local pollution motivates action (67).

5. Bold and clear goals enable open-source campaigns (68).

6. Environmental justice must be central (68).

7. We can’t leave people behind (69).

8. Winning on electricity is foundational and catalytic (70).

9. Fracked gas is a bridge to nowhere (71).

10. Substantial resources bring substantial results (72).

In this essay, Toney—former mayor of Greenville, Mississippi and a climate activist—writes of her connection to nature as a Black woman and recalls her ancestors’ connection to the land. We often ignore Black voices when it comes to climate change, Toney suggests, but our Black forebears have wisdom that we must embrace. Environmental justice is a civil rights issue (76).

Community is vital in finding solutions to environmental injustice. In her Southern, Christian community, Toney recalls a Bible verse suggesting that faith is nothing without works. Hope needs action. We should couple our dissatisfaction with elected leaders with going out to vote for leaders we believe in.

Toney distinguishes between two Christian philosophies about our relationship to the Earth: dominionism (believing that God gave humans dominion over the Earth) and creation care (the belief that God charged humans with caring for the Earth; if the Earth prospers, we prosper). She was raised with the idea of creation care, but white Christianity often adopts the mindset of dominionism.

After her time as mayor, Toney was asked to be a part of the US Environmental Protection Agency and then selected to lead the EPA’s Southeast Region, which included eight states and six federally recognized tribes. During this time, she witnessed major climate disasters, including floods in her state of Mississippi and oil spills on the Gulf Coast. After having a child of her own, Toney joined a coalition called Moms Clean Air Force, which seeks to engage parents in climate change activism.

Toney writes that “climate change is a threat to Black life” (80). She lists three women of color who are experts in climate justice and who provide solutions to issues we face in the climate movement: Dr. Beverly Wright, Catherine Garcia Flowers, and Dr. Mildred McClain. Across the country, women of all colors are standing up and doing the work of climate justice with communities and ancestors watching.

Harjo’s poem posits a list of seven questions for those who might lead or govern land. She begins by asking if they can govern themselves and then how they care for their own household; then she asks how they contribute to their own community. She asks if they know the history and laws of their land, and if they follow “sound principles” that lift up all life on the land. She asks if they are governed by outside interests like lawyers, bankers, lobbyists, etc. who might profit by their decisions. Lastly, she asks if they have authority from the original keepers of the land.

Thomas’s essay emphasizes the importance of listening when advocating for climate policy. She worked on two presidential campaigns--those of Governor Jay Inslee and Senator Elizabeth Warren. During this time, she counseled both of them on climate policy. She saw both of them working to hear the communities most affected by pollution and climate change, especially those whose voices are rarely heard. Jay Inslee put forth a goal of a 100% clean energy future for America; when he eventually left the race, Senator Warren adopted this same goal and carried it forward. Both candidates focused on the people affected by environmental change, not just the technology and economics of it all. Warren heard input from Black farmers and incorporated their experience and needs into her “Clean Energy for America” campaign. When an ocean farmer mentioned the lack of focus on the ocean, she immediately incorporated this into her plan, calling it the “Blue New Deal” (88).

If we listen, we can “embrace climate policy as a living document” (88), adopting new ideas and listening to others’ input rather than being competitive. 2020 was a big year for climate policy—nearly every presidential candidate had some sort of plan or proposition with solutions for the climate crisis. The issue is becoming more mainstream and a focus for those with power as well as those voting them in and out.

Gunn-Wright is a co-author of The Green New Deal (GND), an American policy proposal to address climate change. In her essay, she breaks down the tenets of the GND and explains the goals of the policy.

Gunn-Wright grew up with her mother and grandmother in the South Side of Chicago where, over the course of 30 years, they saw a lot of change in their community; once a quiet, middle-class neighborhood, it has since become one of the poorest and most barren (92). The reasons for this include the construction of highways through the city, the tearing down of public housing, and the underfunding and closure of Black schools (92). It is also a frontline community—an area with high levels of pollution.

Gunn-Wright writes that proposing policy is more about the vision you project than the initial details you include. The policy needs to tell a story about what went wrong, why it went wrong, and how the government will fix it (93). The GND has two major focuses: transitioning the US to a zero-carbon economy in 10 years, and reorganizing the economy in ways that will reduce income inequality and systemic oppression.

The author breaks down the GND into three categories to better explain its purpose: the problems it addresses, the principles that guide it, and how it will shift power (97). The main problem that the GND addresses is the climate crisis and the speed and rate at which the Earth is warming. This problem is entangled with other issues like income inequality, shortened life-expectancy, and many Americans’ inability to access basic resources. The GND will redistribute power from the 1% to the 99% in the hopes of making the US more of a democracy than it currently is.

Transitioning away from fossil fuels will cause a major shift in the US economic model. The GND proposes economic mobilization, which is “a coordinated deployment of a nation’s resources in response to a national crisis (99). The focus of this economic mobilization must be justice and equality, or it will end up being a danger to our country rather than a helpful solution to the climate crisis.