Book Review: All We Can Save

The climate crisis is a classic example of a “wicked problem.” The causes of the climate crisis are complex, intractable, and interconnected with other systemic problems. There’s no simple, definitive, or decisive solution for the problem, which makes it hard to know where to start or what success looks like. And most, if not all, of the solutions that address the problem in a substantial way have associated risks and costs that make it difficult to choose among them, much less implement them.

Our individual and collective responses to the climate crisis should be similarly complex. They should take a systems thinking approach, identifying the many elements of our social systems that are contributing to the problem and how they all relate to one another. They should be flexible, adapting to new information and feedback in order to improve current and future responses to the problem. They should consider how the climate crisis relates to other social problems, seeking when possible to “multisolve” by addressing multiple problems at once rather than pursuing solutions to the climate crisis that will exacerbate other problems.

That’s why I’m such a big fan of All We Can Save, a climate nonfiction collection edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and policy expert, and Katharine K. Wilkinson, a bestselling author who served as lead writer for Project Drawdown and the Drawdown book.

All We Can Save brings together dozens of women in the United States from many different backgrounds and walks of life to talk about “Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.” The editors chose to focus on contributions from women because women’s voices are so often sidelined or exploited without credit or compensation by the climate movement and society in general. Centering the voices and contributions of women is important both for the sake of including a full half of the population that would otherwise be excluded and for the sake of embracing ways of knowing and problem-solving that are often ignored or rejected in spaces dominated by cisgender and heterosexual men: personal and interpersonal communication, creative communication, social and economic cooperation, collaboration within and between groups, processing grief and other difficult emotions and experiences, and so on.

The list of contributors to this climate nonfiction anthology includes women leading in many fields related to the climate crisis and climate justice: scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists, innovators, policy wonks, and beyond. Many of these contributors are people whose previous work I had already seen and greatly appreciated in other climate-related contexts. Others were completely new to me and possibly new to a broader audience. Whether familiar or newly discovered, their contributions to this collection offer diverse perspectives from across many geographical, generational, and racial divides. And while the text is primarily creative nonfiction, it also includes moving poetry and illustrations that deepen the impact of this creative and interdisciplinary response to the climate crisis.

The essays and poetry are organized into several sections, each with its own theme. These one-word themes offer a broad overview of the book’s approach to understanding the climate crisis and supporting climate solutions: Root, Advocate, Reframe, Reshape, Persist, Feel, Nourish, Rise. Individually and collectively, these essays and poems offer a robust intersectional feminist understanding of what the climate crisis is and how we can respond to it in complex, equitable, cooperative, flexible, sustainable, successful ways.

So many other climate nonfiction books have a narrow focus on a particular cause of the climate crisis, or a particular solution to the problem, or both. The best of these books serve excellent deep dives into their particular areas of focus. The worst of them offer a one-dimensional analysis meant to bolster a particular solution favored by the author.

By contrast, All We Can Save offers an excellent and nuanced overview of many ways that we can understand, process, and respond to the climate crisis both individually and collectively. It draws connections between climate change and other interrelated wicked problems such as colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy. It explores a broad and interrelated web of solutions such as researching and communicating about climate science; exploring and analyzing many different methods of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; challenging patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism as underlying causes of the climate crisis; centering perspectives and solutions offered by women, indigenous communities, and communities of color; and using an intersectional feminist analysis to understand why the climate crisis is such an intractable problem and how people in the United States and around the world can work together on just solutions to the problem.

One of the most impressive aspects of this book is that it does all of that heavy lifting while still remaining highly accessible. Most, if not all, of the essays and poems have a personal tone that should be relatable for newcomers who are eager to read about climate solutions but don’t have much experience reading wonky climate policy analyses. Some of the essays are more wonky and technical than others, but none of them depend on the reader having extensive prior knowledge of their subject matter. They speak in a straightforward and conversational way about topics ranging from the deeply personal, to the scientific, to the political, and beyond.

The book also includes some unique notation to help new readers absorb key concepts: asterisks by key statistics, dots in the margin by important insights, and underlining key terms and the names of women who are engaging in climate-related work. This notation is very helpful for newcomers and people like me who don’t like marking up books to highlight key points. The reader can look back at a given chapter and see at a glance what key statistics, insights, names, and terms they may be looking for.

And yet even with all of its accessibility, All We Can Save still has so much to offer for people who have read all of the wonky policy analyses out there. Rational analysis can only go so far when the goal is to help individuals and groups understand the climate crisis, come to terms with its root causes and catastrophic impacts, and decide what climate solution(s) they want to pursue. Most readers will only fully connect with the urgency of the climate crisis and the promise of climate solutions if they hear about it through personal narratives and compelling storytelling. The chapters, individually and collectively, have a personal and solutions-oriented tone that breathes life into the climate crisis, the potential solutions, and the people doing the work.

All We Can Save lives up to its ambitious tagline: “Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.” It does a deep dive into the climate crisis and comes back up with an amazing collection of analyses, commentary, action steps, and storytelling from many of the leading voices in the movement for climate justice. It offers a remarkably comprehensive overview of many different approaches to responding to the climate crisis, including stories and examples from many women who are doing out there doing the work. And if one of the chapters offers an approach that particularly resonates with you, you can check out the work of that particular contributor for a deeper dive.

If you like what you’ve read, you can also check out the All We Can Save Project. This project continues where the book left off by supporting climate leaders and climate solutions similar to the ones described in the book. This includes an emphasis on changing the narrative around the climate crisis and climate justice, building community among advocates for climate justice, and offering educational programs and resources for people looking to deepen their understanding and participate in meaningful and effective solutions.

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