Ideas change everything

How to find joy in climate action

2,088,616 plays|

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson |

TED2022

• April 2022

We can all play a role in the climate movement by tapping into our skills, resources and networks in ways that bring us satisfaction, says climate leader Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. She suggests drawing a Venn diagram to map these questions: What are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? And what brings you joy? Where your answers intersect is where you should put your climate action effort. "Averting climate catastrophe: this is the work of our lifetimes," Johnson says.

We can all play a role in the climate movement by tapping into our skills, resources and networks in ways that bring us satisfaction, says climate leader Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. She suggests drawing a Venn diagram to map these questions: What are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? And what brings you joy? Where your answers intersect is where you should put your climate action effort. "Averting climate catastrophe: this is the work of our lifetimes," Johnson says.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

Create your own Climate Action Venn Diagram to find specialized ways to contribute to climate solutions.

Share your Venn diagram to inspire others to also consider impactful climate actions they can take. Post it to Instagram and tag @ClimateVenn.

Peruse the work of Project Drawdown to learn more about the full range of existing climate solutions.

About the speaker

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, writer, climate policy expert and co-founder of the nonprofit think tank Urban Ocean Lab.

Learn more

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"Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?" (How to Save a Planet, 2020)

Do our individual actions matter? Or is it all about system-level changes? The episode, co-hosted by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, dives into the data and concludes that it’s both! – your individual actions that contribute to systemic changes are what matter most.

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"I'm a Black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet." (The Washington Post, 2020)

In this viral oped, Dr. Johnson explains how our racial inequality crisis is intertwined with our climate crisis — if we don’t work on both, we will succeed at neither

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

Create your own Climate Action Venn Diagram to find specialized ways to contribute to climate solutions.

Share your Venn diagram to inspire others to also consider impactful climate actions they can take. Post it to Instagram and tag @ClimateVenn.

Peruse the work of Project Drawdown to learn more about the full range of existing climate solutions.