All We Can Save

All We Can Save

Editor	Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Katharine Wilkinson
Publication date	September 22, 2020
Website	allwecansave.earth

All We Can Save is a 2020 collection of essays and poetry edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and published by One World.^[1] The collection sets out to highlight a wide range of women's voices in the environmental movement, most of whom are from North America.^[2][3] The book represents a wide range of essays, and creative works by over 50 women involved in climate change activism, science, and policy.^[2][4][5][6]

All We Can Save focuses on building a feminine and feminist voice in the climate movement.^[4][7] Many commentators focused on the broad range of perspectives included in the book.^[4] Sierra magazine commentator Wendy Becktold called the book a "big tent" and "grab bag" approach to communicating the climate crisis—one that "feels like just what we need right now.”^[2] Rolling Stone’s Phoebe Neidl said the book was “a feast of ideas and perspectives, setting a big table for the climate movement, declaring all are welcome.”^[5]

Johnson and Wilkinson decided to create the anthology while attending a conference where the conversation was dominated by white male voices,^[8] with the aim of highlighting the breadth and diversity of climate leadership.^[8]

The book’s title was inspired by the closing stanza of Adrienne Rich’s poem “Natural Resources”.^[9][10]

"My heart is moved by all I cannot save:

so much has been destroyed

I have to cast my lot with those

who age after age, perversely,

with no extraordinary power,

reconstitute the world."

Reception was broadly very positive, listing the book on a number of best seller and "best of 2020" lists.^[11] Smithsonian magazine named it one of the top 10 best science books for 2020.^[12] Wendy Becktold from Sierra magazine positively reviewed the book "All We Can Save is a powerful tool because it articulates and holds space for this complexity."^[13] Ms. magazine reviewer Sarah Montgomery focused on the urgency of the collection in light of the climate crisis, calling it a "sorely needed glimmer of hope—a reminder that there is a way out of this mess: collective action."^[7] The book was featured in numerous nonfiction best sellers lists, including the Los Angeles Times,^[14] The Washington Post,^[15] and Porchlight Books.^[16]

Among the readers of the book are many notable women leaders, including Roxane Gay, Jane Fonda, Emma Watson, and Maria Papova.^{[17][18][19][20]} The book was featured in many publications with interviews from Johnson and Wilkinson, including The Today Show, The Washington Post, Time magazine, and Democracy Now!.^{[21][9][22][23]}

Authors contributing to the book include:^[24]

Narrators of the audiobook include:^[25]

• Alfre Woodard (Indigenous Prophecy and Mother Earth; Collards Are Just as Good as Kale; An Offering from the Bayou)
• America Ferrera (On Fire; Harnessing Cultural Power; Mothering in an Age of Extinction; Like the Monarch)
• Cristela Alonzo (The Politics of Policy; Mending the Landscape; Solutions Underfoot; A Field Guide for Transformation; Community Is Our Best Chance)
• Ilana Glazer (A Handful of Dust; We Are Sunrise; Under the Weather)
• Jane Fonda (Reciprocity; How to Talk About Climate Change; Catalytic Capital; The Adaptive Mind; The Seed Underground)
• Janet Mock (What Is Emergent Strategy?; Wakanda Doesn’t Have Suburbs; At the Intersections)
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Beyond Coal; Heaven or High Water; Public Service for Public Health; Water Is a Verb)
• Kimberly Drew (A Green New Deal for All of Us; A Tale of Three Cities; Sacred Resistance; Solutions at Sea)
• Bahni Turpin (Calling In; Truth Be Told; Home Is Always Worth It; Black Gold; A Letter to Adults)
• Sophia Bush (Litigating in a Time of Crisis; Becoming a Climate Citizen; Buildings Designed for Life; Dear Fossil Fuel Executives; Loving a Vanishing World)
• Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson (Begin; Onward; Gratitude; all poems; and additional material read)

Alongside the publication of All We Can Save in 2020, Wilkinson and Johnson co-founded The All We Can Save Project,^[21] which is an independent operating project of the umbrella nonprofit organization Multiplier.^[26] Its mission is to nurture the “we” for all we can save and a "leaderful" climate community to grow a life-giving future.^[27]

The All We Can Save Project provides open-source resources to support engagement with All We Can Save, including a self-led reading group model called All We Can Save Circles,^[28][29][30] resources for educators teaching the anthology,^[28][31] and resources for working with climate emotions.^[32]

• Official website