All We Can Save Keynote Event

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for coastal cities, and is co-creator and co-host of the Spotify/Gimlet podcast How to Save a Planet. With Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, she co-edited the anthology All We Can Save, and co-founded The All We Can Save Project. 

Recently, Dr. Johnson co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. Previously, as executive director of the Waitt Institute, she co-founded the Blue Halo Initiative and led the Caribbean’s first successful island-wide ocean zoning effort. She also developed ocean policy at the EPA and NOAA, and was a leader of the March for Science. 

Dr. Johnson earned a BA from Harvard University in environmental science and public policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology, with a dissertation on the ecology, socio-economics, and policy of sustainably managing coral reefs. The fish trap she invented to reduce bycatch won the first Rare/National Geographic Solution Search.

She publishes widely, including in The New York Times, Washington Post, and Scientific American. She is on the 2021 Time 100 Next List and was named one of Elle’s 27 Women Leading on Climate. Outside magazine called her “the most influential marine biologist of our time.”

Dr. Johnson serves on the board of directors for GreenWave, Patagonia, World Surf League's PURE, on the advisory boards of Environmental Voter Project, Azul, and Scientific American, and as a fellow at The Explorers Club. She is the proud daughter of a teacher/farmer and an architect/potter. Her mission is to build community around solutions for our climate crisis. Find her @ayanaeliza.

Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is an author, strategist, and teacher, working to heal the planet we call home. Her books on climate include the bestselling anthology All We Can Save (2020, co-editor), The Drawdown Review (2020, editor-in-chief and lead writer), the New York Times bestseller Drawdown (2017, lead writer), and Between God & Green (2012), which The Boston Globe dubbed “a vitally important, even subversive, story.” Dr. Wilkinson co-founded and leads The All We Can Save Project with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, in support of women leading on climate. She also co-hosts the podcast A Matter of Degrees, telling stories for the climate curious with Dr. Leah Stokes.

Previously, Dr. Wilkinson was the principal writer and editor-in-chief at Project Drawdown, where she led the organization’s work to share climate solutions with audiences around the world. She speaks widely, including at National Geographic, Skoll World Forum, and the United Nations. Her TED Talk on climate and gender equality has nearly 2 million views. She serves on the boards of the Doc Society, Chattahoochee Now, and Wild Ark and advises for numerous climate-related initiatives.
 
A homegrown Atlantan, Dr. Wilkinson holds a doctorate in geography and environment from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a BA in religion from Sewanee, where she is now a visiting professor. Formative months spent in the Southern Appalachians, as a student at The Outdoor Academy, shaped her path. Time magazine featured Dr. Wilkinson as one of 15 “women who will save the world” and Apolitical named her one of the “100 most influential people in gender policy.” She is happiest on a mountain or a horse. Find her @DrKWilkinson.