She wrote the book on getting climate right — now Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has a $100,000 prize to match

Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has built her career on a hopeful question — what if we get it right? Dickinson College in Pennsylvania has now named her the recipient of its Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism, a $100,000 honour for people turning environmental concern into action. Johnson co-founded Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities, helped lead the Caribbean's first successful island-wide ocean zoning effort, and wrote the bestselling book What If We Get It Right?, a collection of visions for a climate future that works. As part of the prize she will spend a residency at Dickinson later this month, visiting classes, running a phone-banking workshop and holding a free public fireside chat on Tuesday, Oct. 27 that will also be livestreamed. She follows previous honorees including climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

SDG 13 · Climate action — Mechanism: individual leader