MARINE BIOLOGIST, POLICY
expert and writer Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, winner of 2021’s Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, exemplifies the rare combination of superb scientist and powerful communicator. From the December 8, 2021, Climate One program “Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: The 2021 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication.” AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON, Ph.D., Marine Biologist; Founder and President, Ocean Collectiv; Founder, Urban Ocean Lab GREG DALTON, Founder and Host, Climate One— Moderator
GREG DALTON: Today, we’re honoring the recipient of an award we give out each year to an accomplished climate scientist and communicator. Established in honor of Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology, Climate One’s Schneider Award recognizes a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear, compelling fashion. This year’s recipient is marine biologist, policy expert and writer Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. She’s co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and co-creator of the All We Can Save Project. In 2019, Johnson floated the idea of a Blue New Deal in an op-ed piece. The idea caught the attention of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, which then invited her to formalize it. Johnson says this is the piece of climate communication she’s most proud of, though she speaks about it infrequently now. AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON: The idea came to be
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THE COMMO N WE AL TH | February/March 2022
PHOTO BY RYAN LASH / TED
AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON
