Detroit’s public school district was forced to send all of its students home early this fall due to sweltering heat made more likely by climate change.
But what if the August temperatures had never gotten so high? And, even if they had, what if instead of half of Detroit’s school buildings having air conditioners, they all had solar-powered cooling systems so students could continue the school day without interruption?
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In Detroit on Wednesday New York Times best-selling authors Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and adrienne maree brown will discuss what a future world could look like if instead of an increasingly hotter Earth, we “get it right” in addressing the climate crisis. The free 7 p.m. event at the Garden Theater in Midtown will draw from Johnson’s recent book release of “What if we get it right? Visions of Climate Futures,” and adrienne maree brown’s “Loving Corrections.”
The event will be hosted by the conversation series platform the Urban Consulate and moderated by Orlando Bailey, executive director of local nonprofit newsroom Outlier Media. Since 2016, the Urban Consulate has brought people together around the country to have conversations to build a more equitable world.
Bailey said it made sense to bring the climate crisis conversation to Detroit, a city surrounded by the world’s largest freshwater source — already welcoming climate refugees and known for its powerful environmental justice movement.
“Detroiters, especially those contending with the adverse effects of living adjacent to harmful industry, continue to advocate against degenerate practices and champion their own mortality and the lifeline of their neighborhoods,” he said. “Residents are organized and doing the work to create policy solutions for environmental injustice and ensuring a safe breathable future for our children.”
Johnson, a doctor in marine biology and policy expert, published “What if we get it right?” in September. The publication, a collection of 20 interviews about climate change and the future, delves into climate problems like rapid species extinction and counters with possibilities like restoring a third of the ecosystem to prevent catastrophic global warming.
Former Detroiter and current movement facilitator, among other roles, adrienne maree brown, published “Loving Corrections” in August. It features essays on how to approach relationships to lead to collective liberation from navigating critique within the activism community to living a more honest life for true belonging.
Among the climate books published this year, Bailey said he chose Johnson’s because it’s important to honor and amplify Black people doing the work.
“The environmental justice movement has its roots in the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Johnson acknowledges that very fact and her work continues that legacy,” he said.
The national environmental justice movement was spurred in the 1970s in North Carolina when the state chose a majority Black county to store toxic soil and was protested by several notable civil rights leaders. The event is considered to be a major milestone in the national environmental justice history timeline.
“I think the question that Dr. Johnson poses in the title (What if we get this right?) is absolutely apropos for where we are as a country as we grapple with more frequent climate disasters and a presidential election that will be consequential to the momentum that the movement has,” Bailey said.
Books will be available at the event for purchase and signing from Source Booksellers. Supported by the Kresge Foundation, tickets are free and can be reserved on Eventbrite.
