All We Can Save: Women Ask the Hard Questions About Survival

By Kate Mazade

“Look, we are not unspectacular things.

We've come this far, survived this much.

What would happen if we decided to survive more?”

This stanza from Ada Límon's poem “Dead Stars” is buried in a mountain of hopeful and haunting language in an exacting anthology with a gentle cream cover. 

Edited by climate scientists Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis is a collection of essays, anecdotes, and poetry that lament what we’ve already lost and incite action for what we must fight to reclaim. The anthology brings climate action to the individual: Stabilizing our planet, culture, democracies, and societies isn't just a worldview. It’s deeply personal. 

The anthology covers an expansive range of climate topics and tackles the big issues head on. It examines climate citizenship; environmental racism; funding and policy; fossil fuels; natural disaster-induced immigration; human and biodiversity; public health; clean water, air, and soil; and the challenges we face and responsibility we carry to live in this world.  

Written by 60 female contributors, All We Can Save manifests the feminist climate movement and the intersectionality of activism with wide representation across background, race, and generation. From youth activists to Indigenous elders, the anthology invites all people to enter into the climate conversation, creating dialog in our ever-expanding circles. It spotlights mothers—as those whose strength of character and determination is often unmatched—and raises the idea of community mothering so that the world’s children might have a future. 

All We Can Save dares industry professionals to pick up the mantle in everyday conversations and decisions—to ask and re-ask how our industries can change. What does that mean for the architecture and construction industry? 

Can we integrate passive design strategies? 

Can we thoroughly research best practices? 

Can we source locally? 

Can we advocate for all-electric buildings and clean, low-emission materials? 

Can we reuse water? 

Can we activate transit alternatives? 

Can we reintroduce native plantings? 

Can we consider the health and wellbeing of the buildings occupants? 

Can we help to educate clients, consultants, and community members on sustainable strategies? 

Can we recognize that this isn’t an exhaustive list and explore alternative solutions for buildings that support both people and the planet we inhabit? 

Organized in eight parts from Root to Rise, All We Can Save is not unlike the stages of grief. There is time for both mourning and moving forward. (I'd be lying to say I didn’t cry more than once.) This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It isn’t for the climate-deniers, or the “I'll be dead by then” brush off-ers. It’s for those who are brave enough to self-reflect. Humble enough to recognize they are part of the problem. And honest enough to stop lying to themselves. 

All We Can Save sneaked up on me. The words were profound when my eyes first rush across them, mesmerized and captivated—then weighed on my mind and conscience for hours afterward like a dull hangover. But it is in the normal, mundane moments of my life when this book is most potent. 

When I carry out the trash, I dwell on the recyclable and compostable contents that will be buried in the earth, sentenced to eternity inside their plastic coffin. In the shower, I stare transfixed as the silky conditioner spirals down the drain with Finding Nemo’s “all drains lead to the ocean” chanting inside my head. As I fill my car up with gas, I imagine the black gold guzzling through my car, expelling into the atmosphere—air that both keeps me alive and slowly kills me. When I meet someone who has just moved to the U.S., I wonder about the destruction they left behind, and if they know what they are getting into here. 

But when I see a family strolling in the evening and a small child crouches to pick a flower, Ada’s words rise back up. “We are not unspectacular things…What would happen if we decide to survive more?”

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All We Can Save is available on through the All We Can Save Project website or where you normally get your books.

To the women who contributed to this book, I am energized and amazed by you. 

Thank you to Ayana and Katharine for your perseverance and your risk. 

Thank you to Emily, Xiye, Collette, Jainey, Janine, adrienne, Régine, Abigail, Rhiana, Katharine, Mary, Mary Anne, Tara, Emily, Naomi, Kate, Kate, Gina, Sarah, Sherri, Susanne, Kate, Jacqui, Leah, Kendra, Varshini, Janisse, Christine, Favianna, Cameron, Ash, Judith, Emily, Sarah, Leah, Amanda, Maggie, Heather, Alexandria, Amy, Jane, Ellen, Camille, Joy, Jane, Ailish, Joan, Ada, Louise, Anne, Lynna, Sharon, Mary, Naima, Catherine, Marge, Patricia, Alice, and Madeleine for your tenacity.