People the Planet Needs Now: Voices for Justice, Science, and a Future of Promise

Find inspiration to affect global change with stories and perspectives from people the planet needs now: 25 Black and Brown scientists and activists.

From climate change and industrial waste to social injustice and poverty, the challenges that our world faces are daunting. To make matters worse, many people are turning away from scientific fact in favor of their own beliefs and biases. Yet there is reason for hope. Heroes among us are fighting for a better world--and many of them are Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC). Acclaimed author and photographer Dudley Edmondson has interviewed 25 Black and Brown scientists, environmental justice activists, and social justice activists to inspire change on a global scale.

People the Planet Needs Now is a compilation of personal stories and perspectives from across the United States (and one from the Philippines), as scientists and activists talk about the work they do and their life experiences. The 25 viewpoints are shared conversationally, as if the reader is having a one-on-one dialogue with each storyteller. You'll learn deeply personal details about their childhood, physical- and mental-health struggles, and racist encounters--which influence everything, from science and what is considered knowledge to where one might live in a particular city and even one's quality of healthcare and education.

Complete with Dudley's full-color photography, the book offers a rare opportunity to see and hear from BIPOC scientists and activists about problems with "traditional" science and the current methods of addressing everything from climate change to city design. Black and Brown people are often most directly affected by these problems, so their unique insights offer the possibility for new solutions. These interviews spark conversations about innovative ways to address social, environmental, and related issues.

"It is an honor and privilege to share this collection of personal stories from Black and Brown storytellers with global origins and perspectives," says Dudley.

Black and Brown people around the globe have an interdependent relationship with nature, and their perspectives can help us push for positive change. People the Planet Needs Now strives to inspire current and future difference-makers to create a better world together.

Over the past 32 years, Dudley Edmondson has become an established photographer, author, filmmaker, and presenter. His photography has been featured in galleries and publications around the world, most recently in Australia and Italy. His photographic work and travel adventures have taken him to amazing places, including the Arctic Circle of Alaska and the Bahamas.

In 2006, Dudley set out to create a group of outdoor role models for the nation's African American community by writing the landmark book, Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places. During the Obama Administration, Dudley's book landed him an invitation to the White House for the signing of America's Great Outdoors Initiative.

Dudley currently serves on the board for the Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus in Saint Paul. In 2021, the Minnesota House of Representatives appointed Dudley to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which makes funding recommendations to the legislature for the protection and restoration of Minnesota's prairies, wetlands, and forests, using funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.