Energy & Climate
Earth Day 2025
Tom Cosgrove, chief creative & content officer at EARTHDAY.ORG, reflects on a 55-year legacy of environmental action.
22 April 2025
This article first appeared in our World Environment Day 2025 issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Main image: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, India was one of many iconic landmarks lit green for Earth Day
05 June is World Environment Day.
In most years, this article would open with a reflection on why that day matters and what it asks of us but this year, it felt timely to begin by reminding everyone of something bigger: we are not alone.
How do we know? Well, Earth Day, marked on 22 April, triggered a truly unprecedented global outpouring of support this year, proving that this movement is neither in retreat nor daunted.
It is proof that climate concern is not niche, not fringe, not waning. It is alive, it is growing and it is unstoppable.
Let’s start with the facts. EARTHDAY.ORG (EDO) – the organisation behind Earth Day globally – was featured in more than 17,000 unique articles worldwide, not including syndications.
In fact, between 01 and 27 April 2025, EDO’s editorial reach surpassed 7.5 billion – a staggering 641% increase from 2024.
On Earth Day alone, we reached 2.1 billion people through earned media – and that’s before factoring in our vast global social media presence.
General ‘Earth Day’-related media coverage also exploded – up 900% over last year, which had already shown significant growth from 2023.
Part of this year’s Earth Day theme – Our Power, Our Planet – involved a call for the tripling of electricity generated by renewable energy by 2030. It hit a nerve.
We struck a deep chord by focusing on the benefits of clean, cheap, never -ending energy and connecting the opportunities for job creation.
The goal was to paint a sustainable future that feels within reach – if we commit to making it happen.
We lit iconic buildings all over the world green, partnered on concerts in New York City (with Good News Planet and OMMM), we taught climate education classes, advocated for renewable energy, put up billboards and marched, ran, cycled, planted and spoke up for the planet.
Over 100 local climate policy roundtables, led by community leaders and local mayors, held city-level renewable energy conversations that will positively impact 12 million people.
In the US alone, municipalities in Manhattan, New York, Iowa City, Iowa and Nashville, Tennessee led the way.
Our media team didn’t sleep and we booked staff on TV and radio shows from the Falkland Islands to Bulgaria – Leeds to Taiwan.
We were not speaking into an echo chamber; the world tuned in to listen and then turned up the volume.
Perhaps the most compelling Earth Day stories were hyper-local.
EDO’s Great Global Cleanup (GGC) continued to expand in 2025, with well over 6,000 cleanups loaded on our GGC map.
But this year, the framing shifted. These weren’t just trash pick-ups; these were transformative moments of community power, driving a sense of unity and hope by creating a tangible gateway to environmental activism.
In Detroit, Michigan volunteers revitalised vacant lots to support pollinator gardens.
In San Antonio, Texas cleanups emphasised the value of urban green spaces.
In Miami’s Little Havana, organisers blended environmental action wit community wellness, combining a cleanup with yoga and local outreach.
In North Carolina in Raleigh, the cleanup programme funded by the local government continues to employ unhoused residents, building dignity, sustainability and opportunity in one stroke.
They were not alone; all over the world millions more acted – in the UK, Italy, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Spain, Canada, Australia and beyond.
‘This movement is exponentially growing, and it is getting louder and faster than ever before. It is much more active than even a year ago. For anyone in doubt, just look at Earth Day’s reach. Over 7 billion people!’
TOM COSGROVE
Chief creative and content officer at EARTHDAY.ORG
This year’s Earth Day sent a loud and clear political message: a healthy climate is no longer negotiable.
According to the Guardian’s 89% Project, a vast global majority wants more ambitious government action on climate change mitigation.
Earth Day’s media growth and huge numbers of volunteers – all acting decisively – reflected this demand.
Now, we need to carry this momentum into World Environment Day on 05 June 2025.
Its theme, ‘Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience’, could not be more urgent, as the world grapples with escalating environmental crises that threaten ecosystems, biodiversity and human livelihoods.
In recent years, the planet has witnessed a dramatic increase in extreme weather events.
Wildfires in North America and Australia, for example, have burned millions of acres, with the 2020 Australian wildfires alone destroying over 18 million hectares of land – an area larger than the entire state of New South Wales.
In Southern Europe severe droughts are becoming more frequent, with the Mediterranean region experiencing a 30% reduction in annual rainfall since the 1980s.
This depletion of freshwater resources threatens agriculture and accelerates the desertification of once-fertile lands.
By 2025, an estimated 12 million hectares of land will be lost to desertification every year, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
When we restore degraded land we are not only helping to combat desertification, we are also contributing significantly to the sequestration of carbon.
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), by restoring 350 million hectares of degraded land we could remove 13.6 gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
‘There is no role for timidity in confronting this assault on our future. We must each dig deep enough to find a fearless core.’
DENIS HAYES
National organiser of the first Earth Day and Board Chair Emeritus of EARTHDAY.ORG
World Environment Day demands that we find solutions – and one example can be found in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, home to iconic species like lions, elephants and wildebeest.
It faces mounting pressures from climate change, land degradation and overgrazing, but local communities, conservation organisations and government agencies have come together to reverse some of that damage.
Thousands of indigenous trees were planted to stabilise the soil, conserve water and provide habitats for wildlife.
Sustainable grazing practices and rainwater harvesting were adopted.
The impact has been tangible, with improvements in soil health and water availability and an increase in eco tourism.
You can take action this World Environment Day by organising a cleanup in your community, planting trees or a pollinator garden, organising a teach-in or discussion in your community – the possibilities are endless.
Speak up – online, at school, at work – and ask your elected officials to put the planet first. Make your voice heard at the ballot box.
No act is too small. No action is insignificant when multiplied by millions of others doing the same.
The movement is here. The world is watching. Let’s make 05 June count.
Tom Cosgrove, chief creative & content officer at EARTHDAY.ORG, reflects on a 55-year legacy of environmental action.
Kathleen Rogers, president of EARTHDAY.ORG, reveals how collective action can change the world.
Tom Cosgrove, chief creative and content officer at EARTHDAY.ORG, contemplates the good, the bad and the ugly ahead of COP29.
Lee Franklin, college campus coordinator at EARTHDAY.ORG, explains why youth-led movements are inspiring hope for the future.
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