This Earth Month, we asked our team to share what they are doing to celebrate and honor the Earth. We’re focused on learning together, taking collective action, and finding joy outdoors, and we hope you’ll join us!
How are you celebrating Earth Month?
Prep the garden for planting season, spend time alongside Mama Mississippi, and have morning conversations with the cardinals and the crows in the neighborhood. – Susan Phillips
I will be beginning my wildflower seedlings! – Gigi Kreibich
Picking up trash, writing my representatives, sending funds to front line protest groups, deepening my understanding of local Land Back movements, talking about Zero Waste – Lee Petre
Reconnecting with nature and the people that I do this work for. I think connecting with my purpose for this work is really critical for me to keep me going since I do this work year-round. I think I will also take the opportunity to talk with others about how we can work together to move beyond the climate crisis. This is something I think about a lot but not something people always want to talk about. Earth month allows for an easier entry point, a way for me to share my knowledge and get people excited about the work – hopefully. I think it is also a good time to show people that there are so many different ways to engage with this work and help people find something that fits them. – Claire Cooke
Prepare for gardening season, start composting, bike more places! – Trevor Cobb
Plant seeds, get my hands in the soil, admire my bird friends – Danielle Hefferan
I’m always looking for fun ways to pass on the tradition of knowing natural history and practicing land stewardship to my young children. We spend time on walks looking for and identifying birds, plants, and insects; we work in the garden; we talk about the changing seasons and what crops will be coming into season; and we give gratitude to the earth and the people who tend it. – Lindsey Kirkland
I live in a neighborhood very close to Lake Michigan. Every day, I take a walk to watch how the lake changes. Nature unfolds so quickly when you take the time to witness it! – Zoe Redfern-Hall
What books, movies, podcasts, or music would you recommend people enjoy this month?
Books: What if we get it right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Podcasts: We are the Great Turning, For the Wild, How to Save A Planet. TV/Movies: Extrapolation (AppleTV), Youth VS Gov (documentary on Netflix) – Susan Phillips
I am reading “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” – Gigi Kreibich
The Red Nation podcast and the book The Red Deal; Podcast series with Timothy Morton through BBC “The End of the World has Already Happened” – Lee Petre
I really like the Local Energy Rules podcast by the Institute for Local Self Reliance. I love this active hope training: https://activehope.training/. Of course, Braiding Sweetgrass, Tending the Soil, and Undrowned are all great for books. – Claire Cooke
I’m reading What If We Get It Right by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson with my book club! – Danielle Hefferan
A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner, Christopher Silas Neal, Mud by Mary Lyn Ray – Lindsey Kirkland
I’m reading Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I also must recommend A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. – Zoe Redfern-Hall
Who are some climate leaders, artists, activists, or creators that keep you inspired during Earth Month?
Ayisha Siddiqa, Mitzi Jonelle, Dallas Goldtooth, Leah Penniman, Favianna Rodriguez – Susan Phillips
Rebecca Lee Kunz is an indigenous artist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her mediums are printmaking, paint, and natural materials – Gigi Kreibich
Stop Cop City movement, including forest defender Tortuguita, who was murdered by police – Lee Petre
Local activists working at the community scale in MN that I got to hear speak at MN lobby days at the capital this year. I think it is more critical than ever to be working at this local scale to protect each other and help the planet, so I found that really inspiring. – Claire Cooke
My current favorite follow on social media is @esthernewyork on Instagram! They are a drag queen that posts well-researched videos about the histories of colonization, capitalism, and exploitation of the environment. Super well-made informative content that I love sharing and recommending to people. – Trevor Cobb
I like to think about the movement history behind our celebration of Earth Month and Earth Day. I’m also inspired by the leaders in the food sovereignty and food justice space. In my local community, I’m inspired by leaders like Anton Seals Jr., the founder of Grow Greater Englewood, who I got to hear from at a recent food justice summit I attended. Learning the unique threads of the movement ecosystem and leaders like Anton who have been doing local-level, long-term organizing work inspires me and roots me during these times. – Zoe Redfern-Hall
Do you have any favorite Earth Month traditions?
Getting the garden ready for pollinators! – Gigi Kreibich
I love to write poems about Spring and the Earth and spend the whole month making art to celebrate her. – Trevor Cobb
See the birds come back! – Danielle Hefferan
Going outside daily on my lunch breaks from my home office to see what’s blooming. – Lindsey Kirkland
Every year, I love to document with photos the new flowers popping up whenever I see a new one on my walks through the neighborhood. During spring, I am constantly swiveling my head to search for flowers or interesting plants when I’m outside. It’s one of my most favorite things I do every year. – Zoe Redfern-Hall
The post Your 2025 Earth Month List appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding
The Lincolnshire constituency held by Richard Tice, the climate-sceptic deputy leader of the hard-right Reform party, has been pledged at least £55m in government funding for flood defences since 2024.
This investment in Boston and Skegness is the second-largest sum for a single constituency from a £1.4bn flood-defence fund for England, Carbon Brief analysis shows.
Flooding is becoming more likely and more extreme in the UK due to climate change.
Yet, for years, governments have failed to spend enough on flood defences to protect people, properties and infrastructure.
The £1.4bn fund is part of the current Labour government’s wider pledge to invest a “record” £7.9bn over a decade on protecting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses from flooding.
As MP for one of England’s most flood-prone regions, Tice has called for more investment in flood defences, stating that “we cannot afford to ‘surrender the fens’ to the sea”.
He is also one of Reform’s most vocal opponents of climate action and what he calls “net stupid zero”. He denies the scientific consensus on climate change and has claimed, falsely and without evidence, that scientists are “lying”.
Flood defences
Last year, the government said it would invest £2.65bn on flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) schemes in England between April 2024 and March 2026.
This money was intended to protect 66,500 properties from flooding. It is part of a decade-long Labour government plan to spend more than £7.9bn on flood defences.
There has been a consistent shortfall in maintaining England’s flood defences, with the Environment Agency expecting to protect fewer properties by 2027 than it had initially planned.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has attributed this to rising costs, backlogs from previous governments and a lack of capacity. It also points to the strain from “more frequent and severe” weather events, such as storms in recent years that have been amplified by climate change.
However, the CCC also said last year that, if the 2024-26 spending programme is delivered, it would be “slightly closer to the track” of the Environment Agency targets out to 2027.
The government has released constituency-level data on which schemes in England it plans to fund, covering £1.4bn of the 2024-26 investment. The other half of the FCERM spending covers additional measures, from repairing existing defences to advising local authorities.
The map below shows the distribution of spending on FCERM schemes in England over the past two years, highlighting the constituency of Richard Tice.
By far the largest sum of money – £85.6m in total – has been committed to a tidal barrier and various other defences in the Somerset constituency of Bridgwater, the seat of Conservative MP Ashley Fox.
Over the first months of 2026, the south-west region has faced significant flooding and Fox has called for more support from the government, citing “climate patterns shifting and rainfall intensifying”.
He has also backed his party’s position that “the 2050 net-zero target is impossible” and called for more fossil-fuel extraction in the North Sea.
Tice’s east-coast constituency of Boston and Skegness, which is highly vulnerable to flooding from both rivers and the sea, is set to receive £55m. Among the supported projects are beach defences from Saltfleet to Gibraltar Point and upgrades to pumping stations.
Overall, Boston and Skegness has the second-largest portion of flood-defence funding, as the chart below shows. Constituencies with Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs occupied the other top positions.
Overall, despite Labour MPs occupying 347 out of England’s 543 constituencies – nearly two-thirds of the total – more than half of the flood-defence funding was distributed to constituencies with non-Labour MPs. This reflects the flood risk in coastal and rural areas that are not traditional Labour strongholds.
Reform funding
While Reform has just eight MPs, representing 1% of the population, its constituencies have been assigned 4% of the flood-defence funding for England.
Nearly all of this money was for Tice’s constituency, although party leader Nigel Farage’s coastal Clacton seat in Kent received £2m.
Reform UK is committed to “scrapping net-zero” and its leadership has expressed firmly climate-sceptic views.
Much has been made of the disconnect between the party’s climate policies and the threat climate change poses to its voters. Various analyses have shown the flood risk in Reform-dominated areas, particularly Lincolnshire.
Tice has rejected climate science, advocated for fossil-fuel production and criticised Environment Agency flood-defence activities. Yet, he has also called for more investment in flood defences, stating that “we cannot afford to ‘surrender the fens’ to the sea”.
This may reflect Tice’s broader approach to climate change. In a 2024 interview with LBC, he said:
“Where you’ve got concerns about sea level defences and sea level rise, guess what? A bit of steel, a bit of cement, some aggregate…and you build some concrete sea level defences. That’s how you deal with rising sea levels.”
While climate adaptation is viewed as vital in a warming world, there are limits on how much societies can adapt and adaptation costs will continue to increase as emissions rise.
The post Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: Constituency of Reform’s climate-sceptic Richard Tice gets £55m flood funding
Proposed Endangered Species Act rollbacks and military expansions are leaving the Pacific’s most diverse coral reefs legally defenseless.
Ritidian Point, at the northern tip of Guam, is home to an ancient limestone forest with panoramic vistas of warm Pacific waters. Stand here in early spring and you might just be lucky enough to witness a breaching humpback whale as they migrate past. But listen and you’ll be struck by the cacophony of the island’s live-fire testing range.
US Government Is Accelerating Coral Reef Collapse, Scientists Warn
Ice loss in the Antarctic Ocean may be killing the sea birds during their molting season.
Each year for millennia, emperor penguins have molted on coastal sea ice that remained stable until late summer—a haven during a span of several weeks when it’s dangerous for the mostly aquatic birds to enter the ocean to feed because they are regrowing their waterproof feathers.
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