Earth Day has always been a moment to reflect and take action, but in 2025, it’s more urgent than ever.
This year’s Earth Day theme, Our Power, Our Planet, is a rallying cry to use our collective voice and action to protect the Earth – especially now, as environmental protections are being dismantled and climate progress is being rolled back under a coordinated political agenda.
At the root of the issue is Project 2025, a radical conservative policy roadmap crafted by the Heritage Foundation. Despite publicly distancing himself from the plan, President Trump’s administration is already moving in lockstep with many of its environmental proposals.
What’s happening now isn’t subtle. It’s a coordinated effort to roll back climate protections and dismantle the institutions that support them. Here’s how we’re already seeing Project 2025’s climate agenda in action:
- Pulling Out of Climate Agreements: The U.S. has begun the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. There are also plans to exit the United Nations’ main climate body, and the administration pulled out of an international fund to help vulnerable nations deal with climate impacts.
- Weakening the National Weather Service: Staff at NOAA, the agency responsible for the National Weather Service and key climate data, are being slashed. Forecasting and data collection are already suffering.
- Rolling Back National Monument Protections: Land protections are on the chopping block. The administration is reviewing several national monuments with an eye toward shrinking or eliminating them.
- Censoring Climate Research: The U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces essential climate science, has begun removing key reports from its website – limiting access to information the public and policymakers rely on.
- Privatizing Climate Disaster Response: Plans are in motion to overhaul FEMA, pushing more disaster recovery costs onto states and opening the door to privatizing the federal flood insurance program. With more extreme weather events on the rise, this leaves communities less protected.
- Accelerating Resource Extraction in Alaska: Drilling and mining projects are being fast-tracked on previously protected lands in Alaska. Environmental reviews are being scaled back, and longstanding protections for wildlife and forests are being dismantled.
- Slashing the EPA: The Environmental Protection Agency is facing deep staffing cuts, including the proposed elimination of its research division. At the same time, laws like the Endangered Species Act are being targeted for rollbacks.
This Earth Day, let’s stand together against Project 2025 – the environmental protections we’ve fought hard for are under serious threat, and the policies being enacted today will set us back by decades.
Is your organization taking action against climate protection rollbacks this Earth Day? The .earth web domain is ideal for enhancing your brands and communicating your mission of creating a safer planet through platforms for social and environmental activism.
Also, stay tuned for our annual Earth Day promotion, which will be kicking off on April 22nd!
To learn more about the .earth domain, visit Voices.Earth. In addition, many organizations and individuals are sharing their voices about the benefits of a .earth domain in our Voices.Earth podcast series.
