WASHINGTON, DC, April 22, 2025 (ENS) – Today, on the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, polls confirm that the great majority of Americans support increasing investment in renewables and the immediate deployment of all forms of renewable energy. This year’s Earth Day theme is the aspirational slogan, “Our Power, Our Planet.”
This Earthday.org renewable energy theme has inspired over 10,000 events in the United States. People by the million are supporting Earth Day’s calls for the tripling of electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2030, eliminating fossil fuels subsidies, and securing inexhaustible sources of clean energy.
“Millions of people are taking peaceful action this Earth Day to demonstrate their support for renewable energy,” said Kathleen Rogers, President, Earthday.org.
“Investment in this industry will increase innovation in all sectors of manufacturing, transportation and agriculture, spurring yet more technological advancements and creating millions of new jobs,” she predicted.
In 2024, U.S. wind and solar together generated more power than coal for the first time, as coal hit a record low and solar saw its biggest-ever growth. The truth is that solar power in the United States is booming, with capacity expected to more than double from 91 gigawatts, GW, in 2023 to 182 GW by the end of 2026, alongside a 70 percent jump in battery storage in 2025 alone. Our transition to renewable energy is not just a goal,” Rogers said. “It’s a movement. And it’s unstoppable.”
Despite unpopular government rollbacks of renewable energy federal funding, hundreds of cities across the United States are moving towards employing renewable energy, recognizing that it will not only create millions of new jobs, but will also attract new businesses to their cities, reduce their energy costs, and improve the health of their constituents.
To celebrate Earth Day 2025, city leaders representing over 15 million U.S. citizens announced plans to develop new renewable energy projects in their communities. One hundred cities, in red and blue states, held town halls and other meetings with their citizens to strategize on accelerating their renewable energy efforts.
Farmers to firefighters, nurses to engineers, union workers to educators, truck drivers, artists, scientists, small business owners, veterans, retailers, tech workers, and faith leaders: Americans are coming together in unprecedented numbers to partner with Earthday.org to support its call for policies and investments in renewable energy.
This Earth Day, more than one million students in U.S. schools and others in schools across the world learned about and discussed the impacts of the renewable energy sector.
Founded in 1970 by the organizers of the first Earth Day, Earthday.org claims to be the world’s largest environmental movement, mobilizing over one billion people annually to protect the planet and its people.
Environmental leaders across the United States have been urging their supporters all day to “get out and fight against Trump’s greed and destruction” by calling their elected representatives to convince them to “rein in this lawless administration.”
A newly minted graduate of Vermont Law and Graduate School, Ashley Nunes is a policy specialist at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity who believes in “good governance, compassionate conservation, and creative collaboration.”
In an Earth Day opinion piece, she wrote today, “Since the day U.S. President Donald Trump took office, his administration has relentlessly pursued an agenda that puts the profits of his billionaire allies above the well-being of the American people and our environment.”
“Trump’s strategy seems clear: Do so much damage so quickly that no one can focus on one issue for long before something else draws attention away. Yet Earth Day reminds us that our public lands, wildlife and, climate are priorities among the flurry of broad and harmful executive actions,” Nunes stressed.
Nunes says President Trump is “eliminating protections and rubber-stamping approvals without environmental review or air pollution permits for oil and gas processing facilities.”
“The latest in Trump’s onslaught of attacks on our environmental protections came just days ago with a proposed rule change on endangered species. Trump wants to gut the very core of these protections: preserving crucial wildlife habitat, even though habitat destruction is the primary driver toward extinction for most animals. Instead, Trump would limit what it means to “harm” endangered species to killing or hunting animals directly.”
“If Trump gets his way,” wrote Nunes, “logging, mining, drilling, developing, or polluting the lands where animals live or breed wouldn’t be considered ‘harm’ to imperiled wildlife. With such reckless action, we could lose endangered species like grizzly bears entirely, while species that have bounced back because of these protections, including bald eagles, could head back toward extinction again. It’s just not possible to protect animals and plants from extinction without protecting their natural home.”
“This comes after Trump already cut funds to life-saving international elephant and rhino conservation programs and fired thousands of workers across federal agencies who ensure endangered species are protected throughout the country,” Nunes pointed out.
Trump escalated his war on science with a plan to defund crucial NASA research and climate science. Trump removed government websites that map climate change, pollution, and offer environmental justice resources, she fumed. “Then Trump took steps to revoke the government’s basis for tackling climate change, a finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the environment.”
Nunes had more to object to. “Trump’s greed is on full display with his efforts to expand and prioritize oil, gas, coal, mining, and logging operations on public lands,”
“Trump just unleashed the chainsaws on our national forests with a goal of ramping up logging and road building on public lands. This will pollute the drinking water of 180 million Americans and clear the forests that many wildlife species need to survive. Cutting down older, fire-resilient trees will also make wildfires worse,” Nunes wrote.
“The Trump administration declared a so-called ’emergency situation’ in 59 percent of our national forests. This is a phony declaration concocted to reduce protections against industrial logging and offer up about 112 million acres of national forests to become timber,” Nunes warned. “Instead of majestic landscapes, we’ll be left with more flammable clear-cuts, polluted waters, and extinct species.”
After many more examples, she wrote, “Trump and [Elon] Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next.”
“It seems nothing is too sacred or precious to sell off for parts. Trump could even open up the Grand Canyon area for uranium mining and is likely to eliminate at least two national monuments, the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments in California,” she predicted.
“It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning,” Nunes warned. “The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of ‘efficiency.’ Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk.”
President Trump Views Earth Day Differently
President Donald Trump says he and his administration are, “leveraging environmental policies rooted in reality to promote economic growth while maintaining the standards that have afforded Americans the cleanest air and water in the world for generations.”
President Trump claims to be “promoting energy innovation for a healthier future.”
“By supporting cutting-edge technologies like carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy, and next-generation geothermal, the Trump Administration is ensuring America leads in both energy production and environmental innovation – producing the cleanest energy in the world. Moreover, by ending the Biden-era pause on liquefied natural gas export approvals, the U.S. is sharing cleaner energy with allies, reducing global emissions, and creating American jobs…” the White House said in an Earth Day statement today.
President Trump claims to be “championing sound forest management.”
“The Trump Administration’s proactive forest management policies protect America’s forests, reduce catastrophic wildfires, and promote sustainable land use. By streamlining regulations and expanding responsible logging, President Trump is safeguarding millions of acres of forestland, improving wildlife habitats, and supporting rural economies at the same time.”
President Trump claims to be protecting wildlife.
“By pausing certain wind projects, President Trump is recognizing wind turbines’ detrimental environmental impact, particularly on wildlife, which often outweighs their benefits,” the White House said in its Earth Day statement.
President Trump claims to be protecting public lands.
“The Trump Administration has prioritized access to federal lands for energy development while ensuring responsible management. By opening more federal lands and waters for oil, gas, and critical mineral extraction, the U.S. is strengthening energy security and reducing reliance on foreign resources. Simultaneously, investments in conservation, such as $38 billion in clean water infrastructure during President Trump’s first term, continue to safeguard America’s natural heritage for future generations,” the White House said.
To justify his tariffs that have thrown the U.S. and global stock and bond markets into chaos over the past several weeks, Trump claims to be “pushing back on unfair trade practices that harm the environment and undercut U.S. producers and exporters.”
“For years, foreign countries have taken advantage of our generosity at the expense of American workers and the environment. Deforestation in Brazil is at a 15-year high, China’s unfair, harmful fishing practices flood the global market with illegal fish and deplete stocks, and Mexico fails to deter illegal fishing – all while enjoying massive trade deficits with the U.S. and contributing to global environmental degradation,” the White House said.
And finally President Trump claims to be cracking down on China, the country he calls “the most prolific polluter in the world.”
“By imposing tough trade measures and promoting American manufacturing, the Administration is reducing reliance on China’s high-pollution industries, ensuring the U.S. leads by example with cleaner production and responsible global stewardship,” the White House explained.
But the American public is not buying his line of reasoning.
To mark Earth Day 2025, national and grassroots organizers joined with pro-democracy groups for a wave of actions demanding the right to live free, healthy lives they are calling “All Out on Earth Day.”
In New York, thousands of people gathered in lower Manhattan on Saturday for the “Hands Off Migrants march” endorsed by dozens of climate and migrant justice groups, calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, to get out of New York – and New York to get out of fossil fuels.
The two movements converged amid Trump’s crackdown on migrants and embrace of fossil fuels, which will drive further climate collapse and forced migration of climate migrants fleeing drought, storms, sea level rise and other climate-induced disasters..
Meanwhile in Milwaukee, a Stop the Cuts march organized by Indivisible and 50501 called out Republican lawmakers backing the unprecedented cuts to healthcare, education, environmental protections and climate funding being carried out by President Trump and his top campaign donor, Tesla and Space X leader, Elon Musk.
“Trump is attacking migrants and the planet by aligning himself with big oil and eroding hard won protections. Climate change is the leading cause of global displacement, these are connected issues,” said Renata Pumarol, the deputy director of the Climate Organizing Hub, which coordinated the New York march.
“As we fight the authoritarianism of Trump,” Pumarol, said, “climate groups need to be part of the resistance because we are all under threat.”
And finally, the British zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist, the wise woman of wildlife protection, Dr. Jane Goodall, who turned 91 on April 3, has an Earth Day 2025 message for the world.
“I urge everyone to treat every day of the year as Earth Day. Planet Earth is the only home we shall ever know yet we are relentlessly harming it,” Goodall warned.
“We are destroying forests, woodlands, wetlands, peatlands, savannas, prairies and all the other ecosystems I have not mentioned,” she said. “We are polluting rivers, lakes and oceans. We are emitting greenhouse gases that are causing temperatures to rise which lead to changing weather patterns with more hurricanes, typhoons, floods, droughts, heatwaves and forest fires that may destroy our homes. We are in the midst of the sixth great extinction of plant and animal life.”
“If we add to this list the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from war, poverty and discrimination – well it is not surprising that more and more people are losing hope. So, people ask me if I really have hope for our future. Well, I do believe there is a window of time when we can at least slow down climate change and loss of biodiversity, said Goodall. “But only if we get together and take action now.”
Dr. Goodall places her hope in the “young people of all ages,” the “resilience of nature” and “our amazing human intellect” that empowers scientists to work on technologies that enable us to live in greater harmony with nature, such as sources of renewable energy – all in harmony with the Earth Day 2025 theme, “Our Power, Our Planet.”
Earth Day 2025 events will continue throughout the month of April. Check out the interactive event map at All Out on Earth Day.
Featured image: Earth Day demonstration at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul drew at least 10,000 participants on April 19, 2025, the Minnesota State Patrol said. Organized by the People’s Earth Day Coalition, the rally addressed: climate change, indigenous sovereignty, immigrant rights, and opposition to the Trump administration’s environmental policies. Nationally, the 50501 movement coordinated 700+ events across all 50 states on the same day as part of the broader “Hands Off” protests, emphasizing “the need for sustained activism beyond a single day.” (Photo courtesy Mercado Media)