How We Chose the 2025 TIME Earth Awards
Credit - Photograph by Eric Ryan Anderson for TIME
Each year TIME honors individuals whose actions have had an indelible impact on global efforts to address one of the most pressing crises facing our planet: climate change. This year marks TIME's third annual Earth Awards, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
In 2024, the planet breached 1.5°C of warming above pre-industrial temperatures, an ominous milestone—and a reminder of the urgency with which the world must tackle this challenge. And although climate action faces headwinds from the rising tide of populist politics around the world, this year's group of honorees remain steadfast in championing sustainability and shaping a greener future.
There is the Environmental justice leader Catherine Coleman Flowers, who has a legacy of advocating for marginalized communities, particularly Black and rural families affected by untreated sewage. She has gone on to work with Democrats and Republicans alike in an effort to bring about lasting change.
Alongside, we honor Jay Inslee, the Governor of Washington from 2013 to 2025, and a leader in local climate action. As co-founder of the U.S. Climate Alliance he has brought together two dozen states to drive progress towards a clean economy.
There is former New York Mayor and U.N. Special Envoy Michael Bloomberg, who is steadfastly dedicated to supporting innovative solutions. In January, when President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg Philanthropies stepped up to coordinate an effort to continue funding the nation's climate goals.
In Ghana, chef Selassie Atadika, the founder of Midunu—an experiential restaurant that highlights the region's culinary heritage—and Midunu Chocolates, uses her food to advocate for sustainable agriculture and showcase the power of the African kitchen. In 2024 she was announced as Yale's inaugural Global Table Fellow in an effort to highlight the connection between sustainability, health, and culture.
Back in the U.S., Former Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Frist is calling for climate change to be recognized as a public health crisis. He serves as the global chair of The Nature Conservancy which last year launched the Senator Bill and Tracy Frist Initiative for Planetary Health.
And actor Rainn Wilson is on a mission to better communicate the urgency of the climate crisis. With that goal in mind, in 2022 he co-founded Climate Basecamp, an organization that brings scientists and trendsetters together to make talking about the reality of climate change more accessible.
Buy a copy of the Earth Awards 2025 issue here
Contact us at letters@time.com.
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When you spend years vilifying anyone who disagrees with you, it's difficult to notice (much less concede) when they have a point. Particularly for those in academia and professional advocacy — whose incomes are tied up in their faulty beliefs — there's also a strong financial disincentive against rethinking. Academics whose work offends their most dogmatic colleagues risk not only their reputations but funding and career opportunities. Likewise, activist organizations that attempt to course-correct risk being financially and socially punished by the very supporters they helped to radicalize. That perverse incentive against self-correction is one of the many risks of building a supporter base on exaggerated, emotionally manipulative communications. Yet failing to adjust their approach is costing them credibility, while exacerbating burnout and mental illness among staff and supporters. I understand that dilemma. It cost me a lot to rethink my beliefs, but those losses hardly compare to the freedom I've gained by divesting from left-wing ideology and culture. Leaving the left allowed me to relax and reclaim the energy I previously spent feeling unjustifiably threatened by disagreement or stressing over how everything I think or do might be perceived by judgmental peers. Losing fake friends freed up space for real ones. Dropping unethical clients freed up space to pursue other passions and work with principled people who care more about solving problems than enforcing ideological conformity. Instead of vetting clients based on which 'side' they represent on an arbitrary political spectrum, I now consider whether they can show that their ideas and approaches would protect our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property. Rejecting demands for ideological purity freed me to deepen my Christian faith, follow evidence instead of emotional appeals, and develop an outlook on life that doesn't make me anxious or depressed. I've chosen political independence now. Doing this in a partisan environment is challenging, but reclaiming my reasoning and emotional well-being from unhealthy tribal dynamics has been well worth it. Doing good in the world doesn't have to feel terrible. Being 'part of the solution' doesn't require being part of a political tribe. It simply requires us to have the humility and curiosity to prioritize truth over personal validation, acknowledging that we're not always right and that those we consider opponents aren't always wrong.
