Earth Day 2025: A shared future for renewable energy and wildlife

Next week marks the 55th anniversary of the first Earth Day— a movement that began in the United States and has since grown into a global celebration, now engaging more than one billion people worldwide. This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” invites everyone to rally behind renewable energy solutions and accelerate the transition toward a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future. We encourage you to visit the official Earth Day 2025 website to learn more about the goals, facts, and actions related to this year’s campaign and how you can get involved.

Eurasian Wildlife and Peoples wholeheartedly supports the move toward renewable energy and recognizes its critical role in tackling climate change. But as we invest in solutions like wind power, it’s equally important to address the unintended consequences to wildlife, particularly birds and bats.

As we have reported, steppe eagles, saker falcons, and many other birds, in addition to bats, face serious risks from wind energy infrastructure when the siting, construction, and operation fail to consider possible threats to wildlife. Collisions with turbine blades, habitat loss and disturbances, and interference with migratory pathways contribute to the deaths of millions of flying animals each year.

But there is encouraging news! A range of mitigation strategies—better site and operations planning, wildlife-friendly turbine designs, automated shutdowns during peak migration periods, and post-construction monitoring, for example—can be deployed to reduce fatalities of vulnerable species. International collaboration and strengthened legislation also play crucial roles in safeguarding wildlife while advancing renewable energy initiatives.

We love the many benefits of renewable energy (check out Earth Day's facts!)—AND we also love and deeply value the birds, bats, and other extraordinary species that, together with our partners, we strive to protect. As our partners are working diligently to prove, wildlife and wind turbines can safely share the skies.

On this 55th anniversary of Earth Day, let’s celebrate progress made over the past half-century toward a healthier planet, and particularly solutions that allow for the coexistence of renewable energy and wildlife. Let’s also keep pushing and actively working for a brighter and greener future.

Looking for a meaningful way to observe Earth Day 2025? Consider making a small gift — Our power to protect Our planet comes from individuals like yourself. Every dollar counts!