What You Can Expect from Us 

As we look forward to 2025 with renewed energy, optimism, and grit, I want to share with you what you can expect from us—and what you won’t see from us—at Evergreen. 

We’re committed to: 

• You, communities across the country, and our planet. We’re forging ahead, because we are all worth it. 
• Making a difference—because every fraction of a degree matters. As Rebecca Solnit put so well, “The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything, and everything we can save is worth saving.”
• Learning, reflecting, and capitalizing on our organizational skills and assets. We must learn from this last year, and integrate our takeaways into our plans for the next. 

You will not see us: 

• Tearing our movement, partners, or allies down in response to what happened. This moment is about building power together, not pointing fingers. 
• Trying to become everything to everyone, everywhere, all the time. (We are not Evelyn Wang waging parallel battles in the multiverse, alas.) We are, however, best when we focus our energy where it is most needed, effective, and in alignment with our skill sets. 
• Upending our entire way of working. By integrating lessons learned, we can adapt and remain resilient. 

So, What Does the Next Year Look Like?

As we look forward to 2025, “finding hope” isn’t some philosophical platitude to us; it’s an essential affirmation of Evergreen’s theory of change. We were founded on the hopeful vision that through good policy, we can tackle the climate crisis and make the world a fairer, more just place. As laid out in the original Evergreen Action Plan and our work since, we know the most straightforward way to stay hopeful is by taking strategic, effective action.

So, taking into consideration the learnings of this year and the changing state of play in the year to come, we’re going to be doubling down on the following priorities to keep delivering for our climate and communities in 2025: 

1. Support states in leading on climate and defending them against attacks from the (new) federal government
2. Defend climate progress in Congress
3. Build progressive movement-wide power to ensure we’re positioned to win again over the coming years

I’m confident we can make the necessary progress because of the groundwork laid this year. Evergreen has shown our ability to work with states by supporting states like Michigan in advancing a package of nation-leading clean energy policies and Pennsylvania in securing a $500M grant to decarbonize their industrial sector, through our prioritization of high-impact issue areas by championing local and federal clean transportation solutions, our desire to grow collective power by partnering with frontline communities to advocate for and end to LNG build-out, and more. Now, it’s time to build on this track record while integrating lessons learned and sharing knowledge. 

Why We Continue to Call for Systemic Change

Today, we’re seeing the painful ramifications of a system that doesn’t work for most people, leaving a majority of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Trump’s campaign exploited this context, leveraging fear, frustration, and distrust to his advantage. But despite his populist promises to “fix everything,” Trump’s actual policies won’t bring any relief for working Americans. In fact, quite the opposite. 

We know the only solution to addressing a broken system—one that forces people to choose between rent and childcare between groceries and utility bills—is true, structural change. We lost this election, in part, because too many leaders didn’t sufficiently acknowledge the failures of our system. That’s why it’s essential we proceed with empathic and honest communication while simultaneously offering a viable alternative. In short, we must genuinely empathize with this real pain, and use our collective political power to make change. 

Evergreen aims to do our part in calling for systemic change by focusing on the following:

• Championing a narrative of climate justice, economic equality, and affordability
• Harnessing public anti-corporate outrage 
• Using these narrative frames to tell the story of smart policy and how it underpins a viable alternative to Trump
• Investing in our innovative communication strategies to reach a wider audience and demonstrating the impact of new, strategic best practices in the digital landscape
• Forging stronger partnerships with grassroots groups, including organized labor to help build a powerful progressive movement

We have our work cut out for us over the years ahead. But I am taking hope and inspiration from the brave and determined leaders of social movements before us, who have shown that fearless, strategic determination can foment progress even under the most dire of circumstances. They didn’t give up, and neither will we. I am so grateful to be in this movement with each of you, and, together, we will persevere—because our planet and our communities are worth it. 

Onward,

Lena Moffitt

Executive Director