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TL;DR This month it's time to define your vision for the coming year and join a movement of climate action. Let's build your blueprint for a meaningful 2025.

This entry is all about envisioning the year ahead with your own climate and environmental projects. We'll go over 4 exercises that will set you up for success 🚀

📈 A year of growth and momentum

Whether you're a freelancer, creator, scientist, working at an organization, an employee or running your own initiative, the start of the year is a good opportunity to reflect on your journey and map out where you’d like to go next.

As I'm preparing to dive into 2025, I’ve been thinking about everything we’ve accomplished the past year.
​At the time, progress felt so incredibly slow. But looking back now, I'm flabbergasted at the incredible support we received the past year.

For anyone who isn't connected with me on LinkedIn (please do!), here's a snapshot of the highlights:

• Gave workshops on the fundamentals of science communication 👨🏻‍🏫
• Supported starting greenfluencers with classes on storytelling and greenwashing 🌱
• Launched our podcast on finding your role in the climate movement 🎙️
• Released a free course on scientific presenting, funded by Erasmus+ 💻
• Started an UN Ocean Decade project on sustainable fishing 🌊
• Started teaching a new course on climate outreach 📣
• Finalized the Science Communication 101 workbook (finally). 📓

People in my inner circle know I'm definitely not one to brag—that's not what this entry is about. But I do see the value in reflecting on past wins, being grateful for steps taken and just giving yourself a damn pat on the back when you realize how far you've already come.

Let's write out our blueprint for 2025, a year of pushing the climate movement ahead. 👇

⏳ Looking back to move forward

You’ve been here every step of the way. You might have joined a webinar, listened to our podcast, or simply tagged along.

Basically, you’ve been a front row witness to us taking a leap and leaning on the community around us.

So, let's focus on you for a change! Take out your notebook (or note app) and try to answer these questions for yourself. Who knows where 2025 will take you 😉

For example, this year I learned that progress comes from the imperfect. It often looks raw, iterative and a lot of the time it's just plain messy.

When Creators for Climate began in 2020, I had no roadmap or guarantees, just plenty of doubts. But pushing through again last year, despite all that, was the best decision I made.

Here are my 4 lessons for the past year:

1. Messy is good: Perfection isn’t the goal. Starting is. You can iterate and improve your work as you go.
2. The community around you matters: Find the people who push you forward. Cherish them and invest time back into their dreams too.
3. Stories are drivers of change: When people connect with your story, they care and will help you get to the next step.
4. Small steps add up: Momentum is built one action, one post or one meeting at a time. You don't get from A to Z, without going through the rest of the alphabet.

👬 The people that made it possible

One of the most humbling lessons of 2024 was realizing that none of this was a solo win. We need a team.

Every step forward was made possible by a network of collaborators, supporters and allies. True, I didn’t have a team in the conventional sense. But I had:

👥 Scientists who trusted me to help share their research.
🌱 Creators who trusted me to help them with their content.
🎙️ Collaborators who trusted me with their stories, ideas, time & support.

As you reflect on your goals for the year ahead, think about the people that made 2024 happen for you.

🌍 Defining (y)our 2025 vision

A year ago, I locked myself away at the Belgian beach side. One week of planning the year ahead is what made everything possible.
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I brainstormed what Creators For Climate would look like by the end of 2024—and the 3 years after that (even the next 5). There's a powerful experience in envisioning your own projects ahead of time.
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​It helps you see things more clearly. It also helps you to be prepared for what's ahead.

So, how will you define your 2025 vision? What steps lay between your A-Z? What books should you read, content should you consume or conversations should you have?

Basically:

As I said, we did this exercise in house, and I'm so excited about the year to come! I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll keep that for the months ahead (pssst: new podcasts, new workshops, fresh collaborations and some big moves 👀).

So if you're ready to dive deep, or you have a great project you're working on that needs to be shared...

Let’s make it one to remember.
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- Tom 🙋🏻‍♂️

📓 Get the Creators For Climate Resources

And that's it for today. Below is the updated list of resources you can access and where you can download all the documents for free. That includes:

• Field Guides: Download the guides
• How to turn posters into slides: Visit the blog​
• How to come up with content ideas for your research: Visit the blog​
• An ideation prompt to find focus: Visit the blog​
• The waitlist for the science communication workbook is now open. Find more information here.​

✨ I'd love to hear from you

Where are all the Climate Creators? Do you know a creator who is making a significant impact in the field of climate action / science communication? ​ Get or share a feature

Ask questions, get answers Have burning questions about creating content, storytelling, or any other aspect of climate communication? ​ Share your question

That’s it for now, until next time!

If you're reading this, I'm glad to have you on our journey. Thank you, you awesome human being!

Written by Tom Janssen Creators For Climate ​