This Earth Month, Healthy Gulf showed up across the Gulf Coast in a big way. From community cleanups and local meetups to our high energy virtual programming, April was packed with action and connection. We brought together Gulf Coast advocates, members, and supporters for a month of education, celebration, and fundraising in honor of the waters and wetlands we all love. Our Earth Month livestream brought our mission directly to screens across the region, giving new and longtime supporters a front row seat to the work happening on the ground. Campaigns, giving days, and community events ran all month long, and the generosity of our Gulf Guardians community made every single moment possible. Thank you to everyone who showed up, gave, shared, and stood with us for the Gulf this April!
Please click on each location to learn more about each event!
This year, we did things differently in celebrating our community and our environment for Earth Month. Conceptualized by Mahogany Sibley, our SWLA Fellow, the idea was to engage and connect with community members through art and ecosystem.
Paint and Sip in the Sanctuary, hosted in The Sanctuary at ALEVAN, was a vibrant, community- centered experience that brought people together through creativity, connection, and purpose. Guests were able to connect and gather in a relaxed, lush and welcoming atmosphere, while enjoying conversation, music, light bites and refreshments.
Beyond painting, Paint and Sip in the Sanctuary fostered meaningful engagement— people connected with one another, supported our mission and work, and contributed to a larger cause through their participation. The energy was lively and positive, making this a successful community-building moment that blended creativity, joy, and impact.
– Breon Robinson, Southwest Louisiana Organizer and Mahogany Sibley, Organizing Fellow
How do we look at banking when it comes to protecting the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding communities? That is what we came to learn when we hosted our Earthday event at Climate First Bank in St. Petersburg, FL. Top marine scientists, government officials, organizers, restaurants, and community members came together to learn about how Climate First Bank is tackling banking in the interest of protecting the planet. Climate First Bank focuses on investing in clean energy, providing loans to businesses working toward protecting the planet, and engaging with local communities on how they can best invest their money in clean energy versus destructive oil and gas practices.
Why is this important? Most banking institutions do not provide a clean energy portfolio. Living in the Gulf region we experience sea level rise and stronger storms due to climate change. Climate First Bank wants to tackle the issue through banking. We learned a lot and are so grateful for their efforts.
We also shared company with Harvery’s 4th Street Grill. They were kind enough to serve samples of their famous grouper chowder. Harvey’s only serves locally sourced grouper from the Gulf and wow is it good!! Harvey’s has been an ocean advocate since their founding, working hard to promote locally sourced seafood. What a treat!!
– Martha Collins, Executive Director Healthy Gulf
What happens when a singer-songwriter, forester, bicyclist, environmental justice advocate, and vegan all come together? A full and eloquent conversation about creating the community we want.
Our Pensacola Earth Day took place at End of the Line Cafe, a neighborhood institution focused on plant-based planet-friendly foods and building community as a place to gather. Some 40 people joined us over the course of the event, including Healthy Gulf board member Silivia Switzer. After enjoying the broadcast from our colleagues and friends across the Gulf coast, Jen Knight, owner of the Cafe, gave us a spirited demonstration of how to make her favorite quinoa tabouli, which we all devoured.
We wrapped it up with our diverse panel that addressed a range of local issues and the personal challenge of being an environmental advocate, making it an intimate conversation that really moved the crowd to get more engaged. Everyone stayed around following for more conversation, and we had so much fun that we agreed to set up another gathering soon.
– Christian Wagley, Florida/Alabama Organizer
What does it look like to truly represent Alabama, the Cahaba River, and the Gulf all at once?
It looks like showing up fully, even if that means sitting in the river itself and going live so others can experience it with you. While you live stream from a live stream.
As Vice Chair for Healthy Gulf, I had the honor of participating in Earth Month celebrations across the Gulf South, representing Alabama through the lens of one of its greatest natural treasures, the Cahaba River.
La’Tanya Scott, CLEAN Manager for Cahaba River Coalition and Healthy Gulf Board member, had just wrapped up a day of hands-on learning with students and teachers, guiding them through the story of one of the most biodiverse rivers in the United States. Still energized from that experience, she stepped into the river, turned on a live stream, and invited the Gulf South into that moment.
She began simply, by introducing herself and grounding the message in something we often overlook: the importance of getting outside and exploring the natural places around us.
From there, she connected the dots.
The Cahaba River begins just above Trussville, Alabama, flowing nearly 194 miles. Its waters move into the Alabama River, then into Mobile Bay, and ultimately into the Gulf. That connection is not abstract, it is immediate and real. What happens here flows there.
She shared why this river matters so deeply
It provides drinking water for the city of Birmingham
It is a place for recreation, reflection, and connection
It remains the longest substantially free-flowing river in Alabama
It is a biodiversity hotspot, home to over 135 species of fish
It supports an extraordinary diversity of plants and aquatic life, more than any other river of its size in North America
And most importantly, it is connected to something larger than itself.
Through the CLEAN (Conservation Leadership Environmental Activities in Nature) Education Program, students and teachers are not just learning science, they are building relationships with places. They are understanding how their local actions ripple outward, all the way to the Gulf.
The message was clear and grounded in experience
Protecting the Gulf starts here
Protecting our rivers starts with knowing them
And knowing them starts with getting into them, exploring them, and sharing their stories
The invitation remains open
Come explore the Cahaba River
Explore your local waterways
And be part of protecting the Gulf, we are all connected to
– La’Tanya Scott, Board Member for Healthy Gulf
Healthy Gulf joined the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art on the beach in front of the museum to start Mississippi Earth Day activities in Biloxi. The day continued with a variety of events, including chia seed pinch pot making, natural mandala making, a sound bath experience, and more, sponsored by the museum.
The evening live broadcast event was hosted by HG Board member Terese P Collins and HG Director of Development Erica Douroseau, along with Amanda Weymer, Director of Development for OOMA. HG joined the other 5 states in the livestream broadcast that featured the food, art, culture and the natural environment that shapes all who live and visit Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The evening focused on oysters harvested from local waters on ED, plein air painting by OOMS artist in residence Jarod Partridge, live music, and views of the beautiful campus of the Frank Gehry designed OMAA located across from Deer Island in Biloxi. The sunset on a beautiful evening and we look forward to celebrating Earth Day next year.
– Terese Collins, Board Member for Healthy Gulf
The third annual Earth Day Fest at the André Cailloux Center on April 22nd brought together community, culture, and environmental awareness around this year’s theme: AIR — Air It Out, Air Waves, Air Flow. Held on historic Bayou Road, the event created space for artists, organizers, and residents to connect through a shared focus on environmental stewardship. What stood out early was the diversity of the space—people from different backgrounds and perspectives coming together intentionally. The day began with powerful art installations and live painting from over a dozen artists, each interpreting air, movement, and flow in ways that reminded us that air is not just something we breathe—it shapes how we live, move, and experience our environment.
The panel discussion carried that theme forward through a story-based conversation moderated by Peter Muhammad. Using prompts placed on the floor, we reflected on questions like “Where do you go for a breath of fresh air?”—a question that grounded the discussion in lived experience and access. I had the opportunity to join BLYSS, Aaron Chang, and of the , along with a panelist calling in from London. At the close of the panel, the Mayor joined us and spoke about how her morning walks are where she finds a breath of fresh air—connecting the theme to a personal, everyday experience. She also marked her first 100 days in office, grounding leadership in the same reflections we were all asked to consider.
As the day unfolded, the experience flowed beyond the panel into a full cultural gathering. Attendees moved through the space engaging with artists and hands-on activities, while BLYSS and Sage Michael joined for a live broadcast—sharing the art, music, and energy of Earth Day in New Orleans with a broader audience across Healthy Gulf events throughout the Gulf South. The evening carried into performances, with poetry, live music, and a closing drum circle led by Spy Boy Walt. As night settled over Bayou Road and the wind moved through the space, the theme of air came full circle—reminding us that environmental justice, culture, and community are all connected, and that we all deserve space to breathe fresh clean air.
– Sage Michael Pellet, Climate Justice Organizer
The New Orleans East Environmental Justice Block Party and Beautification kicked off the day with a high-impact, community-centered activation focused on both service and celebration. Residents, volunteers, and community leaders came together to improve neighborhood conditions through hands-on cleanup and green infrastructure engagement, while the block party created space for celebration, food, and recognition.
At 2:00 p.m., participants departed Digby Park for the Plaquemines Parish Toxic Tour, led by community science director Scott Eustis. Traveling through communities along the Mississippi River, including Buras, attendees engaged with real-time insights on climate impacts affecting coastal Louisiana. Upon arrival, the group of approximately 25–27 participants experienced the striking contrast between the region’s ecological beauty—wildlife such as pelicans, ibises, and alligators—and its environmental vulnerabilities. The day concluded with a panel discussion, “Flooding, Levees, and the Future of Plaquemines Parish,” featuring local leaders and moderated by Gregory N Swafford, the panel’s interlocutor.
Hosted in collaboration with GreenFaith, GNOICC, Sunrise Movement, and Culture of Cleanliness, and supported by food from Thompson’s Kitchen, the experience successfully connected urban community action with the broader environmental justice realities facing Louisiana’s coastal communities.
– Gregory N. Swafford, Southeast Louisiana Organizer
Golden Triangle Partners Dinner
As part of Healthy Gulf’s annual regional Earth Day events, our Staff Scientist and Texas Organizer invited some local partners who collaborate on environmental justice work throughout Beaumont, Orange, and Port Arthur (Texas’s Golden Triangle). Community members met to enjoy dinner at one of the oldest seafood restaurants in the region, The Schooner, recognized by the Texas Department of Agriculture for serving authentic Gulf shrimp that supports local and regional fishermen of the Southern Shrimpers Association.
– Alicia Thomas, Staff Scientist
Houston Come-Unity Earth Day
We continued the Texas Earth Days celebration on Saturday, April 25 by celebrating the intersectional elements of healthy communities and ecosystems. We moderated a panel with multi-generational community leaders working in education justice, civil rights, and labor rights, followed by a film screening of The Rainbow Coalition showcasing the history of how a multicultural coalition came together in the 1960s to unite against an oppressive system that cared as much about class as it did race. The film showcased the power of unity and emphasized an empowerment of all oppressed people.
The venue was a Women owned business, Las Perras, located in Houston’s EaDo, a vibrant community East of Downtown. They offered light bites, amazing drinks, and showed so much hospitality.
– Kourtney Revels, Southwest Texas Organizer
