“It is not ‘them’ and ‘us.’ It is ‘we.'”

These are the words of Sarah Stroup, Ph.D., director of the Conflict Transformation Collaborative at Middlebury College, spoken as she closed out Day 1 of the 2025 Planet Forward Summit, held April 17 and 18 in Washington, DC. 

Hearing people’s stories, through deep listening and by extending curiosity, is a key way to connect with others, help find common ground — and find a path to understanding. And that connection, forged through the power of storytelling, was a theme heard throughout the 12th annual Summit. 

More than 300 in-person attendees and students from 50-plus colleges and universities joined Planet Forward at the George Washington University for two days of inspiring talks, invigorating panels, and enlightening workshops centered around this year’s Summit theme: “The Climate Divide: New Narratives to Transform the Crisis.”

The 2025 event was presented in association with the Conflict Transformation Collaborative, a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to addressing and combating the increasing levels of divisiveness present in much of the world today. 

Stroup and Netta Avineri, Ph.D., both leaders in the Collaborative, kicked off the Summit by explaining that everyone experiences conflict, but that it doesn’t need to be a scary thing. In fact, Stroup said, conflict can actually be productive — if we approach it the right way.

“You may have heard the phrase, ‘Facts don’t change minds, stories do,’” Stroup said. “This insight that stories can foster curiosity and complexity informs all sorts of interventions, like solutions journalism. If we are able to shift the stories that we tell, we can take a step toward more constructive conflict.”

Our panels on Thursday brought together students, storytellers, and scientists for discussions about navigating conflict, communicating complex data, preserving and respecting traditions, and connecting with people with different perspectives.

A keynote from environmental filmmaker Bilal Motley highlighted the importance of citizen journalism and recognizing the value of your unique perspective and voice as an environmental storyteller. 

“Use what you have,” Motley said. “Use what you have and tell these stories … You are the answer.”

Thursday’s discussions all had one central idea in mind: Conflict doesn’t need to be something that we shy away from, especially if we’re equipped with the tools to deal with it in a productive manner. While many attendees began the day viewing conflict as something to be avoided because it made some feel uneasy, most left Thursday’s discussions with a much more optimistic outlook on their abilities to approach it productively and constructively.

During Thursday’s programming, Planet Forward also announced two new student experiential learning initiatives. 

First, a partnership between Mystic Aquarium and the GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future that will send two GW students to Mystic, Conn., for an 8-week science storytelling fellowship at the aquarium this summer.

“[The fellows] will have access to all aspects of our mission,” said Allison D. Tuttle, chief zoological officer at Mystic Aquarium. “We’re going to show them everything: How we inspire our guests, how we educate and engage the public, our citizen science efforts, our world-class animal care and our conservation research. It’ll be a smorgasbord of elements for them to explore, reflect on and choose from. Then, they’ll create a piece to tell the story of their choosing.”

The second is a storytelling expedition to the Ted Turner Reserves in New Mexico, where a group of students will join Planet Forward for five days of honing their visual storytelling skills in the remote and wild landscapes of the southwest.

Day 1 of the Summit ended on a high as the Storyfest winners were announced, each of whom will be joining Planet Forward and Lindblad Expeditions on a storytelling adventure to the Galápagos Islands this summer. 

Day 2 of the Summit began with an inspiring keynote from renowned climate activist and author Bill McKibben.

“The fossil fuel industry has so much money and so much power that they were able to figure out how to keep their business model going even when it became clear that it was ruining the earth,” McKibben said. “In the absence of billions of dollars, the only currency that will work is the currency of movements of getting people together to get things done … We can do that work, but only if we build momentum, and that, at some level, is a process of telling stories.”

McKibben’s talk was followed by workshops that engaged students and attendees on a range of topics from creating careers in a changing climate, to centering cultural storytelling in filmmaking, to presenting data in an easily digestible, audience-first manner.

This year’s Summit brought together some of the best and the brightest in the worlds of storytelling, science, and conflict transformation. The two days of inspiring conversations instilled in the audience a renewed hope that we can use our voices to continue moving the planet forward.