Shifting Gaia’s Year In Review: Reflecting on 2024, Reimagining 2025

As we look back on 2024, it feels impossible to capture everything this year has meant for Shifting Gaia in a single breath. We began the year with a simple idea: to unite slow living, sustainable living, and toxin-free living into a cohesive message that could inspire people to improve their lives and their relationship with the planet. What started as a small team with big questions – What’s really important? Where are we going? Does it have to be this way? – has grown into something meaningful, though still very much a work in progress.

Our mission was clear from the start. We wanted to encourage a world that’s speeding up to slow down. We hoped to invite people to ask themselves: What can I (or we) do in the here and now to make things better – for ourselves, for each other, and for a planet that deserves care and respect? Those questions guided us as we explored new ideas, collaborated with people across fields, and built the foundation for what Shifting Gaia has become.

We launched our sustainability rating system this year, a project that demanded an immense amount of research and reflection. This system became the backbone of our directory, which highlights brands that align with our values. We’re proud of what we created, but getting here wasn’t always easy. A project as big as this came with moments of doubt. We struggled to find our voice and figure out exactly what we were trying to say. In those moments, we learned that clarity doesn’t always come at the beginning. It comes from doing the work, even when the path isn’t clear.

By the time we found our footing, we realized our message was both simple and urgent: to heal ourselves and the earth, we must rethink and reformulate our relationship with our bodies, minds, and the planet. Each of these is interconnected. Overconsumption and waste don’t just harm the earth—they harm our mental health, our physical well-being, and our communities. At the heart of everything we do is this belief: small changes, made collectively, can create big shifts.

The World in 2024: Climate, Crisis, and Community

2024 has been a difficult year for anyone paying attention to the state of the planet. Climate change is no longer an abstract threat. It is here, disrupting lives, ecosystems, and economies at an accelerating pace. Each new heatwave, wildfire, flood, and species lost reminds us how far behind we are in meeting the targets needed to prevent further catastrophe.

We have no illusions about the gravity of this crisis. We know the stakes. But we also believe that despair doesn’t drive change—hope does. Optimism, creativity, and courage are essential if we’re going to reimagine the systems that brought us here and build new ways of living together in harmony with the planet. We’ve always been committed to inspiring that hope, even when the future feels uncertain.

This year, we saw more of the devastation that comes from doing too little, too late. But we also saw people coming together to demand change, to dream of better systems, and to fight for a future that values compassion over consumption. Those moments, however small, keep us determined. They remind us that even in the face of darkness, there is light in how we care for one another and the earth.

Walking the Line: The Contradictions of Conscious Consumption

Running Shifting Gaia hasn’t been without its contradictions. We are deeply aware that we promote products in a world where overconsumption is driving ecological collapse. The truth is complicated: the most sustainable purchase is the one that doesn’t happen. And yet, we live in a world where people will still need essentials—shampoo, clothes, skincare.

Our goal has been to encourage buying less and buying better. We want to help people choose products that align with their values when they do need to buy something. But promoting products while advocating for less consumption is a delicate balance to maintain. It is one of the greatest challenges we’ve faced this year, and we don’t have perfect answers. We’ve done our best to walk this line with humility, acknowledging our contradictions while striving to make ethical and thoughtful choices.

We’ve also had to navigate the practical realities of sustaining this project financially. Working with sustainable brands has allowed us to continue this journey, and we are grateful for that. But we remain committed to evaluating and questioning our practices, always striving to align them with the principles we promote.

Looking to 2025: Hope, Uncertainty, and Change

As we move into 2025, we are holding onto the lessons this year has taught us. We know the road ahead will not be easy. Climate challenges will intensify, and with them, the urgency to act. But we also know that hope thrives in action. We will keep learning, sharing, and growing alongside our community.

Shifting Gaia will continue to explore what it means to live slowly, sustainably, and toxin-free in a world that often demands the opposite. We will stay determined, fearless, and compassionate, even in the face of uncertainty. We will laugh at ourselves, forgive our mistakes, and strive to embody the change we want to see.

The work we’re doing is small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s part of something bigger—a movement toward rethinking how we live and what we value. Every small change, every act of care for ourselves, each other, and the earth matters.

As 2025 approaches, we invite you to join us in imagining a world that prioritizes healing, community, and the planet we all share. Together, we can face the challenges ahead with hope, resilience, and the determination to build something better.