Green goddesses: three women taking action to save the planet

There's no time like the present to help look after our planet and the other beings we share it with, and there are so many ways to get started.

Earth Day 2025 is approaching on 22 April, with the theme of 'our power, our planet', and events planned throughout April to celebrate Earth Month. With that reminder on the horizon, we speak to three women who are working tirelessly to make a difference – protecting Earth and its animals and plants.

'I use art to awaken action’

Tracey Seaward

Tracey Seaward is one of the producers of The Herds, an innovative performance art project that uses puppets to highlight the climate catastrophe. Tracey lives in London with her partner Mark, a film production designer, and their puppy, Habiba.

"This spring, up to 100 life-size animal puppets – elephants, giraffes, antelope and lions – will travel through cities across the world," begins Tracey. "The Herds is a huge public performance art spectacle that will follow a 20,000km route from Central Africa to the north of Europe. By symbolising animals fleeing climate disaster, the aim is to raise awareness of the need to take action. As a producer for this incredible venture, my hope is that our project will inspire individuals and governments to make a change."

🦌 THE HERDS - a vast act of public art and climate action from Congo to the Arctic Circle - YouTube

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"I'm on the Board of Trustees for the charity Choose Love, and a turning point in my life came when I visited the refugee camp in Calais in January 2016 with Choose Love and my friend, director Stephen Daldry. The experience inspired me to do something about the struggles many people are facing.

"For many years I’ve been a film producer, working on films including Dirty Pretty Things, The Queen and Philomena. However, in 2018, my friend and fellow producer David Lan came to me with a bold idea. He wanted to commemorate those who walked across Europe, fleeing the war in Syria, by walking a giant puppet of a little girl along their route. She was created by Handspring Puppet Company, the team behind War Horse, and we named her Little Amal, which means 'hope' in Arabic."

"Amal’s journey encouraged solidarity, empathy and compassion. After Little Amal, our company, The Walk Productions, decided we wanted to address the climate crisis with the same emotional power – and the idea of The Herds was born. When it comes to climate change, scientific terms like ‘tipping points’ or ‘rising temperatures’ fail to move people. But our hope is that a powerful, emotional experience where people can literally see animals fleeing will be a poignant catalyst to change behaviours on a larger scale.

"While Amal was a single puppet, The Herds will grow into an evolving, ever-expanding collection of animals, through public participation workshops, performances and community events along the route. Thousands of people, including artists, schools and community groups, will join in. At times we’ll have 100 puppets, requiring more than 200 puppeteers.

"Little Amal had a social media reach of two billion and I’m confident The Herds will have an even larger impact. My hope is that those who witness The Herds will reconsider how they live, how they travel, consume, eat, and engage with people of different faiths and cultures."

"Art has the transformative power to awaken a different kind of action. It can mobilise our shared desire for a better future for all. We share a responsibility to care for our world. We may not be here when ecosystems collapse, but tomorrow’s children will be. We need to be the guardians of their future."

'I lead the Big Butterfly Count"

Dr Zoë Randall

Dr Zoë Randle, 50, is Butterfly Conservation’s senior surveys officer. She holds a PhD in butterfly habitat management and co-ordinates the National Moth Recording Scheme and the Butterflies for the New Millennium recording scheme, and is the ecological lead for the Big Butterfly Count (18th July - 10th August 2025). She lives in Dorchester with her cat, Joy.

"Seeing the bright yellow wings of a Brimstone fluttering in the sunshine fills my heart with joy. They are the first sign spring is emerging," says Zoë.

"Since childhood, I’ve been interested in nature. When we were kids, my brother and I used to collect tadpoles. We also loved looking for grubs in an apple tree. As an adult, I completed a PhD in butterfly habitat management. In my spare time, I’m always looking for butterflies, especially when I’m out riding my beautiful grey horse Majik with my mum Viv, 73. I love how they flit, glide and fly differently.

"My PhD research led me to working with Butterfly Conservation, who I have been with since 2007. My current role involves working with key volunteers who record butterflies and moths across the UK.

"Our annual Big Butterfly Count started in 2010; last year, over 85,000 people participated. Sadly, there was a steep decline across all bar three species, and we had to declare a Butterfly Emergency.

"Several factors are to blame. Last spring and summer were unusually wet. As cold-blooded insects, butterflies need the warmth of the sun to power their metabolism for flying, feeding and breeding. But the long-term decline – driven by habitat loss, pesticides and management practices, and climate change – is more concerning."

"Butterflies and moths play a critical role in the ecosystem. They're a vital food source for other species and, like bees, they're important pollinators – studies now show that moths are more efficient pollinators at night than bees are during the day. Without nature’s pollinators, the cost of artificially pollinating plants will be immense. Only fertilised flowers produce fruit and seeds, and a third of the world’s food supply depends on insect pollination.

"If butterflies are in trouble, so are we. Butterfly Conservation is urging the government to implement a total and permanent ban on harmful neonicotinoid pesticides that lead to paralysis and death in insects. Our Big Butterfly Count contributes invaluable data to our wider recording and monitoring schemes, so we know where species are thriving, and can focus our habitat enhancement and creation projects in areas where they will be most effective.

"I hope to witness a halt and reverse in wildlife decline during my working life, and I want to see the government take decisive action to protect our environment. I’m an idealist, but I think you have to be to keep fighting an uphill battle.

"Butterflies are mesmerising markers of how happy our ecosystem is. The Brimstone will always be my favourite, because it’s a sign of hope and good times ahead, the promise of a brighter future."

'I'm planting thousands of trees and hedgerows'

Vhari Russell

Vhari Russell, 47, is the founder of the rewilding project Creating Nature’s Corridors. She lives in Cambridgeshire with husband Pete, 56, and their daughters, Emily, 18, Grace, 15, and Liv, 13.

"I was fortunate to have an Enid Blyton-style childhood – my sister Jules, brother Rory and I grew up climbing and falling out of trees near our rambling family home in Oxfordshire," says Vhari.

"As adults, I’d call Rory my ‘big little brother’ – four years younger, he towered above me at 6ft 7in. He was a gifted carpenter, and a passionate surfer and windsurfer. He taught my kids to surf and we shared an entrepreneurial spirit. But in October 2018, everything changed for our family when Rory, then 37, tragically died while windsurfing, from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. His heart simply stopped beating. Devastated, I knew I had to do something meaningful to honour his life."

"At the same time, I was also witnessing the destruction of the countryside around our village due to the rerouting of the A14 and new housing developments. The peaceful walks I enjoyed with our dog vanished as woodland was torn down. At night we could hear the distressed bleats of displaced deer. It was heartbreaking. A timely reading of conservationist Isabella Tree’s book Wilding helped me formulate my plan. In Rory’s memory, I decided to plant trees and hedgerows to restore some of the natural habitat we had once taken for granted.

"With record-breaking rainfall and floods becoming more frequent in the UK, trees have an essential role in slowing water flow and preventing flooding. In 2021, I launched Creating Nature’s Corridors (CNC), with the goal of planting 10,000 trees and hedgerows each year across the UK and Ireland. Our biggest project so far was the planting of more than 10,000 trees at Huntingdon Racecourse. Over 160 volunteers helped plant 1.5km of hedgerows and wet woodland. I walk there often and love that every sapling I can see was planted by our volunteers.

"CNC won four conservation awards in 2024, including a Green Award for me at BBC Cambridgeshire’s Make a Difference awards. We have now planted 31,389 trees and hedges across 42 different sites. When you really believe in something, collective action can make a difference.

"I know Rory would call me a crazy tree lady but he would also be so proud of the legacy I’m creating in his memory. I’m currently 47, and my goal is to reach 100,000 trees planted by the time I’m 50. Every tree feels like an extension of my family. Rory didn’t get the chance to grow old but if we care for our trees, they will thrive and this gives me hope. At the start of every planting I share my story, and this enables me to keep talking about Rory, which helps with the grief and raises awareness of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

"It’s tricky balancing Creating Nature’s Corridors with my business, The Food Marketing Experts, and raising our three children but I make sure there’s still time to watch Liv play rugby, see Grace play football or take all the girls to one of my favourite happy places, Borough Market. I could not do all of this without the support of my family. Rory’s death taught me to question what is important in life and the answer is clear: spend time with the people you love and make the world a better place for the next generation."

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