On August 25-26, 2025, Taproot Earth will host the Monarch Forum for two days of sharing testimony, lessons, and visions for a future where all people can determine how they move in the face of constant change.  As we mark the 20th commemoration of Hurricane Katrina’s impact, we must acknowledge the forced displacement of over 1 million people across 50 borders as a climate migration story.

From devastating fires and floods, to rising sea levels and desertification - the climate crisis is forcing people to flee their homes. At the same time increased extraction of land and resources and the disinvestment in housing, schools, hospitals, and community institutions is making it hard for people to remain. In both instances, people often have lost the opportunity to return to the lands they call home. Too often, the conversations of climate migration are one of blame, victimhood, and problems that we must solve.

Now is the time to change that narrative. Climate migration should be seen as a story of solutions. Taking inspiration from the Monarch Butterfly, which travels across borders to survive and maintain its existence, migration is a natural right. Climate Migration offers perspectives on how communities have the right to remain by investing in critical infrastructure to adapt to change; the right to migrate to carry on culture and life in new places when your current home is not possible; and the right to return to come back to home after displacement and reclaim culture, land, and love.

The Monarch Forum gives witness to this story of solution. Through cultural presentations, panels and keynotes, participants and attendees will grapple with the hard realities of the climate crisis, while sharing in new ways that climate migrations can be a critical answer to our crisis at hand.