The penny drops: Lucy Biggers built a sizable following as a “sustainability influencer,” and like many young people she was wracked with guilt and anxiety over climate change. She now hopes to reach people with a message that fossil fuels are a net-positive.
By Kevin Killough
A decade ago, Lucy Biggers was like many people in their 20s. She believed that climate change posed an immediate and catastrophic risk to mankind, that we should rapidly eliminate fossil fuels to address the problem, that renewables are up to that task, and that our wealthy, privileged lives in the West are a mark of shame.
At that time, Biggers worked for the climate outlet NowThis Entertainment, where she helped make videos, some of which garnered millions of views promoting these ideas. She interviewed Swedish celebrity climate activist Greta Thunberg and helped New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get elected in 2018. She built up a sizable following as a “sustainability influencer.”
While her fans cheered her on, Biggers told Just the News that her beliefs in a “climate crisis” took a toll on her mental health. That’s true of many young people. The most recent poll on the topic, published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet, surveyed over 15,000 people aged 16-25 in the U.S. about their thoughts and emotions about climate change. The poll found that 85% are moderately worried about climate change, and nearly 58% are very or extremely worried. Nearly 43% said it impacts their mental health.
Over time, Biggers began to question her leftist ideals, and she started to see the climate movement as anti-human and ultimately harmful. She now calls the climate movement a “scam,” and she’s making videos on TikTok and elsewhere in hopes that young people will consider a more positive view of modern life, one they can hopefully be grateful for. In turn, they can escape the anxiety she says the climate movement causes young people to feel.
Those who followed her for her work with NowThis are not happy about this new message.
She spent years promoting the “climate change crisis”
In April 2016, protests erupted near Bismarck, North Dakota, over the Dakota Access Pipeline that was being constructed at the time. The protesters rallied around the Native Americans on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, who claimed the pipeline threatened their water supplies and violated their sovereignty.
The following October, actress Shailene Woodley, who had been voicing her support for the protesters and encouraging people to travel to Standing Rock to be a part of it, received an award from the Environmental Media Association. She gave an emotional speech imploring people to support the shutdown of the pipeline construction. Biggers took excerpts from the speech and added some somber music and subtitles. She posted the video, and within 24 hours, it had over 1 million views. Since then, it’s received over 17 million views.
She traveled to Standing Rock to join with the protesters, where she made more videos promoting their message. She continued making content for NowThis after the protests, promoting things like sustainable hemp farming, the impacts of plastic straws, and her “sustainability journey.” She interviewed Thunberg in Stockholm, Sweden, for a NowThis series called “One Small Step,” which encouraged people to reduce their waste through recycling and reducing use.
“I think she’s a good person,” Biggers says, looking back on the meeting. “But she’s caught up on the wrong side of the movement. She’s been morally inverted.”
Tom Nelson Podcast #323: “Lucy Biggers” is now published. @LLBiggers
00:00 Introduction to Lucy Biggers
00:48 Meeting AOC and Early Career
02:45 Transition from Climate Activist to Realist
06:39 Standing Rock and Regrets
08:34 Facing Backlash and Finding Support
10:45 Viral… pic.twitter.com/TljLX1k4tf— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) July 29, 2025
