tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/climate-activism-19929/articlesClimate activism – The Conversation2024-02-29T13:39:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244572024-02-29T13:39:32Z2024-02-29T13:39:32ZClimate comedy works − here’s why, and how it can help lighten up a politically heavy year in 2024<p>In a catchy <a href="https://youtu.be/UxLvTF_9jv4?feature=shared">YouTube video</a>, British comedian Jo Brand <a href="https://theconversation.com/jo-brand-translated-my-science-im-certain-that-comedy-can-connect-people-to-climate-change-223745">translates a scientist’s long-winded description</a> of the fossil fuel industry’s role in the climate crisis this way: “We are paying a bunch of rich dudes 1 trillion dollars a year to f--- up our future,” she says. “Even the dinosaurs didn’t subsidize their own extinction. <a href="https://twitter.com/SRTurtleIsland/status/1727843781880209794">Who’s the stupid species now</a>?”</p>
<p>Although there is nothing funny about the subject, the way she says it is funny.</p>
<p>She speaks truth to power. She relieves the heaviness of the rhetoric. And she’s dropping f- and s-bombs with a British accent. At the start of the video, Brand comments, “If people like me have to get involved, you know we’re in deep s---”.</p>
<p>We all need some refreshing levity nowadays – especially this year.</p>
<p>Around the world, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-climate-change-on-the-ballot-paper-in-2024/id1538415261?i=1000643262165">voters will be choosing</a> national leaders <a href="https://time.com/6550920/world-elections-2024/">in countries representing nearly half the human population</a>. In many cities, states and counties, those decisions will directly affect how the world deals with climate change. Outcomes, including from another U.S. presidential race with Donald Trump vowing to promote fossil fuels and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/06/trump-climate-change-fossil-fuels-second-term">undermine climate policies</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-election-how-trump-and-his-followers-use-offensive-humour-to-make-prejudice-acceptable-221364">democracy itself</a>, will reverberate across the planet. That’s heavy.</p>
<p>At the same time, the planet just came off its warmest year on record in 2023, and ocean temperatures are still abnormally high. Heavier yet, the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/2023-was-worlds-warmest-year-on-record-by-far">10 hottest years since record-keeping began</a> have all occurred in the past decade.</p>
<p>Not only does the world need to cool down, it also needs to lighten up. As <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/chancellor/cu-boulder-where-you-are-stand-climate-change-using-power-humor-start-conversation">professors who study climate comedy</a>, we can tell you that the need for levity is one reason climate comedy works.</p>
<h2>Lightening up to engage with tough stuff</h2>
<p>For many generations, comedy has been an effective pathway to not only lighten things up but to propose unlikely solutions.</p>
<p>In ancient Greece, comic playwright Aristophanes took on the crisis of his times – the Peloponnesian War – <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27549461">with a comedy</a> in which women from both sides of the conflict enact a sex strike until their men agree to a peace treaty. As you can imagine, sexual innuendo abounds.</p>
<p>Brand, the British comedian, teamed up with <a href="https://theconversation.com/jo-brand-translated-my-science-im-certain-that-comedy-can-connect-people-to-climate-change-223745">climate scientist Mark Maslin</a> to find novel ways to communicate effectively about the climate crisis. In a video, they <a href="https://youtu.be/SA87n9jrWU0?si=iZEilVCj8oEsAcy1">effectively communicate together</a> about climate change causes and consequences. Humorously drawing out their contrasting communication styles, they find the funny as Brand pops up with observations like, “If you liked climate crisis, you’re going to love climate complete f---ing collapse.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">British comedian Jo Brand and scientist Mark Maslin play off each other to educate the public about climate change.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Their mix of clever timing, absurdity, scatology and full commitment to each of their roles as scientist and comedian <a href="https://youtu.be/9ZGjEHxoDiQ?si=rBbq6Ob1byWT9i2L">gave their climate comedy traction</a>, with over 3 million views.</p>
<p>In South Africa, the group <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PoliticallyAweh">Politically Aweh has been producing creative content</a> about climate change and other connected issues in the run-up to their general election this year.</p>
<p>In one <a href="https://youtu.be/N3n1HgwW8jg?si=FHDuGU8pAzMGgRCK">YouTube video</a>, host Zipho Majova creatively compares our collective avoidance of dealing with climate change with avoiding our mothers’ texts. She then says, “You can’t ignore messages from mom forever. And by mom, I mean mother Earth!” The skilled editing of news media clips and popular TV shows woven into Zipho’s commentary makes this climate comedy take an effective one.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Political Aweh takes on ignorance of climate change.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In the U.S., creative collectives such as <a href="https://www.climatetownproductions.com/">Climate Town</a> in New York, <a href="https://yellowdotstudios.com/">Yellow Dot Studios</a> in Los Angeles, the <a href="https://cmsimpact.org/">Center for Media and Social Impact</a> in Washington, D.C., and our <a href="https://insidethegreenhouse.org/">Inside the Greenhouse</a> project in Boulder, Colorado, are working to alleviate climate anxiety and activate people to discuss climate change and do something about it.</p>
<p>With elements of exaggeration, innuendo, witty recognition of truths, suspense and ultimate honesty, climate comedy from groups like these and on late-night shows <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8zAbFKpW0">like John Oliver’s</a> “Last Week Tonight” resonates.</p>
<h2>Why climate comedy works</h2>
<p>Comedy has the ability to transcend science-speak and open up conversations with new audiences while helping “keep it real” and identifying solutions.</p>
<p>It can also provide emotional relief as it lowers people’s defenses and allows them to find promise and possibility for envisioning positive change.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Comedians discuss climate change using comedy.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Through our research, we have found that comedy can help college students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2019.1623513">work through negative emotions</a> associated with climate change. In one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKgpVnv6xM">Earth Day show</a>, a fashionista student at the University of Colorado-Boulder, craving a loophole for satisfying her clothing addiction, discovers thrifting, and comically quips, “Nothing says ‘I love Planet Earth’ more than wearing someone else’s clothes.”</p>
<p>Creative movies like “<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-look-up-hollywoods-primer-on-climate-denial-illustrates-5-myths-that-fuel-rejection-of-science-174266">Don’t Look Up!</a>” and TV shows like <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81500842">“Unstable,” starring Rob Lowe</a>, comedically address themes such as climate change and science denial by making fun of some behaviors while bringing serious problems into everyday life. Lowe’s biotech billionaire character’s efforts to capture carbon from the atmosphere in cement got people talking about carbon capture and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/concrete-traps-co2-soaked-air-climate-friendly-test-2023-02-03/">similar projects in real life</a>.</p>
<p>Introducing ridiculous ideas into an otherwise logical world like comedians <a href="https://www.chucknicecomic.com/">Chuck Nice</a> – co-host of “StarTalk” with Neil deGrasse Tyson – and <a href="https://www.kashapatel.com/">Kasha Patel</a> each do can also get people laughing. So can imitation and playfulness with social inversions, which you’ll see from comedians <a href="https://www.nicoleconlan.com/">Nicole Conlan</a>, who writes for “The Daily Show,” and <a href="https://www.rolliewilliamscomedy.com/climate-town">Rollie Williams</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rollie Williams explains how your money is funding Big Oil behind your back.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Although some of the solutions put forth by comedians may seem ridiculous, history can tell us that such antics can draw attention and lead to change.</p>
<p>The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. and the Hip Hop Caucus have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0k9R4DWtuU&t=225s">teamed up with comedians</a> for years to engage audiences on climate change. Their new documentary with comedian Wanda Sykes mixes in comedy while documenting the rising risks of sea-level rise <a href="https://hiphopcaucus.org/hip-hop-caucus-short-film-underwater-projects-selected-for-social-justice-now-film-festival-and-dc-environmental-film-festival/">in Norfolk, Virginia</a>.</p>
<p>Comedy can run the risk of merely distracting people from the serious climate challenges before us or trivializing the problems. However, the transformative and subversive power of comedy as a vehicle for social, political, economic and cultural change is proving to be strong.</p>
<p>When unleashed into our collective consciousness, jokes can be healing contagion as they elicit laughter and open the mind. In that moment, rigidity is relaxed, the single solution is bifurcated, hypocrisy is exposed and delight intoxicates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxwell Boykoff receives funding from National Science Foundation, the National Parks Service Climate Change Response Program and the Argosy Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Osnes receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Argosy Foundation. </span></em></p>Jokes can be a healing contagion as they expose hypocrisy, spark laughter and open minds.Maxwell Boykoff, Professor of Environmental Studies and Fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado BoulderBeth Osnes, Professor of Theatre and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195452024-02-02T13:19:22Z2024-02-02T13:19:22ZFrom throwing soup to suing governments, there’s strategy to climate activism’s seeming chaos − here’s where it’s headed next<p>Climate activism has been on a wild ride lately, from the shock tactics of young activists throwing <a href="https://theconversation.com/throwing-soup-on-a-van-gogh-and-other-ways-young-climate-activists-are-making-their-voices-heard-193210">soup on famous paintings</a> to a <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-litigation-more-doubles-five-years-now-key-tool-delivering">surge in climate lawsuits</a> by savvy plaintiffs.</p>
<p>While some people consider <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ2kBc_-Pfk">disruptive “antics”</a> like attacking museum artwork with food to be confusing and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/london-painting-climate-and-environment-b15e0092560b290c04920620b2d7c061">alienating for the public</a>, research into social movements shows there is a method to the seeming madness.</p>
<p>By <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1424&context=ohlj">strategically using</a> both radical forms of civil disobedience and more mainstream public actions, such as lobbying and state-sanctioned demonstrations, activists can grab the public’s attention while making less aggressive tactics seem much more acceptable.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C1%2C1159%2C716&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters wearing 'Just Stop Oil' T-shirts stand next to Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' painting, which has tomato soup streaming down the glass cover. One protester holds up the soup can for cameras. Both have one hand glued to the wall behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C1%2C1159%2C716&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495216/original/file-20221114-25-g67lag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Two activists were arrested after throwing tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s glass-covered ‘Sunflowers’ at the National Gallery in London in 2023 in a bid to draw media attention so they could talk about oil’s role in climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/climate-protesters-hold-a-demonstration-as-they-throw-cans-news-photo/1243970418">Just Stop Oil/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/shannon-gibson/">I study</a> the role of disruptive politics and social movements in global climate policy and have chronicled the ebb, flow and dynamism of climate activism over time. With today’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acaa21">political institutions</a> largely focused on short-term desires over long-term planetary health, and global climate negotiations moving far too slowly to meet the challenge, climate activists have been reconsidering their tactics – and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/07/europe/extinction-rebellion-quits-disruptive-protests-climate-intl/index.html">radically rethinking</a> how to make their activism most effective.</p>
<p>In meetings with global activists in recent weeks, my colleagues and I have noticed a shifting emphasis to local climate battles – in the streets, political arenas and courtrooms. The lines between reformists and radicals, and between <a href="https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dynamics-of-contention-by-McAdamTarrowTilly.pdf">global and grassroots mobilizers</a>, are blurring, and a new sense of strategic engagement is taking root. </p>
<h2>When global institutions fail the public</h2>
<p>Activist groups have long relied on a strategy <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801484568/activists-beyond-borders/">known as the boomerang effect</a> – using international networks and global institutions such as the United Nations’ climate talks to influence national governments’ policy choices.</p>
<p>But while this tactic was initially well suited to climate change, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/cop28-climate-deal-stab-back-activist-greta-thunberg-says-2023-12-15/">results show</a> the talks have been <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/paris-agreement-goals-failed-climate-change-global-warming-united-nations-climate-review/">too slow and insufficient</a>. The growing influence of the fossil fuel industry, whose products are the leading cause of global warming, has left some activists seriously <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-020-00222-y">questioning whether the U.N. climate process is still useful</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Charts show the world is well off track to meeting the Paris Agreement climate targets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568937/original/file-20240111-15-v2fsff.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The world experienced its hottest year on record in 2023 and isn’t on track to meet the Paris Agreement’s aim to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F). Climate Action Tracker shows the emissions gap to 2030.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/cat-emissions-gaps/">Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute</a></span>
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<p>The 2023 U.N. climate conference solidified these concerns when the conference’s host, the United Arab Emirates, put its state oil company CEO in charge of the climate talks. Some people argue that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/14/climate-change-oil-ceo-sultan-al-jaber-is-ideal-person-to-lead-cop-28.html">oil companies have to be part of the solution</a>. But the conference was overrun by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/05/record-number-of-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-get-access-to-cop28-climate-talks">record number of oil and gas lobbyists</a> more than 2,400 of them. And it was tainted by allegations that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/climate/uae-cop28-documents-al-jaber-climate-intl/index.html">it was being used to further</a>, rather than halt, fossil fuel development. The <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-successes-and-failures-of-cop28/">final agreement of COP28</a> left room for the continuing expansion of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/01/04/azerbaijan-appoint-state-oil-company-veteran-as-cop29-president/">announcement in January 2024 that Azerbaijan</a>, host of the next U.N. climate conference in late 2024, would place another oil industry veteran in charge of COP29 put <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulHBeckwith/status/1743405338886545780">another nail in the coffin</a> of any faith many activists still had in the system.</p>
<h2>Climate activists go local</h2>
<p>In response to the weakness of global climate negotiations and failing climate policy, my colleagues and I are seeing signs of activists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89740-0_10">turning more to their local roots</a>. Notably, we are seeing a ramp-up in sophisticated legal battles over climate change.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-litigation-more-doubles-five-years-now-key-tool-delivering">Over 2,000 new climate change cases</a> have been filed in the past five years. Most seek to compel governments and corporations to reduce their emissions or keep fossil fuels in the ground, and the majority are <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-litigation-more-doubles-five-years-now-key-tool-delivering">in the United States</a>. <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Global_trends_in_climate_change_litigation_2023_snapshot.pdf">Over half</a> of the cases decided between June 2022 and May 2023 had a favorable outcome for the climate, though most still face appeals.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young people fill a bench in a courthouse, some are elementary school age others in their teens. A girl at the end with purple hair smiles at someone across the aisle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569139/original/file-20240112-17-yv0czr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sixteen young Montanans sued their state for promoting fossil fuel energy policies that they say violate their right to a ‘clean and healthful environment,’ which is written into their state constitution. A judge ruled in their favor in 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/youth-plaintiffs-await-the-start-of-the-nations-first-youth-news-photo/1258644211">William Campbell/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><iframe id="hK2ur" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hK2ur/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2023, <a href="https://theconversation.com/montana-kids-win-historic-climate-lawsuit-heres-why-it-could-set-a-powerful-precedent-207907">a judge in Montana</a> recognized the state’s constitutional duty to protect residents from climate change. In another case, a court in <a href="https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/knowledge/publications/eb28cbe1/dutch-court-orders-shell-to-reduce-co2-emissions-in-collective-action-proceedings">The Netherlands in 2021 set a precedent</a> by ordering the oil company Shell to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2030 in official compliance with the international Paris climate agreement.</p>
<h2>How radical spectacles create space for progress</h2>
<p>When radical activism takes place at the same time as formal institutional challenges, studies show the combination can help increase support for more moderate activism. </p>
<p>Researchers call this the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac110">radical flank effect</a>.” It was effective for both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02507-y">the civil rights</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-20-2-157">feminist movements</a>, and it is evident in other political movements in the U.S. today.</p>
<p>When people are exposed to radical forms of environmental protest, they become aware of the problems. Seeing the extremes can also leave them more comfortable with supporting less extreme tactics.</p>
<p>For example, the idea of <a href="https://theconversation.com/throwing-soup-on-a-van-gogh-and-other-ways-young-climate-activists-are-making-their-voices-heard-193210">throwing tomato soup on Van Gogh’s glass-covered “Sunflowers”</a> painting may have been polarizing, but it <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/big-world/68-will-climate-shock-cause-climate-change-action.cfm">got the general public talking</a> about the soup-throwers’ cause – ending fossil fuel use. And that can open doors for political leaders to discuss viable solutions to climate change.</p>
<p>We see this happening in the U.K. After initially disapproving of protests, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/extinction-rebellion-sadiq-khan-climate-change-protests-meeting-london-michael-gove-a8892106.html">London Mayor Sadiq Khan met with Extinction Rebellion</a>, a group known for dramatic actions such as spraying fake blood on the steps of the U.K. treasury. Then-U.K. environment secretary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/30/extinction-rebellion-tells-politicians-to-declare-emergency">Michael Gove met with the climate activists</a> to discuss emissions reductions. Days later, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48126677">the U.K. Parliament declared a climate emergency</a> – the first country to do so.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman speaking at a microphone points upward. Behind her is a sign reading: 'Fossil Fuels Kill'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569140/original/file-20240112-21-mqcnmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks at a climate rally in New York in September 2023 focused on ending fossil fuels. Influencing politicians and other decision-makers is a key goal of activists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXClimateFossilFuelProtest/543f10ff97184343bb421140275549be/photo">AP Photo/Bryan Woolston</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Politicians under pressure from climate protesters are shifting course in the U.S. as well. President Joe Biden made climate change a focus of his first campaign, but activists <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/biden-administration-rejects-calls-to-phase-out-oil-gas-on-public-lands-by-2035-2023-06-29/">aren’t getting anywhere close to everything they want</a> and have made Biden a recent target of climate protests and even hecklers.</p>
<p>While it is hard to get into the mind of judges and juries, research shows that in cases such as workers’ and women’s rights struggles, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2299479">radical and anti-government protests can have an impact</a> on them. While court decisions rarely produce radical societal change, they are frequently followed by legislative changes that meet more moderate demands.</p>
<h2>The real aim</h2>
<p>Criticism of extreme activism often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02507-y">misses a crucial point</a>: The public’s reaction isn’t necessarily the activists’ end goal. Often, their ultimate aim is to influence government and business decision-makers. And while decision-makers are rarely, if ever, going to attribute their actions to activist pressure, the passing of the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act in a gridlocked U.S. Congress in 2022 and declarations of a climate emergency across the globe suggest climate activists’ concerns are getting through.</p>
<p>When looking at climate activism, pundits should be cautioned in their criticism of what they see as a “disjointed movement.” The perceived madness is indeed method.</p>
<p><em>USC graduate student Abhay Manchala contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Gibson is affiliated with the Gibson Climate Justice Lab and Global Justice Ecology Project.</span></em></p>With international climate talks failing to make progress fast enough, activists are radically rethinking how to be most effective in the streets, political arenas and courtrooms.Shannon Gibson, Associate Professor of International Relations and Environmental Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2095662024-01-31T15:59:05Z2024-01-31T15:59:05ZHow climate activists finally seized the issue of adaptation in 2023<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541334/original/file-20230805-107442-wv2yha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=147%2C17%2C5630%2C3828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Environmental philosopher Andreas Malm has described Sainte-Soline as an "avant-gardist struggle".</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yohan Bonnet/AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of adjusting our lives to face up to the reality of a changing climate was, for a long time, seen as defeatist, or even a capitulation to fossil-fuel interests, by many within the European climate movement. Such “adaptation” was viewed with deep scepticism.</p>
<p>But 2023 challenged such assumptions. In autumn, activists <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-we-be-able-to-ski-in-a-2-c-world-218731">ramped up protests against ski resorts and the winter-sports industry</a> for their seemingly endless appetite for winter sports infrastructure. Environmentalists <a href="https://reporterre.net/Glacier-en-danger-une-nuit-a-la-zad-la-plus-haute-d-Europe">occupied the Girose Glacier</a> in southeastern France to denounce plans for a new cable car. Deep scepticism was also expressed over whether holding <a href="https://www.20min.ch/fr/video/coupe-du-monde-de-ski-a-zermatt-vs-le-glacier-est-esquinte-et-le-trouble-regne-sur-la-legalite-du-trace-934896922375">preseason sporting events following the partial destruction of the Théodule Glacier</a> in Switzerland.</p>
<p>By taking a stand, these ecologists were pressing authorities to rethink planning beyond the skiing model and its dependency on “white gold”. Far from constituting adaptation, they argued that the construction of winter sports infrastructure in the remaining snow-capped mountains threatened fragile ecosystems and only postponed the inevitable shift to alternative economic models. For them and others, it constitutes <a href="https://theconversation.com/europe/topics/maladaptation-117116">“maladaptation”</a> – actions exacerbating communities’ vulnerability to climate variability.</p>
<p>Even more spectacular were <a href="https://theconversation.com/sainte-soline-un-tournant-pour-les-mouvements-ecologistes-203304">protests against proposed water reservoirs in Sainte-Soline</a>, western France, in March. Up to 30,000 protesters showed their opposition to the project, arguing that the dams, intended to collect fresh water during wet seasons to provide for increasingly drier periods, were inefficient due to water evaporation, and ultimately prioritised the interests of large agribusiness over locals’ rights.</p>
<p>The question of adaptation was therefore thrust into the spotlight like rarely before. Such protests demonstrate how deeply political climate adaptation is. What one group may perceive as positive adaptation may look like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378015300509">maladaptation to another</a>, and a political struggle determines which view prevails. The environmental philosopher Andreas Malm described Sainte-Soline as an <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/ecologie/270323/andreas-malm-sainte-soline-est-une-lutte-avant-gardiste">“avant-gardist struggle”</a>.</p>
<h2>From idea to real life?</h2>
<p>For many years, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17565529.2017.1304887">academics have sought to shed light</a> on competing interests that are often hidden in technocratic processes inherent to adaptation. For example, dikes intended to guard against flooding may appear as a reasonable solution to some, but others could consider them a maladaptation due to their <a href="https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/metadata/adaptation-options/adaptation-or-improvement-of-dikes-and-dams">tendency to increase flooding downstream</a>. To overcome such tensions, academics have attempted to imagine a model that would not merely serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful or the economic status quo. This has become known as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0309132511425767"><em>transformational adaptation</em></a>.</p>
<p>In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defined transformational adaptation as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“actions aiming at adapting to climate change resulting in significant changes in structure or function that go beyond adjusting existing practices”</p>
<p>“deep and long-term societal changes that influence sustainable development (include values, worldviews)”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Transformational adaptation thus requires that vulnerable communities be able to take part in designing adaptation policies, and that systemic drivers of vulnerability like poverty or discrimination be addressed. Yet while some have found partial examples of how this might happen, such as in the city of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212095521002832">Barcelona</a>, discussions of transformational adaptation <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275118308217">have remained largely conceptual</a>.</p>
<h2>Swedish activists overlooked adaptation</h2>
<p>Andreas Malm’s description of Sainte-Soline as an “avant-gardist struggle” makes particular sense when we compare it to other European climate initiatives in recent years. Focusing on climate movements’ activities between 2018 and 2020, my research shows that European climate movements have seldomly taken up this role, raising the question of why this might be the case and what it might take for them to do so.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275122002876">study</a> of climate adaptation in the Swedish city of Malmö, Salvatore De Rosa (Lund University), Marwa Dabaieh (University of Malmö) and I found that vulnerable communities were regularly exposed to issues of flooding and urban heat and lacked the resources to adapt. At the same time, they lacked the political capital to confront city authorities, leaving them to resort to ad hoc methods such as sleeping in one’s garden or spending the day in air-conditioned malls. Meanwhile, city officials believed there was little need or demand to open adaptation planning to citizen input. Given this mismatch, we explored what role local climate movements, who enjoyed considerable political clout at the time of our study (2018-2019), could play to put the issues faced by vulnerable communities on the agenda.</p>
<p>We found that while local climate activists were worried about adaptation, they mainly prepared for climate disruptions by taking action at an individual level – such as taking part in local food-growing initiatives or storing drinking water in one’s basement. They did not expand this concern to include members of the most vulnerable local communities. We found this to be the case for a number of reasons, including a lack of ties between the climate movement and vulnerable communities, a global understanding of climate justice that overlooked local issues, and a hesitation to engage with climate adaptation because doing so was considered to be a defeatist excuse for inaction.</p>
<h2>Similar trends from Hamburg to Antwerp, Bristol to Manchester</h2>
<p>In another <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2021.1959123">2022 study</a>, I compared the attitudes and actions on climate adaptation of activists in Malmö to those in four other European cities (Hamburg, Antwerp, Bristol and Manchester), finding similar patterns overall. The persistent lack of engagement with adaptation was particularly striking because most activists to whom I spoke indicated they thought it was already too late to avoid severe climate disruptions and runaway climate change.</p>
<p>While some recent studies link such beliefs to a shift in focus from trying to mitigate climate change to adapting to it, I found that most activists remained focused on mitigation. For instance, they remained focused on demanding governments cut emissions in their protests, or developed green energy initiatives locally. I found their actions were not primarily guided by a logic of consequences (acting on the basis of expected utility) but by a logic of appropriateness (doing what is considered to be “right”, including not giving up on mitigation), of habit (campaigning toward the usual ends), and of affect (avoiding negative feelings by focusing on productive actions).</p>
<h2>Short-term carbon cuts</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718522002445">2023 paper</a> co-authored with political scientist Jens Marquardt, we found that activists campaigning for a local energy transition in the UK managed their fears that it might already be too late for mitigation by acting in the here and now, rather than situating actions in a long-term climate change and decarbonisation trajectory.</p>
<p>While this “presentism” proved an effective way to not become paralysed by climate anxiety, we also observed that it created certain tensions and blind spots. In particular, activists told us they sometimes worried they were not being honest with themselves, and that they should perhaps focus more on action that anticipates and adapts to climate disruptions they no longer considered preventable. However, the question of what that adaptation strategy might look like generated such fear and uncertainty that they preferred to pursue mitigation actions they did not always consider realistic, even if that sometimes made them feel dishonest.</p>
<p>That being said, this didn’t make activists any less rational to our eyes. Given what is at stake and knowing that adapting to runaway climate change is impossible, mitigation <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/">undoubtedly makes sense</a>. Our research recognises that focusing on the here and now can keep climate activists going under the direst of conditions. Nevertheless, it also revealed why climate activists hardly ever played a role in politicising this topic – especially at a local level.</p>
<h2>The future of adaptation</h2>
<p>Will the events of 2023 in France and Switzerland be regarded as exceptions, or do they usher in a broader trend toward transformative adaptation?</p>
<p>The ball is in the court of climate activists. Should they follow the lead of Sainte-Soline, senior figures in climate movements can at least rest assured that shifting the focus to adaptation will resonate with their rank and file. In another <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-022-10003-y">study</a> I found that at least half of a representative sample of 2,152 participants from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2020.1836617">the 2019 Global Climate Strikes</a> attributed equal importance to adaptation and mitigation. Venturing into adaptation politics may therefore speak directly to the concerns of many activists fighting climate breakdown.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joost de Moor ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Protests against massive water reservoirs and new skiing infrastructure are some of the events in 2023 that have thrust climate adaptation politics into the limelight. Here’s why it matters.Joost de Moor, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140922023-09-27T09:36:41Z2023-09-27T09:36:41ZPortuguese youths sue 33 European governments at EU court in largest climate case ever<p>A little over three years ago, a group of Portuguese youths filed a legal action against 33 European governments to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over what they say is a failure to adequately tackle global heating. Now, the Strasbourg court will be hearing them on 27 September, in a novel, far-fetching bid to arm-twist them into taking climate action.</p>
<p>The case represents the third time that a climate lawsuit is held at the ECHR. It is also momentous through the <a href="https://verfassungsblog.de/the-future-of-european-climate-change-litigation/">sheer number of governments on trial</a> and its plaintiffs’ ages, now ranging from 11 to 24. Among the accused are the EU’s 27 member states as well as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.</p>
<h2>The claim</h2>
<p>Plaintiffs expressed their grave concern over governments’ <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre">insufficient efforts to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels</a>. Were the rest of the world to mirror their commitments, the global temperature <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/eu/">would hike by 2 to 3°C</a>, according to Climate Tracker.</p>
<p>The youths argue that their way of life and health are threatened by the climate crisis’s impacts, including Portugal’s annual heat waves and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50281-2">wildfires</a> which inspired them to crowdfund the legal action in October 2017.</p>
<h2>Human rights to the rescue of climate justice</h2>
<p>Against a global backdrop of increasing climate litigation, the <em>Duarte Agostinho</em> application follows in the steps of other climate lawsuits to draw a clear link between human rights violations and climate change. The first to have blazed that trail in 2015 was the <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/urgenda-foundation-v-kingdom-of-the-netherlands/">Urgenda Foundation</a>, whose legal action compelled the government to cut emissions by 25% from 1990 levels on the grounds of its applicants’ human rights.</p>
<p>With an eye to the latter, the group of Portuguese allege global heating has already taken a toll on their health and puts them at risk of suffering more significant health problems in future. They also claim to suffer from anxiety after <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50281-2">wildfires in Portugal in 2017 killed more than 120 people</a>.</p>
<p>Governments, they argue, have failed to comply with their positive obligations under Article 2 of the <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/convention_ENG">European Convention on Human Rights</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition, they assert governments did not comply with Article 8, the right to respect for one’s privacy and family life:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. 2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the
law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of
national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the
country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection
of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms
of others.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>The latter is often used by the court in other environmental cases to extend the scope of its protection to the victims’ homes and habitats, as well as to their surroundings. In the absence of a specific article on environmental protection, these articles are essential tools for protecting people against various forms of pollution and other nuisances.</p>
<p>The youths also argue that governments, in failing to take bold climate action, have breached Article 14, which guarantees the right not to suffer discrimination in the “enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this convention,” with the view that climate change impacts their generation in particular.</p>
<h2>Ushering in effective action</h2>
<p>Lawyers representing the youth will be seeking to avoid a repeat of some of the failures of the Urgenda case. While a landmark case, the Dutch Supreme Court had ruled at the time that the Dutch state would have to carry out the “absolute minimum” of its fair share of emission reductions.</p>
<p>To prevent this from happening again, young people will be banking on a range of principles from human rights, including that of effectiveness. According to this postulate, states cannot remain passive in the face of a violation of the rights of individuals. For the court, this principle originally offered a guarantee that states would implement the positive obligations of protection required by the convention.</p>
<p>Should this interpretation prevail in the Duarte case, the court’s decision would oblige each of the 33 states to demonstrate that they had done everything in their power not to violate the applicants’ human rights.</p>
<p>The court could also choose to interpret “effectiveness” as the “efficiency” of the measures put in place by governments to protect their citizens. In the <em>Duarte</em> case, this could mean that the court checks not only that states have legislation capable of protecting individuals’ rights, but that the laws in question weigh up against the climate crisis. This reading could precipitate a favourable outcome for claimants, requiring the states to show what specific measures they have taken to address climate change. The decision could serve as a model and exert a certain – moderate – influence on national decisions or on national human rights bodies (National Human Rights Commissions).</p>
<p>However, the court could also content itself with gauging effectiveness, which would consist in verifying that the states have the legislative tools to deal with climate change, without delving into the details of each national law. Such an approach would leave the states their own “margin” of appreciation so that they monitor their legal systems themselves.</p>
<p>Lawyers could also push for an interpretation of the convention based on the precautionary principle.</p>
<p>The latter orders parties to take action to prevent a provision from being violated, even in a context of uncertainty. In the Duarte case, the political authorities as well as the administrations, will have to identify, evaluate and take into consideration certain climate risks quoted by the young applicants.</p>
<h2>The European court’s climate challenge</h2>
<p>The case will undoubtedly constitute what lawyers refer to as a “hard case” – where judges need to balance equities and law – and will play an important role in other future climate applications.</p>
<p>The ECHR takes on average two years to reach a decision, though this period may vary depending on the complexity of the case. Because the ruling is set to be issued by the Grand Chamber, there will no possibility of appealing against it.<br>
The question of its impact on the continent’s climate justice also remains to be seen. It will not, for example, have the power to annul or modify decisions taken by national courts. However, it could sharpen states’ resolve in climate and human rights’ matters. For instance, France has in the past been constrained to <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/fiches/38297-arrets-de-la-cedh-quelles-consequences-sur-la-justice-francaise">change its laws on phone tapping and police custody conditions</a> following rulings by the ECHR.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the ECHR’s verdict will show whether it is fit to hold states to account over their obligation to protect against a global threat. As the century progresses, the court will inevitably have to evolve and give a “greener” interpretation of the convention. Its ability to protect fundamental rights in a world on the verge of exhaustion depends on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marta Torre-Schaub ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>In a momentous case, young EU citizens will seek to draw among a range of principles from human rights, such as that of effectiveness, to arm-twist governments into impactful climate action.Marta Torre-Schaub, Directrice de recherche CNRS, juriste, spécialiste du changement climatique et du droit de l’environnement et la santé, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980952023-09-21T10:18:35Z2023-09-21T10:18:35ZGerman police have long collaborated with energy giant RWE to enforce ecological catastrophe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505893/original/file-20230123-10231-u5ynf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C144%2C2048%2C1143&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eviction aftermath in Lutzerath, early 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luetzibleibt/52640346606/">Lützi Lebt / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In early 2023, the German village of Lützerath was the site of violent clashes between thousands of protesters and police who wanted to clear the village so it could be swallowed up by Garzweiler II, a huge opencast coal mine. In small groups, police forces charged into groups of protesters, beating people, kicking and pushing them to the ground. Police dogs attacked protesters, just metres away from the steep edge of the Garweiler II opencast coal mine. Dozens of people were injured.</p>
<p>The protests made world headlines when Greta Thunberg joined in and was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-police-detain-greta-thunberg-german-coal-village-protests-2023-01-17/">detained by police</a>. </p>
<p>The police would eventually drive the protesters out of the village, using batons, pepper spray and dogs (the local police point out these were “legally permitted means of physical violence” and “were only used to avert dangers to public safety and order”). The bulldozers then moved in. Today, as <a href="https://september.media/en/articles/luetzerath-fight-for-democracy">one activist put it</a>, “the place where Lützerath used to be looks just like the rest of the post-mining wasteland around it”.</p>
<p>Lützerath was particularly high-profile, but other villages in the region have suffered the same fate. In my <a href="https://sussex.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Normalising_corporate_counterinsurgency_engineering_consent_managing_resistance_and_greening_destruction_around_the_Hambach_coal_mine_and_beyond/23451161">academic research</a> I have tracked how the regional police have long collaborated with energy firm RWE to ensure the expansion of coal mines isn’t held up by local objections. </p>
<p>Protests in Lützerath began after almost all of its residents were forced to sell and leave a few years ago. Expropriation of land for mining is a touchpoint in Germany as the modern Federal Mining Act that enables it <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629817300835">came out of old Nazi legislation</a> which allowed the eviction of communities for coal excavation in Germany’s quest to strengthen its wartime capabilities. </p>
<p>In close allyship with surrounding communities and the last remaining farmer, Eckardt Heukamp, activists built barricades, tree houses, tunnels, and tripods, and moved into empty homes to stop the destruction of the village and <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2021/10/12/people-are-preparing-for-a-final-showdown-to-stop-coal-extraction-in-the-german-rhineland/">prepare for a final confrontation</a> with police and the mine’s operator, energy giant RWE. (In a statement provided to The Conversation, the local police said it is obliged to prosecute “anyone who stays [in the mining area] against the will of the owner”).</p>
<p>Heukamp lost his court case against RWE in 2022 and had to leave and see his family farm destroyed. This is the second time he was dispossessed for coal.</p>
<p>The demonstrations in early 2023 were protesting the eviction of those activists to allow RWE to extract and burn a thick layer of lignite coal underneath the village. Sometimes known as brown coal, lignite is the dirtiest form of coal, and a further <a href="https://www.bund-nrw.de/meldungen/detail/news/kohle-unter-luetzerath-wird-nicht-benoetigt/">280 million tonnes</a> of it will be extracted from Garzweiler mine alone. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters by large hole with industrial machinery" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505894/original/file-20230123-5967-jn9l65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Garzweiler II is an opencast, or open-pit, coal mine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luetzibleibt/52628066855/">Lützi Lebt/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.839636.de/publikationen/diw_aktuell/2022_0084/stromversorgung_auch_ohne_russische_energielieferungen_und_t___z_atomausstiegs_sicher_____kohleausstieg_2030_bleibt_machbar.html">Studies show</a> that this coal is not necessary for <a href="https://www.bund-nrw.de/fileadmin/nrw/dokumente/braunkohle/221128_EBC_Aurora_Kohleausstiegspfad_und_Emissionen_as_sent.pdf">Germany’s energy supply</a>. But it is part of a controversial deal between RWE and the Green-Conservative coalition government which brings forward the end date of lignite coal mining in Germany from 2038 to 2030, “saving” five similar villages, but sacrificing Lützerath. But by reconnecting two generating units and increasing annual extraction, the amount of total coal burnt is hardly reduced at all.</p>
<h2>A history of resistance</h2>
<p>The fight to protect Lützerath was part of a decades-long history of direct actions and combative resistance in the Rhineland. For instance the nearby <a href="https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-battle-of-hambacher-forest/">Hambacher Forest</a> occupation, set up in 2012, protected ancient woodland from the expansion of another RWE coal mine. The occupation became a symbol for resistance – “love, live, resist” – inspiring <a href="https://newint.org/features/2020/11/19/enforcing-ecological-catastrophe-all-costs">people across Germany</a> and beyond. </p>
<p>For ten years, evictions were followed by reoccupations, as people risked their lives to stop ecological destruction. The last eviction, in <a href="https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-battle-of-hambacher-forest/">2018</a>, took over four weeks until stopped by the courts, and was later declared illegal. A young film maker, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/stillness-and-shock-in-hambach-forest-after-journalist-dies/a-45579629">Steffen Meyn</a>, died when he fell around 20 meters from a tree bridge during the eviction.</p>
<p>While the eviction and destruction of the forest were eventually stopped, only a small percentage of the original woodland remains. Heat from the nearby mine means the forest is reported to be <a href="https://www.greenpeace.de/klimaschutz/klimakrise/hambi-braucht-schutzzone">slowly drying out</a>.</p>
<p>RWE has often been able to count on the support of police and politicians to combat resistance. In 2015, it emerged that the then-district administrator responsible for policing anti-coal protest was himself a <a href="https://taz.de/Nach-der-Besetzung-in-Garzweiler/!5224546/">member of RWE Power’s supervisory board</a>, while Greenpeace research found that <a href="https://epub.sub.uni-hamburg.de/epub/volltexte/2021/126759/pdf/20130409_schwarzbuch_kohle.pdf/">at least 17 politicians</a> from all political parties – from mayors to parliamentarians – have had side jobs at the company. (In response, the local police said they are “committed to political neutrality [and] are not guided by private or economic interests. We act exclusively on a legal basis.”)</p>
<p>For decades, RWE has fostered its image as a “responsible neighbour”, thanks to the firm’s PR and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2514848620924597">corporate social responsibility (CSR) work</a> and the support of regional media and government. Police have long collaborated, <a href="https://twitter.com/DanniPilger/status/1614990114178105344">retweeting RWE press messages</a>, using its vehicles to transport protesters, and effectively outsourcing the most difficult (tunnel) eviction work to <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article243218445/Luetzerath-Raeumung-laut-Polizei-bis-auf-Tunnel-abgeschlossen.html">RWE’s own private fire brigade</a> by declaring it a “rescue”. (The police say this did happen but deny it was an example of collaboration. “Rather”, a spokesperson told The Conversation, “it is a matter of clear, legally-assigned responsibilities”). </p>
<p>Revolving door relationships lubricate the political manoeuvring to defend coal at all costs. In late 2022, for instance, a close aide of Germany’s minister for foreign affairs and former leader of the Green Party left to <a href="https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/ruhrgebiet/ehemaliger-baerbock-mitarbeiter-lobbyist-rwe-100.html">become RWE’s chief lobbyist</a>. (The Conversation contacted RWE for comment on whether this was an example of a “revolving door” situation but received no response). </p>
<p>For decades, RWE has paid communities in shares, not cash, which means that many become financially dependent on the company. Nearly a quarter of RWE’s shares are <a href="https://www.rwe.com/-/media/RWE/documents/05-investor-relations/finanzkalendar-und-veroeffentlichungen/hv2022/countermotions-german-association-of-critical-shareholders.pdf">owned by communities, cities and towns</a>. Local authorities are thus shareholders, licensers, clients, constituencies, employees and tax collectors at the same time.</p>
<h2>Blurry boundaries between corporation and state</h2>
<p>The boundaries between RWE and the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) are so blurry the state is sometimes termed “NRWE”. When I studied RWE’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629817300835?via=ihub">counterinsurgency strategies in the region</a> I found the firm’s interests were represented everywhere, from church choirs and town councils, to school boards and universities. </p>
<p>RWE has financed police barbecues and fire trucks, I was told, sponsored football clubs and festivals, concerts and exhibitions, viewing platforms and historic castles, regularly organises lectures and restoration conferences. It puts up baking carts and public bookshelves, pays for school buildings, organises volunteering activities and tours through the mine. Employees go into schools and hand out lunch boxes to first graders. They create teaching materials, role-playing games, and girls’ days in their training centres, offer school trips into power stations, zoo schools, and environmental education initiatives. (RWE did not respond to a question on whether it has bought support among local communities).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="House, tree and digger" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506103/original/file-20230124-366-ipfzvb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trees – and treehouses – are removed to expand the coal mine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barbara Schnell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in the 1980s, a scientific report highlighted the ecological destruction caused by mining in the region – but publication was <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/das-groesste-loch-a-8a3b00b7-0002-0001-0000-000014356858?context=issue">blocked by the state government</a>. More recently, RWE has been able to influence legislation – <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/garzweiler-ii-rwe-gutachten-dienten-als-grundlage-fuer-gesetz-a-125e9fbb-85f9-404a-b96c-51c7b33c750c">Der Spiegel</a> reported in 2022 that parts of Germany’s coal phase-out laws, which ensured the Garzweiler mine would stay open, were based on studies paid for by the company. RWE has previously confirmed it funded the studies but said everyone had “<a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/garzweiler-ii-rwe-gutachten-dienten-als-grundlage-fuer-gesetz-a-125e9fbb-85f9-404a-b96c-51c7b33c750c">free access to the documents</a>”.</p>
<p>RWE has also paid for research on how to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629817300835?via=ihub#bib101">understand resistance</a> to its own actions. All of these are classic <a href="https://coaltransitions.org/publications/normalising-corporate-counterinsurgency/">counterinsurgency strategies</a> to repress, pacify and co-opt dissent, smoothed over by a well-oiled propaganda machine.</p>
<p>The eviction of Lützerath is over. But criminalisation and policing continue in the coal mining <a href="https://www.amnesty.de/informieren/positionspapiere/deutschland-uebersicht-ueber-die-aenderungen-der-polizeigesetze-den">Rhineland</a>. As police continue to protect fossil capital, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-99646-8">enforcing ecological destruction</a>, and being perceived to serve not just RWE but the many individuals and institutions that benefit financially from coal mine expansion, the fight goes on.</p>
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<p><em>The Conversation approached RWE for comment but did not receive a response.</em></p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Brock has in the past received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Deutsche Studienstiftung.</span></em></p>Clashes at a huge coal mine were the latest episode in a long struggle.Andrea Brock, Lecturer in International Relations, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116472023-08-18T20:53:16Z2023-08-18T20:53:16ZMontana youth win unprecedented climate case: What does this ruling mean for Canada?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543262/original/file-20230817-23-yt7cuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C0%2C2009%2C1329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Montana court delivered a ruling in a much anticipated youth-led climate change case.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/montana-youth-win-unprecedented-climate-case-what-does-this-ruling-mean-for-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>On Aug. 14, a Montana court delivered what is being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/14/montana-climate-trial-young-activists-judge-order">hailed as a game-changing ruling</a> in a much anticipated youth-led climate change case, <em><a href="https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023.08.14-Held-v.-Montana-victory-order.pdf">Held v. State of Montana</a></em>.</p>
<p>The Montana First Judicial District Court ruled that the state’s energy policy forbidding the government from considering the impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change in its environmental decision-making violates the state constitution’s fundamental <a href="https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0000/chapters_index.html">“right to a clean and healthful environment.”</a></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/montana-kids-win-historic-climate-lawsuit-heres-why-it-could-set-a-powerful-precedent-207907">Montana kids win historic climate lawsuit – here's why it could set a powerful precedent</a>
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<p>The court’s decision is a resounding victory for the 16 youth plaintiffs and their legal team. Michael Gerrard, founder of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change (who was not involved in the case), said that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/14/montana-climate-trial-young-activists-judge-order">“I think this is the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court.”</a></p>
<p>That said, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/political_question_doctrine">court stopped short of requiring the state to develop a supervised GHG emissions reductions plan</a>.</p>
<p>The Montana state government issued a fiery response to the ruling and has signalled its intention to appeal, which will send the case to the state Supreme Court. However, regardless of how events play out in Montana, one question stands out: What are the implications of this ruling here in Canada and around the world?</p>
<h2>Express and implied rights</h2>
<p>The legal landscape here in Canada is, unsurprisingly, quite a bit different from the United States. Specifically, The <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html">Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a> does not include a green amendment like Montana’s; indeed, the Charter has not been amended once since its enactment in 1982. </p>
<p>Consequently, rights-based <a href="https://theconversation.com/court-decision-in-youth-climate-lawsuit-against-ontario-government-ignites-hope-206275">climate litigation in Canada</a> requires the judiciary to interpret other Charter rights — particularly <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html">Section 7’s right to life, liberty and security of the person, and Section 15’s right to equality</a> — as naturally and necessarily encompassing a right to a clean and healthy environment.</p>
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<img alt="Attorneys for the State of Montana are seen before a hearing in the climate change lawsuit, Held vs. Montana." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543264/original/file-20230817-23403-xdh60x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Montana court ruled that the state violated its citizens rights to a clean and healthful environment, a provision which does not exist under Canadian law.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of Canadian environmental law scholars argue forcefully that even though <a href="https://theconversation.com/court-decision-in-youth-climate-lawsuit-against-ontario-government-ignites-hope-206275">Canada’s Charter is silent on the need to protect the Earth’s critical life-support systems</a> — clean air, water and a stable climate — the rights to life, equality and security of the person will be meaningless on a dying planet and therefore <a href="https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/unblj/article/view/30538">must be interpreted with reference to ecological sustainability</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, the core argument advanced in the ongoing youth climate case in Canada, <em><a href="https://www.desmog.com/2023/02/16/court-appeal-canadian-youth-climate-lawsuit-larose/">La Rose v. His Majesty the King</a></em>, is that the federal government has a constitutional duty to protect Canadian youth and future generations from climate change. A decision by the Federal Court of Appeal in the <em>La Rose</em> case is expected soon. </p>
<p>If the youth plaintiffs prevail, the case will proceed to a trial. If the court rules in favour of the federal government, the youth plaintiffs will almost certainly appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. </p>
<p>The Montana decision, however, as strong an endorsement as it is of climate science and renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels, will not likely assist the youth plaintiffs in the <em>La Rose</em> case. The Montana decision is legally distinguishable because its constitution includes an express — as opposed to an implied — right to a clean and healthful environment.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-youth-climate-court-case-failed-and-whats-next-for-canadian-climate-policy-149064">Why the youth climate court case failed, and what's next for Canadian climate policy</a>
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<p>The same goes for <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/la-rose-v-her-majesty-the-queen/">Canadian arguments advancing the common law public trust doctrine</a>, which is already expressly codified in the Montana Constitution.</p>
<h2>A constitutional challenge</h2>
<p>The other key climate law case in Canada is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-supreme-court-case-could-decide-the-future-of-canadian-climate-policy-202233">Supreme Court of Canada’s pending decision in Alberta’s constitutional challenge to the federal Impact Assessment Act</a>. Here, too, the Montana decision is a sobering reminder of the limitations of constitutional litigation when it comes to advancing climate policy. </p>
<p>If the Montana decision stands, state agencies will have the discretion to consider GHG emissions and climate change when reviewing energy projects. But as the Supreme Court of Canada case illustrates, the key question is not whether climate change is considered, but <em>how</em>. </p>
<p>After all, <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-new-climate-plan-is-reckless-but-a-better-way-forward-is-still-possible-180846">Canada approved the Bay du Nord offshore oil project</a> under the Impact Assessment Act, contrary to Alberta’s claims that the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/alberta-ottawa-supreme-court-pipeline-law">“no more pipelines law”</a> will block future fossil fuel development. </p>
<h2>Beyond symbolism</h2>
<p>But that does not mean that the Montana decision is merely a symbolic victory. It’s a strong vindication of <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=3439854">independent scientific expertise and its relevance to climate and energy policymaking</a>.</p>
<p>The Montana decision also reaffirms the potential of collective action and collaboration among youth, environmental lawyers, and climate change scholars.</p>
<p>The Montana court joins other courts around the world in highlighting the problem of delaying climate action, which requires youth and future generations to make even faster, more radical and more expensive emissions reductions down the road.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="German lawmakers seen in session at the Bundestag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543336/original/file-20230817-21-9uwen5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Germany’s constitutional court recently held that any actions by the German government which lock-in future harms are unconstitutional.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Germany’s highest constitutional court, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/29/historic-german-ruling-says-climate-goals-not-tough-enough">held that it was unconstitutional for the government to make decisions today that lock-in future harms and place a disproportionate burden on future generations</a>. Yet Germany is <a href="https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/new-climate-action-package-fails-get-germany-course-2030-targets">still struggling to implement the court’s ruling by enacting a sufficiently ambitious emissions reduction plan</a>. Judicial rulings must be founded on and sustained by sufficient political support to make a real difference on the ground.</p>
<p>Thus, the key now is to build on the court’s strong decision and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-youth-climate-court-case-failed-and-whats-next-for-canadian-climate-policy-149064">take the fight to the democratic political arena</a> where more than one Canadian provincial premier continues to deny their government’s responsibility to urgently act on climate change.</p>
<p>Verdicts send strong messages, but democratic politics is required to turn messages into policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason MacLean is a member of the board of directors of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (CELL), and East Coast Environmental Law (ECELAW). </span></em></p>An unprecedented win for climate justice in Montana has the potential to send reverberations around the world, including here in Canada.Jason MacLean, Adjunct professor, Environment and Sustainability, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048452023-05-03T15:18:43Z2023-05-03T15:18:43ZClimate change protest: a single radical gets more media coverage than thousands of marchers<p>Gil Scott Heron argued that the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwSRqaZGsPw">Revolution Will Not Be Televised</a>. Yet recently in the UK that statement is being challenged by disruptive environmental protesters unexpectedly gatecrashing live sporting broadcasts. </p>
<p>At the end of April, live on ITV the animal rights protesters Animal Rising delayed the country’s biggest horse race, the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/itv-s-grand-national-coverage-had-700-complaints-over-response-to-protests/ar-AA1an6Z8">Grand National</a>, by 15 minutes. And then two Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters halted the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/65305903">snooker world championships</a> during a live broadcast on the BBC by dumping orange poster paint over one of the tables.</p>
<p>Both actions attracted considerable <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1760447/just-stop-oil-snooker-protest-extinction-rebellion-slow-march-London-April-24">media</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/65285510">coverage</a>. Animal Rising’s protest prompted the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/16/grand-national-aintree-horse-deaths-protest-rspca">RSPCA to call for a review</a> into the three horses that had died over the Grand National weekend and sparked a debate about <a href="https://theconversation.com/grand-national-protests-animal-rising-campaigners-reveal-how-exploiting-animals-harms-us-too-203455">animal exploitation</a>. </p>
<p>Just Stop Oil’s protest led to a spokesperson appearing on <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/now-just-stop-oil-zealots-refuse-to-rule-out-disrupting-coronation/ar-AA1a5dti">GMB, GBNews and Talk TV</a> to promote its cause and call Piers Morgan a “manbaby”. Both groups will probably see these outcomes as a success.</p>
<p>But what media coverage can peaceful protest generate? Just a few days later we had a chance to find out. </p>
<p>From April 21 to 24, Extinction Rebellion (XR) held four days of peaceful protest in central London attracting an estimated 60,000 people. The so-called <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/">Big One</a> was XR’s first mass protest since the group announced a few months ago it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-says-we-quit-why-radical-eco-activism-has-a-short-shelf-life-197261">pausing disruptive protests</a>. </p>
<p>It hoped to attract people previously put off by direct action and the possibility of arrest, in order to instead build coalitions with other environmental groups and gain positive headlines. </p>
<p>Additionally, XR and 50 other environmental pressure groups had co-signed a letter <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/collective-demand/">collectively demanding</a> that the government should abandon new fossil fuel projects and create a new “emergency citizens’ assembly” to lead climate solutions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person in green costume" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524110/original/file-20230503-18-y4rm31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Extinction Rebellion has switched tactics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian Minkoff / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it’s not clear that Extinction Rebellion’s new approach actually worked. Certainly if the idea was to attract more or better headlines, the results seem underwhelming. </p>
<h2>The media was already unsympathetic</h2>
<p>Even before the Big One had started, right-wing press coverage was already unsympathetic. Most articles tended to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11985439/XR-fanatics-try-hold-Britain-ransom-Eco-activists-threaten-step-stunts.html">omit</a> the fact that XR was promising a peaceful protest, instead <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11987469/MPs-call-police-judges-end-wave-chaotic-climate-protests.html">scaremongering</a> that 45,000 eco-fanatics were coming at the weekend to close down London. </p>
<p>Plus journalists claimed there was a good chance that the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/london-marathon-just-stop-oil-29742387">London Marathon</a> would be targeted. In response XR pledged to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/19/extinction-rebellion-pledges-to-help-guard-london-marathon-from-protests">protect the marathon</a> from disruption. </p>
<p>But even that was not enough, with the Daily Mail arguing that by not protesting the marathon XR had merely decided not to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12005413/Extinction-Rebellion-activists-avoid-London-Marathon-protests-amid-concerns-alienate-people.html">“be the bad guys for once”</a>. The MailOnline ran <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12000485/Are-Extinction-Rebellion-changing-tactics-Thousands-gathered-outside-parliament-huge-protest.html">one positive</a> article but alongside a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11998143/Laughing-eco-zealots-Extinction-Rebellion-pose-selfies-descend-London-TODAY.html">negative piece</a> warning that coachloads of “grinning eco zealots” planned to closedown London. </p>
<p>In fact XR only got two front covers across the whole weekend. The first was in <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22117899/gail-bradbrook-slammed-towering-hypocrisy-activists/">the Sun</a> which had exclusive photos of one of the group’s original members, whom it labelled a “towering hypocrite”, parking at Waitrose in a 1.5 litre diesel car and buying plastic wrapped fruit and veg. The other was a story in the <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scottish-mail-on-sunday/20230423/281663964315055">Mail on Sunday</a>, which warned “eco zealots” were among those planning to protest the coronation.</p>
<p>Even the Guardian’s coverage was understated. On the first day of the protest, the paper published <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/21/big-one-extinction-rebellion-cliimate-protest-london-xr">an article</a> highlighting supporters attracted by the group’s new tactics, but raising questions about its plan to return to civil disobedience if the government did not meet its demands. </p>
<p>The following day the Guardian offered no coverage other than a report reproduced from the Press Association, an editorial decision that prompted a livid XR spokesperson to criticise the paper on <a href="https://youtu.be/znp_CScpgDo">Novara Media</a>. On the final day, the paper ran a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/24/extinction-rebellion-climate-protest-activists-the-big-one">comment</a> piece supportive of XR, albeit after the protests had finished.</p>
<p>Mainstream TV coverage was largely nonexistent. An estimated 60,000 people representing XR marched peacefully through London <a href="https://www.bigissue.com/news/activism/not-a-single-arrest-made-during-extinction-rebellions-four-day-the-big-one-protest/">without a single arrest</a>. Yet this went entirely unreported on the Saturday evening news across Channel 4 and the BBC. </p>
<p>On Monday, after everything was over, Channel 4 did run a short piece. The Channel 4 reporter’s summation was that The Big One was a cross between <a href="https://youtu.be/yMkOrgJWUoM">a music festival and a village fete</a>. </p>
<h2>Disruptive protest attracts attention</h2>
<p>Across the weekend, the <a href="https://twitter.com/ThierryAaron/status/1650498044482265091">#TheBigOne</a> hashtag was dominated by XR protesters arguing that disruptive protest is reported but non-disruptive is not. Academic research backs this up, showing a clear imbalance in the media coverage of disruptive and non-disruptive protest. </p>
<p>Theorists call this the “<a href="https://www.cjr.org/criticism/protest-journalism-black-lives-matter-floyd.php">protest paragdim</a>” and it <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2873/1215">serves two purposes</a>: feeding a media that thrives on spectacle and outrage, while also helping to vilify protesters.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1650498044482265091"}"></div></p>
<p>This may not harm the climate movement as much as you’d expect. A Just Stop Oil spokesperson has stated: <a href="https://youtu.be/T3kO1KT10I8?t=236">“We are not personally interested in being popular”</a>. My own ongoing <a href="http://journal.wrocah.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WRoCAH-journal-issue-6-spring-1.pdf">research on younger climate activists</a> suggests they won’t be put off as within XR they are able to decide what protest they will and will not participate in.</p>
<p>The government has rushed through laws imposing tougher sentences for those arrested protesting, supposedly to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/03/uk-security-minister-defends-new-anti-protest-laws-coronation">protect the king’s coronation</a>. </p>
<p>Activists in their teens and 20s who I have interviewed <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/our-staff/students/andrew-macdonald-profile/">for my PhD</a> argued that tougher laws could simply make them more radical, and academic research has shown that increased jail time as a deterrence <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/five-things-about-deterrence">often does not work</a>. Indeed, these “Gen Z” climate activists could grow up to become more radical as the laws – and climate breakdown itself – make the stakes higher. </p>
<p>In my research, young activists often mention the Swedish academic Andreas Malm and his book <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2649-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline">How To Blow Up A Pipeline</a>, a provocative polemic that has now been adapted into a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSb585bGYmQ&t">fictional ecological thriller</a> with climate saboteurs as the “goodies”. </p>
<p>Cult films like this could, over time, set climate activists against oil and gas infrastructure. How far away would XR’s village fete seem then?</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Matthew Macdonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Media coverage of Extinction Rebellion’s mass protest was muted compared with that of Just Stop Oil’s snooker disruption.Andrew Matthew Macdonald, PhD Candidate, Climate Activism, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045812023-04-27T15:01:41Z2023-04-27T15:01:41ZExtinction Rebellion gave it ‘the Big One’ with a four-day peaceful protest – now what?<p>The banners have been packed away, the face paint washed off and the Instagram accounts updated. The latest four-day demonstration by environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) – dubbed “the Big One” as it aimed to be the largest climate protest in UK history – ended <a href="https://www.bigissue.com/news/activism/not-a-single-arrest-made-during-extinction-rebellions-four-day-the-big-one-protest/">without a single arrest</a>.</p>
<p>The movement that <a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-im-an-academic-embracing-direct-action-to-stop-climate-change-107037">began with civil disobedience</a> in 2018 has now declared its preference for “attendance over arrest and <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/#">relationships over roadblocks</a>”. Four months ago, the group <a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-says-we-quit-why-radical-eco-activism-has-a-short-shelf-life-197261">announced a pause</a> on disruptive action that inconvenienced the public, such as road blockades. </p>
<p>On a long weekend between April 21 and 24, that commitment was put to the test as tens of thousands (how many tens is something I will come back to) of people filled streets in London – especially around government buildings.</p>
<p>Giving up disruptive action that could lead to arrest (and arguably bad headlines) will have helped XR get organisations like <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/">the Fairtrade Foundation</a> on their side. To attract the widest possible support, talk of “rebellion” was removed from the publicity material.</p>
<p>Through February and March, I and others on XR’s mailing list received multiple emails announcing that the coalition supporting the Big One was growing, with more and more non-governmental organisations signalling their support (and presumably encouraging their own members to get involved). </p>
<p>Alongside this, <a href="https://peacenews.info/node/10477/editorial-xr-dont-overpromise">experienced activists cautioned</a> about the excited rhetoric of transformational change and the dangers of drawing analogies with the protests that led to the break up of the Soviet Union in the late 80s and early 90s.</p>
<h2>The numbers game</h2>
<p>This non-disruption tactic worked to gather a big crowd. I’ve seen crowd estimates ranging from 30,000 to 100,000. XR’s estimate, and the one <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/04/24/the-big-one-climate-protest-who-were-they-and-what-did-it-achieve">widely reported</a>, is 60,000. That puts the Big One on par with the 2019 climate strike as the UK’s joint biggest environmental protests.</p>
<p>But the numbers on their own are not what we should focus on. There are two strategic questions after a big demonstration, at least in my opinion. First, what is now more difficult for the subjects of the demonstration? In this case, what can the government no longer do, or only do at increased political cost. </p>
<p>And second, what new capacities do the organisers and participants of the protest have that they can soon deploy to further raise those costs on the government?</p>
<p>It’s hard to see how the UK government, committed as it is to <a href="https://www.cityam.com/approving-rosebank-oil-and-gas-field-a-huge-mistake-government-told/">further licensing</a> North Sea oil and gas exploration (using <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-carbon-capture-and-storage-hype-delay-emissions-cuts-heres-what-research-shows-202972">carbon capture and storage</a> as <a href="https://theconversation.com/cumbria-coal-mine-empty-promises-of-carbon-capture-tech-have-excused-digging-up-more-fossil-fuel-for-decades-196242">a cover</a>), is meaningfully constrained by the London protests.</p>
<p>And now that XR has followed through on its promise to pause disruption in order to form relationships (or at least have dialogue) with organisations that had perhaps previously regarded it as too radical, it’s hard to imagine these organisations changing tack. </p>
<p>More likely, it’s XR that will become more mainstream. It’s an old story: the organisation that has come to shake things up finding, relatively quickly, that it is trapped in a necessary web of expectations and obligations.</p>
<p>Indeed, the claim that, according to environmental magazine <a href="https://theecologist.org/2023/apr/25/xr-reprise-ecosystem-tactics">The Ecologist</a>, “as many as 80% of XR protesters voted to amp up future campaigning using civil disobedience and non-violent direct action – including supporting picket lines” may create tensions and splits within XR about what counts as disruption.</p>
<p>Will XR “build relationships” to show that it is not a threat? Or will it build relationships with those locked in related struggles with the government, like striking workers? Nothing was finally decided at the Big One – both paths lie open.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I’m reminded of the umbrella organisation Stop Climate Chaos that formed in 2005. By 2009, all that its diverse membership could agree on (and this after much negotiation) was a march called the Wave which happened in December to coincide with the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.</p>
<p>The numbers on that march? In the same ballpark as the Big One: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/dec/03/the-wave-march-live-blog">about 50,000 people</a>. And after the Wave there was only a trickle, for many years.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>After the Big One, XR sent out an email with the encouraging (or dispiriting, depending on your perspective) assurance that: “There will be time for reflection and planning what comes next … once the rebels have rested!”</p>
<p>While I was most definitely <a href="https://marchudson.net/2023/02/07/of-xrs-the-big-one-likely-numbers-and-likely-consequences/">wrong about the numbers</a> attending in my pre-demonstration predictions, my suspicion about what I call the <a href="https://marchudson.net/2019/09/23/the-emotacycle-what-it-is-why-it-matters-what-is-to-be-done/">emotacycle</a> remains. This was a cathartic moment that allowed people to express their fear and horror at our civilisation’s tragic trajectory, without necessarily increasing the capacity to act. </p>
<p>What do you do for an encore – the Bigger One? The Biggest One? Unless you keep doubling the numbers, you look weak.</p>
<p>While some of those in London over the weekend are neck-deep in local battles against the building of bypasses or the destruction of habitats, for others, attending was primarily a chance to salve their conscience until the next such event. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily. We all need some kind of comfort as the climate crisis bears down on us.</p>
<p>As the seasoned (some might say cynical) Canadian campaigner and consultant <a href="https://www.britell.com/">Jim Britell</a> wrote in a book called <a href="https://www.britell.com/pacific-northwest-timber-wars-1989-1999/">Timber Wars</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One might assume that the recent large protests and marches mean that citizens are newly empowered to speak up. Not at all. All these marches and noise are harmless diversions equivalent to yelling at clouds. No one in power minds them in the least because they know that none of this energy will ever be directed to anything serious like flood plain zoning, issues with local landfills, local environmental activism, or dechartering bad corporations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Will XR, as it set out to, change the policy game, or be changed by it? And how will the game itself be changed by extreme weather events, disruptions to food and energy supplies and the like, all of which seem likely in the coming years? There are at least now many more people paying attention who otherwise might not have.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Hudson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The group has eschewed disruptive protest in the pursuit of ‘building relationships’.Marc Hudson, Visiting Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex Business School, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019352023-03-16T20:04:51Z2023-03-16T20:04:51Z3 reasons the Willow Arctic oil drilling project was approved – it’s the latest battle in a long fight over Alaska’s North Slope<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515657/original/file-20230316-3305-49vbkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C2043%2C1271&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Several oil projects are active in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmalaska/20172203409">Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than six decades, Alaska’s North Slope has been a focus of intense controversy over oil development and wilderness protection, with no end in sight. Willow field, a 600-million-barrel, US$8 billion oil project recently <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/13/1163075377/willow-drilling-project-alaska-approved-biden">approved by the Biden administration</a> – <a href="https://www.arctictoday.com/conocophillips-alaska-willow-project-approvals-hit-with-second-lawsuit/">to the outrage</a> of environmental and climate activists – is the latest chapter in that long saga. </p>
<p>To understand why President Joe Biden allowed the project, despite vowing “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLUcpYEYk48">no more drilling on federal lands, period</a>” during his campaign for president, some historical background is necessary, along with a closer look at the ways domestic and international fears are complicating any decision for or against future oil development on the North Slope.</p>
<h2>More than just Willow</h2>
<p>The Willow project lies within a vast, 23 million-acre area known as the <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/oil-and-gas/about/alaska/NPR-A">National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska</a>, or NPR-A. This was one of four such reserves set aside in the early 1900s to guarantee a supply of oil for the U.S. military. Though no production existed at the time in NPR-A, geologic information and surface seeps of oil <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs024-01/fs024-01.pdf">suggested large resources</a> across the North Slope.</p>
<p>Proof came with the 1968 discovery of the supergiant <a href="https://petrowiki.spe.org/Prudhoe_Bay_field">Prudhoe Bay field</a>, which began producing oil in 1977. Exploratory programs in the NPR-A, however, found only small oil accumulations worthy of local uses.</p>
<p>Then, in the 2000s, new <a href="https://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/151488/a_second_wind_for_the_north_slope/">geologic understanding and advanced exploration technology</a> led companies to lease portions of the reserve, and they soon made large fossil fuel discoveries. Because NPR-A is federal land, government approval is required for any development. To date, most have been approved. Willow is the latest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two caribou stand on grasslands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515656/original/file-20230316-3073-bd566q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caribou in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska are important for Native groups. However, Native communities have also been split over support for drilling, which can bring income.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mypubliclands/18725729354/in/photolist-uwJfWE-uwJfSm-vcakTj-cM6sVw-U8eUJo-jsHpAR-uwTVhi-AE46zU-cM6cAf-vu5S3t-2hU2K1G-cM6uZo-cLWp3m-cM65Eo-cM6cp5-cM6tFA-cM6vqd-cM6xgL-cM6iFN-cM6znN-cM6wEE-cM5ZkC-cM5ZKh-cM66FY-25tq5XQ-cM6eNL-cM61yo-cM6fHY-pQUqJ2-cM6x8W-cM6iw5-cM6e1L-cM6uoo-cM6iMw-cM6wW7-cM61RU-cM6fZC-cM6vfW-cM6ktA-cM64ss-cM6j5J-cM6cvG-cM6yJA-cM6nDA-cM6tQE-cM6jFq-cM6cXC-cM671j-cM666h-cM5ZAE">Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Opposition to North Slope drilling from conservationists, environmental organizations and some Native communities, mainly in support of wilderness preservation, has been fierce <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pipeline-environmental-movement-and-oil-industry/%22%22">since the opening of Prudhoe Bay</a> and the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s. In the wake of 1970s oil crises, opponents failed to stop development. </p>
<p>During the next four decades, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-americans-will-never-agree-on-oil-drilling-in-the-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-88992">controversy shifted east to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge</a>. Republican presidents and congressional leaders repeatedly attempted to open the refuge to drilling but were consistently stifled – until 2017. That year, the Trump administration opened it to leasing. Ironically, no companies were interested. Oil prices had fallen, risk was high and the reputational cost was large.</p>
<p>To the west of the refuge, however, a series of new discoveries in NPR-A and adjacent state lands were drawing attention as a major new oil play with multibillion-barrel potential. Oil prices had risen, and though they fell again in 2020, they have been mostly above $70 per barrel – high enough to encourage significant new development.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map of northern Alaska showing NPRA in the west and ANWR in the eastern part. The Willow area is in the northeast corner of the NPRA." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515925/original/file-20230316-18-r21apr.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ConocoPhillips’ Willow project is in the northeast corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NPRA_F1lg.gif">USGS, Department of Interior</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Opposition, with little success</h2>
<p>Opposition to the new Willow project has been driven by concerns about the effects of drilling on wildlife and of increasing fossil fuel use on the climate. Willow’s oil is estimated to be <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/4-reasons-the-willow-oil-project-is-unfit-for-approval/%22%22">capable of releasing 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide</a> if refined into fuels and consumed.</p>
<p>In particular, opponents have focused on a planned pipeline that will extend the existing infrastructure further westward, deeper into NPR-A, and likely encourage further exploratory drilling.</p>
<p>So far, that resistance has had little success. </p>
<p>Twenty miles to the south of Willow is <a href="https://www.adn.com/business-economy/energy/2022/08/25/environmental-groups-sue-to-stop-federal-approval-of-exploration-at-alaska-oil-project/">the Peregrine discovery area</a>, estimated to hold around 1.6 billion barrels of oil. Its development was approved by the Biden administration in late 2022. To the east lies the <a href="https://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/documents/resourceevaluation/01_ags_luncheon_presentation_04-24-18.pdf">Pikka-Horseshoe discovery area</a>, with around 2 billion barrels. It’s also likely to gain approval. Still other NPR-A drilling has occurred to the southwest (<a href="https://static.conocophillips.com/files/resources/conocophillips-alaska-factsheet-2022.pdf">Harpoon prospect</a>), northeast (Cassin), and southeast (Stirrup).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young protesters hold a sign reading: 'President Biden: Keep Your Climate Promises. Stop Willow.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515889/original/file-20230316-28-h52dvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young protesters in Washington in 2022 urged Biden to reject the Willow project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/climate-activist-hold-a-demonstration-to-urge-president-news-photo/1442291666">Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Sunrise AU</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Questions of legality</h2>
<p>One reason the Biden administration approved the Willow project involves legality: ConocoPhillips holds the leases and has a legal right to drill. Canceling its leases would bring a court case that, if lost, would set a precedent, cost the government millions of dollars in fees and do nothing to stop oil drilling. </p>
<p>Instead, the government made a deal with ConocoPhillips that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/biden-administration-approved-willow-alaska-oil-00086746">shrank the total surface area to be developed at Willow by 60%</a>, including removing a sensitive wildlife area known as Teshekpuk Lake. The Biden administration also announced that it was putting 13 million acres of the NPR-A and all federal waters of the Arctic Ocean <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-sweeping-protections-16-million-acres-land-and">off limits to new leases</a>.</p>
<p>That has done little to stem anger over approval of the project, however. Two groups <a href="https://www.arctictoday.com/conocophillips-alaska-willow-project-approvals-hit-with-second-lawsuit/">have already sued</a> over the approval.</p>
<h2>Taking future risks into account</h2>
<p>To further understand Biden’s approval of the Willow project, one has to look into the future, too.</p>
<p>Discoveries in the northeastern NPR-A suggest this will become a major new oil production area for the U.S. While actual oil production is <a href="https://alaskabeacon.com/2023/01/19/state-expects-north-slope-oil-production-to-be-stable-and-then-tick-up-after-about-2027/">not expected there for several years</a>, its timing will coincide with a forecast plateau or decline in total U.S. production later this decade, because of what one shale company CEO described as <a href="https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/The-Shale-Boom-Is-Over.html">the end of shale oil’s aggressive growth</a>.</p>
<p>Historically, declines in domestic supply have brought higher fuel prices and imports. High gasoline and diesel prices, with their inflationary impacts, can weaken the political party in power. While current prices and inflation haven’t damaged Biden and the Democrats too much, nothing guarantees this will remain the case.</p>
<p><iframe id="jxwl9" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/jxwl9/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Geopolitical concerns, particularly Europe</h2>
<p>The Biden administration also faces geopolitical pressure right now due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.</p>
<p>U.S. companies <a href="https://www.cmegroup.com/openmarkets/energy/2023/u-s--crude-oil-exports-to-eu-support-wti-as-global-benchmark.html">ramped up exports</a> of oil and natural gas over the past year to become <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/23/american-energy-europe-putin-00083750#:%7E:text=Instead%2C%20a%20flow%20of%20American,12%20percent%20of%20its%20oil.">a lifeline for Europe</a> as the European Union uses <a href="https://eu-solidarity-ukraine.ec.europa.eu/eu-sanctions-against-russia-following-invasion-ukraine_en">sanctions and bans on Russian fossil fuel imports</a> to try to weaken the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war on Ukraine. U.S. imports have been able to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/23/american-energy-europe-putin-00083750#:%7E:text=Instead%2C%20a%20flow%20of%20American,12%20percent%20of%20its%20oil.">replace a major portion</a> of Russian supply that Europe once counted on.</p>
<p>Europe’s energy crisis has also led to the return of <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/where-things-stand-in-the-global-energy-crisis-one-year-on">energy security as a top concern</a> of national leaders worldwide. Without a doubt, the crisis has clarified that oil and gas are still critical to the global economy. The Biden administration is taking the position that reducing the supply by a significant amount – <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/">necessary as it is</a> to avoid damaging climate change – cannot be done by prohibition alone. Halting new drilling worldwide would drive fuel prices sky high, weakening economies and the ability to deal with the climate problem. </p>
<p>Energy transitions depend on changes in demand, not just supply. As an energy scholar, I believe advancing the affordability of electric vehicles and the infrastructure they need would do much more for reducing oil use than drilling bans. Though it may seem counterintuitive, by aiding European economic stability, U.S. exports of fossil fuels may also help the EU plan to accelerate noncarbon energy use in the years ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott L. Montgomery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Biden vowed ‘no more drilling on federal lands,’ but Russia’s war on Ukraine and pressures at home are hard to ignore.Scott L. Montgomery, Lecturer, Jackson School of International Studies, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2000182023-02-21T18:11:49Z2023-02-21T18:11:49ZEnvironmental activists on trial barred from citing climate crisis in their defence<p>Four Insulate Britain activists recently stood trial at Inner London crown court on a public nuisance charge for blocking a busy London junction in October 2021. Like <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/just-stop-oil-119315">Just Stop Oil</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insulate-britain-111143">Insulate Britain</a> is waging a civil disobedience campaign to force the government to implement policies to tackle climate change and fuel poverty – namely, suspending new licenses for fossil fuel drilling and renovating homes to help people use less energy.</p>
<p>But this trial was unusual. One of the defendants, David Nixon, ignored the judge’s instruction not to explain the reasons for his actions to the jury. The trial judge sentenced him to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/06/insulate-britain-protester-david-nixon-faces-prison-over-contempt-of-court-conviction">eight weeks in prison</a> for contempt of court.</p>
<p>Courts in England and Wales are taking a more active role in determining the extent of the right to protest, and some recent verdicts appeared to vindicate this right in law. </p>
<p>These included the case of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/05/four-cleared-of-toppling-edward-colston-statute">Colston 4</a>, acquitted by a jury of causing criminal damage to a statue of slave-trader Edward Colston in Bristol and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/29/stansted-deportation-flight-protesters-have-convictions-quashed">Stansted 15</a>, whose conviction on terrorism-related charges for blocking a Home Office deportation flight was overturned on appeal. </p>
<p>The overall trend is rather different, however, and much more worrying.</p>
<p>Higher courts are restricting the defences available to protesters on trial and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is deciding which charges to bring in order to exploit this restriction. Judges, meanwhile, are more forcefully managing trials. The outcome is that defendants are increasingly unable to explain to juries not just what they did, but why they did it. </p>
<h2>Necessity and lawful excuse</h2>
<p>The court of appeal overturned the Stansted 15’s conviction but ruled that “necessity” defences be removed from future protest cases. These allow defendants to argue that they acted to stop a greater crime, or to save someone from harm, enabling them to explain their motives to juries. </p>
<p>In the Stansted case, the trial judge had ruled that the jury should not consider this defence. The court of appeal agreed and confirmed the principle, in what we described as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stansted-15-appeal-a-hollow-victory-for-the-right-to-protest-154694">a hollow victory</a>” for protest rights.</p>
<p>In another case (R v Ziegler), the supreme court upheld a magistrates’ court ruling that convicting defendants for blocking the road outside an arms fair in east London would be an unjustified restriction of their article 10 and 11 rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly under the European Convention of Human Rights. </p>
<p>Unlike the Stansted 15, the defendants in this case had been prosecuted under the Highways Act 1980, which lets them make a “lawful excuse” argument. Lawful excuse, much like necessity, allows defendants to claim that they acted reasonably in the circumstances, placing their actions in a wider context. </p>
<p>The supreme court’s decision initially led to a number of other verdicts where protesters were <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2021/07/21/first-xr-defendant-acquitted-under-supreme-courts-ziegler-ruling/">acquitted for obstructing a highway</a>. Defence teams assumed that Ziegler could be applied to other offences with explicit lawful or reasonable excuse defences, such as criminal damage. </p>
<p>In the Colston 4 trial, one of the legal arguments <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-attended-the-trial-of-the-colston-four-heres-why-their-acquittal-should-be-celebrated-174481">made in court</a> was that even had the jury found the defendants guilty of causing criminal damage to Colston’s statue, it would have been disproportionate to convict them of the offence given the importance of freedom of expression. </p>
<h2>Shutting down Ziegler</h2>
<p>The higher courts have since acted swiftly to shut down this argument. The court of appeal ruled in 2022 that the trial judge was wrong to accept Ziegler might apply in the Colston case. </p>
<p>The high court ruled similarly for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/30/high-court-overturns-acquittal-of-hs2-protester-after-appeal-by-prosecution">aggravated trespass</a> by HS2 protesters in the March case of R v Cuciurean. And the supreme court followed suit when confirming the legality of no-protest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/07/northern-ireland-abortion-clinic-buffer-zones-supreme-court-ruling">buffer zones</a> around abortion clinics in Northern Ireland in December.</p>
<p>As a result, whether defendants in protest cases can explain their actions to a jury depends upon the offence they are charged with. Wider motives can only be raised where lawful excuse is explicitly provided for in the law and, even then, for only a narrow range of offences due to the limited interpretation of Ziegler.</p>
<p>It’s perhaps no surprise then that the CPS has brought a <a href="https://twitter.com/smartyfish/status/1622860940428341248?s=20">raft of public nuisance</a> rather than highway obstruction charges against Insulate Britain protesters. Unlike obstructing a highway, public nuisance does not require a court to balance the impact of the protest against the defendant’s article 10 and 11 rights.</p>
<p>But if this explains the limited range of defences available to protesters, it does not explain why Nixon was imprisoned. That requires an understanding of the changing role of judges in England and Wales. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rules-and-practice-directions-2020">legal reforms</a> mean judges are increasingly concerned with narrowing the range of issues open to legal dispute in order to expedite cases. If a judge rules that no defence exists in law to a given charge, they can also direct that no related evidence can be called by the defence. </p>
<p>The trial judge no longer stands above the case, but manages it. Nixon’s contempt conviction is a flexing of this judicial muscle.</p>
<h2>What are trials for?</h2>
<p>In Nixon’s case, conviction for contempt of court seems particularly disproportionate – penalties for breaches of <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/standard-directions/general/case-management">case management orders</a> are not regularly enforced. </p>
<p>But beyond the question of what penalty should be applied for ignoring trial directions, there lie more fundamental ones about the operation of the criminal justice process. </p>
<p>Trials determine guilt or innocence, but they also signal to the public about matters of collective importance and moral value. </p>
<p>The legal philosopher <a href="https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/256371">Antony Duff</a> suggests that criminal cases are a means of holding fellow citizens to account for their behaviour. A trial fails in this regard if it doesn’t let defendants account for their behaviour in ways that are meaningful to them.</p>
<p>Juries <a href="https://www.keepthefaith.co.uk/2023/01/12/in-a-cost-of-living-crisis-three-christians-found-not-guilty-for-insulate-britain-protest/amp/">continue to acquit defendants</a> in similar protest cases despite the framing of the law and the attempts of judges to manage trials. There is a long tradition in the UK and US of juries acting as a check on state abuse, allowing an acquittal in the face of the law if a conviction would be morally inappropriate. </p>
<p>But if jurors cannot hear the claims of defendants, we may ask how they are supposed to assess whether a given prosecution is appropriate, or if the actions of the defendants have significant moral or community value. Cases such as Nixon’s should invite us to consider what juries are for, and what upholding freedom of expression means.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Cammiss is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Hayes is a member of the Labour Party</span></em></p>Defendants are increasingly unable to explain their actions to a jury.Steven Cammiss, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School, University of BirminghamGraeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1972612023-01-06T06:07:50Z2023-01-06T06:07:50ZExtinction Rebellion says ‘we quit’ – why radical eco-activism has a short shelf life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503260/original/file-20230105-26-608py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C739%2C6024%2C3273&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Margarita Young / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has released a statement with the clickbait headline “<a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/12/31/we-quit/">We Quit”</a>. Dashing the hopes of climate denialists everywhere, the group is not shutting up shop (yet), it is merely changing tactics. XR is keeping its options open, saying there is “a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic”.</p>
<p>The statement comes at a time when activists from affiliated groups Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil are still <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/02/insulate-britain-and-just-stop-oil-vow-to-continue-disruptive-action">serving jail terms</a>.</p>
<p>As someone who has been involved in these sorts of movements for 20 years, both as an activist and through my <a href="https://allouryesterdays.info/">All Our Yesterdays</a> climate history project, XR’s move doesn’t really surprise me. The truth is that such movements rarely last more than a few years, even if their cause remains just as urgent. It’s simply too hard to retain committed activists.</p>
<p>Extinction Rebellion itself nicely highlights the cyclical nature of radical environment action. </p>
<h2>Protests and occupations</h2>
<p>In the summer of 2018, the UK <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_British_Isles_heat_wave">baked in a heatwave</a> as the IPCC was putting the finishing touches to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">a report</a> about what would happen if global warming exceeded 1.5°C (short version: buckle up). Meanwhile, stickers with the now familiar stylised hourglass began to appear on lampposts, and news trickled out of a new group called “Extinction Rebellion”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters with UK parliament building in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503264/original/file-20230105-16-qy0t2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">XR in Westminster, November 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Kuis / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the following year, XR staged <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/31/15-environmental-protesters-arrested-at-civil-disobedience-campaign-in-london">protests in Westminster</a>, and occupied bridges and other key sites across London for days on end. Greta Thunberg, by now a sensation for her school strikes, addressed the crowds, and the actress Emma Thompson <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-47991377#:%7E:text=Speaking%2520to%2520reporters%2520from%2520the,of%2520disruption%2520by%2520the%2520Suffragettes.">flew in from Los Angeles</a>.</p>
<p>But an October 2019 “rebellion” was markedly less successful than the first ones. The Metropolitan Police had <a href="https://www.college.police.uk/article/policing-extinction-rebellion-first-day-autumn-uprising">learned</a>. It raided logistics hubs and issued <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/14/police-ban-extinction-rebellion-protests-from-whole-of-london">preemptive banning orders</a> (later successfully legally challenged). But the most damaging moment came as an own goal, when a splinter group undertook a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/17/extinction-rebellion-activists-london-underground">notorious blocking-a-commuter train action</a>, generating lots of media criticism and internal soul-searching about the pros and cons of “decentralised” movement activity.</p>
<p>Then came the pandemic and XR’s favoured tactics of mass mobilisation were rendered impossible – though attempts were made. Meanwhile, somebody put out fake <a href="https://theconversation.com/beware-far-right-arguments-disguised-as-environmentalism-134830">leaflets linking the group to eco-fascist arguments</a>.</p>
<p>This history – a sudden flourishing, followed by gradual fizzling out – is sadly fairly typical.</p>
<h2>Direct action in the UK</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, people in the UK began taking environmental action. These actions can be seen as a continuation of the 1980s peace movement, of which the <a href="http://www.greenhamwpc.org.uk/">women’s camp at Greenham Common</a> had been an inspiration and focal point. </p>
<p>Three decades ago this month a <a href="https://twitter.com/our_yesterdays/status/1548660118023192577">“Wake up the world is dying”</a> protest took place in London to highlight rainforest deforestation and the importation of mahogany. There were many protests against new <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2012/sep/28/twyford-down-m3-protest-pictures">roads through woodlands</a>. By the late 1990s, with international climate negotiations proving inadequate, the Rising Tide network sprang up, taking direct action <a href="https://risingtide.org.uk/resources/factsheets/fiftyideas">across the country</a>. </p>
<p>Activists from Rising Tide were then part of the Camp for Climate Action group in the 2000s, which emerged after the G8 protests in Scotland as some thought that groups were stuck in a rut of “summit hopping” and wanted to be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17583004.2014.995407">more radical</a>.</p>
<p>Climate Camp ran from 2006 to 2010, with protests at Drax and Kingsnorth power stations, Heathrow Airport, London and then Edinburgh. In 2011, after what was by accounts a gloomy but determined meeting, those present released a statement called “<a href="https://marchudson.net/citizenship/climate-change/that-metamorphosis-statement-in-full/">Metamorphosis</a>”, which has language eerily similar to XR’s We Quit statement. It <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/mar/02/climate-camp-disbanded">said</a> its closure was “intended to allow new tactics, organising methods and processes to emerge in this time of whirlwind change”.</p>
<p>Through the 2010s groups such as No Dash for Gas and Reclaim the Power kept doing nonviolent direct action, joined by the ultimately successful anti-fracking movement. In the midst of this, attempts to use the Paris Climate Conference in 2015 as a way of kickstarting renewed activity were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joost-De-Moor-2/publication/321459546_The_'efficacy_dilemma'_of_transnational_climate_activism_the_case_of_COP21/links/5c33835fa6fdccd6b599c537/The-efficacy-dilemma-of-transnational-climate-activism-the-case-of-COP21.pdf">not successful</a>.</p>
<h2>Up like a rocket, down like a stick</h2>
<p>Why does the pattern, what I call the “<a href="https://marchudson.net/2019/09/23/the-emotacycle-what-it-is-why-it-matters-what-is-to-be-done/">emotacycle</a>” keep happening? One factor is how hard it is to retain committed activists. To quote myself from a December 2019 debate in New Internationalist about <a href="https://newint.org/features/2019/12/30/has-extinction-rebellion-got-right-tactics">whether XR had the right tactics</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the emotional dynamics seem unchanged to me – a hardcore of “heroic types”, and a worried but unempowered wider community that can never see themselves doing yoga in a prison cell, [who] come to one meeting, feel alienated and don’t come back.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I went on to say that “previous cycles of climate protest tended to last three years or so”. Three years on, it seems XR has indeed followed this pattern.</p>
<p>XR’s “We Quit” statement also contains a teaser and an invitation to gather back at Parliament Square in Westminster, four and a half years on from the initial “Declaration of Rebellion”. A year ago the group was saying it would bring <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/05/11/extinction-rebellion-announces-plans-to-bring-millions-onto-the-streets-in-september/">“millions” onto the streets</a> in September. Now the number it is hoping for is 100,000.</p>
<p>Those predictions are still optimistic, shall we say. But other predictions made by those working on climate change – of increased emissions and an ever thicker blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, trapping heat and causing floods and fires to be more intense and more frequent – are safer. Whether, in light of that, our civilisation is safe is another question.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Hudson was a co-founder of Climate Emergency Manchester, but is no longer involved with the group. </span></em></p>Such groups rarely last more than a few years.Marc Hudson, Visiting Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex Business School, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1966372022-12-26T16:26:29Z2022-12-26T16:26:29Z3 reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502317/original/file-20221221-26-sxt7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C49%2C1191%2C800&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students rally for fossil fuel-free energy at the University of California, San Diego.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://today.ucsd.edu/media-contacts">Erik Jepsen/UCSD</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global warming has increased the number of extreme weather events around the world <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz088">by 400%</a> since the 1980s. Countries know how <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/working-group/wg3/">to stop the damage</a> from worsening: stop burning fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy, electrify transportation and industry, and reduce the carbon intensity of agriculture.</p>
<p>But none of this is happening fast enough to avoid <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">warming on a catastrophic scale</a>.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://aronclimatecrisis.net/">new book</a>, “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/climate-crisis/DC85CA555290CCEC08B047BC515ADF96">The Climate Crisis</a>,” I lay out the mechanisms and impacts of the climate crisis and the reasons behind the lack of serious effort to combat it. One powerful reason is the influence that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922175117">fossil fuel industry</a>, electric utilities and others <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104">with a vested interest in</a> fossil fuels have over policymakers. </p>
<p>But there’s another reason for this inaction that everyone has the ability to change: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.08.012">response skepticism</a> – the public doesn’t believe in its own political power enough or use it.</p>
<p>When people speak up and work together, they can spur powerful changes. You can see this in university students demanding that their chancellor <a href="https://dailybruin.com/2022/05/12/uc-community-discusses-progress-limitations-of-universitys-sustainability-goals">retire the campus fossil fuel power plant</a> and switch to renewable electricity. You can also see it in <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Big-Fix/Hal-Harvey/9781982123987">ranchers in Colorado</a> pushing their governor to enact a clean electricity standard so that they can benefit from having wind turbines on their lands. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A female student sits on a yoga ball in a hallway reading a book. Other students are on laptops behind her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502455/original/file-20221221-15-ajs88d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">MIT students study while staging a sit-in outside the university chancellor’s office in 2016 calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/freshman-carissa-skye-sits-atop-a-yoga-ball-while-taking-news-photo/514663304">Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, while <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2021/05/PS_2021.05.26_climate-and-generations_TOPLINE.pdf">70% of American adults describe climate change</a> as an important concern, only 10% say they volunteered for an activity focused on addressing climate change or contacted an elected official about it in the previous year, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center poll.</p>
<p>Why do so few adults participate in actions to encourage governments and decision-makers to do more about climate change, even though surveys show they support doing so, and how can they overcome the skepticism holding them back?</p>
<h2>What prevents people from speaking out</h2>
<p>Polls show some people see how <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E01">money from wealthy industries</a> and individuals influences politicians and <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/spring-2022-harvard-youth-poll">don’t believe politicians listen to the public</a>.</p>
<p>Others are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/discourses-of-climate-delay/7B11B722E3E3454BB6212378E32985A7">distracted by arguments</a> that can tamp down engagement, such as campaigns that urge people to focus on individual recycling, or ask why the U.S. should do more if other countries aren’t, or argue that that there’s no need to rush because future technology will save humanity. Some <a href="https://www.theclimatechangereview.com/post/uc-says-it-ll-meet-2025-carbon-neutral-goal-yet-remains-a-massive-california-polluter">believe that corporate and university promises</a> to reach carbon neutrality in the future – often far in the future – are enough.</p>
<p>These narratives can be seductive. The focus on recycling, for example, offers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.102">a sense of satisfaction</a> that one accomplished something. The arguments that China emits more greenhouse gases and that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2021/05/PS_2021.05.26_climate-and-generations_TOPLINE.pdf">future technology</a> will fix everything <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/climate-crisis/DC85CA555290CCEC08B047BC515ADF96">appear to exonerate</a> people from having to take any steps now.</p>
<p><iframe id="4bEdb" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4bEdb/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Studies have found that participating in local climate actions may require a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.210006">constellation of values, attitudes and beliefs</a>, including believing in one’s own ability, and the group’s, to get things done. Some of these beliefs can be developed through practice in organizing together, which is often downright fun, and has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813130-5.00008-4">other psychological benefits</a> that flow from increased solidarity in an often <a href="https://bpsi.org/psychological-roots-of-the-climate-crisis-book-review/">alienating society</a>.</p>
<p>What I believe is particularly important is having a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/climate-crisis/DC85CA555290CCEC08B047BC515ADF96">local theory of change</a> – believing that, while human-caused climate change is a global problem, it is worthwhile taking local action.</p>
<h2>3 reasons local activism matters</h2>
<p>Research and history suggest that local action is more powerful than many people realize. Here are three key reasons:</p>
<p>First, much of the policy change that can affect climate change is local rather than national.</p>
<p>For example, replacing fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy technology can help lower greenhouse gas emissions. Much of this is under the control of state governments, which delegate the authority to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-03/documents/background_paper.pdf">public utility commissions</a>. The public can pay attention to what utilities and public utility commissions do, and let their governors know that they are watching by writing letters and joining local groups that make their voices heard.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a plaid shirt sits at a desk with a microphone, his hands folded as in prayer. He stares intently at whomever is speaking outside the image." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502454/original/file-20221221-22-pehu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South Dakota landowners whose property is crossed by the Keystone XL pipeline attended public utilities commission hearings in 2015 to make their opposition known.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OilPipelineHearing/811a121d4f63479b8498bc4d3552c8d6/photo">AP Photo/James Nord</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities can set policies to replace natural gas with electric appliances in homes and buildings, encourage homeowners to install efficient electric heat pumps and determine whether investments are made in public transit instead of freeways. When pressured, <a href="https://theithacan.org/news/city-of-ithaca-to-become-100-decarbonized-by-2030/">city officials do enact these policies</a>.</p>
<p>Second, local wins can become contagious. In 1997, a handful of advocates in Massachusetts won their battle for a local policy under which a portion of electricity bill payments went to a not-for-profit agency that funneled money toward renewables. By 2022, this policy, known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102393">community choice aggregation</a>, was adopted by over 1,800 local governments across six states, affecting millions of people. Local action can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.08.009">create learning curves for technology</a> – pushing for more solar and wind turbines leads to increased manufacture and price drops.</p>
<p>Third, local action can trigger national policy, spread to other countries and ultimately trigger global agreements.</p>
<p>There are many historical examples, from the suffragette movement that won U.S. women the right to vote, to the fight for a 40-hour work week. Local action in the Southern U.S. <a href="https://sociology.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/165/2016/12/Gaby-Sociological-Forum.pdf">catalyzed 1960s civil rights laws</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjs018">Local action for same-sex marriage</a>, starting in San Francisco, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjs018">led to state laws</a> and ultimately to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/us/politics/biden-same-sex-marriage-bill.html">federal legislation</a> signed in December 2022 that prohibits states from refusing to recognize out-of-state marriages based on sex, race or ethnicity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An historical photo of several women in fancy hats holding signs advertising a meeting about the right to vote." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502453/original/file-20221221-17-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suffragettes succeeded in winning the right of women to vote by working together and speaking out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-society-woman-suffragettes-as-sandwich-men-news-photo/514892136">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Environmental regulation in the 1970s is <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/9780896085572/Earth-Sale-Reclaiming-Ecology-Age-0896085570/plp">a striking case</a>. It started with public alarm about cities clouded in smog, rivers catching fire from industrial waste and beaches fouled by oil spills. Citizens organized thousands of protest actions, and municipalities responded by implementing environmental enforcement. </p>
<p>The lawsuits that followed were very costly for corporate interests, which then supported federal intervention as a way to have predictable rules. It was President Richard Nixon who signed <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/nixon/impact-and-legacy">some of the furthest reaching legislation</a> ever.</p>
<h2>Youth successes in changing climate policy</h2>
<p>In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which authorizes nearly $400 billion of climate-related spending over 10 years. I believe the youth-led <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/02/politics/biden-administration-sunrise-movement-climate/index.html">Sunrise Movement can claim a major role</a> in its success. </p>
<p>The group has relentlessly organized marches and demonstrations in dozens of cities since 2019 and pressured Democrats in Congress. While the result fell short of the group’s vision for a Green New Deal, it went further than any previous climate-related law.</p>
<p>Group action targeted at local decision-makers is a time-honored tradition – and I believe necessary in the current political environment for action on climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Aron does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When people work together, they can move governments to action. Just ask the suffragettes. Still, few people do it. A psychologist explains why, and how to turn that around.Adam Aron, Professor of Psychology, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944162022-11-14T16:14:19Z2022-11-14T16:14:19ZJust Stop Oil: journalist arrests show how the demonisation of protest threatens us all<p>At least <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/09/education-secretary-arrest-lbc-journalist-just-stop-oil-protest">eight journalists</a> have been detained while covering Just Stop Oil protests in recent weeks. Their press credentials ignored, the journalists (including an LBC reporter, a documentary filmmaker and a photographer) were held for hours, fingerprinted and DNA-swabbed. Their phones and cameras were confiscated and – <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/police-arrest-press-just-stop-oil-protests_uk_636a6817e4b06f38ded8c116">in at least one case</a> – a journalist’s home was searched. </p>
<p>Reasons for arrest and detention included “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11407377/Outrage-police-arrest-reporters-photographers-reporting-M25-chaos.html">conspiracy to commit a public nuisance</a>”, despite journalists taking no part in any aspect of the protests. This flies in the face of the UK <a href="https://www.college.police.uk/app/public-order/communication#media-relations">College of Policing</a>’s policy. The college explicitly briefs its officers against such interference with the media in the pursuit of reporting news, advising that “facilitation of frontline media reporting during dynamic operations should be anticipated and planned for”.</p>
<p>So what explains the detention of reporters at recent protests – and what are the wider implications? <a href="https://www.ukpol.co.uk/hertfordshire-police-2022-statement-on-arrest-of-a-journalist/">Hertfordshire Constabulary</a> initially said the protests were “fluid and fast-moving” and insisted that there were valid grounds to detain journalists “for questioning in order to verify their credentials”. But, following widespread condemnation from government ministers, Hertfordshire <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/09/education-secretary-arrest-lbc-journalist-just-stop-oil-protest">promised an investigation</a> but also implied that not all journalists belong to “legitimate media”, and argued that those covering the protests were “<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/m25-protests-police-journalists-just-stop-oil-problem-arrests-1963732">part of the problem</a>”. </p>
<p>Such harassment of journalists is clearly wholly unacceptable: but to fully understand these incidents, we need to place them in their wider context.</p>
<h2>Policing the highway to climate hell</h2>
<p>World leaders have stressed the need for urgent action on climate change. The UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned that the world is on a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/cop27-climate-summit-un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres">highway to climate hell</a> without it. The UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said that it is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/cop27-sunak-says-it-is-morally-right-for-uk-to-honour-climate-pledges">morally right</a> for the UK to honour its climate pledges at COP27. </p>
<p>Just Stop Oil’s blocking of roads and motorways to draw attention to the lack of action despite widespread political rhetoric has proved highly controversial. There have been claims that road blockades have halted <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/just-stop-oil-block-ambulance-b2200208.html">emergency vehicles</a> and prevented motorists from reaching <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11402293/Just-Stop-Oil-eco-mob-spark-M25-rush-hour-chaos-scale-gantries-second-day.html">appointments</a> or <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-11-09/ill-never-forgive-man-missed-his-fathers-funeral-due-to-protests-on-m25">funerals</a>. The chaos has led some drivers to take the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/29/just-stop-oil-activists-dragged-out-of-way-by-motorists-at-london-protests">law into their own hands</a>.</p>
<p>Activists recently occupied motorway gantries on the M25 in England, obliging police to stop traffic while they could be removed. Police have a <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/opbp_report_on_the_law_on_policing_peaceful_protests_0.pdf">duty to facilitate peaceful protest</a>, but must balance the rights of protesters with those of other citizens. Police action to remove protesters may be necessary and proportionate – but the same cannot be said of the decisions to arrest journalists who were <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/three-journalists-locked-up-for-covering-m25-protests-police-force-says-the-arrests-were-justified/">neither blocking traffic</a> nor obstructing a police operation. Preemptively limiting media access is the hallmark of an authoritarian rather than democratic state.</p>
<p>We closely observed police operations during <a href="https://cop26research.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/">COP26</a> and found Police Scotland were accommodating to researchers and proactively engaged with the media. There was little confrontation and no more than a handful of arrests at COP26. But year on there are now serious questions about police responses to climate protests in the UK. Recent arrests need to be understood in light of discourses around protest in the press and parliament. </p>
<h2>A hostile environment for protest</h2>
<p>In 2021, the government was granted an injunction against road blocking by Insulate Britain, resulting in multiple <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/17/nine-insulate-britain-activists-jailed-for-breach-of-road-blockades-injunction">jail terms</a>. Similarly this year, politicians from different parties have supported legislation during 2022 to clamp down on disruptive or noisy protests. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-public-order-bill">Public Order Bill</a> (which was passed by parliament and is currently being scrutinised by a House of Lords committee) will criminalise locking on and “interfering with key national infrastructure”, and “extend stop and search powers for … protest-related offences”. </p>
<p>The Bill aims “to give police the tools they need to tackle dangerous and highly disruptive tactics, used by a small minority of protesters, to wreak havoc for people going about their daily lives”. At a time when UN chief Guterres says climate crisis presents the world with a choice between <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/cop27-agree-on-climate-action-or-face-a-collective-suicide-pact-un-chiefs-ultimatum-to-world-leaders-12741144">collective action and collective suicide</a>, UK leaders appear to be doubling down on punishing protesters rather than addressing the causes of global heating. </p>
<p>The home secretary, Suella Braverman, rails against the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2022/oct/18/suella-braverman-blames-guardian-reading-tofu-eating-wokerati-for-disruptive-protests-video">Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati</a>”; the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, supports “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/24/keir-starmer-backs-stiff-sentences-for-climate-protesters-who-block-roads">longer sentences</a> for those gluing themselves to roads and motorways”; the press sensationalises “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11335477/amp/Just-Stop-Oil-target-Harrods-Eco-mob-fling-orange-paint-entrance-world-famous-store.html">eco-zealots” and “eco-mobs</a>”. The result is a hostile environment for protest.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lq99-JB6jdg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><a href="https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2022/11/09/pm-joins-police-chiefs-in-calling-for-press-freedom-after-just-stop-oil-arrests/">Sunak</a> joined those calling for press freedom in the wake of the arrests, conveniently forgetting the role of his government in demonising environmental activists. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/18/study-crowds-police-crime-bill-less-safe-priti-patel">Stephen Reicher</a>, professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews, warned that the bill effectively “delegitimates protest in the eyes of the police” by presenting activists – and those surrounding them – as troublemakers to be controlled. As one <a href="https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/charlotte-lynch-lbc-arrested-just-stop-oil/">journalist put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t blame the individual officers. It seems they are a symptom of a much wider and hugely alarming problem. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whatever one thinks about Just Stop Oil, antipathy towards radical environmentalism among politicians and the media is having wider consequences. A 2020 report by Oxford University academics described it as having a “<a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/migrated/opbp_report_on_the_law_on_policing_peaceful_protests_0.pdf">chilling effect</a>” on what both police and the public see as legitimate protest, with serious consequences for democracy.</p>
<p>The harassment and detention of journalists doing their job shows that crackdowns on dissent don’t only impact “eco-zealots”: they threaten everyone.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Eight journalists covering a protest on the M25 motorway were recently detained by police.Hugo Gorringe, Lecturer in Sociology, The University of EdinburghMichael Rosie, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1935752022-11-03T20:01:39Z2022-11-03T20:01:39ZEco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493366/original/file-20221103-22-dkueq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C342%2C5452%2C3142&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police officers patrol the entrance of the Tate Modern gallery, in London, Oct. 15, 2022, after climate protesters threw soup over glass covering Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' in London's National Gallery. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the last few weeks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/23/arts/claude-monet-mashed-potatoes-climate-activists.html">climate change activists have perpetrated various acts</a> of reversible vandalism <a href="https://twitter.com/artnews/status/1585745905512169473">against famous works of art in public galleries</a>. </p>
<p>In the latest incident on Oct. 27, two men entered <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/girl-with-a-pearl-earring-vermeer-just-stop-oil-protest-mauritshuis-the-hague">the Mauritshuis gallery in the Hague</a>. After taking off their jackets to reveal t-shirts printed with anti-oil slogans, one proceeded to glue his head to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/famed-girl-with-pearl-earring-painting-targeted-by-climate-activists-nos-2022-10-27/">glass overtop</a> <a href="https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/artworks/670-girl-with-a-pearl-earring/">Johannes Vermeer’s <em>Girl with a Pearl Earring</em></a>, while the other bathed the head of his partner-in-crime with what appeared to be tinned tomatoes before gluing his own hand to the wall adjacent to the painting.</p>
<p>This was just the latest in a series of similar art attacks that have peppered the news. </p>
<p>The motivation of the eco-activists involved is to draw attention to the crisis of climate change, the role of big oil in hastening the deterioration of the environment and the necessity to save our planet. </p>
<p>By attacking a famous and high-value cultural target like Vermeer’s <em>Girl with a Pearl Earring</em> — it <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/">even starred in its own movie</a> — the protesters are asking us to examine our values. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gold-framed photo of a girl with a pearl earring against a green wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C194%2C4710%2C2770&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ c. 1665, was recently targeted by climate activists in a protest at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Big oil protests</h2>
<p>The first Vermeer painting to come to auction for almost 80 years <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vermeer-fetches-record-price-1.506190">sold for almost $40 million in 2004</a>. Today a Vermeer (<a href="http://www.essentialvermeer.com/how_many_vermeers.html">there are not that many)</a> could easily be valued at twice that. Whether you like Vermeer or not, the monetary value of the targets under attack enhances the sheer audacity and shock value of the current art attacks.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1585745905512169473"}"></div></p>
<p>The eco-activists want to appear to desecrate something that people associate with value and with culture. Their point is that if we don’t have a planet, we’ll lose all the things in it that we seem to value more. </p>
<p>As activist Phoebe Plummer of Just Stop Oil <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/just-stop-oil-protestor-van-gogh-sunflowers-why-video-1234643678">told NPR after being involved in the attack on Van Gogh’s <em>Sunflowers</em> at London’s National Gallery</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Since October, we have been engaging in disruptive acts all around London because right now what is missing to make this change is political will. So our action in particular <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133041550/the-activist-who-threw-soup-on-a-van-gogh-explains-why-they-did-it">was a media-grabbing action to get people talking, not just about what we did, but why we did it</a>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note, the idea is disruption, not destruction. As acts designed for shock value, the activists did draw immediate public attention. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1551641192617676800"}"></div></p>
<h2>Attacking art</h2>
<p>By staging their attacks in public galleries, where the majority of visitors carry cell phones, activists could be assured film and photos of the incidents would draw immediate attention. By sticking to non-corrosive substances and mitigating damage to the works under attack, they don’t draw the kind of public ire that wilful destruction would evoke. </p>
<p>In recent news, attacking art as a form of public protest has largely been limited to public monuments outside the gallery space, like the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/us/confederate-monuments-removed-2021-whose-heritage/index.html">destruction and removal of Confederate</a> or colonial statues. </p>
<p>But it’s also true that works of museum art have come under attack before. Over the course of its history, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/02/19/trimmed-splashed-and-slashed-the-anatomy-of-rembrandts-the-night-watch">Rembrandt’s <em>Night Watch</em> in the Rijksmuseum</a> in Amsterdam was stabbed in two separate incidents in 1911 and 1975; in 1990, it was sprayed with acid; but all of those attacks were ascribed to individuals with unclear and less clearly rational motives. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign seen dripping with red soup and police arresting a protestor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just Stop Oil protesters throw tomato soup over an outdoor sign at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in London, Oct. 17, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I see a few issues at stake with assessing what these recent art attacks could mean.</p>
<h2>1. How effective is the messaging?</h2>
<p>The activists have been articulate about their objectives, but those objectives haven’t been <a href="https://twitter.com/BrydonRobert/status/1587587106997960705">obvious to everyone who sees</a> via social media, but doesn’t stick around to hear the explanation. When a broad <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-climate-activists-throwing-food-at-million-dollar-paintings-180981024/">range of media</a> <a href="https://time.com/6224760/climate-activists-throw-food-at-art/">outlets all</a> perceive <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccahughes/2022/08/05/why-are-climate-activists-gluing-themselves-to-art-in-italy/?sh=1e2e8a6a246a">the need to publish</a> editorials on why eco activists are targeting art, something is getting lost in translation.</p>
<p>People see the endangerment of the works of art, but may ascribe that to the activists, not to the planetary erosion wrought by climate change. I don’t think everyone is getting the message.</p>
<h2>2. Possible misplaced outrage</h2>
<p>The incidents up until now have been pretty effective and harmless acts. But what if something is irreparably damaged? People will be outraged, but they’ll still be outraged about the art, not about the planet. </p>
<p>And while there will be a call for stiff prison sentences, precedent suggests that’s an unlikely outcome. </p>
<p>A man who damaged a Picasso valued at $26 million USD at the Tate Modern <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/tate-modern-picasso-damaged-man-sentenced-1234569349">in London in 2020 was sentenced to 18 months in jail</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Violation of public trust</h2>
<p>The third effect is what I consider a violation of the public trust, and this gives me pause. Works of art, even the most famous ones, lead precarious lives of constant endangerment; war, weather, fire, floods. The protesters are destabilizing the idea that public galleries are “safe” spaces for works of art, held in public trust. </p>
<p>As fari nzinga, inaugural curator of academic engagement and special projects at the <a href="https://www.speedmuseum.org/">Speed Art Museum</a> in Louisville, KY, pointed out in a 2016 paper: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The museum doesn’t serve the public trust simply by displaying art for its members, <a href="https://incluseum.com/2016/11/29/public-trust-and-art-museums">it does so by keeping and caring for the art on behalf of a greater community of members and non¬members alike</a>, preserving it for future generations to study and enjoy.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Right now these acts, no matter how well-intentioned, could lead to increased security and more limited access, making galleries prisons for art rather than places for people. </p>
<p>At the same time, part of the activsts’ point is that economy that sustains <a href="https://grist.org/climate/can-art-museums-survive-without-oil-money/">big oil is entwined with arts infrastructure</a> and the art market.</p>
<h2>The thing that saves us?</h2>
<p>The pandemic taught us, I think, that art could be the thing we share that saves us; think of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q734VN0N7hw">people during quarantine in Italy singing opera together from their balconies</a>. </p>
<p>Eco-activists engaged in performance protests ask us to question our public institutions and make us accountable for what they, and we, value. Their climate activism is dedicated to our shared fate.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to fight for the protection of art, maybe you’re willing to fight to protect the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Hickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Climate protesters are destabilizing the idea that public galleries are safe spaces for works of art, held in public trust.Sally Hickson, Associate Professor, Art History, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1930512022-10-31T16:53:42Z2022-10-31T16:53:42ZPublic order bill: new law is designed to stop climate protests – but it could actually give activists a legal tool<p>The UK’s environmental movement has a long history of using protest as a strategy. Disruption is often at the heart of this, either disrupting infrastructure projects themselves in an attempt to stop them going ahead (roads, fracking sites), or targeting existing infrastructure (fuel depots, airport runways or bridges) to disrupt others. Disruption gets people’s attention in a way that a conventional demonstration with placards seldom does – although it is not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sov124">without the risk of backlash</a>.</p>
<p>Recent climate activism has followed this disruptive tradition, with Extinction Rebellion <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/climate-change-extinction-rebellion-activists-block-central-london-roads-in-protest-over-fossil-fuels-12586314">blocking key London streets and bridges</a>, Insulate Britain <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/24/thousands-are-dying-why-insulate-britain-activists-say-they-have-no-choice-but-to-block-mo">blocking motorways</a> and Just Stop Oil targeting transport <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/11/no-10-condemns-guerrilla-tactics-of-just-stop-oil-blocking-fuel-deliveries">fuel distribution networks</a>.</p>
<p>The government is keen to use the law to try to stamp out this type of disruptive protest. At the heart of this drive is the <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3153">public order bill</a>, introduced in May 2022 by the then home secretary, Priti Patel. But in introducing this bill the government may not have considered how the environmental movement has an equally long history of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270610312_Having_Your_Day_in_Court_Judicial_Opportunity_and_Tactical_Choice_in_Anti-GMO_Campaigns_in_France_and_the_United_Kingdom">using criminal law to its advantage</a>. </p>
<p>Getting arrested is often part of the protest strategy. While the new bill is intended to crack down on protest, it may inadvertently provide an avenue for further activism. One could see environmental groups bringing private prosecutions for climate offences committed under the bill, or at the very least arguing that the police should be bringing charges against the other side.</p>
<p>Take the offence of “locking on”. Section 1 of <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/48041/documents/2333#pt_1__xhdg_1">the bill</a> states that a person commits an offence if they attach themselves, someone else or an object to another person, an object or land. </p>
<p>That act must cause, or be capable of causing, “serious disruption” to two or more people or an organisation, and the person must do this intentionally or be reckless to the consequences. The bill provides a defence if the person charged can prove they had a “reasonable excuse” for the act.</p>
<p>This offence is clearly aimed at protesters, who have used gluing and other forms of locking on as a way of preventing their quick removal by the police. But there is no reason why the climate movement cannot argue that a driver of a petrol tanker, in connecting their trailer with a cab, is “attaching an object to another object”. </p>
<p>This attachment, it could be argued, would help cause serious climate disruption to far more than just two individuals. While the driver may not have intended such disruption, one could argue that they are reckless as to whether it will have such consequences. Will the driver have a reasonable excuse defence? That’s for them to prove – the climate movement may try to argue that they do not.</p>
<p>Section 3 sets out an offence of causing serious <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/48041/documents/2333#pt_1__xhdg_3">disruption by tunnelling</a>. It states that a person commits an offence if they create or participate in the creation of a tunnel, and the tunnel causes, or is capable of causing, serious disruption. </p>
<p>Again, they must intend or be reckless as to whether the creation or existence of the tunnel will have this consequence. The section similarly provides for a “reasonable excuse” defence and states that a person will be deemed to have a reasonable excuse if the tunnel was authorised by the relevant landowner. </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/decade-of-dissent-how-protest-is-shaking-the-uk-and-why-its-likely-to-continue-125843">Decade of dissent: how protest is shaking the UK and why it's likely to continue</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With this in mind, environmental groups could bring private prosecutions against fracking companies or proposed underground coal mines such as the controversial <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/coal-mine-climate-fossil-fuels-b2116796.html">Woodhouse Colliery site in Cumbria</a>. These fossil fuel extraction activities are, one could argue, using tunnelling that is capable of causing serious climate disruption, and the relevant companies are reckless as to whether these harmful consequences could occur. </p>
<p>Whether they have a reasonable excuse or not may turn on arguments about whether such new fossil fuel extraction sites are compatible with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-investment-in-fossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist">government’s net-zero targets</a>.</p>
<h2>Reasonable excuses</h2>
<p>The defence may argue that they can rely on the “deemed” reasonable excuse where the creation of the tunnel was authorised by a landowner. That provision will normally protect standard infrastructure tunnellers (for example, those building a road tunnel). But where horizontal drilling “tunnels” go under other people’s land (as can happen with fracking), it is not entirely clear that the tunnel will be so authorised. </p>
<p>There was a similar issue with the tort of trespass to land, with groups such as Greenpeace trying to stop fracking using a precedent where former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed had <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/greenpeace-landowners-can-work-together-to-block-fracking-trespass-8879636.html">successfully sued</a> Star Energy for drilling under his land. The government shut down this avenue via the Infrastructure Act 2015.</p>
<p>The 2015 act provides that a “person has the right to use deep-level land in any way for the purposes of exploiting petroleum or deep geothermal energy” under a depth of 300 metres from the surface. This means they can’t be sued in tort for trespass. </p>
<p>But it doesn’t avoid the need for an authorisation from neighbouring landowners for the purposes of the public order bill. Without such an authorisation, a defendant is unlikely to be able to rely on the bill’s deemed reasonable excuse defence.</p>
<p>Even if these arguments end up being given short shrift in the courts, they may at least give campaigners charged with these draconian new offences an opportunity to tell a different story about the offences they have been charged with. Protest is often the canary in the coalmine. If we shut it down, some may avoid being disrupted now, but with climate change, we will surely all be disrupted much more in the future as the planet <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2022/02/28/pr-wgii-ar6/">warms beyond 1.5°C</a>. </p>
<p>Protest is also a safety valve. In further restricting overt protest, the bill could have the unintended consequence of driving eco-activists towards more extreme and violent <a href="https://www.lag.org.uk/article/211406/environmental-crisis-and-civil-rights">forms of covert action</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Hilson is a legal adviser to ClientEarth and has acted as an expert witness for Friends of the Earth Scotland in a planning inquiry on fracking/coal bed methane extraction. </span></em></p>A legal expert explains how climate activists could use the government’s own legislation to their advantage.Chris Hilson, Professor of Law, Director of the Centre for Climate and Justice, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1929012022-10-21T12:18:48Z2022-10-21T12:18:48ZJust Stop Oil: do radical protests turn the public away from a cause? Here’s the evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490699/original/file-20221019-21-1lv2e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1272%2C716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Just Stop Oil handout / EPA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Members of the protest group Just Stop Oil recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-dr4xyMgk">threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers</a> in the National Gallery in London. The action once again triggered debate about what kinds of protest are most effective. </p>
<p>After a quick clean of the glass, the painting was back on display. But critics argued that the real damage had been done, by alienating the public from the cause itself (the demand that the UK government reverse its support for opening new oil and gas fields in the North Sea).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1580879221656006656"}"></div></p>
<p>Supporters of more militant forms of protest often point to historical examples such as the suffragettes. In contrast with Just Stop Oil’s action, when the suffragette Mary Richardson went to the National Gallery to attack a painting called The Rokeby Venus, she <a href="https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/view/92">slashed the canvas</a>, causing major damage. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="painting of woman's rear, with slash marks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490702/original/file-20221019-13-wxw5cs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Rokeby Venus: the 17th century painting by Diego Velázquez was slashed by a suffragette, though later repaired.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokeby_Venus#/media/File:Richardson-Venus.png">National Gallery / wiki</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, many historians argue that the contribution of the suffragettes to women getting the vote was negligible or <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/State_and_Society_Fourth_Edition/J7ivJo9phvkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22militancy+clearly+damaged+the+cause.%E2%80%9C&pg=PA152&printsec=frontcover">even</a> <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Extension_of_the_Franchise_1832_1931/a-Rd0iLobaEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA160&printsec=frontcover">counterproductive</a>. Such discussions often seem to rely on people’s gut feelings about the impact of protest. But as a professor of cognitive psychology, I know that we don’t have to rely on intuition – these are hypotheses that can be tested.</p>
<h2>The activist’s dilemma</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew-Feinberg-2/publication/338562538_The_activist's_dilemma_Extreme_protest_actions_reduce_popular_support_for_social_movements/links/5ea5eff892851c1a90728bd5/The-activists-dilemma-Extreme-protest-actions-reduce-popular-support-for-social-movements.pdf">one set of experiments</a> researchers showed people descriptions of protests and then measured their support for the protesters and the cause. Some participants read articles describing moderate protests such as peaceful marches. Others read articles describing more extreme and sometimes violent protests, for example a fictitious action in which animal rights activists drugged a security guard in order to break into a lab and remove animals.</p>
<p>Protesters who undertook extreme actions were perceived to be more immoral, and participants reported lower levels of emotional connection and social identification with these “extreme” protesters. The effects of this kind of action on support for the cause were somewhat mixed (and negative effects may be specific to actions that incorporate the threat of violence). </p>
<p>Overall, these results paint a picture of the so-called activist’s dilemma: activists must choose between moderate actions that are largely ignored and more extreme actions that succeed in gaining attention, but may be counterproductive to their aims as they tend to make people think less of the protesters.</p>
<p>Activists themselves tend to offer a different perspective: they say that accepting personal unpopularity is simply the price to be paid for the media attention they rely on to “<a href="https://twitter.com/michaelmezz/status/1582184473252098049?s=20&t=dnnbkSRMmIo8_1wJuPlEMw">get the conversation going</a>” and win public support for the issue. But is this the right approach? Could activists be hurting their own cause?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1582184473252098049"}"></div></p>
<h2>Hating protesters doesn’t affect support</h2>
<p>I’ve conducted several experiments to answer such questions, often in collaboration with students at the University of Bristol. To influence participants’ views of protesters we made use of a well-known framing effect whereby (even subtle) differences in how protests are reported have a pronounced impact, often serving to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin-Detenber-2/publication/229694828_Framing_Effects_of_Television_News_Coverage_of_Social_Protest/links/5f5777b692851c250b9d3036/Framing-Effects-of-Television-News-Coverage-of-Social-Protest.pdf">delegitimise the protest</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11315449/Just-Stop-Oil-activists-throw-tomato-soup-Van-Goghs-Sunflowers.html">Daily Mail article</a> reporting the Van Gogh protest referred to it as a “stunt” which is part of a “campaign of chaos” by “rebellious eco-zealots”. The article does not mention the protesters’ demand.</p>
<p>Our experiments took advantage of this framing effect to test the relationship between attitudes to the protesters themselves and to their cause. If the public’s support for a cause depends on how they feel about the protesters, then a negative framing – which leads to less positive attitudes toward protesters – should result in lower levels of support for the demands. </p>
<p>But that’s not what we found. In fact, experimental manipulations that reduced support for the protesters had <a href="https://brookes.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=384ad6d2-e8c1-4f38-bb5f-af1e00e54fda">no impact on support for the demands of those protesters</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve replicated this finding across a range of different types of nonviolent protest, including protests about racial justice, abortion rights and climate change, and across British, American and Polish participants (this work is being prepared for publication). When members of the public say, “I agree with your cause, I just don’t like your methods,” we should take them at their word.</p>
<p>Decreasing the extent to which the public identifies with you may not be helpful for building a mass movement. But high publicity actions may actually be a very effective way to increase recruitment, given relatively few people ever become activists. The existence of a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/3/pgac110/6633666?login=false#369463521">radical flank</a> also seems to increase support for more moderate factions of a social movement, by making these factions appear less radical.</p>
<h2>Protest can set the agenda</h2>
<p>Another concern may be that most of the attention obtained by radical actions is not about the issue, focusing instead on what the protesters did. However, even where this is true, the public conversation opens up the space for some discussion of the issue itself. </p>
<p>Protest plays a role in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/agenda-seeding-how-1960s-black-protests-moved-elites-public-opinion-and-voting/136610C8C040C3D92F041BB2EFC3034C">agenda seeding</a>. It doesn’t necessarily tell people what to think, but influences what they think about. Last year’s Insulate Britain protests are a good example. In the months after the protests began on September 13 2021, the number of mentions of the word “insulation” (not “Insulate”) in UK print media doubled.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing mentions of 'insulation' in UK news media over time with a sharp rise between August and September 2021" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490756/original/file-20221019-24-h4zka0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Spot when the Insulate Britain protests began. (Author’s own research, using Factiva database to search UK broadsheet and tabloid newspapers)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Colin Davis</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Some people don’t investigate the details of an issue, yet media attention may nevertheless promote the issue in their mind. A YouGov poll released in early June 2019 showed “the environment” ranked in the public’s top three most important issues for the first time. </p>
<p>Pollsters <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/06/05/concern-environment-record-highs">concluded</a> that the “sudden surge in concern is undoubtedly boosted by the publicity raised for the environmental cause by Extinction Rebellion” (which had recently occupied prominent sites in central London for two weeks). There’s also evidence that <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-hatches-plan-to-insulate-britons-against-winter-bills-vg7xdjg3h">home insulation has risen up the policy agenda</a> since Insulate Britain’s protests.</p>
<p>Dramatic protest isn’t going away. Protagonists will continue to be the subject of (mostly) negative media attention, which will lead to widespread public disapproval. But when we look at public support for the protesters’ demands, there isn’t any compelling evidence for nonviolent protest being counterproductive. People may “shoot the messenger”, but they do – at least, sometimes – hear the message.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Davis is a professor of psychology who is interested in protest both as a scientist and a practitioner. He has been active with various campaign groups including Extinction Rebellion and was arrested for a similar action earlier this year, but does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment. </span></em></p>People want to shoot the messenger, but they do hear the message.Colin Davis, Chair in Cognitive Psychology, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817992022-04-27T15:05:50Z2022-04-27T15:05:50ZExtinction Rebellion scientists: why we glued ourselves to a government department<p>One recent Wednesday, while most scientists around the world were carrying out their research, we stepped away from our day jobs to engage in a more direct form of communication. </p>
<p>Along with more than 20 others from <a href="https://www.scientistsforxr.earth/">Scientists for Extinction Rebellion</a> and assisted in our efforts by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, we pasted <a href="https://twitter.com/ScientistsX/status/1516720231158321155">scientific papers</a> to the UK government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). A group of us glued ourselves to the building, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/13/xr-scientists-glue-hands-to-business-department-in-london-climate-protest">nine scientists were arrested</a>. </p>
<p>This kind of action may seem extreme for a scientist, but these are no ordinary times. As most members of the UK public <a href="https://cast.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/01112021-Briefing-10-final.pdf">now recognise</a>, addressing the climate crisis requires drastic changes across society. In 2019, the UK parliament itself declared a <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-becomes-first-country-to-declare-a-climate-emergency-116428">climate emergency</a> – and in an emergency, one must take urgent action.</p>
<p>Seemingly endless academic papers and reports highlight the need for the immediate and rapid decarbonisation of the global economy if we are to avert climate change so serious that it risks the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-021-02957-w">collapse of human civilisation</a>. The International Energy Agency, a respected policy advisory body to countries around the world, <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/no-place-for-new-fossil-fuels-if-world-is-to-reach-net-zero-by-2050-says-landmark-report">warned in 2021</a> that “if governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year”.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Boris Johnson has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-to-tell-un-its-time-for-humanity-to-grow-up-and-address-climate-change#:%7E:text=It%20is%20time%20for%20humanity,and%20what%20we%20are%20doing.">stated that</a> “it is time for us to listen to the warnings of the scientists” on the climate emergency. But despite this, the UK government is choosing not to wind down the fossil fuel industry, but instead to <a href="https://twitter.com/GregHands/status/1517121298576683008">expand it</a>. </p>
<p>The government recently published its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-energy-security-strategy/british-energy-security-strategy">energy security strategy</a>. However, rather than focusing on home insulation, energy efficiency and onshore wind as most <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/09/britain-was-promised-bold-visionary-energy-policy-sold-a-dud">experts suggest</a>, the strategy promotes the expansion of oil and gas production. </p>
<p>Such measures do very little to address the pressing issues of rising fuel bills or heavy imports of Russian oil and coal. And as a self-proclaimed leader in global climate action, the UK’s doubling down on fossil fuels also sends a dangerous message to the rest of the world.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-uks-treasured-free-market-economy-will-not-achieve-net-zero-180922">Why UK's 'treasured free-market economy' will not achieve net zero</a>
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<h2>Evidence alone is easily ignored</h2>
<p>In a choice between fossil fuels and a liveable planet, the government has chosen oil and gas. For scientists who have dedicated their lives to research, this is hard to take. Many of us do our work in the belief that, if we provide scientific information to decision-makers, they will use it to make wise decisions in the public interest. </p>
<p>Yet the global response to the climate crisis, despite decades of increasingly dire warnings, shows this to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0979-y">be naive</a>. The reason is as simple as it is obvious: governments don’t respond to science on these matters, but to the corporate interests that invest so heavily in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922175117">political donations and lobbying</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1513427638928482305"}"></div></p>
<p>Scientists must face a difficult truth that doesn’t come easily to those of us who are most comfortable working diligently on experiments and journal articles: evidence alone, even if expertly communicated, is very easily ignored by those that do not wish to hear it. </p>
<p>If we are to help bring about the transition away from fossil fuels that the world so urgently needs, we are going to have to become much harder to ignore. This does not mean disregarding the evidence or abandoning our integrity: quite the opposite. We must treat the scientific warnings on the climate crisis with the seriousness that they deserve.</p>
<h2>Become hard to ignore</h2>
<p>History suggests that one of the most powerful ways to become hard to ignore – and one of the few options available to those who do not have deep pockets or the ear of politicians – may be through nonviolent civil disobedience, the refusal to obey certain laws in order to bring public and media attention to an unjust situation. </p>
<p>From universal suffrage to civil rights for people of colour and action on the Aids pandemic, many of the most progressive social changes of the 20th century were brought about in this way. Many would likely agree that such actions are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/civil-disobedience-only-way-prevent-climate-catastrophe-just-stop-oil?CMP=share_btn_tw">morally justified</a> in a planetary emergency. </p>
<p>The recent blossoming of environmental civil disobedience movements around the world, led by Extinction Rebellion and the Greta Thunberg-inspired youth strikes, has been hugely influential in changing the global conversation on climate. These movements have been linked to an <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/climate-change-poll-yougov-extinction-rebellion-cop26-b965448.html">unprecedented surge</a> of public concern and awareness about the climate crisis.</p>
<p>The scientists arrested on that Wednesday included an expert in energy policy, an air pollution specialist, three ecologists and two psychologists, across all career stages from junior researchers to established professors. Some work on the planetary crisis itself, others on our societal responses to it, but none of us took our actions lightly. </p>
<p>Our understanding of our planetary peril <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/2041/why-we-need-to-confront-denial-over-the-climate-crisis">obliges us</a> to take action to sound the alarm, even if it means risking our civil liberties. And we are not alone. On April 6 more than <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-stage-worldwide-climate-protests-after-ipcc-report-180979913/">1,200 scientists in 26 countries</a> participated in a global <a href="https://scientistrebellion.com/">Scientist Rebellion</a>, which included <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/apr/12/why-are-climate-and-conservation-scientists-taking-to-the-streets">pasting scientific papers</a> to the UK headquarters of oil giant Shell.</p>
<p>Civil disobedience doesn’t always need a particular target to be effective, because the main objective is to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/opinion/extinction-rebellion-protest-london-boris-johnson-climate-crisis-newspapers-b404981.html">ring the alarm</a> by generating media and wider public attention. Extinction Rebellion protests, for example, has targeted fossil fuel infrastructure, media and finance institutions and airports used by private jets, in addition to the general disruption caused by roadblocks. </p>
<p>But we went to BEIS because, as the government department responsible for climate change, it should be leading the transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, through enabling and promoting new fossil fuel extraction, it is doing the opposite.</p>
<p>Recent acts of law-breaking by scientists may seem radical, but the world’s most senior diplomat disagrees. On the release of the IPCC’s latest report, the UN Secretary General António Guterres <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD2BGCA6x6Y">said</a>: “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.” </p>
<p>He could not have said it more clearly: while we scientists may have been breaking the law, it is the government that’s placing us all in danger.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1516720231158321155"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Gardner is a member of Extinctrion Rebellion but does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The authors are writing from a personal perspective and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer or their research funders.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Cox is a full-time University researcher. Her current research projects receive funding from NERC (on climate mitigation) and EPSRC (on energy security). She has been active with Extinction Rebellion since 2019, and is also a member of the Green Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Capstick is a Senior Research Fellow whose work is supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. He has been active with Extinction Rebellion since 2018.</span></em></p>Extinction Rebellion targeted the department responsible for climate change policy.Charlie Gardner, Associate Senior Lecturer, Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology, University of KentEmily Cox, Research Associate, Environmental Policy, Cardiff UniversityStuart Capstick, Senior Research Fellow in Psychology, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726902022-01-10T19:12:10Z2022-01-10T19:12:10ZScientists call for a moratorium on climate change research until governments take real action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434597/original/file-20211130-26-1xeaq1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C113%2C5356%2C2957&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Tama/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decades of scientific evidence demonstrate unequivocally that human activities jeopardise life on Earth. Dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system compounds many other drivers of global change. </p>
<p>Governments concur: the science is settled. But governments have failed to act at the scale and pace required. What should climate change scientists do?</p>
<p>There is an unwritten social contract between science and society. Public investment in science is intended to improve understanding about our world and support beneficial societal outcomes. However, for climate change, the science-society contract is now broken. </p>
<p>The failure to act decisively is an indictment on governments and political leaders across the board, but climate change scientists cannot be absolved of responsibility. </p>
<p>As we write in an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2021.2008855">article about this conundrum</a>, the tragedy is the compulsion to provide ever more evidence when the phenomena are well understood and the science widely accepted. The tragedy is being gaslighted into thinking the impasse is somehow our fault, and we need to do science differently: crafting new scientific institutions, strategies, collaborations and methodologies. </p>
<p>Yet, global carbon dioxide emissions are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104">60% higher today</a> than they were in 1990, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">IPCC</a>) published its first assessment. At some point we need to recognise the problem is political and that further climate change science may even divert attention away from where the problem truly lies. </p>
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<img alt="Graph that shows governments' lack of action on climate change" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434581/original/file-20211129-15-1pzdok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1112&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Governments agree that the science is settled but scientists are compelled to do more research despite inadequate government action and worsening climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Was COP26 too little, too late?</h2>
<p>The outcome of COP26, summarised in the draft <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2021_L16_adv.pdf">Glasgow Climate Pact</a>, includes some progress, including an agreement to begin reducing coal-fired power, removing subsidies on other fossil fuels, and a commitment to double adaptation finance to improve climate resilience for countries with the lowest incomes. </p>
<p>But many of the world’s leading scientists argue that this is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03431-4">too little, too late</a>. They note the failure of COP26 to translate the 2015 <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> into practical reality to keep global warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. </p>
<p>Even if COP26 commitments are fulfilled, there is a strong likelihood that humanity and life on Earth face a precarious future. </p>
<p>What are climate change scientists to do in the face of this evidence? We see three possible options — two that are untenable, one that is unpalatable.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-look-up-hollywoods-primer-on-climate-denial-illustrates-5-myths-that-fuel-rejection-of-science-174266">'Don’t Look Up': Hollywood's primer on climate denial illustrates 5 myths that fuel rejection of science</a>
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<h2>Where to from here for climate change scientists?</h2>
<p>The first option is to collect more evidence and hope for action. Continue the IPCC process that stays politically neutral and abstains from policy prescriptions. A recent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03433-2">editorial in Nature</a> called on scientists to do just that: stay engaged to support future climate COPs. </p>
<p>However, this choice not only ignores the complex relationship between science and policy, it runs counter to the logic of our scientific training to reflect and act on the evidence. We know why global warming is happening and what to do. We have known for a long time. </p>
<p>Governments just haven’t taken the necessary action. In a recent Nature <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02990-w">survey</a>, six in ten of the IPCC scientists who responded expect 3°C warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100. Persisting with this first option is therefore untenable.</p>
<p>The second option is more intensive social science research and climate change advocacy. As Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes recently <a href="https://www-scientificamerican-com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/article/ipcc-youve-made-your-point-humans-are-a-primary-cause-of-climate-change/">observed</a>, the work of the IPCC’s Working Group I (<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">WGI</a>, on the physical science basis of climate change) is complete and should be closed down. Attention needs to focus on translating this understanding into action, which is the realm of WGII (on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability) and WGIII (on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions). </p>
<p>In parallel, growing numbers of scientists are getting involved in diverse forms of advocacy, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03430-5">non-violent civil disobedience</a>. </p>
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<p>However, albeit more promising than option one, there is little evidence of impact thus far and it is doubtful this pathway will lead to the urgent transformative actions required. This option is also not tenable.</p>
<h2>Halt on IPCC work until governments do their part</h2>
<p>The third option is much more radical, but unpalatable. We call for a moratorium on climate change research that does little more than document global warming and maladaptation. </p>
<p>Attention needs to focus on exposing and re-negotiating the broken science-society contract. Given the rupture to the contract outlined here, we call for a halt on all further IPCC assessments until governments are willing to fulfil their responsibilities in good faith and mobilise action to secure a safe level of global warming. This option is the only way to overcome the tragedy of climate change science. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-to-find-courage-and-defiant-hope-when-our-fragile-dewdrop-world-seems-beyond-saving-171299">Where to find courage and defiant hope when our fragile, dewdrop world seems beyond saving</a>
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<p>Readers might agree with our framing of this tragedy but disagree with our assessment of options. Some may want greater detail on what a moratorium could encompass or worry it may damage the credibility and objectivity of the scientific community. </p>
<p>However, we question whether it is our “duty” to use public funds to continue to refine the state of climate change knowledge (which is unlikely to lead to the actions required), or whether a more radical approach will serve society better. </p>
<p>We have reached a critical juncture for humanity and the planet. Given the unfolding tragedy, a moratorium on climate change research is the only responsible option for revealing and then restoring the broken science-society contract. The other two options are seductive but offer false hope. </p>
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<p><em>We would like to acknowledge the work by Andrés Alegría in preparing the graphic.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Glavovic acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Earthquake Commission in enabling his contribution to this research, and the support by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment through the National Science Challenge: Resilience to Nature’s Challenges.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain White acknowledges the support by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment through the National Science Challenge: Resilience to Nature’s Challenges.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Smith acknowledges support by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects Funding Scheme (Project FT180100652). The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of Massey University, the University of the Sunshine Coast, the University of Waikato, the governments of New Zealand or Australia, the Earthquake Commission, or the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>What should climate scientists do in the face of ever rising emissions? They could continue providing more evidence, join climate activists – or stop work in protest against government inaction.Bruce Glavovic, Professor, Massey UniversityIain White, Professor of Environmental Planning, University of WaikatoTim Smith, Professor and ARC Future Fellow, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1732312021-12-06T16:25:39Z2021-12-06T16:25:39ZThe UK’s policing bill will make climate activism almost illegal – just when it’s most needed<p>The UK government has proposed some worrying amendments to its <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/policing-bill-protest-laws-kill-vote-b1878417.html">already draconian</a> policing bill. The amendments will directly target environmental activists and are a response to direct action protests from groups such as Extinction Rebellion and <a href="https://www.insulatebritain.com/">Insulate Britain</a>, and protests against the <a href="http://stophs2.org/">HS2 high speed railway</a>.</p>
<p>Proposed changes to the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-01/0268/200268.pdf">police, crime, sentencing and courts bill</a>
would grant police additional powers to restrict protests when deemed to “threaten public order or stop people from getting on with their daily lives”. The proposed legislation represents a dangerous threat to essential democratic and civil liberties such as the right to protest. </p>
<p>And it does so especially during times of accelerating climate and biodiversity breakdown when, as <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr/">the IPCC</a> (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has repeatedly urged, a radical departure from business as usual is exactly what we need.</p>
<h2>Designed to be disruptive</h2>
<p>Nonviolent direct actions such as road blockades and civil disobedience are a key fixture of social and environmental movements. These tactics are designed to be disruptive to highlight the urgency of a particular issue and the failures of the status quo. </p>
<p>The most interventionist strategies such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/lock-on-devices-are-a-symbol-of-non-violent-protest-but-they-might-soon-be-banned-in-queensland-122472">lock-ons</a> – when activists lock themselves to railings or buildings – are often deployed when a situation is deemed especially urgent, and when voting, lobbying and other traditional modes of political participation are deemed insufficient. </p>
<p>Activists might argue that this applies to climate change: after decades of international negotiations, and despite radical decreases in socioeconomic activity induced by a global pandemic, the world is still on track to reach <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-do-cop26-promises-keep-global-warming-below-2c">2.4°C of warming</a> by 2100.</p>
<p>The policing bill first came before the House of Commons in March 2021 in the wake of <a href="https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2021/03/11/silencing-black-lives-matter-priti-patels-anti-protest-law/">Black Lives Matter protests</a>. It sought to add “noise” to the list of intervenable offences under the Public Order Act 1986, which enables police to restrict a protest if they deem it risks “serious public disorder”. It grants alarming discretion and powers to police officers: if they believe that someone nearby might be “distressed” by a protest, they have grounds to intervene.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Colourful brass band at a protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435878/original/file-20211206-21-12fhozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shhhh! An Extinction Rebellion demo in Manchester, September 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John B Hewitt / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/43678/documents/964">newest amendments</a>, inserted at the last minute while the bill is passing through the House of Lords, were <a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/priti-patel-anti-protest-powers-stuffed-policing-bill-1316830">spearheaded</a> by Home Secretary Priti Patel. They follow the disruption caused by activists from Insulate Britain, who blockaded major motorways in the lead-up to the COP26 climate summit. </p>
<p>Sections 319C – 319F are especially troubling. They would allow police officers to stop and search anyone suspected of potential “public nuisance” or “serious disruption to two or more individuals or to an organisation”. People who refuse to comply, or who engage in tactics such as lock-ons and the “wilful obstruction of highways”, could face imprisonment for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/01/imprisoned-51-weeks-protesting-britain-police-state">up to 51 weeks</a>.</p>
<h2>The Green Scare</h2>
<p>The draconian bill has historical and contemporary parallels. For instance, in the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/radical-environmentalists-are-fighting-climate-change-so-why-are-they-persecuted-107211">Green Scare</a>” era in 2000s US, which followed arson attacks against a ski resort in Colorado by the group Earth Liberation Front (ELF), environmental activists were criminalised and labelled the nation’s lead <a href="https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/testimony/animal-rights-extremism-and-ecoterrorism">domestic terrorist threat</a>. </p>
<p>The legal definition of terrorism was <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032329205278462?casa_token=tXfRTQ6T634AAAAA:OMFIy2MJsBq9iKurrqpVrB0lXfgJWMCE2LNKoqg_C-MdlcLdMhMZgmwMzwyzuESAfCSJHkIxAqgAow">even expanded</a> to include any act damaging or threatening to damage “any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property used in <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-109shrg32209/html/CHRG-109shrg32209.htm">interstate or foreign commerce</a> or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce”. Those implicated faced up to ten years in prison. In the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0032329205278462">words of</a> political theorist Steve Vanderheiden, the US government targeted such groups with such zealousness because they posed a viable threat not to lives but to “the idea of profits and commerce at any price”.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, I and over 400 other experts signed an <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfViJrZmKLdw0oXbnOJgF69eWHZjMKv-bnPKZpl1Df9ayJdwQ/viewform?gxids=7628">open letter</a> warning of mounting government criminalisation of environmental protectors around the world. Examples include new <a href="https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2021/02/22/activists-and-journalists-targeted-draconian-anti-terror-law-challenged-philippines/">anti-terrorism legislation</a> in the Philippines which has led to violent police action against climate protesters; hefty fines in Italy for activists <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happened-when-italy-criminalised-environmental-protest-158014">mobilising against</a> the Trans Adriatic Pipeline; and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13621025.2021.2011145?src=">new legislation</a> in Queensland, Australia targeting environmental activism ostensibly in the name of “public order”. Environmental protectors across Latin America continually risk not only imprisonment but their lives, with 277 <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210913-nature-defenders-murdered-in-record-numbers-environmental-rights-group-says">murdered in 2020</a> alone.</p>
<h2>Protection, not prosecution</h2>
<p>While committing to net zero emissions <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/58160547">by 2050</a>, the UK government seeks to further hamper the efforts of those risking life and limb to stem the worst effects of climate and ecological breakdown. If Patel and others really wished to “protect the public”, they’d start by immediately phasing out the <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/10/28/the-uk-has-40-new-fossil-fuel-projects-in-the-pipeline-what-does-this-mean-for-cop26-credi">40 new fossil projects</a> the UK currently has in the pipeline. They’d divert their energy towards curbing the activities of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions">top fossil corporations</a> knowingly contributing over one-third of modern greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>The disruption caused by activists blockading roads is virtually non-existent compared to the widespread loss of lives and livelihoods that will result without urgent action on climate change. These are desperate times. Disrupting business as usual – and supporting those doing so – is our only hope.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Alberro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Disruption caused by activists blockading roads is virtually non-existent compared to climate change.Heather Alberro, Lecturer in Global Sustainable Development, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1721922021-12-01T16:59:25Z2021-12-01T16:59:25ZReligious communities can make the difference in winning the fight against climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435035/original/file-20211201-16-344zkv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3456%2C2302&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All major religions call on their followers to respect the Earth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:This_is_an_emergency_-_Climate_Angels_at_Extinction_Rebellion_Declaration_Day_Melbourne_-_IMG_4415_(33564926438).jpg">Takver/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The threat of climate change signals a “<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ipcc_90_92_assessments_far_wg_II_spm.pdf">code red for humanity</a>”, and we are running out of time to transition away from carbon and prevent catastrophic planetary warming. Our best chance is to convince existing organisations with financial, political and social power to pioneer drastic change. Faith communities – to which 4 billion people worldwide belong, with an economic value of over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/us-religion-worth-1-trillion-study-economy-apple-google">£900 billion</a> (£676 billion) in the US alone – might be the force we need. </p>
<p>When US President John Biden met Pope Francis on October 29, climate change was a focus <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/29/us-president-biden-meets-pope-francis-at-the-vatican">of their discussion</a>. Later that day, the pope spoke on BBC Radio 4’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b113ly">Thought for the Day</a> strand on the Today programme to demand “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59075041?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA">radical decisions</a>” from world leaders on climate. He warned that the interlinking crises of the pandemic and climate change have created “a perfect storm” about to cause havoc to human civilisation. </p>
<p>Before the <a href="https://theconversation.com/glasgow-climate-pact-where-do-all-the-words-and-numbers-we-heard-at-cop26-leave-us-171704">COP26</a> UN climate conference took place in Glasgow, 40 religious leaders also met in the Vatican to make an unprecedented plea for addressing the climate crisis. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/4/religious-leaders-plead-for-rapid-climate-action-ahead-of-cop26">If one nation sinks, we all sink</a>”, said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh leader from Washington D.C. And the Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, an institution usually not known for its progressive politics, called on young Muslims “to be ready to fight against any action that damages the environment”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in religious dress process down a street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435029/original/file-20211201-27-3g28ab.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many religious leaders at COP26 protested against climate inaction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tobias Muller</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, many faith leaders recognise that climate action has become a sacred duty. The skyrocketing number of books on <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0103.xml">ecotheologies</a> show that commitment to climate action has entered the mainstream of most religions. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00808-3?utm_source=twt_nnc&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=naturenews">The research</a> that we’ve done suggests that, by leveraging their massive influence, these groups can help the world take significant steps towards averting climate catastrophe.</p>
<h2>Taking action</h2>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/11/06/cop26-latest-climate-protests-go-global-as-activists-slam-summit-as-failure">climate protests</a> have seen priests, rabbis and imams join interfaith groups within radical climate movements such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-rebellion-why-disavowing-politics-is-a-dead-end-for-climate-action-145479">Extinction Rebellion</a> (XR). These leaders block roads and are arrested in full religious garb, invoking the tradition of religious civil disobedience pioneered by figures like <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/martin-luther-king-jr#:%7E:text=Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr.%2C,effect%20on%20the%20national%20consciousness.">Martin Luther King</a> who was arrested 29 times during his leadership of the US civil rights movement.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People hold banners on the street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435040/original/file-20211201-26-6ahrip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Multifaith groups dedicated to challenging climate change are on the rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/46753684454">Takver/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Young people of faith, in particular, are not satisfied with the lack of action from political leaders. Young Christian climate activists entered Glasgow for COP26 after a 1,200-mile pilgrimage from Cornwall, urging churches along the way to step up climate action. A member of <a href="https://gordiejackson.medium.com/a-day-with-xr-faith-pilgrims-8f4aa99e0d49">XR Pilgrims</a>, a multifaith group, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59102422">explained that</a> “we have a spiritual duty of care to those who are less fortunate than us”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1459550856458784768"}"></div></p>
<p>One of the most prominent young climate activists, 24-year-old Vanessa Nakate, describes herself as a “born again Christian and climate activist” in that order. She describes her activism as informed by her faith, particularly the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d64004ec-684f-43c1-84e4-661de7f2d1a8">biblical command</a> to care for the Earth. In the wake of COP26, she demanded that leaders set up a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/29/we-know-who-caused-the-climate-crisis-but-they-dont-want-to-pay-for-it">compensation fund</a> for the destruction the climate crisis is already causing across Africa.</p>
<h2>Bridging the gap</h2>
<p>These grassroots actions on climate are already bearing fruit. On October 26, representatives from several thousand faith groups across the world announced that they would divest <a href="https://operationnoah.org/featured/gda2021/">£3.1 billion</a> of investments in fossil fuels – the largest ever faith-driven divestment movement.</p>
<p>When Tobias conducted research on how people of faith mobilise for climate action in 2020, he witnessed how Muslim and non-Muslim members of XR from Kenya, Gambia and the UK formed an unusual alliance to stop the development of a highly environmentally destructive <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2020/06/18/global-newsletter-40-the-world-is-still-sick/">luxury tourist resort</a> in Nairobi National Park. </p>
<p>Now, more faith groups need to follow these examples by developing ambitious plans to challenge the climate crisis. This could begin with turning houses of worship into models of sustainability. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The entrance to a mosque building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435032/original/file-20211201-25-1wspy73.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Cambridge Central Mosque is designed to reduce its environmental impact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cmglee_Cambridge_Mosque_front.jpg">Cmglee/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>An example is the <a href="https://cambridgecentralmosque.org/">Cambridge Central Mosque</a>. Claiming to be Europe’s first fully eco-friendly mosque, its carbon footprint is nearly zero thanks to its <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-you-get-a-heat-pump-heres-how-they-compare-to-a-gas-boiler-151493">heat pumps</a>, LED lights and rainwater toilet flushes. Another is the Lutheran church of Hessen-Nassau in Germany, which aims to cover all available roof space of its more than 2,000 church buildings with <a href="https://www.ekd.de/photovoltaik-auf-dem-silbertablett-61952.htm">solar panels</a> to generate its own electricity.</p>
<p>We believe that scientists could play a key role in supporting this transition. As Tobias wrote recently in an essay for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00808-3">Nature</a>, by establishing dialogue between scientists and faith groups we can help convince even the most <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf0ce">conservative minds</a> of the reality of the climate crisis.</p>
<h2>The future</h2>
<p>But these steps alone are not enough. As the pope suggested to BBC listeners, religious groups must acknowledge that our <a href="https://theconversation.com/surviving-climate-change-means-transforming-both-economics-and-design-109164">profit-oriented economy</a> is making our planet uninhabitable. </p>
<p>Faith communities across the world together make up an industry that is bigger than most national economies. Through speaking the truth about the state of the planet and exercising uncompromising financial, social and political pressure on governments and corporations, they can shift the balance towards averting the devastation of all we hold sacred on Earth. These communities have the resources and the resilience, but above all the moral responsibility, to do that. </p>
<p>In light of the many times <a href="https://eu.rgj.com/story/life/2021/03/04/what-problem-religion-faith-forum/6914070002/">they have failed</a> to stand up for justice and human dignity, religions could win back their place at the forefront of a struggle that will define the future of humanity. To rephrase a <a href="https://www.etuc.org/en/no-jobs-dead-planet">famous slogan</a>, there are no religions on a dead planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tobias Müller receives funding from the European Union through a Horizon 2020 Grant. He has received research funding from the University of Cambridge, the Woolf Institute and the German National Academic Foundation. He currently conducts ethnographic research with Extinction Rebellion.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esra Ozyurek is the Academic Director of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. She does not receive funding that is relevant to the subject.</span></em></p>Faith leaders hold significant financial and political power - it’s their duty to use it to shape the future of our planet.Tobias Müller, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, University of CambridgeEsra Özyürek, Professor of Abrahamic Faiths and Shared Values, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1724812021-11-30T02:41:40Z2021-11-30T02:41:40ZClimate activism has gone digital and disruptive, and it’s finally facing up to racism within the movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434559/original/file-20211129-59485-1y1ic8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C351%2C5871%2C3629&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To understand the agreement states reached at the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26 climate summit</a> in Glasgow earlier this month, it’s important to explore how climate activism has grown and changed since the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> in 2015.</p>
<p>Climate activists have played a pivotal role. They have kept the pressure on governments to implement their Paris pledges and to increase their ambition in the coming years. </p>
<p>Two new and powerful climate groups — Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion — have been particularly important. Our <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-global-green-movement-environmental-protests-in/id1527636419?i=1000528049078">research</a> suggests they have championed new models and tactics of activism, and also grappled with racism in their own ranks. </p>
<p>The distinctiveness and evolution of these two groups tells us a lot about contemporary climate activism and the direction it is likely to take.</p>
<h2>New models, new tactics</h2>
<p><a href="https://fridaysforfuture.org/">Fridays for Future</a> and <a href="https://rebellion.global/">Extinction Rebellion</a> have ushered in a new era of climate dissent by challenging conventional patterns of protest. </p>
<p>Fridays for Future have successfully <a href="https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wcc.683">mobilised millions of people across the world</a>. Our research shows they have continued to mobilise people, albeit online rather than on the streets, during COVID lockdowns. </p>
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<img alt="Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks during the Fridays For Future COP26 march in Glasgow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434561/original/file-20211129-17-g9rs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Climate activist Greta Thunberg at the COP26 Fridays for Future protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Extinction Rebellion have normalised direct action and the use of economic disruption through civil disobedience by occupying spaces in London, Dar es Salaam, Mexico City and Rome. Recently, they <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300438940/extinction-rebellion-protesters-glued-to-parliament-steps-arrested-man-charged-with-wilful-damage">glued themselves</a> to the steps of the New Zealand parliament to protest against New Zealand’s lacklustre climate policies.</p>
<p>These two groups exemplify the changes in climate activism over the last decade. Digital technologies enable distributed digital activism — organising which happens around a central goal but allows local activists to develop messages and tactics most relevant to their local context. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-ahead-for-fridays-for-future-and-the-youth-climate-movement-147152">What lies ahead for Fridays for Future and the youth climate movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Going digital</h2>
<p>The climate change group 350.org pioneered this form of digital organising in 2009 with their <a href="https://www.cambridgeblog.org/2021/10/climate-activism-at-glasgow-does-the-rise-of-digitally-distributed-activism-challenge-traditional-climate-ngos/">global climate action days</a>. This decentralised structure meant anyone could be involved, anywhere. </p>
<p>Distributed organising has also allowed climate activist groups to become more inclusive. Interviews we conducted with Fridays for Future activists suggest the group includes a spectrum of political views among young people who share a passion for protecting the environment and holding governments accountable to the Paris Agreement.</p>
<p>In introducing these new tactics, Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion have not only renewed the climate movement, but also accelerated climate action. Germany’s outgoing chancellor <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/angela-merkel-dismisses-health-fears-shaking-bouts-donald-trump">Angela Merkel</a> has acknowledged Fridays for Future expedited the nation’s response to climate change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/greta-thunberg-emerged-from-five-decades-of-environmental-youth-activism-in-sweden-171043">Greta Thunberg emerged from five decades of environmental youth activism in Sweden</a>
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<p>Climate activists now have a powerful role to play in ensuring governments implement the Glasgow Climate Pact. They may not only force change from the outside. Governments and businesses are increasingly engaging and hiring young activists to help with their climate strategies.</p>
<p>The new Biden administration, for instance, has invited 19 year-old Black climate activist <a href="https://www.apec2021nz.org/ceo-summit/programme-and-speakers/ceo-summit-keynote-speaker-jerome-foster-ii">Jerome Foster II</a> to serve on the White House environmental justice advisory council. Foster spent 58 weeks protesting outside the White House for climate action, and now he’s on the inside.</p>
<p>While this represents a win for activists in their efforts to gain mainstream legitimacy, it remains unclear whether working within firms and governments will drive radical climate policy. </p>
<h2>With inclusivity comes greater responsibility</h2>
<p>The Movement for Black Lives (<a href="https://m4bl.org/">M4BL</a>) protests during the northern hemisphere summer of 2020 prompted soul searching within many climate activist groups, particularly as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/05/environmental-movement-racial-reckoning-green-diversity-465501">racism has dogged climate groups</a> in the US, UK, Germany and beyond. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="An Indigenous Amazonian woman during an Extinction Rebellion protest at COP26" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434564/original/file-20211129-58431-8wbhsq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">colonialism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Summers/Getty Images</span></span>
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<p>In the US, many established environmental non-governmental organisations were dominated by white staffers and had only 22% non-white senior staff, even though non-white ethnic groups make up around 40% of the total US population.</p>
<p>Our interviews suggest the Black Lives Matter protests prompted many environmental groups to look inwards and to diversify who they hired and promoted to leadership positions. Extinction Rebellion had to reconsider its use of direct action tactics in which activists deliberately aim to be arrested as these were more dangerous for activists of colour. </p>
<p>However, institutionalised racism has sometimes proved impossible to resolve. In one instance, a New Zealand chapter of Fridays for Future disbanded because it had, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/15/climate-change-racism-strike-greta-auckland/">in its own words</a>, become a “racist, white-dominated space” which “avoided, ignored and tokenised BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and Peoples of Colour] voices and demands”.</p>
<p>Not all climate activists have transformed their tactics, hiring practices or organisations. Yet, many increasingly supported the climate justice movement, and have acknowledged the limitations of middle-class “<a href="https://catalyst-journal.com/2019/07/ecological-politics-for-the-working-class">lifestyle environmentalism</a>”. Some climate activists have also recognised the need to place more emphasis on the multiple, intersecting identities of those within the climate movement.</p>
<p>Indigenous communities have long demanded <a href="https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/beyond-these-shores/">climate justice</a>. Māori climate activist <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300442558/honour-our-knowledge-mori-climate-activist-india-loganriley-speaks-at-cop26-summit-opening">India Logan O’Reilly</a> spoke powerfully at the opening plenary of Glasgow climate summit, urging leaders to “learn our histories, listen to our stories, honour our knowledge and get in line or get out of the way”. We can only hope that states will heed this call and internalise calls for intersectional climate action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nina Hall is a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and on the steering committee of New Zealand Alternative, an independent, progressive think tank. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Lawrie is a member of the UK Labour Party and DiEM25, a pan-European political movement.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sahar Priano does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By introducing tactics of direct action and digital mobilisation, Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion have renewed the climate movement and accelerated climate action.Nina Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins UniversityCharles Lawrie, Doctoral Researcher in International Relations, University of SussexSahar Priano, Researcher, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1704422021-11-22T14:13:36Z2021-11-22T14:13:36ZThe average person’s daily choices can still make a big difference in fighting climate change – and getting governments and utilities to tackle it, too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430391/original/file-20211104-19417-19citkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C11%2C7363%2C4927&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reducing household energy use can contribute to slowing climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-adjusting-temperature-on-smart-thermostat-at-royalty-free-image/1327246362?adppopup=true">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The average American’s everyday interactions with energy sources are limited. They range from turning appliances on or off, to commuting, to paying utility bills.</p>
<p>The connections between those acts and rising global temperatures may seem distant.</p>
<p>However, individuals hold many keys to unlocking solutions to climate change – the biggest challenge our species currently faces – which is perhaps why the fossil fuel industry spent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2020.1863703">decades misleading and misinforming the public</a> about it.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://www.geo.txstate.edu/people/faculty/thomas-ptak">assistant professor of geography and environmental studies</a> at Texas State University. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7kgCOOoAAAAJ&hl=en">My research</a> explores how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.03.016">geography affects</a> the complex relationships between societies, energy and contemporary environmental challenges. I’ve found that the human element is critical for developing creative, effective and sustainable solutions to climate challenges. </p>
<p>There’s a large and growing body of evidence showing that individuals can have a major impact on climate change in a number of ways. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.10.018">Citizen action</a> can compel utilities to increase renewable energy and governments to enact strong climate action laws. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.02.001">When enough individuals make changes that lower daily household energy consumption</a>, huge emissions reductions can result. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/eco-wakening-consumers-driving-sustainability/">Consumer demand can compel businesses</a> to pursue climate and environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>These actions combined <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.02.001">could bridge</a> the “emissions gap”: the <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2021">significant difference</a> between the greenhouse gas emissions expected globally and how much they need to drop in the next few decades to avoid catastrophic climate change.</p>
<h2>Climate change is outracing government action</h2>
<p>People have worked for decades to slow climate change by altering national energy policies. Several states, for example, have <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/energy/renewable-portfolio-standards.aspx">renewable portfolio standards</a> for utilities that require them to increase their use of renewable energy. </p>
<p>But 30 years of evidence from international climate talks suggests that even when nations commit on paper to reducing emissions, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211028-why-not-all-net-zero-emissions-targets-are-equal">they seldom achieve those cuts</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1458072932148649988"}"></div></p>
<p>The United Nations <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-cop26-the-hard-work-begins-on-making-climate-promises-real-5-things-to-watch-in-2022-172024">climate summits</a> are one example. Researchers have found that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/greenhouse-gas-emissions-pledges-data/">many countries’ pledges have been developed using flawed data</a>.</p>
<p>People are also increasingly talking about <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/geoengineer-the-planet-more-scientists-now-say-it-must-be-an-option">geoengineering solutions</a> for climate change. The idea is that over the coming decades, researchers will <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-tweak-marine-chemistry-to-help-stave-off-climate-change-93174">find ways to manipulate the environment</a> to absorb more carbon pollution. However, some experts argue that geoengineering <a href="http://www.homepages.ed.ac.uk/shs/Climatechange/Geo-politics/Oxford%20principles.pdf">could be environmentally catastrophic</a>. Also, <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/08/1027908/carbon-removal-hype-is-a-dangerous-distraction-climate-change/">there’s significant doubt</a> that technological “draw down” interventions can <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022018/carbon-capture-storage-geoengineering-no-silver-bullet-global-warming-eu-science-academy/">be perfected and scaled up soon enough</a> to make a difference.</p>
<p>So if government, technology or geoengineering aren’t good answers, what are? </p>
<h2>Citizen action</h2>
<p>Pledges, goals and targets for shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources are only as good as the efforts by utilities and governments to reach them. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2020.1806725">Citizen participation and action</a> have proved effective at compelling decision-makers to act. For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101579">scholars studying the economic, political and social dynamics</a> that led five U.S. municipalities to adopt 100% renewable energy found that grassroots citizen advocacy was one of the key factors that drove the change. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/ready-for-100/commitments">Sierra Club</a>, through citizen-driven action, over 180 cities, more than 10 counties and eight U.S. states have made commitments to transitioning to 100% renewable energy. Consequently, over 100 million U.S residents already live in a community with a 100% renewable energy target. </p>
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<p>Citizens have also been taking collective action at the ballot box. For example, in 2019, after New York City voters elected a more climate conscious City Council, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21062021/new-york-city-mayors-race-climate-goals/">the city enacted an ambitious emissions reduction law</a>, and has since begun to enforce it. Also in 2019, after voters similarly shook up the state legislature, New York state enacted the <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/the-impact-of-new-yorks-climate-leadership-and-community-protection-act">Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act</a>. Among <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/nyregion/greenhouse-gases-ny.html">the nation’s strongest climate change laws</a>, New York’s measure mandates that the state shift to 100% renewable energy by 2040 and that its emissions from all sources drop 40% by 2040 and 85% by 2050.</p>
<h2>Consumer demand</h2>
<p>How and where people spend their money can also influence corporate behavior. <a href="https://www.strategy-business.com/article/The-rise-of-the-eco-friendly-consumer">Companies and utilities are changing their products and production practices</a> as consumers increasingly demand that they produce ecologically sustainable products and lower their carbon footprints. Scholars have documented that consumer boycotts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12389">negatively affect the wealth</a> of a corporation’s shareholders – which in turn can create pressure for a firm to change in response.</p>
<p>The Natural Resources Defense Council has reported that thanks to surging consumer awareness and demand, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/resources/race-100-clean">more than 565 companies have publicly pledged to slash their carbon emissions</a>. Some of the world’s biggest brands have responded to this pressure with claims of already being powered by 100% renewable energy, including <a href="https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/sustainability/google-achieves-four-consecutive-years-of-100-percent-renewable-energy">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/04/apple-now-globally-powered-by-100-percent-renewable-energy/">Apple</a>. </p>
<p>Google put its global economic might behind climate solutions when it announced in 2019 that it would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/20/google-says-its-energy-deals-will-lead-to-2bn-wind-and-solar-investment">support the growth of renewable energy resources</a> by making solar and wind energy deals worth US$2 billion. </p>
<p>One drawback to consumer demand-driven action is that it’s often unclear <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/business/energy-environment/corporations-climate-change.html">how to hold these firms accountable</a> for their promises. Recently, <a href="https://www.vox.com/21509913/climate-change-bp-microsoft-investors-shareholders-accountability">two impact investing experts suggested in Vox</a> that since around 137 million Americans own stock in publicly traded companies, they could use their collective power as shareholders to make sure companies follow through.</p>
<h2>Shifting household energy behavior</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.07.008">A substantial body of research</a> shows that small changes to everyday behaviors can significantly reduce energy demand. This may be the biggest way individuals and families can contribute to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.43">lowering fossil fuel consumption</a> and reducing carbon emissions.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908738106">These steps include</a> weatherization and using energy-efficient appliances, as well as energy efficiency measures such as turning down thermostats, washing laundry with cold water and air-drying it rather than using a dryer.</p>
<p>So is shifting transportation behavior. Using public transportation, car pooling, riding a bicycle or walking can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856413000694?via%3Dihub">significantly reduce individual and cumulative emissions</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People ride bicycles across a roadway as cars wait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432507/original/file-20211117-23-1tre5dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Choosing to ride a bicycle, walk or take public transit rather than drive can significantly lower a person’s greenhouse gas emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bicyclists-cross-an-intersection-as-cars-wait-at-a-red-news-photo/967824092">Sean Gallup/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So since most governments aren’t acting quickly enough, and many technology and geoengineering solutions are still unproven or come with high risks, emission reduction goals won’t be achieved without incorporating additional strategies. </p>
<p>The evidence is clear that these strategies should include millions of average people factoring climate change into their everyday activities regarding their communities, purchases and personal energy use.</p>
<p>As the environmentalist <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/26/AR2006052601549.html?utm_term=.bebdc2b3bd56">Bill McKibben wrote in 2006</a> about dealing with climate change, “There are no silver bullets, only silver buckshot.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-ways-to-get-proactive-about-climate-change-instead-of-feeling-helpless-lessons-from-a-leadership-expert-166144">7 ways to get proactive about climate change instead of feeling helpless: Lessons from a leadership expert</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Ptak receives funding from the American Council of Learned Societies, United States Geological Survey, Battelle Energy Alliance LLC, American Geographical Society. </span></em></p>How and where people spend their money and use energy can influence corporate behavior.Tom Ptak, Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1712512021-11-04T16:32:18Z2021-11-04T16:32:18ZCOP26: a letter to school strikers from ‘the physicist behind net zero’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430305/original/file-20211104-25-p1tcnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">1000 Words / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dear school striker,</p>
<p>Well done on all you are doing – you seem to have made more impact on the climate issue in the past couple of years than I’ve managed in the previous three decades working away on it, and I’ve been described as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fgcn">the physicist behind net zero</a>. Good luck on the demonstrations.</p>
<p>I have one suggestion. You are calling for climate action now, which of course we need – we needed it 20 years ago. But you will find the climate establishment gathered in Glasgow will, weirdly and frustratingly, clap enthusiastically when you shout at them, and then assure you they are listening and taking action.</p>
<p>Here’s why you should be sceptical. So far, at COP26, we’ve had a pledge to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-a-global-methane-pledge-is-great-but-only-if-it-doesnt-distract-us-from-co-cuts-171069">reduce methane emissions by 30%</a>, which will cut global temperatures by about one tenth of a degree, pretty much the warming we’ve seen since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. Leaders have pledged to <a href="https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/">stop deforestation by 2030</a> – again. And some countries that were planning to stop using coal anyway have said they are going to stop using coal.</p>
<p>“Yes,” they will tell you with just a hint of condescension, “but every little helps and the climate issue is very complicated”.</p>
<p>This is the point where you should get angry. It isn’t complicated at all. We need to stop fossil fuels from causing global warming. All fossil fuels.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl holds up sign in front of monument" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430315/original/file-20211104-19858-1skgh2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Climate strikers in London, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ink Drop / shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>There are only two ways to do this: we either ban fossil fuels altogether, and enforce that ban, everywhere in the world, or we require anyone selling or using fossil fuels to ensure that the carbon dioxide they generate is safely and permanently disposed of and not just dumped into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Now, you’ll find most people in the climate establishment, particularly the green movement who claim to be on your side, come down on the side of a ban. But that’s because they aren’t the ones who are going to have to implement it. You are.</p>
<p>When they say “we need to just stop using fossil fuels”, what they mean is “you (the school-striker generation) need to stop using fossil fuels”. And if you don’t, you’ll end up with catastrophic warming. They are like the first world war generals who used to send 19-year-olds up in balsa wood aeroplanes without parachutes so as to not “<a href="https://spartacus-educational.com/FWWparachutes.htm">impair the fighting spirit</a>”.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Listen to Myles Allen on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-world-leaders-hope-to-reach-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-and-why-some-experts-are-worried-climate-fight-podcast-part-2-169555">Climate Fight, a podcast series from The Anthill</a>, talking about the path to net zero.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Make the producers pay</h2>
<p>There is another way, which would require the present generation of climate leaders doing a bit more, and make your lives massively easier in 30 years’ time. Which is, no doubt, why they don’t want to talk about it. This is to require anyone who wants to continue extracting and selling fossil fuels to <a href="https://netzeroclimate.org/the-fossil-fuel-industry-knows-how-to-stop-global-warming-but-why-dont-they-myles-allen/">dispose of the carbon dioxide</a> generated by their activities and the fuels they sell. It needn’t be the same carbon dioxide, of course, but it needs to be disposed of safely and permanently, which, these days, means reinjecting it back underground. Unfortunately, until we get deforestation under control, storing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in trees is neither safe nor permanent.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A message from the author.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This would stop global warming, but no-one is even talking about it at COP26. Why not? Well, perhaps because paying for all that carbon dioxide disposal might affect the profits of oil and gas companies – and the lucrative royalties and taxes that governments cream off the fossil fuel industry. But before you start to feel too sorry for them, they are doing rather well right now, with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/37947e4a-71a1-4c0e-919b-1e3d55ee19ea">oil and gas prices sky-rocketing</a>. British prime minister Boris Johnson kicked off the conference <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/boris-johnson-compares-climate-change-to-james-bond-150149569.html">invoking James Bond</a> – well, if I were an oil and gas industry lobbyist, I’d be stroking my cat at how well things are going.</p>
<p>In the longer term, safe disposal of CO₂ will make fossil fuels more expensive, and no-one wants to admit this. But we don’t let water companies just dump our sewage in the rivers even though it would make our water bills smaller – and they could argue “the water was clean when we supplied it”. Why do we let fossil fuel companies fly-tip CO₂ into the atmosphere, claiming “the petrol wasn’t causing global warming when we sold it to you.”</p>
<p>You can change this. Reclaim net zero. The only net zero that matters for fossil fuels is what goes in and out of the earth’s crust. If the industry insists on continuing to dig fossil fuels up, it has to put the CO₂ back. This is the principle of <a href="https://carbontakeback.org/">carbon takeback</a>, and it’s the only fair way to stop fossil fuels from causing global warming. Here’s something to shout at Friday’s protests: </p>
<p>Keep our skies blue, take back your CO₂.</p>
<p>Good luck,</p>
<p>Myles Allen,
Director of Oxford Net Zero, University of Oxford</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="COP26: the world's biggest climate talks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424739/original/file-20211005-17-cgrf2z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong>This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world.</strong>
<br><em>Amid a rising tide of climate news and stories, The Conversation is here to clear the air and make sure you get information you can trust. <a href="https://page.theconversation.com/cop26-glasgow-2021-climate-change-summit/"><strong>More.</strong></a></em> </p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myles Allen receives funding from UK Research and Innovation and the European Commission. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Puro.earth.</span></em></p>A good luck message from a senior climate scientist – and some advice on where to aim your anger.Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science, Director of Oxford Net Zero, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1710432021-11-04T13:20:14Z2021-11-04T13:20:14ZGreta Thunberg emerged from five decades of environmental youth activism in Sweden<p>After 18 months of digital campaigning, young people are again taking to the streets demanding climate justice, with attention now directed at the UN climate summit in Glasgow and a <a href="https://climatestrike.scot/strike/">protest march</a> on November 5. </p>
<p>When a 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began her Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for climate) outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, few would have guessed that her initiative would spur worldwide protests. Due to its rapid international impact, this movement has been described as a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14742837.2020.1836617">new form of political mobilisation</a>, but such generalisations fail to consider the much longer history of young people’s global awareness and action. As historians who have researched <a href="https://newhistoryofknowledge.com/2020/06/08/knowing-the-world-children-global-education-and-environmental-activism-in-sweden-after-1945/">environmental youth activism in Sweden</a> “before Greta”, we argue that what you see today is rooted in a Scandinavian tradition of youth empowerment and global awareness.</p>
<p>We first want to note that children’s participation in social and political issues has been facilitated by specific notions of childhood in the Nordic countries. The idea of the autonomous and competent child has been described <a href="https://bibliotek.dk/da/work/870970-basis%3A27315879">by researchers</a> as a characteristic feature of the “<a href="https://www.uio.no/english/research/strategic-research-areas/nordic/research/research-groups/living-the-nordic-model/">Nordic model of childhood</a>”, influencing child rearing and public policy for several decades. While the elements of this model are not unique to the region, the notion has had a lasting impact upon several generations of Swedish children, teaching them the value of independence and to make their voices heard.</p>
<p>There has also been a long-standing ambition in Sweden to foster young people’s global consciousness. Today, climate change dominates the political agenda, but this is not the first global issue to engage young people. In the early post-war era, children and young people played a key role when development aid became a new area of Swedish foreign policy. Polls showed that young people were more susceptible to the message of international solidarity than older generations and thus became crucial target groups for efforts to raise popular support for aid policy.</p>
<h2>Older people on trial</h2>
<p>With the emergence of modern environmentalism and the “<a href="https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/the-environmental-turn-in-postwar-sweden-a-new-history-of-knowled">ecological turn</a>” around 1970, when knowledge of a global environmental crisis became more widespread, children and young people were mobilised to take action. </p>
<p>One of the first major Swedish initiatives was the campaign “Front against environmental degradation”, launched by insurance company Folksam in 1968. The corporation had strong ties to the social democratic government and launched a national competition where young people were given the task of documenting environmental problems in their local communities. These inventories formed the basis for a series of public hearings in 1969, where young people put an older generation of politicians, public officials and industry leaders against the wall. With an average attendance of 500 people, these hearings were considered a public success.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Poster of young man in trilby beside slogan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430194/original/file-20211104-27-1tvn0qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anders Ericsson of the Folksam Youth Committee, presenting the campaign Front mot miljöförstöringen (Front against environmental degradation).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Folksam journal, no. 1, 1969</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From a contemporary viewpoint, the young interrogators’ demands for clean air and sewage treatment appear modest, but during the campaign finale – an “environmental parliament” in January 1970 – the Swedish minister of agriculture considered it ungrateful of the younger generation to demand change too rapidly. With stubborn and tireless work, he argued, further environmental destruction would be prevented in due time.</p>
<h2>Youth-led activism</h2>
<p>Modern Swedish history provides several examples of youth-led activism on global issues. While the Folksam initiative was adult-organised, other campaigns and initiatives have relied on self-organisation by the younger generation. An early example of this was Fältbiologerna (literally: “the field biologists”), the youth division of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which became a hotbed for environmental activism. </p>
<p>In addition to hiking in the wilderness, the field biologists started to demonstrate and make spectacular direct actions. They marched under banners such as “killing nature is suicide” and “your children protest against your short-termism”. In the early 1970s, they mailed disposable bottles and cans to the authorities, to spur a transition to recycling.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wearing placards with anti-airport slogans" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430193/original/file-20211104-23-hzdt1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field biologists protest the construction of Sturup Airport, late 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Private collection of former field biologist Olle Nordell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another striking example was the annual campaign Operation Dagsverke, “operation day’s work”, that emerged in the early 1960s. Led by rather loosely organised student unions, the campaign expanded rapidly and soon involved tens of thousands of schoolchildren, raising money for projects in the global south.</p>
<p>This campaign relied on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/110330889500300306">two of the main resources</a> that children have often mobilised in efforts to create change: time and spontaneous activity. By dedicating an entire day for fundraising, children took time off from school to invest in the future of humanity – a line of thought that has also been important in the school strike movement. The field biologists and operation day’s work both included a kind of age-integration, where older teenagers organised and coordinated the efforts of younger children, a feature that they share with contemporary activism.</p>
<p>A year after Greta Thunberg began protesting outside the Swedish parliament, climate protests took place globally and she was named “<a href="https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/">person of the year</a>” by Time magazine. This impact was rendered possible by digital technology and social media platforms, but the emergence of this movement should also be understood against the backdrop of a more than 50-year-old political culture of environmental youth activism.</p>
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<p><strong>This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world.</strong>
<br><em>Amid a rising tide of climate news and stories, The Conversation is here to clear the air and make sure you get information you can trust. <a href="https://page.theconversation.com/cop26-glasgow-2021-climate-change-summit/"><strong>More.</strong></a></em> </p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Björn Lundberg has received funding from the Crafoord Foundation (Crafoordska stiftelsen) and Erik Philip-Sörensen Foundation (Erik Philip-Sörensens stiftelse). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Larsson Heidenblad received funding from the Crafoord foundation.</span></em></p>Sweden has long tried to foster a global consciousness in its young people.Björn Lundberg, Researcher, History, Lund UniversityDavid Larsson Heidenblad, Associate Professor, History, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1704742021-10-27T10:49:26Z2021-10-27T10:49:26ZThe youth movement grows up. Climate Fight podcast part four transcript<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428771/original/file-20211027-17-s7bsu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C28%2C6190%2C3808&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What effect does youth climate activism have on negotiations such as COP26 in Glasgow?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Gomez via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This is a transcript of <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/where-does-the-youth-climate-movement-go-next-climate-fight-podcast-part-4-170475">The youth movement grows up</a></em>, part four of Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation, a series from <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill</a> podcast tied to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. In this episode, we talk to experts about how countries make sure not to leave people behind and widen inequalities as they shift away from fossil fuels. </p>
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<p><em>NOTE: Transcripts may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print</em></p>
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<p>Greta Thunberg: There is no planet B. There is no planet blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is not about some expensive, politically correct green act of bunny-hugging or blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050 blah, blah blah. Net zero blah, blah, blah. Climate neutral blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words. Words that sound great but so far has led to no action. </p>
<p>Jack Marley: Over the last few years, young people around the world have voiced their outrage over the climate crisis.</p>
<p>Chanting: What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now.</p>
<p>Jack: Young people have a unique stake in climate breakdown, they face a future world that looks nothing like the one their parents had. </p>
<p>Chanting: And we demand change. We want change, we want change, we want change.</p>
<p>Jack: I’m Jack Marley. And this is Climate Fight episode 4: the youth movement grows up.</p>
<p>Ahead of COP26, in an effort to find out how decisions are made, I want to explore the role of young people. For instance, is the youth climate movement as strong as it once was?</p>
<p>Harriet Thew: So, I think we have to go back to 2018 at least. So, Greta Tunberg started striking outside the Swedish parliament. Youth climate marches started happening in the US at the zero hour protests. And particularly importantly, that year in October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC report came out on what 1.5 degrees of warming would mean for the world and what we’d need to do to achieve it.</p>
<p>I’m Dr. Harriet Thew. I’m from the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds and my research focuses on youth participation in climate governance and climate change education.</p>
<p>Harriet: So that really catalysed action from young people and from older people through Extinction Rebellion as well in 2019. I saw Greta Thunberg at the UN climate negotiations in Katowice at the end of 2018 and she did not make anywhere near as big of a stir as she did the following year. So she was kind of starting to get well-known, but it was really in 2019, the Fridays for Future, or School Strikes for Climate as it’s called in the UK, that the movement really took off.</p>
<p>Newsclip: Today’s lesson: civil disobedience. Here in Manchester and up and down the country, thousands of students from reception to year 13 skipped school to call for action on climate change.</p>
<p>Jack: I’m kind of quite interested in the idea of age and how that was really significant in the 2019 youth strikes. And I was just wondering, what do you think the influence of young people is on climate politics more broadly? </p>
<p>Harriet: Yeah, I think young people are particularly good at raising the profile of upcoming events and policy areas, capturing the public interest and emphasising urgency, the need to act now. Because young people have symbolic power. They’re representative of a huge proportion of the global population and they have moral power, so they’re seen as having greater moral integrity because they’re not being paid to take a particular stance. So, they’re sort of seen as representing the moral voice and moral interest and going a bit further than some organisations go in demanding change and saying what needs to be done.</p>
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<p><strong>This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world.</strong>
<br><em>Amid a rising tide of climate news and stories, The Conversation is here to clear the air and make sure you get information you can trust. <a href="https://page.theconversation.com/cop26-glasgow-2021-climate-change-summit/"><strong>More.</strong></a></em> </p>
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<p>Jack: Right, and so how does that moral voice of young people, what kind of influence does that have on decisions at the UN climate negotiations, the COP? </p>
<p>Harriet: For example, the youth constituency in the UN climate negotiations, <a href="http://www.youngo.uno/">Youngo</a>, has had quite a lot of influence on the policy that is about climate change education, because they’re seen as recognised experts in that area. So, going and being able to share their lived experiences and say, this is what happens in my school or university, or this is the education that I had, and this is why it works or doesn’t work, leads to very tangible changes in UN policy that you can see, you can document over time. Whereas the kind of bigger protests, moral voice, general messages of we need change and we need it now, it’s much more difficult to measure the kind of tangible impact of that. </p>
<p>Jack: Just before COP26 kicks off, the <a href="https://ukcoy16.org/">16th Conference of Youth</a> will also take place in Glasgow. </p>
<p>Harriet: Young people from about 140 countries get together. The main output is that they create a policy document that is given usually to the COP president, and to other people within the COP. It’ll be young people probably getting altogether to think about what they want to see coming up in those negotiations. </p>
<p>Jack: So does this youth conference influence the tone of the COP at all? What kind of influence do they have, if at all, on the adults meeting right afterwards at the at the COP?</p>
<p>Harriet: It’s a really good question. By the time governments get to the COP, they have already determined for the most part the positions that they’re going to be taking at that COP. So at that last minute stage it’s very difficult to influence very much. You could say that it’s a bit symbolic. It depends on how decision-makers respond to it, whether or not they actually read the declaration that the young people have come up with or not, and how much attention they give to that would very much depend on the COP president or whoever else has been given it. There are also declarations from previous years. It’s hard to say whether host governments, for example, would look at the outputs from the previous COP to think about how to include young people’s perspectives.</p>
<p>Jack: And I guess that another problem that youth climate activists have at this conference is that there are probably a lot of adults who would look at people who are, you know, in their teens or early 20s and say that, you know, you’re too young to really know what you’re talking about and I remember when I was your age and I had all these, sort of, these unrealistic views of how the world works. What would you really say to someone who levels that criticism at young climate strikers?</p>
<p>Harriet: Yeah, you get a lot of that. When young people come forward to engage in anything they’re quite readily patronised and deemed to not know enough. I think it’s interesting in relation to climate change because although climate change education is very inadequate and needs improving, it does exist. So, young people are learning about climate change in school and through social media and through non-formal education groups in a way that those older decision-makers probably didn’t get during their schooling. So it might be that they’ve had more kind of formal educational training on climate issues than the politicians have. </p>
<p>In terms of this idea of “when you grow up, you’ll understand that it’s more complicated and you’re too naive, and this is too, kind of, idealised”, I’ve noticed that a lot of the time young people are a bit ahead of the curve in what they’re asking for in terms of climate action. They’re a bit less cautious, a bit more honest about what needs to be done and really acknowledging the urgency of the situation. So they’re often five years ahead of everybody else. </p>
<p>For example, in 2009, 2010, at the COPs in Copenhagen and Durban, young people were calling very strongly for the target of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, which didn’t then come into the Paris agreement until 2015. And we’re still not on target to meet it, but they were advocating for that at that point. And leaving fossil fuels in the ground. I was at the Rio +20 sustainable development conference in 2012 and young people were very much calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and leaving fossil fuels in the ground rather than burning them, which is becoming much more mainstream in climate discourse as we realise that we’re going to need to make some of those hard choices. </p>
<p>But young people are a little less swayed by “Oh, this is going to cost my business a lot of money, and how am I going to transfer my employees from this role to that role?” or whatever it is, and can be a bit more kind of forward thinking and visionary in terms of what what they’re saying needs to happen. </p>
<p>Jack: We wanted to introduce Harriet to a young climate activist: Abel Harvie Clarke. He’s from Newcastle and going to university in London. They spoke when Abel was outside, just on his way home from a protest.</p>
<p>Abel: Nice to meet you, Harriet. Yeah, I’ve enjoyed reading your stuff as well, so thanks. </p>
<p>Harriet: Nice to meet you too. Where are you right now? </p>
<p>Abel: I’m just away from the XR rebellion in London. Came down yesterday to be part of the rebellion here.</p>
<p>Harriet: Great. So tell me about when you first got involved in climate change activism. </p>
<p>Abel: It was the school strike movement really that got me involved. I feel I’d been to a couple of Extinction Rebellion meetings before, but I wasn’t so sure on it, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on. And the school strikes start happening, I just realised that no one else was going to do it for us, you know!</p>
<p>I had to go do it ourselves, so started getting together with other people in my sixth form and organised a walk-out for my sixth form of about 70 people to join the Global Climate Strike in March. Going through that process, yeah the many trials and tribulations that it threw up and it kind of, I guess being part of that protest and that movement then revealed, yeah, the wider struggle that we have on our hands.</p>
<p>Harriet: Yeah. That’s interesting, so you organised it for your sixth form. How did your school respond to that? </p>
<p>Abel: With - I was going to say two faces, but probably more than two faces - I don’t think anyone felt any real support. I would, it would definitely be true to say we got the support of individual teachers, definitely I think gave help where they could. But I guess the school as an institution was very much don’t go, you will be punished if you go. That’s what they told the students, what they told the press was, “oh, we won’t punish anyone, we’re supportive of students thinking about climate change” and then literally at the same time there was kids sitting in isolation in detention for being part of the protest.</p>
<p>Harriet: So one of the demands of the youth climate strikes was about teaching the future. Did you learn about climate change at school, and if so do you think it prepared you and your peers for tackling climate change, coping with an uncertain future, creating futures that you want, and potentially pursuing green jobs, if indeed that is something that you would be interested in doing?</p>
<p>Abel: I mean, I was taught about climate change to the extent of like almost the scientific equation of more greenhouse gases in the air, it means the world heats up. And I guess maybe we talked about the fact that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increasing, but like it’s quite detached from what’s actually happening and the points at which, like, our lives interact with it.</p>
<p>It’s a very de-politicised version of climate change as well. So like it never went in to the things that make climate change happen who’s controlling the levers of climate change and who’s feeling the impacts of it. </p>
<p>Harriet: Thanks, that’s really interesting. Has how you think and talk about climate change changed over time and has your approach to activism changed at all, sort of the activities that you’ve been involved in? </p>
<p>Abel: We keep learning about the struggles that people have been fighting against climate change for a long time. People who’ve been kicked off their land for generations, people who’ve had water shortages. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from around the world. </p>
<p>Harriet: Yeah. That actually links to something I’ve found quite a lot in my research where I’ve kind of found that initially a catalyst and talking point for a young climate activist is around inter-generational justice with messaging like “it’s our future, so we deserve a voice”, and “how old are you going to be in 2050” - asking older generations that. And over time, I’ve seen quite a lot of young climate activists sort of move away from that type of advocacy after hearing stories from people.</p>
<p>And I’ve seen some young people start to feel a bit ashamed of their sort of relatively privileged position in the movement and stop talking about youth as a consequence and stop talking about future and just talking about the need to support global south countries and other vulnerable social groups like Indigenous peoples and women. And I wonder if that’s something that you’ve seen happen or have felt yourself, the more that you’ve interacted with people, the more that it’s become harder to, I don’t know, maybe keep up some of the narrative that the youth climate movement started with. </p>
<p>Abel: Yeah, it’s really interesting that’s come out in your research, that’s important. I am like a little bit wary of people can kind of bounce to the other extreme and say, kind of almost absolve themselves of any responsibility and say, because we’re privileged there’s nothing for us to do all we can do is support other people elsewhere. The conclusion is to stand on the sidelines and cheer on other people. And I think that’s definitely no answer either. There’s like people in the older generation who’ve been fighting, fighting, fighting really hard. And even whether that’s for hundreds of years or even in the last ten, 20 years, absolutely if we don’t take on the lessons from what they’ve learned and we’re not starting a fresh. </p>
<p>The generational divide is quite a simple one say “oh, well you old people messed it up and now it’s young people dealing with it”. I have no doubt there’s, unfortunately, there’s a lot of young people who will continue the same mistakes and abuses that older generations did. Why would we want to organise by ourselves? Maybe have some spaces, but I dunno if you’ve seen spaces that young people can kind of exist without any guidance or support for older groups. Is it a thing that we’re trying to be quite like youth separatists?</p>
<p>Harriet: Not separatists, no, there are quite a lot of youth groups that are entirely youth led and are very keen that their advocacy and campaigning is all decided by young people rather than by other groups that are very keen to show solidarity with other groups. For me, having a youth voice on climate change though it’s more than just having young people represent and repeat the messages of scientists or NGOs, but in a more enthusiastic or creative or radical way. Cause we know that climate change doesn’t affect everyone equally and that members of the same local communities, even in the same geographical communities can have quite different experiences, including women and girls, people living in poverty, people of colour, people with disabilities, et cetera.</p>
<p>And what I find is that what’s often overlooked is that youth intersects with all of those groups and then that produces unique challenges. So, for example, I’ve just been doing some research with young people in South Asia and there was some interesting findings around transgender youth in Pakistan that were vulnerable in a way that wasn’t really getting picked up. Or school kids in Yorkshire that their school closed because of flooding and they had to travel 45 minutes to a different school and then got bullied because they were a different school and they didn’t know anyone. And obviously there’s different levels of vulnerability there between the two examples, but there are things that young people experience in communities experiencing climate impacts, that older people in those communities don’t experience and that those issues aren’t really very well-represented in decision making processes. </p>
<p>And it’s something that to my mind, the youth climate movement isn’t so good at, of identifying their unique vulnerabilities, needs and perspectives and communicating them so that youth are seen as having something different to say and it’s really valuable. So I’d like to see the youth climate movement doing a bit more to share specific stories of how young people in impacted communities around the world are experiencing climate impacts so that their needs can be factored in in processes that are designing adaptation and mitigation projects and in making investments as well. Yeah, I wonder if, if you agree with that and how young activists kind of navigate that, and if there’s a need for more support to build young people’s capacity to then identify and share their unique lived experiences as young people?</p>
<p>Abel: I think it’s really interesting, it kind of opens up, it’s become a perennial question about identity politics, about, like, how that fits in with other analyses, I think. Cause I agree with what you’re saying about the specific experiences young people have and like that is definitely a unique contribution, but I guess I’m kind of wary of that just sort of being relayed as, like, another one ticking the box of another inequality and saying, “oh, we’ve had these voices heard”. But I don’t think young people’s voices on executive boards or in shareholders planning meetings, I don’t think like the presence of young people’s voices is really gonna, is that necessarily crucial? And young people is probably one of the social groups that has one of the widest experiences of climate change, I think. Well, from those who live lives of privilege because of profiting off fossil fuels or whatever through like family ties, to all scales of like intersecting oppressions.</p>
<p>Harriet: That’s something that I’ve found in my research actually that I think is really valuable, that youth climate activists don’t necessarily fit a particular mold. They’re much more open to trying different approaches. One day they might be, you know, put on the suit jacket and be talking to politicians, and the next day they’ve got their t-shirt on and they’re in a strike. And it’s very much more about being exposed to and engaging with a much wider variety or spectrum of views and thinking about finding their own role that fits within that and how they want to contribute but while still supporting others that are trying to essentially achieve the same outcome, but may be pursuing different ways of doing that.</p>
<p>I found that quite different to older activist groups who tend to have a sort of corporate or organisational identity, of “this is the way that we dress and speak and interact and present ourselves”. It’s something that I find quite refreshing about the youth climate activist movement, that it is a little bit more open-minded, I guess. But I wonder, is there anything that you think youth activists can add to the climate movement that older adults can’t?</p>
<p>Abel: I think what you just described in like, not conforming to that kind of like corporate activism is really important. I think yeah more mobile, more like willing to go out and in these like more, sometimes more confrontational and more challenging actions. I heard some describe it as like youth climate strikers wanna knock the door down and charge through before they know what’s on the other side of it. Because they realised the door still needs to be knocked down and that we don’t know quite what we’re heading for, but until we start going for it and like that’s the process by which we work out where to go is just by getting on with it.</p>
<p>Harriet: Well I do see actually that sometimes it’s a little bit easily dismissed by older generations who say, “Oh, I thought that when I was your age, and then I grew up and became more realistic”, which I find a little bit infuriating because it’s, it’s not about, for me, it’s not about as you get older, you sort of conform to the status quo. When we are all in agreement that the status quo is unworkable and that it can’t continue and that it needs to change because we need emissions to peak and decline now. So I think it’s an interesting rhetoric that people use in response to young people.</p>
<p>I wonder one of the things I’ve come across in my research is kind of a loss of momentum over time as young activists either burnout through frustration or kind of age out of feeling that they can speak for youth or move on and get other jobs, and then are a little bit more tied by having to tow the line of whoever they’re working for. Have you seen any of those issues in the group that you’ve been working with?</p>
<p>Abel: Yeah, definitely. It has been hard. I mean the dropping of the pandemic definitely didn’t help the school strike movement, but I agree that it was dwindling before the pandemic hit as well. I think that was just like the two at the same time made it really difficult. Maybe people could be discouraged by that feeling of like, should we put all this energy into it, we did all this stuff and then like what happened, kind of thing?</p>
<p>And again it comes back I think to sort of being aware of the history of struggle and realise that although the school strikes themselves are quite a new thing, campaigning and protesting and taking action about climate change is not a new thing. People have been trying a long, hard for a long time, so we’re not going to solve it overnight either. Then again, it can’t just be sort of solved by mindless action. There needs to be a good bit of reflection as well in there. </p>
<p>I’ve seen some quite good critiques of the idea of activists, being someone who just always acts and like doesn’t really think about what the action is doing. Instead, have have the action, but yeah, reflection as well, and think about tactics. And then I guess that’s not maybe as fun or exciting as going on the street and dancing and music and shouting. That builds more slowly and I think going on the street and protesting is a really good way to start that. </p>
<p>Harriet: Yeah, I’ve seen some research on that from a guy called Mark Hudson in Manchester, who says if all you have is a hammer, you see every problem as a nail, which is like, if all you do as a group is have protests, then you just do that for every problem, but some problems, you know, protest isn’t necessarily the right approach and thinking about how to apply the right tool for the right opportunity. Which I think is something that, as we said before, we’ve seen that, with youth activists not conforming as much and thinking about, strategically, what is the right approach?</p>
<p>Jack: Listening to Harriet and Abel reminded me of how diverse the youth climate movement is, and how it benefits from looking outwards to related struggles all around the world.</p>
<p>Many young activists are disillusioned with the lack of progress on emissions since students first walked out of lessons a year and a half ago. What other options are there for young people to force action on climate change? We spoke with another researcher to find out.</p>
<p>Lynda Dunlop: I’m Lynda Dunlop. I’m a senior lecturer in Science Education at the University of York where I teach and do research mainly in science and environmental education.</p>
<p>Jack: For Lynda’s recent research, she spoke to young people affected by fracking – that’s a process of extracting gas. To do it, people inject water, sand and chemicals into rock to create fractures that the gas can flow through. The teens Lynda spoke to lived in England and Northern Ireland and they lived in places where fracking was happening or where companies were looking to start fracking. </p>
<p>Lynda: So they were all aged between 15 to 19, and they were concerned about, fracking in their local community, but also on the impacts of fossil fuel extraction on the climate. So we were asking them about fracking, but also about their responses to protest.</p>
<p>One of the kinds of things that we find surprising was a preference for other forms of political participation. So, a preference for things like lobbying, making legal challenges, signing petitions, writing to MPs, those sorts of methods of protesting or being active.</p>
<p>Jack: So, what are the drawbacks of protesting, exactly?</p>
<p>Lynda: Well, for the young people we spoke to, it was mainly around disruption and the fact that affects the communities that are also affected by the fracking, by the thing that they are objecting to. It doesn’t always reach the decision-makers who can actually listen to them and do something as a result.</p>
<p>So the sorts of things that they talked about were holding up, holding up barriers, in streets, outside access along the roads, outside entrance to the site, those sorts of things.</p>
<p>And, I guess whilst they saw that it raised awareness and it got media attention, often the media attention was about the protest or aspects of the protest rather than on the issue, which then kind of can cause division within their communities.</p>
<p>Jack: So what are the sort of perceived benefits of those other methods of activism? I suppose, the letter writing and petitions that you described earlier.</p>
<p>Lynda: The sorts of actions that they preferred they saw as being able to reach decision-makers directly. Being able to communicate with the people with responsibility, being able to connect with larger networks and groups – so for example, when they were talking about social media activism – connecting with other people with similar interests seemed to be quite important to them.
And probably most importantly control over the message. So the message in the media was often about the protest, whereas they felt by using other methods, using their own voice, they’re able to say precisely what the issue was.</p>
<p>Jack: Did you get a sense from them that they saw any limits within those tactics as well?</p>
<p>Lynda: Effectiveness really, I think. So I’d say that was kind of the, the key message overall is kind of a frustration with formal ways of participating, so a feeling of not being listened to and really seeing protest as an action of last resort when legal processes fail, when politicians don’t listen, when companies don’t listen.</p>
<p>Jack: I mean, I’m actually really struck by your research because usually whenever there’s sort of a big demonstration, you know, whether it’s this thing on the M25 where activists have been blocking roads and stuff like that, the government’s usual response is to say that the protests themselves are reckless and counterproductive and all these kinds of things, and it seems as if the young people you spoke to kind of accepted that and were sort of sympathetic to that view. And even going through the channels that, you know, that are sort of considered legitimate, like speaking to MPs and stuff, they still found that their kind of desires were frustrated, even though they were doing the things that were kind of supposed to be a proper way of airing your views on something, I suppose.</p>
<p>Lynda: Yeah, I think that was one of the interesting things, I suppose, about the research is just how well-informed they were, they respected the processes and they wanted the processes to work. And it was really that frustration that they didn’t work, regardless of whether they were taking part in protest or not: they did want political processes to work. </p>
<p>Jack: That’s, I think that’s, it’s just very sad isn’t it really. But I think that’s a very good point you make. The last thing I wanted to ask is that do you think that young people are more limited in the tactics they can employ when it comes to trying to effect change?</p>
<p>Lynda: Well, yeah, I mean, I guess most of the participants that we spoke to couldn’t vote, below voting age, and they tend not to be the ones in the house that are kind of making those decisions about which energy provider and maybe not paying their energy bills. They were also living in more rural areas where they felt that maybe they weren’t listened to as much as if they were in an urban area.</p>
<p>And they also tend to be in education all day. They’ve got lots of things going on, and I think maybe that’s one of the key things that I’d say is, for decision-makers, if you go into a school where you’re speaking to a broad section of young people from different areas, they’re really well-informed about the issues, about how to take part. And I think a lot could be learned from listening to people in those schools and colleges. </p>
<p>Jack: It’s fair to say that young climate activists are used to being disappointed by those in power. </p>
<p>But I don’t think world leaders will be able to ignore them forever. The movement is grounded in communities all over the world and activists like Abel aren’t giving up, but are instead learning more about the climate crisis and how it relates to other struggles. Strikes have resumed in some places and young people are trying different strategies. </p>
<p>Watching how the youth climate movement has evolved over the past few years, it may just be getting started.</p>
<p>Jack: If you’re listening to this episode when it first comes out, COP26 is about to start in Glasgow. I’ll be there and have an episode coming out right after.
In that episode we won’t just tell you what was agreed at COP, we’ll tell you how, taking you behind all the factors that can make or break an international climate negotiation. See you for episode five. </p>
<p>Jack: Thanks to everybody who spoke to us for this episode.</p>
<p>The Anthill is produced by The Conversation in London. The Anthill is produced by The Conversation in London. You can get in touch with us on on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. And you can also sign up for our free daily email by clicking the <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">link in the show notes</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re enjoying the series, please follow the show, and leave a rating or review wherever podcast apps allow you to. Please tell your friends and family about the show too. </p>
<p>Climate fight, the world’s biggest negotiation is produced for The Conversation by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and the series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. Our editor is Gemma Ware and production help comes from Holly Stevens. Thanks also go to Will de Freitas, Stephen Harris, Jo Adetunji, Chris Waiting, Katie Francis, Khalil Cassimally, Alice Mason and Zoe Jazz at The Conversation. To James Harper and his team at UKRI. And to Imriel Morgan and Sharai White for helping us to promote the series. I’m Jack Marley. Thanks for listening. </p>
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<p><em>Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by <a href="https://www.ukri.org/">UK Research and Innovation</a>, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.</em> </p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Conversation has received support from UK Research and Innovation to make the Climate Fight podcast series. Harriet Thew is a recipient of the UKRI-funded COP26 fellowship. Lynda Dunlop receives grant funding from the British Educational Research Association and from the The University of York Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account. </span></em></p>This is a transcript of part 4 of Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation, a series from The Anthill podcast.Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor and Host of the Climate Fight podcast series, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.