Sunrise Movement

• It’s easy to get caught up in the myths about climate activism, particularly in today’s polarized political environment.
• So, let’s take a moment to explore the truth about three of the big myths being told about climate activism and the climate movement today.

Myth 1: Climate activists are just young people

• The media tends to focus most of its attention on young people in the climate movement, including those inspired by Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate, the international Fridays for Future, or the Sunrise Movement, which focuses on U.S. climate action.
• As my research has found, these more mature activists cut their teeth in the civil rights and anti-war movements, along with earlier waves of the environmental movement.

• Over the past 25 years, I have surveyed numerous waves of activists participating in demonstrations and protests to understand who they are and what motivates them to participate in activism.
• My new book, “Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action,” brings these findings together to understand how the climate movement has evolved along with the climate crisis.

Myth 2: Climate activists mostly do things like throw soup and disrupt events

While the activists engaging in civil disobedience, such as throwing soup on famous paintings or disrupting sports events, get the lion’s share of the media attention, the climate movement includes a wide spectrum of environmentally concerned activists using a broad range of tactics. Activists are actively working to get climate-concerned candidates elected, pressure corporations to cut their emissions, encourage schools and municipalities to transition to electric buses, and make front-line communities more resilient to climate shocks, among many other efforts to slow climate change.

• Many activists are involved with established organizations, such as 350.org, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
• Their numbers – EDF alone claims 3 million supporters – and financial strength can give them a powerful voice.

Myth 3: Confrontational climate activism doesn’t work

• These confrontational actions are not generally popular, but neither were the radical tactics of earlier social movements.
• Nonviolent civil disobedience in the climate movement also plays an important role in keeping climate change in the media and on people’s minds.
• In fact, there is reason to believe that confrontational acts can help mobilize sympathizers to support more moderate efforts of the climate movement.
• But that isn’t stopping climate activists, who, like the rest of the world, are experiencing climate change and feel a responsibility to speak out.

Dana R. Fisher receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.