We’ve seen a ton of activism over the past few years. From inspirational Black Lives Matter protests to powerful March For Our Lives rallies, activism has been a major character on the news and internet. One area that’s been gaining lots of media attention has been climate activism, and some forms are better than others.
The rapidly approaching climate crisis is a well-known idea for most people, and many have taken to spreading the word to save our planet before it’s too late. The United Nations Environmental Programme has acknowledged this issue, stating, “Climate change is real and human activities are the main cause.”
Nations across the world have been making efforts to reduce harm to our planet in many ways. The European Union banned single-use plastics in 2019, a huge step towards eliminating a small thing that creates a major negative effect on our planet. The United States has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030, reach 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, and achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050; all major steps toward cleaning the atmosphere.
Gen Z has been at the forefront of combating climate change, trying to fix the mistakes generations before us made when damaging the Earth. Gen Z activist Greta Thunberg is one of the most recognizable activists in the world on this issue, organizing massive movements towards combating climate change. Thunberg was even named Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2019 for those efforts.
Other groups such as the Sunrise Movement and The Last Generation have been making strides towards helping the climate and our Earth, lobbying in Congress, organizing protests and walk-outs, and raising awareness on social media for the future of our planet.
While groups and individuals have been doing an amazing job at saving our planet and are widely acknowledged for doing such, others have been getting quite a bit of criticism for their “interesting” take on climate activism.
Most people saw the case of individuals throwing soup at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, but don’t know that this was actually a form of climate activism. The individuals in this instance were part of a French organization called Riposte Alimentaire, which translates to Food Response, and did this to raise awareness for the damage the climate crisis is doing to the agriculture industry in France.
Similar groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion are known for these seemingly outrageous acts of protest, which have been in the eye of the media for years. A group in Germany cemented their hands to a runway at Hamburg Airport in Germany in 2023, canceling or diverting flights while authorities removed them from the runway. Doctors said they were all lucky not to need any amputations.
Just a few months ago, members of Just Stop Oil blocked a road in London, England, leaving traffic at a standstill and even blocking an ambulance trying to get a patient to the hospital in a life-or-death situation. The paramedic even got out to plead with the protestors to let the ambulance through to no avail.
Protests such as these have overshadowed the work that other groups with truly good intentions and means of protest, as the media would much rather report on what is scandalous than what is good. In almost every instance, these protestors are arrested for their efforts and not given much sympathy from international governments.
These protests are expected to have an impact on upcoming elections across the world. Climate change has become a hot-button issue in many political spheres. Some candidates are centering their whole campaigns around saving the environment and stopping the climate crisis. Actions taken by these protestors can negatively affect them, leading to an advantage for candidates who do not care as much or at all about these issues.
Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom both have highly important elections at the end of 2024, and climate change issues are already being seen in campaign materials, speeches, and debates. Negative actions around the climate movement may lead to the downfall in the polls of candidates wanting to create real changes.
This climate crisis is becoming very real, very fast, and it’s up to us to determine how we are going to prevent it. That comes down to our forms of activism and how they are received.
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