Should you join a climate activist group or start working for the fossil industry?
A rundown of some research and insights about the role of climate activism in bringing about societal change.
Welcome back to Climate Psyched, the newsletter where we explore all things psychological, behavioral and emotional related to the climate and ecosystem crises.
Lately I’ve been listening a lot to my all time favorite artist Joni Mitchell, from her early albums from the late 60’s to her later ones released at the beginning of the new millennium. There’s something about returning to familiar tunes from the past, and listening to lyrics that bring comfort.
One of Joni Mitchell’s more famous songs, Big Yellow Taxi (released in 1970), is a critique of environmental destruction and urban expansion:
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot [..]
Hey farmer farmer, put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees, please.
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
I’ve been thinking about those words regularly as more and more things that we’ve been taking for granted in Sweden are dismantled by the current government. With increasing repression against peaceful climate activist, I wanted to focus today’s post specifically on the role of social movements and climate activism as an important part of a democratic society.
Situation
In a recent interview, Swedish climate minister Pourmokhtari said, in response to young climate activists having blocking the entrance to the parliament, that if climate activists really want to make a difference they should get jobs at brown companies and try and green them, influencing from the inside.
Stop protesting, start joining the fossil industry.
This comes at a time when more and more countries are imposing repressive measures towards climate activists. The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called for an urgent protection of climate activists. As regulated by the Aarhus convention, people have the right to access information and publicly participate in decision-making and have access to justice in environmental matters.
Practicing climate activism is a democratic right. And with many countries failing to meet its climate targets, it seems to also be fundamental in bringing about necessary change.
Explanation
What kind of climate activism works best? Activist’s dilemma and radical flanks.
In a recent pre-print (i.e. a publicly shared article that has not yet been peer-reviewed, but published to a pre-print server), researchers have analyzed how two German activist groups (Fridays for Future and Last Generation) are portrayed in the media. FFF generally performs non-disruptive actions, primarily demonstrations, while Last Generation engages in non-violent civil disobedience and disruptive actions such as blockades. The researchers found that media articles often fail to mention the motivation of the activists’ actions as well as solutions to handle the climate crisis. This was more common when portraying disruptive actions compared to non-disruptive actions, as was a negative portrayal of the activists. This was especially prominent in more right-wing papers. In short it seems that disruptive action generate more negative media coverage, especially from right-wing papers. On the other hand, the disruptive actions from Last Generation generated much more media coverage than did the non-disruptive actions from FFF.
This visualizes the Activist’s Dilemma: activist groups have to choose between performing non-disruptive actions that on one hand are seen as moral but on the other hand are more likely to be ignored, and disruptive actions that on the one hand are more likely to generate media attention and put the issue higher on the agenda, but on the other hand risk being seen as counterproductive as they generate more dislike towards the activists in the general public.
But here’s the twist: when researchers have done experiments or followed activist groups, they’ve seen that even if an action, and the activists performing it, are unpopular in the general public, it doesn’t seem like the support for the issue decreases. A case of « I agree with the cause, I just don’t like your methods, and I don’t particularly like you »
Social Change Lab in the UK has been following the activist group Just Stop Oil, and the effects of their disruptive actions on the public. They’ve looked at the public’s view of the climate crisis, their willingness to participate in environmental/climate activism, and their view on Just Stop Oil. These surveys were distributed in 2022, both before and after Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion carried out large disruptive actions in the UK.
The results showed that the disruptive actions didn’t decrease support for climate policies, but they did have a small, but statistically significant effect on the public’s willingness to participate in environmental activism. Rising from 8.7% in the pre measure, to 11.3% in the post measure, which in terms of actual number of British citizens equals 1.7 million people.
The largest increase was the proportion of people who were willing to participate in less disruptive actions. This effect - that the presence of disruptive actions increase the support for and willingness to participate in less radical activism - is called the radical flank effect. The radical flank effect means that the radical groups make the threshold lower to join less radical groups, increasing the chances of a larger mobilization of the general public. This shows that different forms of activism and activist groups interplay with each other in an ecosystem of climate action.
In her new book Saving Ourselves, researcher Dana R. Fisher, writes that it’s probable that the radical flank will keep growing as the climate crisis worsens, and as we keep experiencing that solutions and climate policies implemented by current institutions are inadequate. (On a side note it’s worth discussing whether more radical action in a worsening crisis actually is radical, or if it’s just radical in relation to a very insufficient status quo). She illustrates how there are two types of non-violent direct action: to elicit shock (e.g. throwing soup at the protecting glass of famous paintings) or to disrupt (e.g. a sit-in that blocks the entrance to a governmental building). Both of these types of actions are generally part of a larger campaign, and can rarely be evaluated is isolated events.
How do you know if an action will be successful or not?
The short answer is that you don’t. First of all it depends on what we mean by ‘successful’, which in turn depends on what the goals of the action are. Second, it’s usually hard to predict what an actual result of an isolated action will be. Third, and perhaps most importantly, climate activism - as any social movement - isn’t a one-hit-wonder, but rather a long, sometimes tedious, game that requires patience and resilience. For it to be successful there needs to be enough people engaged in enough different types of actions across a wide enough spectrum, with enough patience and resilience to endure and bounce back from setbacks.
As Fisher writes in Saving Ourselves: climate activism needs to be embedded in community, and nurture the social ties of friends and neighbors, it needs to capitalize on climate shocks and be present when consequences of the climate crisis become apparent, and it needs to cultivate resilience, preparing to deal with increasingly acute crisis parallell to continue the fight to get the world to phase out emissions and protect nature.
What we can say with certainty is that activism and social movements historically have played a pivotal role in many democracies in resisting societal injustices and bringing about change. Nothing points to it being less important in dealing with the climate crisis and that it would be better for climate activists to join the fossil industry to try and influence from the inside.
Action
We need a multitude of different climate actions and a plethora of climate activism methods. Within that plethora will be a place for each and everyone of us. It’s not an either/or, but an ecosystem of actions. We need the radical flank, but we also need the mass mobilization that follows the flank.
Do what you can to protect climate activists, vocally and publicly. A democracy that limits its citizens possibilities of publicly expressing their wish for societal is in risk of no longer being a democracy.
Remember that activism isn’t a popularity contest and that it’s possible for activists to be disliked and still be successful in bringing about change. Just recently the group Restore Wetlands (Återställ Våtmarker), one of the more disruptive climate groups in Sweden, could celebrate the announcement of the government will heavily increase the budget for restoring wetlands in Sweden.
Climate activism is a long game, and it needs to be sustainable not only for the planet, but also for the activists. In our work with supporting young activists we’ve developed a model that highlights four aspects that makes dealing with climate emotions and taking action more sustainable:
The three parts need to be balanced for many reasons, one important being that the climate crisis is a marathon, which we will have to deal with for years and years to come. When talking about dealing with our climate related emotions, we need to apply a long term perspective, which means that we can’t always be in action mode. The bowl of social support serves as a reminder that we’re not in this alone, and that most things become easier if we do them together, if we can offer as well as receive support to and from each other.
Agent alert!
Before wrapping this post up, we wanted to let you know that we’re in the very early process of writing a new book. 4,5 years ago our first book “Klimatpsykologi” (Climate psychology) was published in Sweden, and has since sold in several thousand copies and has been used in multiple organizations and study circles.
As this field is moving fast, new research is coming out, and we’re daily gathering more experiences as we’re out working, we feel the need to put together an updated book about how to facilitate large-scale behavior change, whilst nurturing resilience, using psychological knowledge and insights. This time in English, to be able to reach a wider audience.
Since we have a beautiful network of Climate Psyched subscribers across the globe, we wanted to see if any of you have contacts, names of agents or other tips that might be helpful for us in navigating the international world of book publishing. If you do, please leave a comment or send us an email at kontakt@klimatpsykologerna.se!
Tack för ännu ett intressant och viktigt nyhetsbrev!
Actually I have one meeting still before I have participated in 1,5 Klimatpsykologi circles :- )