[This feature about mobilization techniques was created as an assignment in my journalism course. It is geared towards a reader new to community organizing and environmental justice.]
Student activists in Eco Vista in Isla Vista are a prime example of the
radical action needed locally and globally to forestall climate change
disaster by 2050, says John Foran, professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara.
Young people’s awareness about the climate crisis that features
rising temperatures and sea levels increases anxiety and hopelessness
about the world’s future state.
But they are organizing and addressing these negative emotions to
connect to the momentous global climate justice movement. This
movement mobilizes passionate individuals fighting for systemic change,
creating a sustainable environment for the present and future generations.
Foran encourages such individuals to promote sustainability in their
local community of Isla Vista and inspire others to join the movement.
“That’s where you emotionally, personally, and experientially connect to
this larger movement, this abstract thing called the global climate justice
movement,” Foran said.
These connections coordinate and empower dedicated individuals to
change the repressive status quo Foran says. He researches today’s global
climate justice movement and says despite its nonviolence, this movement
still makes radical societal changes because it follows the trajectory of past
revolutions from the 20th and early 21st centuries.
“These movements are based on consensus, collaborative, deeply democratic
processes. And when you do that genuinely, more ideas emerge,” Foran said.
He articulated this in a 2017 article that said social movements create political
cultures of opposition and creation, meaning individuals share social grievances
such as inequality, which inspire their fight for a better society. His study of
revolutions in countries such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Iran showed him cultures
rely on individuals’ emotional experiences of repression and it is necessary to
connect them to organized groups fighting for change.
Eco Vista and the global climate justice movement show radical action
through activists’ bonds about climate injustices ranging from environmental
issues such as natural disasters to social issues, like the exploitation of labor
workers. “Crisis creates opportunity,” Foran said.
Activists discuss these climate change grievances and attempt transforming
today’s unjust society into a positive one through mobilization and organization.
and collaborative way, helping them develop ways to create a sustainable
movement that restructures the system that continues to deplete natural
resources and destroy civilization.
Their efforts to combat the climate crisis include reducing waste, decreasing
the carbon footprint and fighting food insecurity.
Like this local organization, people must band together in the global
climate justice movement to radically restructure the current system
destroying the world.
Activists, like sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg, spoke at the Sept. U.N.
Climate Action Summit in New York City about the urgency of addressing
climate change because the continued use of emissions will lead to extinction.
She said world leaders fail acting against climate change and “the eyes of all future generations” anticipate governmental action to beat the crisis.
Organizations like Extinction Rebellion and the Sunrise Movement mirror
this push for radical change because they emphasize collaboration and
horizontalism, meaning they build movements bottom-up by acknowledging
activists’ roles in creating systemic change Foran said. Activists join forces and
develop mobilizing strategies such as capturing the public’s attention through
protests about climate change.
But society’s dependence on capitalism, which uses earth’s natural resources
for profit stalls mass mobilization’s promotion of the global climate justice
movement. In a 2017 article Foran said capitalism negatively affects parts of
society including the economy, politics and culture. Corporations’ extraction
of fossil fuels and wealthy nations’ oil exports destroy the ecosystem and
perpetuate social inequalities, like exploitation, racism and income inequality.
Yet he makes the point the creation of alliances with progressive groups, such as
the Green Party, support of local agriculture to eliminate mass food production
and unity among social justice groups can push society towards a better future.
He remains hopeful because the young generation’s radical organizing skills and
alliances with other movements show resistance to climate change and capitalism
are part of the global climate justice movement.
“It’s not a single movement. It’s a network of movements, a movement of
movements,” Foran said.
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