Climate Activism

The threat of climate change has mobilized social movements all over the world, bringing together activists associated with the anti-capitalist and global environmental justice movements. The UK has had a long history of social and environmental activism and is now home to a radical grassroots movement campaigning on climate change. The two prominent networks, Camp for Climate action and Rising Tide, are advocating for a radical system-wide changes in order to avoid the climate disaster. By taking direct action, organizing around the principles of consensus and non-hierarchy, these networks are demonstrating alternative ways of low impact living and self-organizing. This project will look at how radical grassroots networks in the UK construct the discourse of an alternative vision of society and consider the implications of this new vision with regards to the wider neoliberal discourse in the environmental agenda. The project will involve participant observation within Camp for Climate Action and Rising Tide networks, in-depth interviews with activists and an extensive document analysis.

Action Researcher: Yulia Barabanova