Literature Review

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Goals (SDGs). Since then, there has been an upsurge in research on environmental activism and, with it, a general interest in this issue by people, businesses, and governments. However, much of the research has focused on the situation in Europe and the North America from an economic perspective. In this context, the anthology Religious Environmental Activism in Asia: Case Studies in Spiritual Ecology is unique in two ways: 1) its focus on Asia; and 2) its focus on religion.

This study examines how eco-conscious citizens in urban China negotiate and practice citizenship in the everyday in response to the environmental and climate crises. Drawing on 45 in-depth interviews with participants in a ‘zero waste’ community and virtual observation, I explore how individuals articulate duties and rights, and act to claim their roles as green citizens. I argue that the changing socio-political conditions in China give rise to a particular type of green citizenship that is active, dutiful, pragmatic, and at the same time, gendered and classed. Motivated by a strong sense of duty toward nature and future generations, green citizens set realistic goals, commit to practicing sustainable consumption and building green families and communities. This form of citizenship, however, does not seek the expansion of rights and the enlargement of space for activism. This study offers fresh insights into research on citizenship, sustainable consumption and environmental activism in China.

Climate activists have pursued a wide range of disobedient protest tactics in response to the threat of global climate change and to what they see as the failure of world governments to ade- quately address the problem. Consider, for instance:

This study extends the historical record of faith/spirituality-inspired social activism, an under-explored area of advocacy, by examining such campaigning for environmental and animal rights and the worldview and model of public relations that guide such efforts. A combination of qualitative methods was used to obtain data on public relations as conceptualized and practiced including a textual analysis of historical material and institutional media. Throughout history faith/spirituality has inspired Indigenous peoples, governments, and individuals to advocate for environmental and animal rights, playing a central role in the formation and practice of a worldview, caritas, embracing an approach to relationship-building – covenantal stewardship – that guides behavior in a pro-social manner toward an inclusive set of “publics” – humans living, unborn, and ancestral, animals, and the natural world as well as alternative views of public relations. Moreover, individuals of faith/spirituality have created NGOs to institutionalize such activism. The influence of faith/spirituality upon environmental and animal rights activism points toward a re-thinking of the nature of public relations and its “publics” given emerging sensitivities to the principles of inclusion necessary for the harmonious functioning of society and requires a new definition, worldview, and model of practice.

We observe short-term market reactions to S&P100 index constituents around two subsequent events involving Engine No. 1 – an environment activist investment firm: first, they won board seats at ExxonMobil (the top non-renewable energy producer) on May 26, 2021; and second, on June 2, 2021, they announced their plan to float Transform-500-ETF (an ETF targeting to ensure green corporate policies) in the market. We find that the market reacts significantly positively towards the stocks of the firms with more serious environmental (and emission) concerns around each of these two events. Overall, our findings suggest that a positive move by the environment activist shareholders results in an incremental favorable equity market reaction benefitting the polluting firms. Drawing upon stakeholder, efficient market, and prospect theory, we posit that this reaction may be a product of market anticipation of a future reduction in environmental (and emission) concerns following the involvement of green investors.

Climate change is a reality that can no longer be ignored, so much so that combating climate change and its impact is one of the main goals of the UN Agenda 2030. Youths, albeit the main victims of climate change, are often excluded from decision-making processes on sustainable actions. More and more young people are joining collective pro-environmental movements, raising their voices against the current inadequate sustainable policies and claiming to be the main actors of change. However, pro-environmental collective actions are often judged negatively by public opinion, diminishing their effectiveness and potentially impacting youth participation. In light of this, it is critical to understand the individual, contextual and relational aspects that lead young people to engage with these movements. The present study aimed to systematically review the existing literature on factors that might promote youth participation in pro-environmental movements. According to the PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a literature search of three databases (PsycINFO, ProQuest, and SCOPUS). Moreover, we deepened our research by focusing on two relevant theoretical models on collective actions, the Social Identity Model of Collective Action and the Social Identity Model of Pro-Environmental Action. After the screening and the eligibility phases, 11 articles (12 studies) were included. Most of the selected studies adopted a cross-sectional quantitative design. The results revealed individual and relational factors involved in promoting youths’ involvement in pro-environmental movements. To the aim of deepening young people’s pro-environmental activism, findings highlighted the need to consider personal and social drivers together. Limitations of the study, future directions, and practical implications are discussed.

This Article delves into the intersection of art and environmental activism, with a focus on the impact of climate change. Cortada, both an artist and trained attorney, re-counts his three-decade journey leveraging art to inspire community engagement and address social and environmental challenges. He explains how Antarctic researchers made him aware of South Florida's vulnerability to sea level rise, leading to the development of interactive art projects that foster civic engagement and climate advocacy. The Article also addresses the challenges posed by climate denial and misinformation, emphasizing the need for creative strategies to combat these issues. Cortada introduces specific participatory art initiatives he has crafted to visualize South Florida’s vulnerability to rising seas and to ignite dialogue and action on climate change. He details a range of projects, including The Underwater, Underwater HOA, Elevation Drive, Underwater Vote, and HELLO, which all effectively employ art to render climate change a personal and pressing matter for communities. This law review Article is an innovation in and of itself, serving simultaneously as an exhibition of “Underwater Florida,” a performative artwork Cortada created in 2022 to document the fraught state of coastal cities along the Florida peninsula. It showcases images of yard signs that the artist placed in front of 54 Florida city halls to mark their respective elevations, thereby recording this moment in the state's history and sharing information with its residents to encourage policymakers to prepare for a future with rising seas. In mapping elevations along Florida's coastline to underscore the threat of sea level rise, Cortada acts as a sentinel, witness, neighbor, informant, educator, science communicator, and advocate, and as a figurative bridge between the potential victims of tomorrow and today's contributors to climate harm. The inclusion of “Underwater Florida” in the law review Article exemplifies the innovative format, which transcends traditional academic boundaries to captivate its audience. This symbiotic relationship between art and academic discourse is a testament to their combined strength in conveying urgent messages about climate action. Cortada's efforts extend to transforming public spaces into platforms for climate storytelling and fostering interdisciplinary engagement in regional governments, demonstrating art's potency in stimulating public discourse and prompting action on climate change. The Article concludes by reinforcing the essential role of art in fostering a culture of care and activism, crucial for preserving our planet and its inhabitants in the face of a climate crisis.

This article discusses activist perceptions of the beneficial potentialities of new media for environmental campaigning as investigated in Australia, due to its high level of environmental activism and Internet usage. Drawing upon literature on communication theory, environmental politics, digital activism, and social movement theory, this study explores new media use for activism in two large Australia-wide environmental campaigns: contestation of old-growth forest logging and unconventional gas mining (fracking) development. From March to May 2017, 34 environmental activists involved in these campaigns were interviewed for this study. They shared their opinions on what it meant for them to use new media, the difficulties they encountered, but also the beneficial potentialities they identified in using these media for their activism. The study findings show that new media built significantly on more ‘traditional’ forms of activism, including stalls and non-violent street demonstrations, but also enabled extended activist outreach, enhanced engagement with supporters, and boosted campaign mobilisation. As such, despite an array of quite challenging limitations they also referred to, and to which they responded strategically, Australian environmental activists found new media highly beneficial to their activism.

Romanian environmental activists have been subjected to violent attacks for protecting their forests from illegal logging. This article traces the drivers of this conflict, revealing complex relationships between corrupted institutions, economic dependence, and cultural beliefs entrenched in Romania’s religion and recent history. Examining the drivers of environmental conflict in new democracies and new EU members – like Romania – may help reveal weaknesses and opportunities in EU structures in the context of nature conservation and environmental protection.

Grassroots activism can challenge consolidated power structures in relation to the production and transformation of urban spaces, that is, their direct social actions build social alternatives that can reshape the way we live in our cities. In this chapter, using the recent literature on emotions and protest, first, I show the role of emotions and values in the mobilization and strategy processes and in their practices. Secondly, using the prefigurative politics framework, I explore how everyday life activism and resistance are drawing an alternative future in the present. In conclusion, the framework that I propose can allow us to overcome the structural emphasis of both contentious politics and critical political economy approaches in urban social movements studies. I use the latest research findings about urban environmental activism, urban food activism and mutual aid activism during the Covid-19 pandemic in Latin America.

In the last couple of years, we have seen more frequent extreme weather phenomena haunt the globe. When extreme heat, wildfires, extreme rainfall, and hailstorms are repeated in the news, the warnings of climate change to come, quickly shift to a catastrophe that is already here. Håkan Thörn’s and Carl Cassegård’s book Post-Apocalyptic Environmentalism is a timely contribution to the understanding of how the environmental movement(s) have developed along with the development of the environmental issues, why they have failed, and how contemporary post-apocalyptic narratives still provide space for action despite living the catastrophe.

A key finding of recent scholarship on political violence is that environmentalists rarely, if ever, use lethal violence. Many scholars have argued that “ecoterrorism” is a misnomer for what is more accurately termed “ecotage.” Large-n studies of environmental activism have identified only one apparent example of an environmentally motivated terrorist: the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. The Unabomber case is therefore a “crucial case” for evaluating the Peaceful Environmentalist Thesis—the generalization that environmentalists do not use lethal violence. Pioneering a forensic method of ideology analysis, this article uses previously unexamined archival material to assess the Unabomber’s affinities with three environmental ideologies: radical environmentalism, green anarchism, and right-wing ecologism. It shows that the Unabomber’s ideology is not environmentalist in intellectual origins or in conceptual structure, and that his motivations were anti-technological rather than pro-ecological. The Unabomber case demonstrates how ideology analysis can complement and strengthen research on political violence.