Week 14 Reflections

Climate Justice, Digital Activism, and Gender, Prof. Frances Roberts-Gregory
By Cormac Madden, 4/18/2019

This week's readings focused on digital activism, a medium that is often associated with youth activists and youth support, and on youth (particularly youth of color) who are championing environmental causes. Kidd and McIntosh (2016) present three viewpoints on digital activism: techno-optimism, techno-pessimism, and techno-ambivalence. The authors take the stance of techno-ambivalence, arguing that claims that social media will redefine activism for the better are premature and ignore the fact that social media exists within our established capitalist frameworks. Meanwhile, they argue that techno-pessimists are stubborn in not realizing the both the realities and potentials of a digitalized world. An example of a techno-pessimistic argument can be found in Tsukayama (2016), which argues that digital movements are less effective due to their inability to create one, unified message and the lack of structure that they have. In a similar vein, Schradie (2014) argues for the need for organization and structure in online organizations, arguing against horizontal and leaderless structures.  And Hestres (2015) looks at the use of social media in climate activism, drawing a distinction between legacy organizations and internet-mediated climate organizations. Hestres finds that, while both groups use similar digital tools, they deploy them in different ways.

         An example of one such internet-mediated organization is Zero Hour, which is profiled in Yoon-Hendricks (2018). The teen-led, internet-coordinated movement of youth of color came together to lead a march in Washington, though they seem to be taking the messages of a need for structure and long-term planning to heart, saying that the march is a “launch,” not the endpoint. Nzanga (2018) offers another profile of the group, focusing on their specific plans and policy stances, including voter education and a shift to renewable energy. Meanwhile, Gray (2017) covers a different group, UPROSE, which is focusing on educating and organizing youth of color about climate change and how to solve it through occasional summits, which inform about topics such as urban gardening and climate refugees. Finally, O’Brien et al. (2018) categorize youth climate change movements, identifying youth dissent as either dutiful, disruptive or dangerous, based upon how youth activists work within or against established power structures.

         In terms of how I interact with the digital world, I am not normal for my age group. I avoid social media and I try to spend at least one month each year without a phone. With that said, I still certainly live and think within a framework of social media, as I have never truly known a reality without it. While recent new has  highlighted issues with social media platforms such as Facebook, we always seem to contribute these problems to one specific platform, rather than the entity of social media itself. This week was the first time that I truly considered what it would look like to exist (and organize) completely outside of a digital framework, which is a strategy that I would have thought impossible prior to this week's readings. In the end, I think I align most with the techno-ambivalent stance detailed in Kidd and McIntosh (2016), as while I agree that a completely digital movement has the downside of existing within techno-capitalist frameworks, I also feel that social media presents a unique opportunity to curry support across huge geographic and social divides. I feel that the youth movements detailed in this week's readings will be able to harness their digital support into action in the real world if they also incorporate the strategies and lessons of established social organizing practices. 

Key Terms 
Dangerous dissent: As defined in O'Brien et al. (2018), youth climate dissent that threatens established structures of power, such as extractive capitalism, and whose success presents a danger to these structures.
Techno-optimism: The belief that new technologies will radically redefine established social problems and inequalities.
Zero Hour: Climate activism organization led by youth of color that organized a March on Washington. 

References
Gray, Jenna. 2017. "These Youth of Color are organizing to address climate change." PBS. 
Hestress, Luis E. 2015. "Climate change advocacy online: theories of change, target audiences, and online strategy." Environmental Politics 24(2): 193-211
Kidd, Dustin, and Keith McIntosh. 2016. "Social Media and Social Movements. Sociology Compass 10(9): 785-794.
Nzanga, Merdie. 2018. "Meet young activists of color who want to combat climate change and save the planet." USA Today. 
O'Brien, Karen, Elin Selboe and Bronwyn M. Hayward. 2018. "Exploring youth activism on climate change: dutiful, disruptive and dangerous dissent." Ecology and Society 23(3): 42.
Schradie, Jen. 2014. "Bringing the Organization Back In: Social Media and Social Movements." Berkeley Journal of Sociology.
Tsukayama, Hayley. 2017. "It takes more than social media to make a social movement." The Washington Post. 
Yoon-Hendricks. 2018. "Meet the Teenagers Leading a Climate Movement." The New York Times.