The Power of Your Advocacy
How one click can help save the world
Over the last few decades, the ways in which we engage in collective action have completely transformed.
The rapid emergence of communication technologies and their constantly evolving impact has given social movements a platform to grow and spread, allowing our society the space to rally and impact national change.
In essence, widespread adoption of digital media has fueled broad changes in both collective action and digital advocacy, with Black Lives Matter and the murder of George Floyd showing how quickly movements can grow when the Internet is used to help people grow aware of injustices.
Accordingly, the climate change advocacy landscape now also accommodates the spread of digital technologies in its activism.
Individuals have much greater access to information that promotes awareness of the climate change crisis and what they can do to help stop it, in addition giving them a platform on which they can share this information with others.
Anybody with an account is capable of sharing news and resources, helping establish virtual communities dedicated to building a more sustainable future.
In fact, research has found that social media allows individuals to build connections, mobilize, and shape their own narratives.
Not only is this true, but more importantly, 25% of the participants in a Pew Research study admitted that they had become more involved in a given political issue after reading about it/discussing it on social media.
For the climate movement, this has symbolized a reduced role for traditional, brick-and-mortar organizations, significantly reducing the barriers of entry for activism and allowing the rise of youth-led grassroots movements.
This opportunity has ushered in the next generation of climate change activists, including TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year, Greta Thunberg.
The first wave of these newer organizations was led by the nonprofit 350.org, which was founded by a group of students at Vermont’s Middlebury College who used different tactics than older environmental groups, namely online tools, to encourage people to rally, reminiscent of how Thunberg prompted the 2019 global climate strikes by skipping school every Friday to protest outside of the Swedish Parliament.
This model of digital activism has led to reform as early as 2014 when Greenpeace released a YouTube video holding Lego accountable for their partnership with Shell, which was viewed by over 8 million people and led to the end of their multi-million, fifty year relationship with the oil company.
You can find more on this and other instances of effective digital activism in the video below.
And amid the coronavirus pandemic, digital activism and advocacy have been especially pertinent.
People are holding digital climate strikes, sending out tweetstorms, and translating information about climate change into other languages.
In addition, research also shows that online action is a gateway to offline activism as well.
A Georgetown University study found that people supporting causes on social media participated in more than twice as many supportive activities both on and offline as those who didn’t, twice as likely to volunteer their time, more than four times as likely to contact political representatives, and five times as likely to recruit others to sign petitions.
Furthermore, research suggests that this advocacy has the potential to ripple out into more influential change as it has forced leaders to consider the inclusion of climate change policies into domestic agendas more thoroughly, for example, the promises made by US President Joe Biden to tackle climate change, like the rejoining of the Paris Climate Accord.
This research also observes that these increasingly globalizing digital climate initiatives have helped spread low-carbon policy approaches and technologies around the world, and are stimulating a growing interest in innovative global solutions.
Moreover, the spread of awareness that comes with the information shared on the Internet regarding climate change has offered many a great opportunity for self-reflection and self-discovery, allowing them access to education on how they can change their own lifestyles to live more sustainably, whether it be eating less meat or using LED lightbulbs.
It goes without saying that social media campaigns can’t change the entire world, but in any event, the activism that happens online can truly have the offline impact that can help us get there. And when real change occurs, it demonstrates the power of our advocacy, one click at a time.
