The environmental movements past recently collided with its future.
April 22 marked the50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, a milestone for environmentalism.
But after months of careful planning, both occasions were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and went online instead.
Rather than going on strike, teachers and students occupied classrooms instead.
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Yet subsequent Earth Days failed to capture the urgency and grassroots passion of the original.
The 50th anniversary Earth Day sought to address this by going back to its roots.
Teach-ins were planned for classrooms and campuses across the world, but COVID-19 closed schools.
Another global strike was scheduled for April 2020, but COVID-19 again pushed the event online.
The school strikes and annual Earth Day celebrations reflect different generations of environmental activism and different philosophies of protest.
Yet both have been guided by the environmental slogan think globally, act locally.
During the pandemic, environmental activists are now thinking globally and acting digitally.
Clicktivism and digital natives
Im researchingclimate change educationand youth climate activism in the UK.
Online activism has been calledclicktivism,or, disparagingly, slacktivism.
But the relationship between digital technology and social movements ismore complicated.
Researchers are spliton the precise role of digital activism.
From one perspective, campaigners can use social media to supersize their public engagement.
This helps them to reach more people and bypass traditional media channels.
Other researchers emphasize the power of the internet to help activists self-organize.
Asdigital natives,these young climate activists grew up with the internet, smartphones, and social media.
When it comes to climate activism, digital natives are now leading the way.
The revolution will be live-streamed.
