Interrupted Protests? Climate Activism During The COVID-19 Pandemic

by Ava Thomas Content Creator

There was real momentum behind the global protests at the beginning of 2020 regarding climate change. Mass mobilizations were a critical tool for climate activists who had lost faith in politics by then. It appeared as though the year would witness strikes, sit-ins, marches, and other worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment (WUNC)- oriented actions. These activists were counting on various tactics to bring serious attention to their issue to advance the legislative agendas proportionate to the climate crisis scale.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, spreading the novel coronavirus worldwide, causing all social activities to halt in almost all countries and territories worldwide. Governments in every nation began instating social distancing measures to mitigate the spreading abilities of the virus. It enforced the closure of restaurants, bars, ban on public gatherings like concerts and sporting events, mask mandates, and more.

What were the implications for global climate activism? It's challenging to execute mass mobilization strategies while maintaining social distancing. How to express the WUNC without taking it to the streets? Were these activists successful in ensuring their primary interest doesn't take a back seat to others in the middle of a pandemic-ridden world?

The activism movement responded in three inter-related yet different ways. First, the climate advocates made efforts to tie together the twin crisis of climate change and the pandemic as much as possible. Second, they moved their advocacy work online. And finally, they tried to strengthen the alliances with other prominent movements, such as the anti-racism and anti-police brutality movements that had gained prominence, especially after George Floyd's murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police officers. The movement has remained flexible, well-strategized, and dedicated to staying relevant even in the middle of the pandemic, sucked the oxygen out of a vast majority of other issues pertaining to the public sphere.

Climate Change and the COVID-19: Tale of The Twin Crises

A poll conducted by George Mason University and Yale University revealed that over 72% of Americans believed that climate change is, in fact, a brutal reality that's happening even in the middle of the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz, one of the study's researchers, explained how climate change has become central to many people's pool of worry, meaning it wasn't displaced even in such a tough situation.

Nonetheless, the amount of attention garnered by the COVID-19 pandemic naturally concerned the climate activists who had reasons to believe that the concerns about and attention being given to climate change are diminishing. Climate activists responded by trying to tie the two together. They joined them rhetorically by arguing that the pandemic was nothing but a preview of the world beset by untrammeled changes in climate.

According to these activists, the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the social and economic inequalities that would only be significantly exacerbated along with the growing climate crisis. Many frontline communities, including indigenous people, ethnic or racial minorities, low-income people, women, and other marginalized populations, are the ones that are always hit the hardest, whether it's the coronavirus or the impacts of climate change.

The call for resilience for all potential future crises, therefore, has direct relevance to climate change, for which the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions will clearly not be enough—there's also a need for adaption. Climate activists found an interesting way of inserting their issues into conversations dominating the highest media coverage by tying the coronavirus and climate changes together rhetorically, thereby ensuring the issue's ever-green relevance in the public sphere.

About The Author

The author is a renowned professor and author of six books pertaining to political science, international relations, and social sciences. She has written several articles on climate changes, effects of the pandemic, vaccination distribution, and various other topics concerning the field of IR.