Mobilising for Climate Action

Abstract

Climate Lives: Narrative, Transformation, and Climate Action Knowing what mobilizes people into action is crucial, yet we know little about Australian climate activists. This paper compares the experiences of grassroots climate activists, analysing how they have found a place for themselves as social change agents in a growing and increasingly diverse movement.

Between Science and Humanity: the New Climate Morality? The paper reports on climate activists’ perspectives on climate change, charting a pathway from hope, to despair, to moral action and universal reach. Very few vest any hope in avoiding dangerous and irreversible climate change, and many view runaway climate change as built-in. We find climate activists reclaiming humanity in the face of despair, garnering moral force with global appeal.

Climate Camp: Learning for Social Action? We are witnessing an upsurge in climate action, whether as mass public expressions or as local interventions. In a spirit of emulation, adaptation and creativity, there is flowering of experiments and ‘laboratories’ for education and mobilisation on climate: this paper focuses on the Newcastle Climate Camp, exploring its underlying assumptions about social change, and public education.