Young people’s climate activism must stand as one of the most remarkable and important mass movements of our age. At levels of organization from the local to the global, young climate activists are coming together in massive mobilizations, and particularly school strikes, under the names of Fridays For Future, #FridaysForFuture, Youth for Climate, Youth Strike for (or 4) Climate and School Strike for (or 4) Climate. This article responds to the most extensive study of young people’s climate action published to date, entitled ‘Protest for a Future: Composition, Mobilization and Motives of the Participants in Fridays For Future Climate Protests on 15 March, 2019 in 13 European Cities’. In this significant and provocative article, an analysis is provided of the potential – and the need – for empirical work at local and international levels concerning youth climate activism that recognizes the often complex, liminal nature of young political agency and the diverse, intersecting motives that lead young people to demonstrate for action on climate change. Through this analysis, this article contributes to theoretical innovation to get beyond rigid, top-down understandings of young people’s political engagement, and instead build theory from young people’s visions of social, economic and political change in response to climate emergency.

The year 2018 was a watershed in environmental activism, especially regarding young activists. Greta Thunberg started her School Strikes for Climate and the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion was founded. This article deals with young people’s involvement in these two global movements. It draws on 60 semi-structured interviews carried out with young environmental activists before, during and after protest actions under the auspices of the climate strikes and/or Extinction Rebellion in five British locations. The period of the political socialisation of this young generation is outlined and how it contributes to young people becoming environmental activists. The article then identifies the “radical” demands made by young environmental activists and their “radical” repertoire of contention in relation to their perceptions of the “radical” compared to hegemonic definitions. The interviews show that these young environmentalists are part of a generation of activists this is committed to obtaining significant change from powerholders through the use of deliberately non-violent direct action that challenges academic perceptions of radical repertoires of contention.

Background Youth-led movements like #FridaysforFuture and the school strikes for climate (henceforth referred to as the climate strikes) are leading calls for action on climate change worldwide. This paper reports on a thematic analysis of protest signs, and interviews with young climate strikers, at a climate strike in Manchester, UK, in 2019. Results This paper explores the ways in which dominant, adult-centred frameworks for conceptualizing young people’s environmental activism tend to obscure the complexities of the climate strike movement. In contrast, this study examines the complex political activism of climate strikers as a ‘subaltern group’, who take political action in a wider context of intersecting categories of oppression and marginalization – including youth as a category of marginalization – and in the historical context of environmental racism, the enduring legacies of colonialism, and global inequality during contemporary capitalism. Conclusions The article develops a theoretical model for future research, based on a model of two constraining frames that limit analysis of the climate strikes in particular and young people’s environmental activism in general. This paper contributes to a step change in methods for the study of this remarkable movement in a global context.

The year 2018 was a watershed year for young people's climate activism. In this review article, we explore the methodological trends and key themes across contemporary academic literature on young people's climate activism. In the academic literature, following an initial wave of survey-based research of young people and textual analysis of secondary data like media reportage, the field is experiencing a second wave of qualitative research and a resurgence of emphasis on youth voice in research. Accordingly, we identify the strengths of the existing literature in its exploration of key themes including the composition, practices and outcomes of young people's climate activism, and the ways young people understand and act on climate change. We identify several gaps in the literature that arise from a disproportionate focus on research topics, and especially a disproportionate focus on activism in the global North and in wealthy and White communities, a focus on mass mobilizations, and an intensive interest in the individual activist Greta Thunberg. Our analysis leads to recommendations for future research based on three conceptual challenges. We argue that future research must respond to these challenges: first, the limited and constraining social constructions of “youth” as a category; second, the practical challenges of working with young people, not least in relationships of consent; and third, the need to respond to adultism in research practices and to develop youth-centered approaches to the activism of young people. This review article intends to contribute to a step change in theory and methods for the study of young people's climate activism.

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