Climate Justice Movement Building: Values and Cultures of Creation in Santa Barbara, California

Abstract

This article analyzes how young people in the climate justice movement cultivate a prefigurative culture centered on justice as a response to the threat of climate change. Employing grounded theory and drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 29 youth activists and participant observation in Santa Barbara County, California, the birthplace of both the environmental movement and offshore oil drilling, I argue that four key values—relationships, accessibility, intersectionality, and community—enable movement building, a stated goal of the climate justice movement. These values emerge from interviewees’ words and practices. Drawing on John Foran’s (2014) notion of political cultures of creation, I conceptualize these values and the practices that embody them as constituting a “climate justice culture of creation” that shapes and is shaped by ideas, experiences, social relations, and the reality of a changing atmosphere. These values, and movement building, are about creating alternative futures—cultures that are not dependent on inequality and fossil fuels.

Repères et caractéristiques épistémiques de la justice climatique

“…D'une manière générale, cette conceptualisation relie les mobilisations locales à l'enjeu global de lutte contre les changements climatiques en tenant compte des spécificités culturelles et historiques, et de l'intersectionnalité (Grosse, 2019 ;Black et al, 2016). Elle souligne la nécessité et l'urgence de la remise en cause de la dépendance aux énergies fossiles, ainsi que l'absence d'articulation entre la lutte contre les dérèglements climatiques et la lutte contre la pauvreté (Saab, 2015 ;Pettit, 2004).…”

“…Au niveau subnational et local, les publications font apparaître deux types de connaissance : la répartition spatiale de la vulnérabilité des populations spécifiques (femmes, communautés indigènes/autochtones) et des territoires qui subissent les conséquences des changements climatiques (Glazebrook, 2011 ;Barrett, 2013 ;Ferdinand, 2018): les caractéristiques des mobilisations de la société civile contre les injustices climatiques (Sze et al, 2009 ;Bond, 2010 ;Fabricant, 2013 ;Grosse, 2019). Ces mobilisations sont décrites essentiellement dans les villes (San Francisco, Copenhague, Johannesburg, Atlanta, etc.).…”

How does Extinction Rebellion engage with climate justice? A case study of XR Norwich

“…"Environmental justice" was itself one of a handful of early collective action frames Benford and Snow (2000) argued were so significant they termed them "master frames". So just as the EJ movement is characterised by frame bridging strategies which tie together social and environmental struggles by recognising them as rooted in the same structures of inequality (Schlosberg 2013), CJ activists often associate with social justice movements (Grosse 2019). Moreover, though for analytical purposes we have separated "climate action" and "CJ" as frames, this separation is frequently challenged by frame bridging and frame extension processes in reality.…”

Applying a leverage points framework to the United Nations climate negotiations: The (dis)empowerment of youth participants

“…Here youth face a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, a double challenge of being the living generation to be most affected by climate change, while also possessing little political capital to bring about the changes needed to mitigate and adapt to it. Youth are at the forefront of climate activism today, from climate strikes to the development of bold new policy agendas such as the Green New Deal, Fridays for the Future, and the Sunrise Movement (Bandura and Cherry, 2019;Fisher, 2019;Grosse, 2019;Hathaway, 2019), but their perspectives have been overlooked in prior analyses of climate negotiations (Böhmelt, 2013;Cabré, 2011;Dombrowski, 2010;Hjerpe and Buhr, 2014;Uhre, 2014).…”