"Off fossil fuels, Manchin! Off fossil fuels!"
There is a rhythm to the chant that makes it stick in a person's mind, even after they've stopped hearing it in the clip. On Friday, climate change activists from the organization Climate Defiance confronted Sen. Joe Manchin at a diner in New Hampshire. The West Virginia Democrat — who in November announced that he is "traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together" — can be seen in the footage calmly suggesting to the protesters, "Let's go ahead and talk."
His voice is drowned out by the chanting, which seemed to begin after Manchin said securing the border was one of his policy priorities. Although the protesters were ultimately shepherded out of the building by law enforcement officers, that did not end the protest. The activists continued chanting and holding up signs outside of the diner, concluding by chasing Manchin's car as he and his group drove away.
"Activists can play a real role in moving candidates to bolder action, when they're candidates, and then holding them accountable once they are elected."
As Climate Defiance later told Salon, the event at the diner was one of three recent occasions when the protesters confronted the senator, who supported the Inflation Reduction Act's historic advances in fighting climate change, but is unpopular among activist groups for his significant role in killing an even larger legislative package — the Build Back Better Plan. When asked if their protests against Manchin go against democratic ideals — particularly those involving having civil dialogue about important issues — Climate Defiance founder Michael Greenberg told Salon, "I believe it is important to be disruptive and confrontational, while of course remaining nonviolent."
As Greenberg later explained, "Our aim is not to move Manchin but to shake society awake and shift the terms of debate."
Each person must decide individually whether the protesters' activity leaves a positive or negative impression in their minds; the pros and cons of protesting, in terms of its function and persuasiveness, are matters of opinion. By contrast, there is nothing subjective about climate change itself. The scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that burning fossil fuels is overheating the planet, and the negative effects of climate change are presently being felt on every continent.
If humans do not significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, Earth will face a future with even more intense heat, rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather events like storms, floods and wildfires. Yet simply knowing these things does not solve the problem. Instead of abandoning people to feelings of helplessness, activism offers ordinary citizens ways to take a stand on the issues that matter the most to them.
Some climate scientists have insisted that they need the ability to prescribe policies to curtail climate disaster. But until then, it seems critical to get the public's attention on the issue. Yet some forms of protest — such as blocking traffic or Just Stop Oil's stunts in 2022 where they "damaged" famous artworks by throwing soup on them — don't always garner the intended empathy, according to some polls on the subject.
The deeper question to be asked about climate change activism is three-fold: First, what methods of protesting are both ethical and effective in achieving the results desired by the concerned citizens? Once that is figured out, how can ordinary citizens get involved? Finally, what specific policies should activists support?
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Sunrise Movement, a non-profit political action organization, made headlines last week when their protesters interrupted a campaign stop for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his doomed bid to win the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses. Despite leading a state that is particularly vulnerable to climate change, DeSantis has infamously referred to all manner of climate change legislation as "left-wing stuff" and dismissed increased concerns about climate change as "driven by ideology."
The three protesters were quickly escorted out of the event, but not before one got on stage next to DeSantis and unfurled a flag saying "DeSantis is a climate criminal." The dramatic moment was enough to prompt DeSantis to denounce the stage rusher as "numb nuts." But are such theatrical and disruptive strategies effective? Sunrise Movement Communications Director Stevie O'Hanlon told Salon that there is a need for "both" approaches to activism.
"We need people on the outside raising their voices, protesting, putting the pressure on elected officials — and we also need people on the inside, politicians who are ready to fight for action on climate change and for communities that are facing the impacts of the climate crisis every day," O'Hanlon explained. "Oftentimes there isn't enough of either of those things."
As a result, the Sunrise Movement "is focused on building a movement of young people that can protest and shift the political conditions from the outside, and is also focused on electing politicians who stand with us and our generation into office, up and down the ballot," O'Hanlon said.
"We also need people on the inside, politicians who are ready to fight for action on climate change and for communities that are facing the impacts of the climate crisis every day."
"It’s not so much about climate protests as it is about climate activism, which takes many forms," Dr. Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, wrote to Salon. (Kalmus made clear he was speaking for himself, not for NASA or the federal government.) "It’s not easy to tell someone exactly how to do it, because it takes creativity and it’s context-critical."
At the same time, Kalmus said there are three guidelines that any aspiring activist should follow. First, Kalmus encouraged concerned citizens to start at the local level. "Find out who your local activists are, and join up with them," Kalmus advised. "It’s networking and there’s no shortcut." In addition, he argued that one should not "be afraid of your climate grief. It’s actually a powerful form of connection." From there he included a third piece of advice: "Take risks."
When it comes to how ordinary people can get involved, Greenberg also recommends "finding something local, a group locally that is doing disruptions, confronting politicians." Like O'Hanlon, he also argued that "getting political is so important. The time has come and gone for just recycling or whatever. Find a group near you that's doing direct action and holding people's feet to the fire."
In short, climate change activists agree that it is important to work with local groups and promote the cause in ways that garner attention, while at the same time also working within the existing political system. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and CEO of an American Jewish climate change activist group Dayenu, explained that activists can feel satisfied about achieving important results when they "ensure that candidates are running that have very clear and bold positions on climate change policies." As one example, she pointed to how President Biden initially had a less robust climate change platform and moved to more progressive positions in response to pressure from activist groups.
"Find a group near you that's doing direct action and holding people's feet to the fire."
"This is something that we actually saw activists play a real role in," Rosenn explained. "When Biden was a candidate early on, he did not have such a bold position on climate. And we saw climate activists really over time move such that by the time he became president, he had really moved to much bolder positions" through his Build Back Better Plan and Inflation Reduction Act. She concluded that "activists can play a real role in moving candidates to bolder action, when they're candidates, and then holding them accountable once they are elected."
O'Hanlon also suggested that climate change activists acquaint themselves with the specific ways in which smart climate change policies can help people improve their lives.
"Tackling climate change is an opportunity to create millions of good jobs for people of all ages, especially young people who are struggling with this economy," O'Hanlon said. He added that activists can think of ways to "make life better for all of us: by making our utility system more reliable and affordable so energy prices go down, by making sure that we have a better transportation system, by making sure we have safer, cleaner, more effective schools."
When people better understand the specific human activities that emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, they can craft policies that intelligently solve those problems — and create a more just and equitable society in the process.
Rosenn made a similar point, arguing that climate change protesters should remember the importance of advocating things like the need to "stop drilling and producing fossil fuels, period, full stop" as well as "building a new green energy economy" and "ensuring that all communities, and especially the communities most impacted, have the resources to make the transition away from fossil fuel and to clean energy."
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Many climate activists share this vision. Coming together to protest does more than just bring attention to this looming existential crisis. It provides ordinary people with an opportunity to connect people with their environment and their community, whether it's protesting pipeline construction at Standing Rock or a local protest at city hall. In so doing, climate change activists can not only bring about larger social reforms, but learn how to change minds on an individual level.
"Some people just don't actually understand that the issue and haven't taken time to really dig into the facts," O'Hanlon explained. "Other people are really entrenched in what they believe and think, but that is really important for us to do — for both people who are denying climate change, but also people who maybe are just a little in denial about how bad it is — is to just talk about the impacts and to talk about the examples of how the climate is warming right before our eyes."
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