{"id":9049,"date":"2017-04-26T03:07:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T03:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=9049"},"modified":"2017-04-27T03:16:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T03:16:46","slug":"to-have-impact-the-peoples-climate-march-needs-to-reach-beyond-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/to-have-impact-the-peoples-climate-march-needs-to-reach-beyond-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"To have impact, the People’s Climate March needs to reach beyond activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jill Hopke<\/a>, DePaul University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Following closely on last week\u2019s March for Science<\/a>, activists are preparing for the People\u2019s Climate March<\/a> on Saturday, April 29. This event will mark President Donald Trump\u2019s 100th day in office, and comes as the Trump administration is debating whether the United States should continue to participate<\/a> in the 2015 Paris Agreement on limiting global carbon emissions. \"The<\/p>\n

Organizers have worked<\/a> for over a year to build an intersectional movement that brings together diverse constituencies under the banner of climate justice. They hope to replicate the first People\u2019s Climate March in September 2014, which was the largest climate change mobilization in history<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But surveys show that only about one in five adults in the United States is alarmed about climate change. This means that if climate activists want this march to have a lasting impact, they need to think carefully about how to reach beyond their base.<\/p>\n

Alarmed, dismissive or somewhere in between?<\/h2>\n

Since 2008, researchers at George Mason and Yale universities have classified Americans\u2019 views on global warming into six groups. In their latest survey<\/a>, only 18 percent of respondents fell into the \u201calarmed\u201d group \u2013 those who were most concerned and motivated to take action. Other participants\u2019 views ranged from \u201cconcerned\u201d to \u201cdismissive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.<\/span><\/span>
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However, there is room for this base to grow. In survey research after the November election, the researchers found<\/a> that nearly half of Trump voters thought that climate change was occurring and the United States should participate in the Paris Agreement. Another 21 percent was unsure whether global warming was occurring. Only 30 percent believed that it was not happening.<\/p>\n

The takeaway is that approximately seven in 10 Trump voters may be reachable on climate issues \u2013 but march organizers need to consider how to engage them.<\/p>\n

Climate activism through connective action<\/h2>\n

Social activists have used internet-mediated \u201cdays of action\u201d as a tactic<\/a> since the global justice movement and demonstrations that shook a Seattle World Trade Organization gathering in 1999. These mobilizations allow activists to amplify their demands while seeking mainstream media attention, which is still a movement goal in the social media era. <\/p>\n

Social media applications allow fluid organizing structures, which scholars have termed<\/a> \u201cconnective action.\u201d Organizers amplify these digital media-enabled protests by spreading personalized messages, or action frames. Social movement organizations such as the People\u2019s Climate March seed these messages, which individuals spread through their own preexisting social networks. <\/p>\n

Research by Michigan State University\u2019s Kjerstin Thorson and colleagues shows<\/a> that organizers and supporters of the 2014 People\u2019s Climate March used Twitter to coalesce and draw broader public attention to climate issues. Using hashtags like #climatemarch and #peoplesclimate, they co-created<\/a> a sense of \u201cshared visibility.\u201d Hashtags are a way to bring together individuals and groups with shared goals, episodically creating what I have termed<\/a> \u201chashtag publics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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