•Empirical research with 64 climate strikers in six cities in four different countries.•Examines knowledge, emotions, motivations, and actions of climate strikers.•Large variation in climate strikers ...regards to knowledge, emotions, motivations and actions.•Strikes provide opportunism also for other social and political action.•Values underpinning climate action range from individual to planetary concerns.
In August 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg started to strike from school on Fridays to protest against a lack of action on the climate crisis. Her actions sparked a historically large youth movement, leading to a series of school strikes across the world. Over the course of one week in September 2019, striking school children, students and other grassroots movements, such as Extinction Rebellion, called for everyone to participate in a global Climate Strike. This paper is based on comparative research with climate protesters in six cities: Brighton and London (United Kingdom), Montreal (Canada), New Haven and New York (USA), and Stavanger (Norway). Based on original interviews with 64 protesters, the study examines their knowledge, emotions, motivations, and actions in relation to climate change, including any lifestyle changes they have undertaken before or after their protests. Our findings show that protesters have varying degrees of knowledge about climate change, and have taken a range of actions in their own lives to address climate change. They also manifest a wide spectrum of emotions about climate change, and different motivations for taking part in climate strikes. These features are under-studied and dynamically evolving at the present conjuncture. On this basis, we call for expanded academic attention to human, emotional, epistemic, and seemingly mundane aspects of climate protests, their structural tendencies and relational expressions, and the implications for our ability to address underlying drivers.
The ocean and coasts are largely absent from the ‘Green New Deal’ proposal. In response to the limited attention paid to the sustainability and equitable governance approaches of the blue economy, a ...US ‘Blue New Deal’ has been proposed aiming to protect the health of the ocean and support coastal communities' adaptation to climate change. The Blue New Deal emerged as a central policy proposal from 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren to enhance the role of the blue economy while simultaneously addressing the climate crisis. Through a just transitions analysis, this article evaluates the proposal for a US Blue New Deal — as designed by Senator Elizabeth Warren — that would be applied towards enhancing socioeconomic resiliency, environmental justice, and addressing social inequities. As part of a critical policy analysis evaluating the areas of focus Warren's Blue New Deal presents, environmental justice and sustainability are central to the success of managing, and enhancing the role of, the blue economy. The challenges facing the Blue New Deal reflect a ‘one size fits all’ federal approach that has implications for addressing multifaceted obstacles in key sectors of the blue economy, its governance, and tackling interconnected crises that exacerbate socioeconomic inequities and vulnerabilities of marginalised coastal communities. This article proposes a blue justice framework for the Blue New Deal that seeks to address the tensions and contradictions that exist in its current form and indicates how a comprehensive policy framework can enhance the sustainability and equitable involvement of the blue economy.
Short
A US Blue New Deal, first proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren during the 2020 presidential campaign, aims to sustainably develop the operationalisation of the blue economy while addressing the challenges of the climate crisis and socio‐economic and environmental injustices threatening coastal communities. Despite the focus on social and environmental justice, limitations exists in its ability to meaningfully tackle structural power dynamics and governance dynamics that continue in the blue economy. This article proposes a blue justice framework for potential future proposals of a Blue New Deal to enhance equity, sustainability, and resiliency as part of a comprehensive coastal and marine management policy framework.
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