Audience: Youth

Learning what your college or university might be using can keep you safer as you stand up against injustice through protest. Consider compartmentalizing your organizing away from your studies. Create and use separate accounts—and devices, if possible—for political speech to save yourself a headache down the road. Be mindful of what you log into, the devices you carry with you, and how you move around campus when participating in protests or amidst campus activism. Be aware that any interaction, or even near-interaction, with an officer could be on camera. Your digital footprint can be your biggest asset when organizing and protesting, but it can also be used against you—if you are live-tweeting protests or often share your student organizations’ events, assume the school is watching. Be alert and aware of cameras and similar-looking devices! If you hear the buzzing sound of a drone above you, there’s a chance it’s operated by campus or local police. (These educational materials do not constitute legal advice. Contact a local attorney for additional questions.)

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including lots of new polling and research on extreme heat, polling on climate change and clean energy as issues in the 2024 election, and new polling on the American Climate Corps.