Resource Type: Research & Articles

Grassroots climate activist groups operating under the umbrella organization 350.org promote fossil fuel divestment by constructing a moral dualism to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry. Activists draw on several historical contexts to justify divestment, related to past instances where organizations or countries were penalized for morally inappropriate behavior. These analogies include tobacco, weapons and arms, South African apartheid, and boycotts of Israel and Sudan. Read a summary of this research in SSIR.

There is a great pool of untapped potential climate activists waiting to be recruited. A survey of Americans shows that while current levels of activism are low—only 4% of “Alarmed” and 1% of “Concerned” respondents are currently involved in a campaign to push elected officials to take climate action—, nearly a third would be willing to join such a campaign, including over half of the Alarmed. Other specific forms of activism, such as volunteering, donating, and writing or meeting with officials, all also attract about that same level of interest, if someone they liked and respected asked them to get involved. Even 15% of Americans report willingness to engage in non-violent civil disobedience.