Aug 29, 2025 02:17 PM
The backlash paradox of radical climate protests
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/202...-protests/
EXCERPTS: Groups that carry out extreme climate protests risk creating antipathy to themselves, but may increase concern about climate change more broadly, according to a new study. The findings add an empirical angle to the debate over disruptive tactics such as climate activists gluing themselves to property, throwing soup on paintings, or blocking bridges and roads that have emerged in recent years.
“We uncovered what we call the ‘climate activist’s dilemma,’” says study team member Jarren Nylund, a graduate student in social and environmental psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia.
“Disruptive climate protests may help raise awareness and motivate some people to act, but they can also alienate the public from the activists themselves,” he explains. “Importantly, we found no evidence that these tactics reduce support for the wider climate movement or the broader cause of climate action.”
[...] In both studies, participants perceived climate activists who engaged in disruptive protests as more immoral than those involved in moderate protests, the researchers report in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. They also felt less emotional connection and identification with extreme protestors, and said they had less support for the activist group.
Studies of other social movements have pointed to an “activist’s dilemma” whereby moderate protests struggle to capture public attention, while extreme protests garner negative attention – and wind up eroding support for the movement. But this dynamic seems to operate a bit differently in the case of climate change, the researchers found... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/202...-protests/
EXCERPTS: Groups that carry out extreme climate protests risk creating antipathy to themselves, but may increase concern about climate change more broadly, according to a new study. The findings add an empirical angle to the debate over disruptive tactics such as climate activists gluing themselves to property, throwing soup on paintings, or blocking bridges and roads that have emerged in recent years.
“We uncovered what we call the ‘climate activist’s dilemma,’” says study team member Jarren Nylund, a graduate student in social and environmental psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia.
“Disruptive climate protests may help raise awareness and motivate some people to act, but they can also alienate the public from the activists themselves,” he explains. “Importantly, we found no evidence that these tactics reduce support for the wider climate movement or the broader cause of climate action.”
[...] In both studies, participants perceived climate activists who engaged in disruptive protests as more immoral than those involved in moderate protests, the researchers report in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. They also felt less emotional connection and identification with extreme protestors, and said they had less support for the activist group.
Studies of other social movements have pointed to an “activist’s dilemma” whereby moderate protests struggle to capture public attention, while extreme protests garner negative attention – and wind up eroding support for the movement. But this dynamic seems to operate a bit differently in the case of climate change, the researchers found... (MORE - missing details)