Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Youth environmental activism motivation

Youth environmental activism
What motivates young people to engage in environmental activism?

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Overview

Case Study 1: 2010 Study on Chile Environmental Activism (Scherman. A, et al. 2022) 2010 to 2019 saw a drastic rise of a specific kind of people. The environmental activists. The shocking part about this rise, was that they were predominately younger generations. [grammar?] (Consider rephrasing: "The shocking part about this rise was the predominance of younger generations among these activists.")

Discuss role of passion... ( Gouuse-Lessard. A, et al. 2013)

This section provides a solid introduction but could benefit from more details about the Chilean environmental activism movement. How did social and political contexts influence this surge?

The landscape

What are the contributing factors for younger generations to be so active on environmental activism? There is a rising trend of youth groups being formed with the explicit intent of educating other peers and elders on the social and political implications of climate change (Goldman et al., 2014; Feldmann, 2020).

So what has made them so inclined to protest? This sentence could be stronger. Consider replacing with "What motivates this generation to actively protest?"

This section is missing a clear explanation of "the landscape" of youth environmental activism. Expand on this to include a broader context of global movements.

2010s

Climate activism has been around for much longer than 2010-2019. However, there was a clear shift in the amount of people listening these years, and the way it was portrayed in the media. Throughout these years it was clear that it climate change was happening. It wasn't a concern, it wasn't something oncoming, it was here. There was an emergence of not only regular climate protests ^{[clarification needed]} (See Figure 1), but they began to emerge on a global scale (Scherman et al., 2022). Rather than them staying entirely within individual groups, social media forced it to be within the public conscious....

This section could use more specific examples of how media and public awareness shifted during the 2010s.

Social media

Clear rise in global awareness due to the broad scope of social media. (Scherman et al., 2022).
Information is quickly passed around in comparison to previous generations.
Able to see the effects at a rapid pace, rather than articles and TV programs.
They are constantly aware of how it will effect their future.

Expand on how social media plays a crucial role in youth activism. Include examples of specific platforms or campaigns that helped mobilize the youth.

Politics

A more politically active generation (Schermann et al., 2020).
Awareness of how these policies effect the environment. (Sloam et al., 2022).

What exactly makes the youth care so much about politics? Well, there has been a clear shift in the way they view politics, it is no longer something to worry about during elections, it is expected to have some form of political awareness (Sloam et al., 2022).

The role of politics needs more exploration. How are young activists influencing policy, and what political movements are they engaging with?

Motivation

So what are the things that actually motivate youths into such activism?

Well throughout the literature there are clear indicators of:

Passion
Awareness
Goals
Self efficacy

The current youth have a clear understanding of environmental issues, and have a clear level of self efficacy towards them (Goldman, D. et al). They believe that the engaging with social media, having the conversations and living sustainable lives will make a difference....

There is a current trend of the younger generation being politically inexperienced, when they protest against specific decisions and have strikes which brings an emotional aspect into the fold (Fedmanm. H. 2020). They are angry....[Provide more detail] (Add more context about the emotional aspect of youth activism.)

Being told they don't know what they're talking about makes personal stakes, mixed with a genuine care for the future. [improve clarity] (Clarify the role of criticism and how it motivates further activism.)

The section lists key motivators but needs more detailed analysis. Consider expanding on each motivator, especially the emotional aspect of youth activism, and provide research that supports these ideas.

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Conclusion

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References

Feldman, H. R.. (2020). A rhetorical perspective on youth environmental activism. Journal of Science Communication, 19(06), C07. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19060307

Goldman, D., Pe’er, S., & Yavetz, B. (2015). Environmental literacy of youth movement members – is environmentalism a component of their social activism? Environmental Education Research, 23(4), 486–514. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2015.1108390

Gousse-Lessard, A.-S., Vallerand, R. J., Carbonneau, N., & Lafrenière, M.-A. K. (2013). The role of passion in mainstream and radical behaviors: A look at environmental activism. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 35, 18–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.03.003

Scherman, A., Valenzuela, S., & Rivera, S.. (2022). Youth environmental activism in the age of social media: the case of Chile (2009-2019). Journal of Youth Studies, 25(6), 751–770. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2021.2010691

Sloam, J., Pickard, S., & Henn, M.. (2022). ‘Young People and Environmental Activism: The Transformation of Democratic Politics’. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(6), 683–691. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2022.2056678

Tagkaloglou, S., & Kasser, T. (2018). Increasing collaborative, pro-environmental activism: The roles of Motivational Interviewing, self-determined motivation, and self-efficacy. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 58, 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.06.004

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Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
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