Eco-activists are experiencing hard times. They used to enjoy a certain prestige inside the radical Left. Theirs was a win-win proposition that invited everyone on board. The cause -- the saving of the planet -- is naturally attractive because it includes everyone, not just some oppressed minorities or identities. The drama of the cause further lent itself well to extensive media coverage, creative street theater and trendy DEI-style acronyms.
All that seems to be changing. The planet is not any better off than it used to be. Hockey-stick carbon footprint graphs still point upward toward impending doom. Extreme weather events are still happening and are labelled as warming events.
However, people just can’t get excited about the coming apocalypse anymore. Greta Thunberg has grown up and has now traded Gaia for Gaza. The eco-cause has lost its dynamism and media attraction. Eco-activists are looking to broaden their platforms to secure more support and headlines.
Climate Week Rally Against Billionaires
The leftist publication, The Nation, reports that a New York City Climate Week rally was billed “Make Billionaires Pay.” The event featured the Women’s March activists, socialists and other non-environmental groups in the hope that it would attract more people.
Notably absent from the anti-billionaire rally were young people who represent the future of any dynamic movement. Reporter Heather Chen observed “thousands of elderly people,” while the under-35 crowd “looked slim.” She looked in vain for the youth contingent.
Thus, the September 20 rally became a motley collection of leftist causes. To the outside observer, it was not clear what the eco-rally was all about. Everyone seemed to have their own cause and signs, ranging from “No Kings,” “Free Jimmy Kimmel,” and “Epstein.”
Many were unaware that the climate was supposed to be the rally’s common denominator. According to the organizers, a similar, more focused rally billed as the “March to End Fossil Fuels” gathered 65,000 in 2023. This year’s anti-billionaire rally, which embraced everyone, managed to unite only about 25,000 people.
Rebranding Away from Climate Change
Such figures are typical of waning interest. The mainstream climate movement is rebranding to get away from the anti-fossil fuel disruptive activism of the past. Now climate change can mean just about anything -- except climate change.
Indeed, one centralist Democratic think tank called the Searchlight Institute just released a paper significantly titled: “The First Rule About Solving Climate Change: Don’t Say Climate Change.”
Groups like the Sunrise Movement are shying away from the climate label. Its activists claim that with democracy under threat, the focus must be on building a world where climate action is possible. Climate concerns must give way to other, more pressing issues. ICE and Gaza garner many more headlines.
Never About the Earth -- Always About the Revolution
The rebranding effort shows that the eco-cause was never about the earth but always about the Left’s revolution. Everything must be oriented toward this revolution, and any cause might also be sacrificed for it.
Climate Week organizer Keanu Arepl-Josiah said it best by claiming “the fight for climate justice is the same as the fight against ICE.” It is also the same as “the attacks on our trans siblings,” genocide in Gaza or the struggle for affordability among the nation’s poor. All the leftist causes come together in the final analysis.
Despite the attempts to broaden the movement’s scope, the numbers at the rallies are declining, not increasing.
The rebranding effort is sending the wrong message to its public. By refocusing on more burning issues, the movement seems to say that saving the planet can wait until after the revolution.
Image: Pexels/Marcus Spiske