CAMRI | Environmental movements and digital media

Environmental movements and digital media

A Book Chapter by Anastasia Kavada and Doug Specht, published by The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Movements

In the face of ecological meltdown, environmental movements have regularly turned to digital media to champion their cause, draw in new supporters, and bring public attention to environmental harms and injustices. This chapter explores how environmental movements employ a wide range of digital tools to organize their activities, coordinate their members, and raise awareness through visual storytelling and digital mapping. From Instagram to hashtags, from livestreaming to digital maps, these tools help shape narratives and allow movements to connect with each other across boundaries and issues. Through the exploration of numerous examples, such as #FridaysForFuture and Extinction Rebellion, this chapter provides an overview of how digital tools can transform, and already have transformed the work of environmental movements.

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Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash

About Anastasia Kavada

Anastasia Kavada is a Reader in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Westminster. She is Co-Leader of the Arts, Communication and Culture Research Community (ACC), and Co-leader of the MA in Media, Campaigning and Social Change. Her research focuses on the links between online tools and decentralized organising practices, democratic decision-making, and the development of solidarity among participants in collective action. Her work has appeared in a variety of edited books and academic journals, including Media, Culture & Society and Information, Communication & Society. She is currently working on a monograph with the provisional title ‘Experiments in Democracy: Digital Communication and Social Movements’.