An Era Of Digitalisation In An Environmental Activism
Author: LawSphereX
Category: Technology, Cyber & Privacy
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AN ERA OF DIGITALISATION IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL
ACTIVISM
Khushi Parihar, Indore Institute of Law
ABSTRACT
“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment” -Margaret Mead This paper investigates how social media influence public opinion in India regarding digital environmental activism. Environmental movements now rely heavily on the digital landscape as a crucial platform for gaining support, spreading awareness, and influencing policy. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are important social media platforms for quickly and widely disseminating information across social and economic boundaries. The efficacy of social media campaigns by analyzing key environmental movements in India, such as the "Trashtag challenge" and "Chipko 2. 0" campaigns. This study examines media to engage the public, frame environmental issues, and create virtual communities of practice.
Using content analysis and sentiment analysis on social media posts, the study looks into how these movements use social media to spread environmental narratives and patterns in public engagement. Social media fosters participatory culture, promotes real-time dialogue between activists, experts, and the general public, and enhances collective understanding of environmental issues by promoting marginalized voices. A growing number of digital campaigns have been launched in India to address a variety of ecological challenges, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp have become essential for quickly and effectively disseminating information, bridging geographical divides, and engaging a wider audience.
These platforms are utilized by environmental activists and groups to bring attention to pressing issues, provide real-time updates, and organize virtual protests and events. Web-based entertainment in India fundamentally impacts natural developments through visual, intelligent, and moving subjects, cultivating local area and aggregate activity through hashtags like #oceancleanup,# Trashtag challenge and#Climate Strike. Keywords: Digital Environmental Activism, Social Media, Environmental Movements, Public Opinion.
INTRODUCTION
Digital Environmental Activism refers to an digital technology and online platforms to advocate the environmental causes and raise awareness about pressing ecological issues, and mobilize global communities towards sustainable practices. In an era, where an increasingly interconnected world where rapidly spread information and access the data is unprecedented. Digital environmental Activism emerged as a powerful force to driving the environmental change. Digital Environmental Activism influenced Social media, mobile apps, websites, blogs, online petitions and digital environment campaign which expand the environmental message and engage a various people. Environmental Activist utilize these platforms to challenges the policy and promote the eco-friendly lifestyles to the people. It has brought a new wave of the new era to the activism by which gain more power over the years.
By increasing social media accounts it is facile to spread the information and a new step to enhance communication and to engage the citizen in the field of Environmental health. Digital Environmental Activism represents a dynamic and evolving movement that harnesses the transformative power of technology to address urgent environmental challenges. By leveraging digital platforms to educate, advocate, and mobilize, activists worldwide are driving meaningful change and shaping a more sustainable future for our planet.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
The research methodology employed in this paper on the Digital Environmental activism which advocate the environmental changes. A through review of existing literature on environmental activism is conducted to gain insights into the current state of knowledge, and understand the challenges and developments in this field. Academic journals, books, reputable online sources and relevant legal document are consulted during this phase. Only secondary data collection methods are employed to gather relevant information. Secondary data is collected from reliable sources such as government reports, legal databases, and research papers providing a broader perspective on the topic. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The purpose of my Research paper on Digital Environmental Activism aims to explore its effectiveness, impact, challenges and potential for promoting environmental sustainability in a digital age.
How the social media play a vital role to advocate for environmental change. My research questions are:- • How the Digital age impact the environmental Activism? • How Digital Technology promote sustainable development?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Viral Trashtag Challenge 2015: This challenge play a vital role in digital environmental activism . It rapidly encourages people to promote the environmental protection and reached in globally. • Friday For Future campaign 2018: This campaign began to protest climate change inaction. Many school students participated in this compaign and on every Friday they did student strike to demand actions from the govt. • Chipko 2.0 1973: This movement played a crucial role in rural areas where mostly the woman hug the tree to protect from the forest deforestation. It is an example of non violent protest and protect the Environment.
DIGITAL TOOLS AND PLATFORMS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM Environmental Activism includes the collaboration of various groups of individual and organization with the aim of addressing environmental issues like climate change, pollution, deforestation, depletion of resources. This Platform provides awareness among the people and directly address the problem. It also refers online platforms, digital tools which helps to promote development of sustainable environment. The main objective of environmental activism is to establish a harmonious living environment that can be varied from generation to generation without degrading in life quality due to unfortunate human stewardship. Digital tools play a vital role in empowering the environmental Activist and also mobilize for environmental support and sustainable development.
Digital tools such as Social Media, Website, Email campaign, virtual webinars and conferences etc. Here are some tools in brief given below;- • Social Media Platforms:- Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, allow the activist to reach vast with the millions of audiences and share the content( Photos, videos, articles) to go viral and support for campaigns.
Example: The "Trashtag Challenge" is inspiring people on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit to take a walk outside and clean up any litter they stumble upon. 1 This compaigned got a lot of attention all over the world and inspired thousands of people to take part in the local cleanup campaign and spread the word about how important it is to reduce waste. • Websites:- It is called as the information hub because website have the a lot of information and resources which is very helpful to the Activist. They provide a platform for raising awareness about the environmental matters. Example: 350. org. it is central hub for the climate activism because it provides information, resources, campaign updates for the worldwide supporters. The main goal is “a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis.
”2 • Virtual Events & Webinars: In this Digital technology era, the virtual events and webinars organized by the apps like zoom, Google meet facilitate virtual rallies, workshops, webinar enable the worldwide participation towards the environment sustainable goals. Example: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Conservation put together International virtual webinars on Wildlife Conservation, Environment reclaimation and Sustainable horticulture practices. It provide eco friendly practices and raise awareness to endangered the species in need of the protection. • CROWDFUNDING PLATFORMS: These platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe empower activists to raise assets for ecological activities, compaign, or legitimate difficulties.
It has emerged as an effective instrument for environmental activists and organizations seeking financial support for a variety of sustainability, conservation, and other causes. Example: The Oceanclean up A total of 2,154,282 USD was raised, making it “the most successful non-profit crowdfunding campaign in history” at the time, according to the crowdfunding platform ABN AMRO’s SEEDS, who facilitated the campaign. 3 It
1 Viral 'Trashtag Challenge' Has Reinstated Our Faith in the Good the Internet Can Do! - Culture
(mashable.com)
2 350.org: A Case of ONLINE-TO-OFFLINE ACTIVISM | by EL_News | Civic Media Project | Medium
3 https://theoceancleanup.com/
raised money for its ambitious endeavor of creating and putting into use passive ocean cleanup systems to eliminate plastic pollution from the oceans worldwide. • Mobile apps:- Environmental activists can use mobile apps to amplify their voices, reach a wider audience, and inspire positive action in the direction of a more sustainable future. It can leverages GPS technology to provide location based information and alert about the local environmental issues. Example:- iNaturalist’s mission is to build a global community of 100 million naturalists by 2030 in order to connect people to nature and advance biodiversity science and conservation. 4 It is a mobile application that empowers people to identify and record plants and creatures in their surrounding .
Environmental activists can use these resources to raise their voices, reach a wider audience, and inspire positive change toward a more sustainable future. IMPACT OF DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM The Digital environmental activism has significantly impacted in globally to address the environmental issues in many ways:- • Raising Awareness:- Digital platforms engage a vast network and accessibility to easily connected with the millions of people. Campaigns and webinars on social media platforms amplify to raise awareness about environmental issue across worldwide, powerful support and pressuring governments to take action. • Information Dissemination:- The information about environmental degradation, climate change impacts, and conservation efforts has reached rapidly through the Activist.
This helps to educate the public, expose misinformation, and promote scientific consensus on environmental issues. • Corporate and Government Accountability: Digital activism holds corporations and governments accountable for their environmental policies and practices. Online scrutiny can pressure companies to adopt sustainable practices and compel governments to enforce environmental regulations. • Crowdsourced Solutions: Platforms like crowdsourcing and citizen science engage the public in environmental monitoring and research. This collective effort generates
4 A Community for Naturalists · iNaturalist
valuable data for scientific research and policy-making. • Innovation and Technology: Digital platforms foster innovation in environmental solutions. From crowdfunding green projects to developing new technologies for sustainability, digital activism accelerates the adoption of environmentally friendly practices. Digital environmental activism has proven to be a dynamic and impactful force for change, leveraging digital tools and platforms to raise awareness, mobilize communities, and influence policy and corporate behavior. Activists can assess the impact of their campaigns and refine strategies for greater effectiveness in addressing environmental challenges.
CHALLENGES
FACED BY DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST
Information overload:- The information on environmental matters can lead to the online misinformation due to lack of reliable sources of information. The activists and the people can be challenged for not providing the accurate information. • Online harassment and threats:- Sometimes the Activist may face online threats, trolling and the harassment for advocating the controversial environmental issues. People may be discouraged from participating in activism as a result of the hostile atmosphere created. • Digital Security Risks:- The activist can be ready to face the danger through cyber attacks, hacking, protecting sensitive information, safeguarding the online identity is essential but challenging for the activist. • Digital Divide:- The internet connection has not accessible to everyone especially in rural village.
The people of rural areas does not participate due to less internet connections and not reliable internet. • Restriction on Freedom of speech and expression:- There are some countries who imposed restriction on freedom of speech and expression like North Korea, Russia, Iran etc. It can be challenged for the Activist to express their innovative ideas.
CASE STUDIES
Friday’s For Future Movement: It is also called as FFF Movement, It is a Youth led organized global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15 years old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. In the three weeks leading up to the Swedish election, She sat
outside Swedish Parliament every school day, demanding urgent action on the climate crisis. 5 The Use of social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, to spread awareness and organize protests. The students of schools skip their classes to participate in this movement. The media play an vital role to amplify the message and reach vast audiences. Outcomes: ▪ Over 7,500 cities across 150 countries participated in this climate strikes which highly inspired the millions of young people. ▪ It Increased public awareness and political pressure on governments and corporations to take climate action. • Ecowatch: It was founded in 2005 based on Ohio Environmental Newspaper. It is a long time master to give news related to environmental issues.
In recent times, we have Digital platforms still it provide quality information and publishing the articles related to environmental causes and solutions. “The goal of this mission to empower the readers to get informed environmentally-conscious decisions that support a sustainable future for everyone. Through trustworthy environmental news, solution-based guides, and responsible product reviews, we want to help both the newly-concerned citizen and the veteran environmental activist be part of the solution every single day”. 6 Outcomes: ▪ As a result, it became a most trustful environmental newspaper which reached to the audiences globally. ▪ It has given powerful support for various policy maker and environmental activist. • Chipko2. 0 Movement: Chipko movement was originated from Uttarakhand in the village of Mandal in upper Alkanda valley in 1973.
The word ‘Chipko’ refers to ‘to hug’. It was an non violent
5 Fridays For Future is an international climate movement active in most countries and our website
offers information on who we are and what you can do.
6 EcoWatch - For a Healthier Planet and Life
environmental activism to protect the tress from deforestation and emphasizing the ecological culture. It was highly participated by rural woman. Outcome: ▪ This movement raised awareness among the people about the importance of forest and promote sustainability. ▪ It has become a peaceful protest to protect forest tress from deforestation.
CONCLUSION
The Digital environmental activism addresses a dynamic and transformative power for change in the battle against ecological degradation and climate change. Through the use of online campaign, webinar, conference enhance the millions of people to participate in these movements and events and to protect environment free from any pollution and environmental issues. As we all know that Coin have two sides in a same manner there is two sides one is positive and other side is full of challenges. Moreover, In the age of technology, there is emerging trends and opportunities in the field of AI applications, block chain technology provide a new way to protect the environmental conservation.
SUGGESTION: My suggestions to tackle these challenges they have to improve the policies to promote internet access , the digital rights & the online platforms accountability to promote the growth of the environmental activism and to protect the freedom of rights of the online. They should invest on providing digital literacy, workshop to the people which increased the growth of the Digital Environmental Activism and also should prioritize the security of the Activist. The Government should have to Participate in Digital Environmental Activism and to raise the information widely. They should increase their connection on worldwide level and also increase their collaboration with the countries.
By adopting these suggestion it is highly chance to improve the conditions in the field of Digital Environmental Activist can further positive impact and effectiveness on the Digital Environmental age. This can help to promote a sustainable future.
REFERENCES:
Viral 'Trashtag Challenge' Has Reinstated Our Faith in the Good the Internet Can Do! - Culture (mashable.com) • 350.org: A Case of ONLINE-TO-OFFLINE ACTIVISM | by EL_News | Civic Media Project | Medium • The Ocean Cleanup •
A Community for Naturalists · iNaturalist
Fridays For Future is an international climate movement active in most countries and our website offers information on who we are and what you can do. • EcoWatch - For a Healthier Planet and Life