In this chapter we reflect on core components of an immersive program for young adults focused on how to come of age in and be in service to the complex matrix of demands of these times. Our program, called the Earth Leadership Cohort (ELC), was an adaptation of the Work That Reconnects for North American 18- to 30-year-olds. We describe the rationale and framework of the Work That Reconnects that shaped our curriculum. We focus on two features of ELC that we found to be essential when working with young adults in the context of the climate crisis. First, paradigms must shift from anthropocentric to ecocentric. Second, we must meet the generational demand for an intersectional approach. We describe challenges that required our willingness to adapt to our participants’ call for greater intersectionality and to attend to the role of systemic racism in the history and practice of climate activism. Throughout, we offer a sampling of our practices and processes for illustration. We conclude with a discussion of inherent limitations and possible applicability and relevance of our program for those working with young adults across multiple settings.

This chapter by Jennifer Uchendu and Elizabeth Haase is dedicated to children and youth-led activism, with a focus on Jennifer’s journey as a youth climate activist leading work at SustyVibes in Nigeria. SustyVibes is a youth-led and youth-focused organization making sustainability actionable and relatable for young people through community-led projects. The chapter chronicles aspects of Jennifer’s journey that may be significant for young people and researchers of youth activism. We also discuss the main types of activism and highlight principles that have been adopted by youth climate activist groups to help them be most inclusive and effective, preventing burnout and group devolution. Drawing from Jennifer’s experience with eco-anxiety and related stress, we review the literature on the risks and benefits of activism – for youth mental health and for youth climate activists in particular – in hopes that her story can be generalizable and empowering to others.

Climate activists across generations and borders demonstrate in the streets, while people also take climate actions via everyday professional efforts at work. In this dispersal of climate actions, the pursuit of personal politics is merging with civic, state and corporate commitment to the point where we are witnessing a rebirth of togetherness and alternative ways of collective organising, from employee activism, activist entrepreneurship, to insider activism, shareholder activism and prosumer activism. By empirically investigating this diffuse configuration of the environmental movement with focus on renewable energy technology, the commercial footing of climate activism is uncovered. The book ethnographically illustrates how activism goes into business, and how business goes into activism, to further trace how an ‘epistemic community’ emerges through co-creation of lay knowledge, not only about renewables, but political action itself. No longer tied to a specific geographical spot, organisation, group or even shared political identity, many politicians and business leaders applaud this affluent climate ‘action’, in their efforts to reach beyond mere climate ‘adaptation’ and speed up the energy transition. Conclusively, climate activism is no longer a civic phenomenon defined by struggles, pursued by the activist as we knew it, but testament of feral proximity and horizontal organising.

Climate activists across generations and borders demonstrate in the streets, while people also take climate actions via everyday professional efforts at work. In this dispersal of climate actions, the pursuit of personal politics is merging with civic, state and corporate commitment to the point where we are witnessing a rebirth of togetherness and alternative ways of collective organising, from employee activism, activist entrepreneurship, to insider activism, shareholder activism and prosumer activism. By empirically investigating this diffuse configuration of the environmental movement with focus on renewable energy technology, the commercial footing of climate activism is uncovered. The book ethnographically illustrates how activism goes into business, and how business goes into activism, to further trace how an ‘epistemic community’ emerges through co-creation of lay knowledge, not only about renewables, but political action itself. No longer tied to a specific geographical spot, organisation, group or even shared political identity, many politicians and business leaders applaud this affluent climate ‘action’, in their efforts to reach beyond mere climate ‘adaptation’ and speed up the energy transition. Conclusively, climate activism is no longer a civic phenomenon defined by struggles, pursued by the activist as we knew it, but testament of feral proximity and horizontal organising.

Climate activists across generations and borders demonstrate in the streets, while people also take climate actions via everyday professional efforts at work. In this dispersal of climate actions, the pursuit of personal politics is merging with civic, state and corporate commitment to the point where we are witnessing a rebirth of togetherness and alternative ways of collective organising, from employee activism, activist entrepreneurship, to insider activism, shareholder activism and prosumer activism. By empirically investigating this diffuse configuration of the environmental movement with focus on renewable energy technology, the commercial footing of climate activism is uncovered. The book ethnographically illustrates how activism goes into business, and how business goes into activism, to further trace how an ‘epistemic community’ emerges through co-creation of lay knowledge, not only about renewables, but political action itself. No longer tied to a specific geographical spot, organisation, group or even shared political identity, many politicians and business leaders applaud this affluent climate ‘action’, in their efforts to reach beyond mere climate ‘adaptation’ and speed up the energy transition. Conclusively, climate activism is no longer a civic phenomenon defined by struggles, pursued by the activist as we knew it, but testament of feral proximity and horizontal organising.

Climate activists across generations and borders demonstrate in the streets, while people also take climate actions via everyday professional efforts at work. In this dispersal of climate actions, the pursuit of personal politics is merging with civic, state and corporate commitment to the point where we are witnessing a rebirth of togetherness and alternative ways of collective organising, from employee activism, activist entrepreneurship, to insider activism, shareholder activism and prosumer activism. By empirically investigating this diffuse configuration of the environmental movement with focus on renewable energy technology, the commercial footing of climate activism is uncovered. The book ethnographically illustrates how activism goes into business, and how business goes into activism, to further trace how an ‘epistemic community’ emerges through co-creation of lay knowledge, not only about renewables, but political action itself. No longer tied to a specific geographical spot, organisation, group or even shared political identity, many politicians and business leaders applaud this affluent climate ‘action’, in their efforts to reach beyond mere climate ‘adaptation’ and speed up the energy transition. Conclusively, climate activism is no longer a civic phenomenon defined by struggles, pursued by the activist as we knew it, but testament of feral proximity and horizontal organising.

The globalisation of public interest litigation has caused new forms of democratic lawmaking to emerge. These recent legal actions have altered the manner in which the courts, citizens and advocacy groups interact. Ordinary citizens, despite their nominal remoteness from international decision-making processes, now undertake a significant role in climate governance in and outside of courts. Coupled with the rise of advocacy networks, which bring together state actors and civil society to provide information, personnel and other resources to domestic actors, the emergent properties of recent legal actions warrant a reappraisal of how climate activism and legal activism interact.Using Guinier and Torres’s conception of demosprudence, this chapter inquires whether citizens mobilised towards climate justice are engaged in new forms of democratic lawmaking. In this regard, the international spread of public interest litigation offers a brief example of how demosprudence reconfigures this process and proceeds to frame contemporary climate change activism in the context of social science scholarship on transnational networks. Finally, transnational law and climate change is analysed for insights, utilising crowdfunding and crowdsourcing as case studies.