Building A Better Environmental Movement

Building A Better Environmental Movement 

This week’s discussion has 5 parts, as follows:
1. What is a social movement? Explain in about 50 words, using course materials.
2. Explain why environmental activism is important. Using this week’s lecture on the climate crisis, as well as the posted readings on climate crisis, describe the current climate crisis in about 200 words, explaining how urgent it is, and why environmental activism is necessary.
3. Should the environmental movement be a reform movement or a revolutionary movement?
• Using course materials, define each before making your case.
• Why?
• Explain in about 150 words.
4. Do you think the political opportunity structure currently supports radical change?
Why?
• Explain in about 50 words, using course materials.
Week 9 Materials
Two chapters from Newman’s text take us in the macro direction, examining globalization and social movements. Rebecca Solnit gives her non-academic take on how change really happens, as does a short video on The Story of Change. Emily Stewart’s “We are (still) the 99 percent” examines how the Occupy movement informs our thinking today. There are 2 lectures for this week.
• Newman, D. M. (2019). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life (Brief Edition/6th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
o Architects of Change: Reconstructing Society.
• Solnit, R. (2019). How change happens. LitHub.
• The Story of Stuff Project. (2012). The story of change. YouTube. (duration 6:28)
• Stewart, E. (2019). We are (still) the 99 percent. Vox.
Please use the posted readings on climate crisis to answer the question 2 and week 9 materials readings to answer the question 3 and 4.

Climate Crisis Materials
Why is climate change a crisis? How urgent is it?
• Curry, N. (2013). Humanity is getting verrrrrrry close to extinction. Vice Magazine.
• McKibben, B. (2019). The climate science is clear: It’s now or never to avert catastrophe. The Guardian.
• Carrington, D. (2019). Fossil fuel production on track for double the safe climate limit. The Guardian.
• Carrington, D., & Levett, C. (2019). The climate crisis explained in 10 charts. The Guardian.
Here are some more good sources:
• Climate Change Section. The Guardian.
• Shain, S., & Horvath, E. (2019). One Thing You Can Do: Know Your Climate Facts. The New York Times.
• Climate and Environment Section. The New York Times.
• Climate and Environment Section. The LA Times.
• Climate and Energy Section. Grist.
How does climate change matter for your life, now and in the future?
• Tuhus-Dubrow, R. (2019). I wish I’d never been born: the rise of the anti-natalists. The Guardian.
• Carrington, D. (2019). Climate crisis will affect lifelong health of young, warn doctors. The Guardian.
• Xia, R., Kannan, S., & Castleman, T. (2019). The Ocean Game: The sea is rising. Can you save your town? The LA Times.
• Hanman, N. (2019). Naomi Klein: ‘We are seeing the beginnings of the era of climate barbarism.’ The Guardian.
How knowledgeable are you about climate change solutions?
• Kann, D., Houp, W., Jones, J., & O’Key, S. (2019). The most effective ways to curb climate change might surprise you. CNN.