Under the banner of Fridays for the Future (FFF) movement, initiated by the school strike of Greta Thunberg, the year of 2019 witnessed an unprecedented mobilization of young people to the climate cause – more than 1,6 billion for the March event alone and an unaccounted number in the events that followed — with a massive media coverage worldwide, raising a wave of awareness to the Climate Change cause and a shift of attention towards the young generations.
“The power of youth” was the subtitle of Time's cover that announced Greta as Person of the Year (Time, 4 dec 2019); coincidently one of the Marketers of the Year (AdAge, 8 dec 2019); the United Nations general secretary addressed the young generations in its report on the COP25 Madrid 2019 — “Youth in particular have taken to the streets in the millions, demanding urgent action to be taken. This call cannot be left unanswered.” (UN, 2019, p.3) and for the first time a Youth Climate Summit was convened, prior to the Climate Action Summit.
Considering the alleged emergence of a new generation of climate activists within the FFF movement, with a significant number of first timers, (Wahlström et al., 2019); and that political participation at a young age tend to produce politically engaged citizens (Giugni, 2004), it is relevant to assess whether these events constituted a participatory landmark.
In Portugal — a late bloomer to climate change awareness (Schmidt, 2003, cited in Carvalho, 2011) and where participatory practices are low (Pordata, 2019) — the mobilization was unprecedented, including 50 cities and one of the biggest demonstrations for an environmental cause ever in the country (Público, 2019). Furthermore, in the end of the year, Greta Thunberg passed by Lisbon, driving the media interest, which is significant as the mutual influence of media coverage, the construction of social representations and cultural circuits is central to the climate change agenda (Carvalho, 2011). Nevertheless, it is relevant to assess the phenomenon as the hype dust settles.
Exploring the participatory experience of young (and not so young — parents and teachers were also involved) citizens in the FFF movement in the Portuguese context is the aim of this research. Based on content analysis of media coverage and on an online questionnaire applied in the main Portuguese universities, one year after the first global climate strike, we aim to assess: 1) knowledge about FFF; 2) participation rates, modalities and modus operandi; 3) behavioral and attitudinal change (towards climate change and participation).
Was this an inspiring life changing event that shaped attitudes, behavior change, and motivation for action and social change (Moser & Dilling, 2007) or did it result in a sentiment of powerlessness and dismay? Was this participation perceived as efficient and consequent? What impact did this experience have at the personal level - as a process of awareness and empowerment - and at a collective level - as an opportunity to build collaborative networks and develop feelings of belonging to a global ecological citizenship?