We are living through a summer of climate shocks. Around the world, heat records on land and sea have shattered and severe storms fueled by heatwave-warmed waters have caused 1000-year floods. Other regions are experiencing extreme drought that is exacerbating wildfires, which are setting off air quality alerts for millions of people (including the residents in 18 states in the U.S.). With the onset of El Niño, scientists warn that this summer is only the beginning.

As the world burns, a growing radical flank of the climate movement has taken to the streets in protest. Activists are blocking traffic, marching slowly, smearing paint, throwing food, and disrupting events to bring attention to the climate crisis and the need for more aggressive climate action. Although many articles have been written about these increasingly confrontational tactics, too little is known about who the activists are and how they are connected.

My forthcoming book, Saving Ourselves: from Climate Shocks to Climate Action (Columbia University Press, 2024), investigates this growing radical flank and provides data to explain why more-and-more people are participating in civil disobedience as part of the climate movement.

Conflicts within movements sow the seeds of dissent and cultivate emergent groups within a larger movement that employ more confrontational tactics. These emergent groups are what some scholars call a "radical flank." For example, a radical flank emerged in the Civil Rights Movement as activists realized they did not have the necessary access to power to make change through the legal and political systems. Instead, activists employed more confrontational tactics, including staged sit-ins, non-permitted marches, and even riots. In most cases, these tactics were initiated by youth-led organizations, including some with militant ideas. Radical flanks are common when there is conflict over tactics, targets, and timetables for action.

Read the full article about radical climate action by Dana R. Fisher and Quinn Renaghan at Brookings.