A thoughtful piece by Sarah DeWeerdt in Anthropocene Magazine about my recently published research on the âclimate activistâs dilemma.â
The article explores how disruptive climate protests can reduce support for the groups staging them, while at the same time increase concern about climate change itselfâa challenge at the heart of activist strategy.
You can read it here:
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/08/the-backlash-paradox-of-radical-climate-protests/
Huge thanks to my co-authors, Michael Thai and Matthew Hornsey, for their guidance and support.
Proud to share my first lead-author publication, now out in the Journal of Environmental Psychology!
We found that extreme climate protests (like blockades and defacing property with paint) can backfire by reducing support for the climate movement.
But here's the twist, those same extreme tactics can also make people more concerned about climate change and more willing to act on it.
Itâs a complex trade-off that we have called the #Climate #ActivistsDilemma: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102682
Sign the #PollutersPayPact today!
âď¸ https://act.gp/3FccTES
đđĽ These warming stripes represent the Earth's average temperature from 1850 to 2024. Each stripe = one year. Blue = cooler. Red = hotter.
The pattern couldnât be clearer, climate change is here, and itâs accelerating.
Today is #ShowYourStripes day. Letâs show the stripes and commit to taking action on climate change: https://showyourstripes.info
The Coalition is no more. After decades of shared power, the Liberal and National parties have officially split.
This could mark a major turning pointâfreeing up space in Australian politics for bold, progressive reform. Possibly the best news for meaningful change in years.
We argue that supporters and opponents of climate mitigation draw on similar moral valuesâlike harm, fairness, and purityâbut use them to argue for very different goals. We also explore how these moral arguments can deepen divisions, and what might help bridge the gap.
A pleasure to co-author this piece with Prof. Hornsey and Dr. Michael Thai.
Why do people fight for or against climate action?
Led by Prof. Matthew J. Hornsey, our new review article published in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences delves into the moral arguments of collective climate actionâon both sides of the debate: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101541
Grateful to see this work gaining attention, and appreciative of everyone who has engaged with it.
Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12670
Greenpeace International