Do some climate protests backfire because they’re disruptive, or because they target the “wrong” people?

A preprint of my latest project has just been uploaded to PsyArXiv:
📄 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/f7vyk_v1

Across two preregistered studies (US & UK), we find:
🎯 The exact same disruptive tactic is judged very differently depending on the target of disruption.
🎯 Targeting “undeserving” entities → perceived as more immoral, unjust, and anger-inducing.
🎯 Leads to lower support for activists.

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.

It’s a complex trade-off that we have called the #Climate #ActivistsDilemma: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102682

🌍🔥 These warming stripes represent the Earth's average temperature from 1850 to 2024. Each stripe = one year. Blue = cooler. Red = hotter.

The pattern couldn’t be clearer, climate change is here, and it’s accelerating.

Today is #ShowYourStripes day. Let’s show the stripes and commit to taking action on climate change: https://showyourstripes.info

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 action—on both sides of the debate: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101541

𝟭𝟭 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼, 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 "𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗼" 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Since then, it’s been featured by 𝘚𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 and in an 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 journal article—both discussing how climate skeptics likening themselves to Galileo is completely backwards.

It’s encouraging to see growing acceptance of climate science since I first created this, but at the same time, the rise of the Flat Earth movement and its rejection of basic science is unsettling.

As the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement, they’re being left behind as the rest of the world continues to push for climate solutions.

#climate #climatechange #climatereality #parisagreement

NASA confirms that 2024 was the hottest year on record: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/temperatures-rising-nasa-confirms-2024-warmest-year-on-record/

#climate #climatechange #nasa