Grassroots Environmental Groups and Global Climate Change

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the call by environmental advocates for grassroots movements addressing global climate change, there has been little strategic guidance for grassroots organizations in how to mobilize their constituents. This study explores how grassroots environmental groups can effectively address the global climate change issue so as to encourage active individual participation. This research found three types of strategic frames for grassroots organizations focusing on climate change: mainstream frames (MS) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation policies, general climate justice frames (GCJ) to claim disproportionate impacts of climate change, and targeting polluter industry frames (TPI) to attribute climate change to hazardous facilities so as to support the anti-toxic environmental justice movement. The survey results indicate that these frames are not appealing enough to influence constituents’ concerns, attributions, and dissatisfactions regarding climate effects. Although the respondents are more likely to be willing to participate in activities offered by organizational prognostic frames, this study finds no single determinant inducing willingness to participate; clearly other determinants than prognoses, such as experience of climate effects, can play a role as well. The inability to specify these other determinants is partly due to a limitation of this study, which is based on a limited number of grassroots organizations involved in climate change. Climate change is an environmental issue which can be shared by mainstream and environmental justice organizations which have a history of confrontation. In order to develop and unite their efforts, this study offers three recommendations. First, climate justice organizations should ally with national mainstream organizations to address their lack of resources. Second, the movements should focus more on adaptation policies. Finally, grassroots organizations should educate people about climate change so that constituents can recognize the issue as a political problem.