The Climate Girl Effect

Carolyn M. Cunningham and Heather M. Crandall analyze the rise of climate activist girls who manage to advance the climate movement using social media, ingenuity, and an intersectional approach. United and focused, they confront the challenges of global systems and cultures that maintain power through all kinds of oppression.

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From podiums on international stages to mainstream media coverage, from crowds of youth marching in streets, to social media feeds, everywhere we look we can see girls rising in the climate justice movement. Carolyn M. Cunningham and Heather M. Crandall examine these climate activists from the intersection of gender studies, new media studies, and environmental activism. They include cases about iconic climate girls such as Greta Thunberg, Mari Copeny, and Autumn Peltier (Wiikwemkoong First Nation) and lesser-known climate girl activists who design technologies, global non-profit organizations, and lawsuits against governments. Crandall and Cunningham reveal that climate girl activists are consciously intersectional and aware of how systems of oppression, including racism, heterosexism, and capitalism, impact the climate crisis. Scholars of women’s and gender studies, environmental studies, and communications studies will find this book of particular interest.