The Movement Behind the Hashtag
More Than Just a Hashtag
Today the United Nations is hosting a Climate Action Summit in New York City. Only leaders with serious actionable plans for a green future were invited to speak. Needless to say, President Trump will not be in attendance. Greta Thunberg, the teenage activist who started Fridays for Future in her homeland of Sweden, will give a speech.
This past Friday, I took part in the first day of protests during what will be a week of activism around climate change.
Deemed a #climatestrike, people were encouraged to leave their offices and students to leave their classrooms in order to take to the streets and demand action from our elected officials. These protests were organized around the UN Climate Summit happening this week in New York, for which Greta Thunberg crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat in order to attend.
Individuals walked out of work and school. Protests were organized across the globe. Streets filled with people holding signs and shouting chants. Traffic was blocked. Businesses shut down, both physically and virtually. Wordpress designed a Digital Climate Strike plug-in to allow anyone with a website to join the climate strike in solidarity.
This movement started with a fifteen-year-old girl skipping school in order to sit outside her government’s parliament building with a sign: School Strike for the Climate. This was in August 2018. A little more than a year later, the entire world has been mobilized to follow in her footsteps.
This movement started with one fifteen-year-old girl, but we can’t deny the influence that social media has had, as well. #FridaysforFuture #climatestrike #schoolstrike4climate. That’s what I call the power of a hashtag.
At the protest I attended in front of Puerto Rico’s Capitolio building on Friday, I was heartened to see students with their teachers and parents in tow, everyone carrying signs with heartfelt messages like “No Solo el planeta morirá – TU También” (Not only our planet will die – YOU too), “Cambien Nuestra Acciones, No el Clima” (Change our Actions, Not the Climate), and “Quien eres Tu Sin Madre Tierra?” (Who are you without Mother Earth?). Social media was buzzing with photos from similar protests happening worldwide. And yet, many people that I came across this weekend hadn’t known about the climate strike, hadn’t seen us on the news protesting in front of El Capitolio, hadn’t heard of Greta Thunberg.
Scrolling through Instagram on a day like today, one can feel warm and fuzzy from seeing so many people taking to the streets, demanding action and justice around global warming. Something’s happening – we think to ourselves as the images roll in. We watch videos of children giving impassioned speeches about their future and we get goosebumps.
But is something actually happening? Yes, there’s movement. Yes, there’s passion and energy and action. I just wonder what it’s all going to amount to when it comes to legislation and actionable change in our global governing bodies. What will be the outcome beyond the videos and photos and marches? Beyond the hashtags?
Food For Thought
Check out this series of eerie photographs, Removed, in which artist Eric Pickersgill removes smartphones from the scene.
What's it like helping your friend become an influencer? Read writer Natalie Beach's essay about her friendship with Caroline Calloway.
One influencer writes about her experience with No Social Sundays. "The exercise of No Social Sunday opens up room to explore the rest of my life."
Tavi Gevinson started her first fashion blog at 11. She's grown up on social media. Now she's asking: Who Would I Be Without Instagram?
If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward to a friend.
Thanks for reading!