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Scientists have known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, critics say there has been a complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Governments have struggled to meet even modest goals. Fossil fuel interests maintain a stranglehold on political & economic power. Even though we have seen growing concern from everyday people, civil society has succeeded only in pressuring decisionmakers to adopt watered-down policies. All the while, the climate crisis worsens. Is there any hope of achieving the necessary systemic change?

Dana R. Fisher argues that there is a realistic path forward for climate actionbut only through mass mobilization that responds to the growing severity & frequency of disastrous events. Spurred by the lack of progress, climate activism has become increasingly confrontational. Fisher examines the radical flank of the climate movement: its emergence & growth, its use of direct action, & how it might evolve as the climate crisis worsens. She considers when & how activism is most successful, identifying the importance of creating community, capitalizing on shocking moments, & cultivating resilience. Join us as Fisher offers timely insights on how activist social movements can take power back from deeply entrenched interests & create transformative climate action.

About the Speaker

Dana Fisher is director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity & a professor in the School of International Service at American University. Her previous books include Activism: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America & American Resistance: From the Womens March to the Blue Wave. Her work has been profiled in the Washington Post, New York Magazine, & Wired. She has appeared on ABC Nightline, Morning Joe, PBS Newshour, CNN, & on various programs on NPR, the CBC, & the BBC. She has published works in The American Prospect, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, The Nation, Business Insider, & at the Brookings Institution.