The Wastefulness of the Environmental Movement - An Investigation into Sustainable Activism

Abstract: This thesis examines how the Climate Justice Movement in Germany is set up today and how activists relate to and feel about their activism. Specifically, factors are investigated that make people feel unhappy about their activism or even leave the movement. Furthermore, potential changes of the movement in order to become a healthier and more sustainable environment for activists are suggested. Participatory Action Research was conducted and data was collected through unstructured interviews, autobiographic reflection and informal conversations. This study finds that the Climate Justice Movement has indeed inherited violent and destructive dynamics of the surrounding world system. Capitalist pressures of efficiency, competition and productivism just like patriarchal oppression are visible. An exploitative culture of activism that creates an adverse social metabolism and consequent rift of activists within a supposedly anti-capitalist and pro-sustainability movement is a consequence. Various starting points for a restructuring process have been identified. A first important step is the fundamental recognition of the embeddedness of the movement in the current system and the resulting pressures and traumata that activists experience as a consequence. Furthermore, internal dynamics and working cultures need to be scrutinized. Developing a holistically authentic strategy that can make the CJM a healthier, more sustainable and coherent place for current and future activists will play an essential role in the urgently needed great transformation.