From Sustainable Consumption to Climate Activism

This article examines young people’s pathways toward climate activism and how they relate to consumption practices. Based on 21 narrative interviews with younger adults in Germany, we identified different types of consumption practices and corresponding attitudes toward sustainability among activists , supporters , and non-supporters of the climate movement. We highlight how supporters and activists associated with the climate movement Fridays for Future (FFF) extend their sustainable consumption practices. The evolution of sustainability practices emerged in parallel with the development of the personal meaning attributed to them. However, over time, the group of activists has come to regard individual consumption as increasingly less important for climate protection. Paradoxically, they still practice sustainable consumption, but rather emphasize their political activism.

Climate change · Environmentalism · Narrative · Politics · Sustainability · Sustainable consumption · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance