From Climate Shocks to Lasting Change

5 Takeaways From UMD Expert’s Research on Activism, Policy in a Warming World

When sociology Professor Dana R. Fisher began studying what’s now known as the climate crisis over two decades ago, most Americans didn’t see what the big deal was; even supporting government investment in clean energy was what she describes as “nichey.”

Today, young activists are so passionate about stopping climate change that they spew soup at priceless paintings to get their points across.

That shift in attitudes and the attendant rise in activism have been key topics for Fisher in her research on climate policy. Through surveys and open-ended interviews with both policy elites and demonstrators, she’s gathered data on how climate issues—and how we react to them—have changed over time. That work will be synthesized in her upcoming book, “Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action,” expected to be available early next year from Columbia University Press.

“I bring in all of these data that I’ve collected since the 1990s to try to flesh out what it will take for us to get to a sufficient social response to the climate crisis,” she said.

Photo of Just Stop Oil climate activists who glued themselves to a Van Gogh painting at the Courtauld Gallery in London last June is by Kristian Buus/In Pictures via Getty Images

Published on Wed, Apr 19, 2023 - 11:09AM