Climate and Sustainability| Seeking Visibility in a Big Tent: Digital Communication and the People’s Climate March

Authors

  • Kjerstin Thorson Michigan State University
  • Stephanie Edgerly Northwestern University
  • Neta Kligler-Vilenchik Hebrew University
  • Yu Xu University of Southern California
  • Luping Wang University of Southern California

Keywords:

climate change, Twitter, protest, social movements

Abstract

The September 2014 “People’s Climate March” was reportedly the largest climate change mobilization in history. The coalition of organizations behind the march chose a strategy of inclusion: They sought to create a “big tent” for a climate movement. Building on theoretical developments in the literature on digital media and social movements, we used Twitter as a window to observe how march organizers and participants attempted to (a) create a digital space of shared attention intersecting with the on-the-ground event, and also (b) thread together diverse orientations to the climate issue.

Author Biographies

Kjerstin Thorson, Michigan State University

Assistant Professoe 

Stephanie Edgerly, Northwestern University

Assistant ProfessorNorthwestern University 

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, Hebrew University

Assistant ProfessorHebrew UniversityIsrael

Yu Xu, University of Southern California

Graduate StudentUniversity of Southern California 

Luping Wang, University of Southern California

Graduate StudentUniversity of Southern California 

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Published

2016-10-11

Issue

Section

Special Sections