A media ecology of ecological media? Conceptualizing environment-oriented communication and its digital footprint in climate change activism

Abstract

Recognizing the role-played by mainstream social media (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, etc.) in climate activism, this article focuses on how FridaysForFuture (FFF) Rome’s activists navigate and negotiate with digital platforms, unveiling strategies and beliefs related to platform-sustainability. Through multimethod qualitative research, we account for online and offline activist practices across multiple media platforms and explore the criteria guiding them. Results reveal two fundamental conflicts that imbue FFF-Rome’s practices but are relevant to all actors of social change involved in climate activism: (1) the tension between addressing the climate crisis via digital tools, which contribute to environmental harm, and (2) advocating for systemic change rooted in anti-capitalism and anti-corporatism while utilizing platforms whose logic aligns with these models. We argue that FFF-Rome’s media ecology, encompassing both backstage and frontstage, and mainstream and alternative social media, manages these conflicts by embracing an ecological (Treré, 2019) understanding of digital technology’s environmental footprint.