A Tale of Two Movements? Environmental Non-Government Organisations and Community Action on Climate Change

Abstract

This paper argues that the rise and success of community action on climate change opens a space for critical reflection on current ENGO efforts to secure effective public policy outcomes on climate change. The current lack of success of ENGO campaigning efforts across contemporary liberal democracies has happened against the backdrop of majority public support for stronger government action on climate change. Beyond the clear conclusion that governments and ENGOs are failing to convert citizen sentiment into effective outcomes, politically disengaged publics are disillusioned with both formal politics and civil society. Community action on climate change provides some hope in this scenario – both for a reinvigoration of the environment movement’s approach to campaigning on climate change and for a reinvigoration of an active democratic public.

Keywords: climate change, ENGO, civil society, activism, environment movement