The Impact of Activism on Human Society: Fighting for Rights and Survival in the Age of the Sixth Mass Extinction
The Historical Impact of Activism on Human Society
Activism has been at the forefront of significant social changes throughout human history. From the abolition of slavery in the 19th century to the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement, progressive social movements have driven transformative societal shifts. Activism has played a major role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, safeguarding the environment, promoting gender equality, and opposing racism. The US Civil Rights Movement (1942-1968), for example, restored universal suffrage in southern states and outlawed legal segregation through a combination of litigation, media engagement, boycotts, demonstrations, and civil disobedience. Thousands were arrested in nonviolent protests as images of confrontations inspired widespread public support, while hundreds of thousands participated in marches, boycotts, and voter registration drives throughout the South. This movement helped create a national crisis that forced government intervention to overturn segregation laws, restore voting rights for African Americans, and end legal discrimination in housing, education, and employment.
Throughout history, we've witnessed the power of collective action in shaping society's trajectory. From the Boston Tea Party to the Stonewall riots, these rebellious occasions represent moments when marginalized communities fought for liberation and dignity. However, many acts of resistance have been deliberately erased from our historical textbooks. Entire generations of freedom fighters, environmental protectors, and anti-imperialist activists go undiscussed. This erasure deprives us of revolutionary historical moments, elders who could aid us in today's struggles, and important lessons about liberation. When examining historical activism, we see that these movements had tremendous impacts on society's structure and values, forming the foundation for many rights we now take for granted.
The Sixth Mass Extinction and the Existential Crisis
We are currently in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, an ongoing extinction event caused by human activities rather than natural phenomena like previous extinction events. Unlike earlier extinction crises triggered by asteroid impacts or volcanic eruptions, this one is driven by unsustainable land, water, and energy use, along with climate change. This crisis is causing species to disappear at an alarming rate—between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural extinction rates. When a mass extinction occurs, species are lost at a significantly higher rate than the background extinction rate, with major groups of organisms disappearing entirely. Many scientists argue that we are either entering or already experiencing this sixth great mass extinction. A comprehensive assessment shows that one-third or more of the 6,300 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, a trend likely to accelerate because most amphibians live in the tropics with small geographic ranges making them susceptible to extinction.
The current rate of extinction is estimated to be 211 times the background extinction rate for amphibians, and rates would be 25,000-45,000 times greater if all currently threatened species went extinct. The Holocene extinction, also referred to as the Anthropocene extinction or the sixth mass extinction, is an ongoing extinction event caused exclusively by human activities. Research suggests that potentially as many as 7.5–13% (150,000–260,000) of all ~2 million known species have already gone extinct since around AD 1500, orders of magnitude greater than officially recognized. The consequences of this biodiversity loss extend far beyond wildlife preservation—they directly impact human survival and well-being.
The Fight for Human Rights in the Context of Extinction
In the face of the sixth mass extinction, the fight for human rights becomes more critical than ever. Human rights activism seeks to protect basic rights such as those outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to life, citizenship, property, freedom of movement, constitutional freedoms of thought, expression, religion, and peaceful assembly. The foundations of the global human rights movement involve resistance to colonialism, imperialism, slavery, racism, segregation, patriarchy, and oppression of indigenous peoples. Human rights activism is about reacting to injustice, to abusive treatment, to violence or discrimination, and trying to correct it. It's about being ready to assist and demonstrate solidarity with the struggles of other people, fighting to ensure they are treated with respect and dignity, and helping to facilitate a move toward a more humane, egalitarian, rights-respecting society.
We're facing the consequences of global warming, an oil crisis, and widespread poverty and hunger throughout the developing world. At home, we see major unemployment and economic hardship, a flawed healthcare system, and cultural and political systems rampant with discrimination. In these circumstances, social activism becomes not only morally important but crucial to the survival of our communities and world as a whole. We are seeing that we can no longer engage in conflict and warfare because it entails great human and environmental costs while also fueling terrorism. We now see that ignoring the causes of global warming has allowed major disasters like the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina to occur, causing the loss of thousands of lives.
Different Areas of Activism and Their Interconnectedness
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate building in a community (including writing letters to newspapers), petitioning elected officials, running or contributing to a political campaign, preferential patronage (or boycott) of businesses, and demonstrative forms of activism like rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, or hunger strikes. Activism may be performed daily in various ways, including through the creation of art (artivism), computer hacking (hacktivism), or simply in how one chooses to spend their money (economic activism).
There are many different areas of activism, including:
Human Rights Activism: This work focuses on protecting basic rights such as those in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Environmental Activism: Takes various forms including protecting nature or the natural environment, protecting the human environment, conserving depletable natural resources, and protecting critical earth system elements like the climate.
Political Activism: May include political campaigning, lobbying, voting, or petitioning.
Economic Activism: Involves using the economic power of government, consumers, and businesses for social and economic policy change.
Internet Activism: Uses digital tools and platforms for political goals, including both left-wing "hashtag activism" and right-wing strategies to manipulate legacy media or migrate to alternative platforms.
Art and Design Activism: Includes design activism, art activism (artivism), fashion activism, craft activism (craftivism), and literary activism.
Science Activism: May include efforts to better communicate the benefits of science, ensure continued funding for scientific research, increase perceived legitimacy of particular scientific fields, or respond to the politicization of particular fields.
Peace Activism: Focuses on opposing war and promoting non-violent conflict resolution.
Media Activism: Utilizes media platforms to advocate for social change.
Climate Action: Focuses specifically on addressing climate change through policy change and direct action.
Gender Equality Activism: Works toward equal rights between genders, like the "Me Too" movement which addresses sexual harassment and assault.
Racial Equality Activism: Movements like Black Lives Matter that fight against racial discrimination and violence.
Indigenous Land Rights Movements: Struggles by indigenous peoples for the recognition and protection of their traditional territories.
These different areas of activism all contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which form a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity. The 17 SDGs seek to build on previous development goals, realize human rights for all, achieve gender equality, and balance economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. For example, youth activists in Brazil occupied schools to address SDG 4 (Quality Education), protesting against cuts in education and school spending as well as modifications to curriculum without student consultation. In the Middle East, youth activists worked on SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) through projects like the One Win Leads to Another programme in Rio de Janeiro, which offered sports and life skills training for adolescent girls' empowerment.
The Need for More Aggressive Activism Strategies
In the face of the sixth mass extinction and other global crises, the concept that "the worst enemy of the best is the good" becomes relevant. This suggests that moderate or "good" activism might actually hinder the more radical or "best" solutions needed for survival. Historically, activism has often been more brutal and confrontational than many contemporary approaches. For instance, during the Civil Rights Movement, despite narratives focusing on nonviolence, there were significant elements of self-defense and even armed resistance. Black Panther Party members and others saw brutality against civil rights protesters as part of a long tradition of police violence and state oppression. Many activists were reluctant to devote their lives to nonviolence and instead saw it as simply a tactic that could be used at marches and sit-ins to gain sympathy for their cause.
The concept of activism itself might be a barrier to mass action on climate issues. Many people associate activism with needing to get arrested, being a hippie, being left-wing, being Green, or buying into identity politics. But what if we explored the possibility that the very idea of 'activism' is putting some people off getting involved?. Perhaps what we need to get somewhere this decade is something like a new, mass, distributed, genuinely inclusive, semi-joined up 'moderate flank'. When we say "activism," there's a risk that we don't see a whole load of work that is happening already. Even with our wanting to do something that isn't too "activisty," there is a risk that, still primed with our ideas of what counts as activism and what doesn't, we won't notice what's already going on.
In the context of climate change and mass extinction, softer approaches may not be sufficient. The price of not being captured by concepts like activism is eternal vigilance. We need to reflect and consider uncomfortable possibilities, such as whether the very thing that many of us want to identify as is part of the reason why we're not succeeding in making the changes we so badly need. We need to enable the unleashing of action at scale, especially at the meso-level of collectives: workplaces and communities, in the absence of anything remotely like adequate state leadership.
Historical Examples of Controversial Activism with Positive Outcomes
Throughout history, many activists have used controversial or aggressive methods that were judged harshly in their time but ultimately led to positive social change. In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a hotbed of activity for the civil rights movement. When police arrested hundreds of young protesters during the Children's Crusade, the media broadcast nationwide coverage, spurring President John F. Kennedy to publicly support the Civil Rights Movement. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) led by Martin Luther King Jr. launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and marches in Birmingham to protest the city's brutal segregation policies. Many protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which became a classic defense of civil disobedience.
Nonviolent Philosophy and Self Defense were both embraced during the Civil Rights Movement. Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jim Lawson, and John Lewis believed wholeheartedly in nonviolence as a way of life and studied how it had been used successfully by Mahatma Gandhi. But other activists were reluctant to devote their lives to nonviolence and instead saw it as simply a tactic that could be used at marches and sit-ins to gain sympathy for their cause. Even though activists used nonviolence at protests, arming themselves with guns for self-protection was not uncommon. The Deacons for Defense and Justice was a group founded in Jonesboro, Louisiana, in 1964 to organize men to guard the homes of activists and to protect them while they traveled.
Malcolm X was often asked his opinion of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, initially being scornful of King and his strategies. However, he represented a more militant approach that many felt was necessary in the face of continued oppression. On March 7, 1965, state and local police used billy clubs, whips, and tear gas to attack hundreds of civil rights activists beginning a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. The activists were protesting the denial of voting rights to African Americans as well as the murder of 26-year-old activist Jimmie Lee Jackson. Horrifying images of the violence were broadcast on national television, shocking many viewers and helping to rouse support for the civil rights cause.
The Black Panthers have long been vilified, but their impact on many prominent current activists is immeasurable. They challenged police and promoted social change through both community programs and armed self-defense. ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) is another example of a group that used direct action to fight for its cause. This non-partisan group united in anger and committed to non-violent direct action to end the AIDS crisis. In October 1992, they organized the "Ashes Action," a funeral march in Washington, D.C., which ended in scattering the ashes of loved ones who had died of HIV/AIDS onto the White House lawn. For many, this was both a direct condemnation of the government and a healing process.
Overcoming Barriers to Activism Participation
External barriers to activism may include things like social pressure and limited time or resources, while internal barriers involve someone's psychological reluctance to engage. There are a couple of things to say about why people don't participate in activism. Climate psychologists are interested not just in outright denial, but in the ways that people can disavow or not act on what they do actually know, which Stanley Cohen called 'implicatory denial' and Kari Mari Norgaard calls 'knowing and not knowing'. Grief, guilt, anxiety and despair can cause us to adopt psychological defenses and coping mechanisms that interact in complex ways with our context. We might get stuck in the gap between our professed values and actually acting on them because of processes going on in our own psyche, which suggests the values-action 'gap' isn't really a gap at all, because it's filled with a tangle of confusions and fear.
The research on barriers to activism reveals common themes: each student experienced fears about participating in activism or identifying as an activist, had strong desires to share information about injustice, and engaged in a complex internal dialogue about what they could do in response. Time, not knowing how to get involved, and not being trained were reported barriers to engagement in climate activism. Psychological barriers to climate change action include climate denial, political polarization, greed and disconnection, cognitive dissonance, herd mentality, optimism bias, and toxic positivity. Many people hesitate to engage in everyday activism because they feel their actions won't make a difference. They may convince themselves that they don't know how to help, or become anxious about doing the wrong thing. Others may feel that they are too busy, and that getting involved takes too much time. Some people may believe that if they don't have the resources to donate financially, that there is nothing they can do.
To overcome these barriers, we can start small and choose actions that give us joy and hope. Everyday activism is for everyone—it's not always about protest and civil disobedience or tweets and hashtags. There are little things each of us can do to make the world a more just and equitable place. Whether you have five minutes or five hours, you can make a difference. When you commit to consistently taking action on the issues you care about, your activism becomes a daily practice rather than a crisis response. By aligning your values and interests with your time, talent, and ability, then choosing actions that match, you can find what feels good. Taking action should be a pleasurable experience, not an obligation, but that doesn't mean it should be easy. Everyday activism can take you out of your comfort zone and push you to examine more meaningful ways to contribute.
The Role of Collaboration and Unity in Addressing Global Challenges
Collaboration and unity among activists is crucial in addressing global challenges like the sixth mass extinction. The fourth installment of Sentient Sessions explored the power and opportunity that can arise when movements join forces. Activists striving to achieve a more just and equitable future for all people and the planet are being encouraged to apply for United Nations SDG Action Awards. Civil society's role is vital, as it helps drive the action, cooperation, and innovation to realize the SDGs. Student activists can serve as pressure groups for meeting the SDGs through participation in dialogues or protest movements.
If we are to minimize species loss and a collapse in ecosystem function, we must do all we can to support Indigenous Peoples' rights and their efforts to protect their lands and waters. This means respecting and enforcing their territorial rights and ensuring that they can exercise their legitimate authority to determine who has access to and can use their resources. International conservation organizations should and do play a role in providing on-the-ground assistance to Indigenous Peoples. Working respectfully with Indigenous Peoples to support their efforts and hear their concerns is both a moral imperative and one of the most effective pathways to achieve the 30×30 goals, protect and conserve the planet's biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and ensure a sustainable, healthy, and equitable future for all of humanity.
To prevent the sixth mass extinction, we need to spread the word that the crisis is real, reduce our carbon footprint, support efforts to educate women in developing nations to slow population growth, buy products from companies that limit deforestation, eat fish from healthy fisheries, eat less meat to reduce agriculture's clear-cutting of rainforests, never buy anything made from ivory, adopt a species or become a "citizen scientist" for a conservation group, and vote for leaders who recognize the importance of conservation and carbon-neutral energy policies. Some of these efforts must focus on stopping fossil fuel emissions, integrating green technologies, and encouraging collaborative social action. Every person can make a difference by supporting sustainable agriculture, reducing waste, and advocating for policies that protect the environment.
Conclusion: Activism as Survival
Activism is survival; disinterest is a luxury. This moment has given voters, especially young voters, room to reflect on the four years behind us and consider how activism is essential for our collective future. Self-care is also crucial for activists to sustain their work. As we engage in social justice work, we must balance our passion with self-preservation. As Audre Lorde famously stated, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare". Viewing self-care as an inherent part of any activism effort and a duty you owe yourself is crucial to taking good care of yourself while you are busy trying to take care of everyone else.
The reality of our world is that actions and their effects are placing our world at risk. That's why it is so urgent and important that we begin to stand up to these injustices as a human community. We must join or form groups and networks to challenge this unnatural decline. It is imperative that we all find whatever issue strikes us and find a way to work on it. Because there are so many social issues to deal with, it is important for us all to recognize the intersections of our work and to support one another in the hopes of building a strong, interconnected movement addressing all the challenges to our human rights and our survival on this planet.
In the struggle for a more just and sustainable world, we must remember that the decisions Indigenous Peoples have made over generations have done more to protect the planet's species and ecological systems than all the protected areas established and managed by individual countries combined. The majority of our planet's last wild, ecologically intact places on land exist because Indigenous Peoples rely on them for their wellbeing and cultural sense of self. By understanding this interconnection between human rights, environmental protection, and social justice, we can forge a path forward that addresses the sixth mass extinction while creating a more equitable society for all.
