A Third Act for Intergenerational Climate Activism: Using Narrative to Engage Climate Action

Aligned with the IHR’s Environmental Humanities Initiative, this project focuses on older adults’ narratives of their engagement in climate change activism, studying the ways they use a variety of media to share stories that compel others to action.

Though older adults are often viewed as passive and disengaged, and assumed to be uninterested in climate change because they are unlikely to be affected, their storytelling work makes critical contributions to intergenerational climate action. The project’s examination of these older adults’ strategies for developing their activist writing abilities also aids in understanding motives and activities that contribute to lifelong learning.