ABSTRACT
Social media applications and platforms enable like-minded individuals, including environmental activists to connect with each other across time and space divisions, enabling the more rapid diffusion of social movement tactics and coordinated campaigns. Climate change is a crucial issue to consider from an environmental justice perspective, in that the differing historical responsibilities and impacts are reflective of global power inequities. Applied to environmental action and social movement organizing, disruptive social media virality consists of the potential for marginalized, or otherwise underrepresented populations, such as Indigenous communities, youth, and others, to turn to digital and social media apps and platforms to connect with like-minded individuals and collectives. The struggle by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota to stop the DAPL, which reached its height in late 2016, was centered on environmental justice and Indigenous rights. Youth activism links both the Standing Rock struggle and youth climate strikes together seeking a better future for current and future generations.
