ABSTRACT
Framing approaches concern the creation and contestation of meaning. This chapter discusses how social movements work to frame environmental issues both to motivate their supporters and to address authorities, including international organizations. It begins with an overview of the approach and some key concepts before introducing findings from recent literature on contemporary protests, including those by Fridays for Future and Indigenous peoples’ movement groups. It outlines the emergence of environmental justice as a master frame through successive waves of the environmental movement, each of which can be characterized by a particular framing approach, from conservation to peace, then sustainable development and environmental justice, and highlights questions about frame alignment and collective identity in contemporary protest. It also outlines examples in which movement frames of environmental problems have influenced decision making and draws attention to some questions that emerge when thinking about how framing processes redefine understanding of and solutions to environmental emergency.
