TikTok Environmentalists and GenZ Take to Social Media to Spark Change

While anxiety about climate change continues to increase throughout a majority of the population, Generation Z bring a climate-optimistic perspective, while also believing it is their top priority.

A Pew Research report revealed that 76% of Gen Z in the United States view climate change as one of their biggest concerns and 37% indicated it was their top concern for the world.

With years and previous generations believing in climate “doomism,” the idea that the environmental damage done to the planet is too forgone and irreversible, Gen Z has taken that task into their hands and are doing what they know best: using the power of social media.

With many people turning to social media to get news, Gen Zers have made accounts dedicated to spreading environmental news, revealing their personal attempts to help save the planet and spark a change in others. The Pew Research Center also put out a study revealing that one third of adults between ages 18-29 use social media for the purpose of obtaining news, which doesn’t include the fact that people on social media for entertainment purposes could also end up encountering news on these platforms.

Not only are these environmentalist social entities posting environmental content, but they are teaming up in hopes to create a bigger impact.

EcoTok is a group of young influencers on TikTok who post about a wide variety of climate topics which started in July of 2020. The group of 21 members includes students, scientists and educators. Along with their posting on TikTok they also provide services to the community and other environmental influencers such as help in media production, creator campaign management, workshops and community event planning.

This group, while influential, is just a small part of the environmental action going on social media. Both hashtags “climatechange” and “sustainable” have over a billion posts collectively. While there is more and more environmental activism taking place on social media, the next step is seeing an increase in hands-on activity. While the aforementioned 76% of Gen Z stated the environment as a constant concern, only a little over one third of Gen Z actually takes some form of action to save the planet, a number that these TikTok environmentalists hope to increase through their platform.