Activist Natures: an examination of Extinction Rebellion as a movement of conceptual and ethical reform in London and Madrid

Mitigating the climate crisis requires significant social as well as infrastructural change (IPCC, 2018). The argument that such social change requires abandoning the Western idea of 'nature', defined as separate and opposed to humanity, is increasingly prevalent across the West within recent environmental paradigms, popular environmental literature, and social science on climate breakdown. However, how such a move away from modernist Western perceptions of 'nature' can emerge and what would take its place is less widely agreed. My research examines how such change is perceived and engaged with in Extinction Rebellion (XR): a recent transnational environmental movement who's unique 'regenerative culture' approach aims to change relationships to oneself, others, and the 'natural world' through encouraging an ethic of 'care'.
My research challenges the homogenisation of Western, and non-Western, perceptions of 'nature' in environmental discourse through exploring how national histories and geographies of environmental engagement influence activists' engagement with XR's 'regenerative culture' approach. I compare how XR activists in a Northern European city -London- and the Southern European city -Madrid- experience, construct, re-negotiate and articulate their perceptions of 'nature' and related ethics of care, and how they consider these related to facilitating social change.
I will bring my research insights on how XR Madrid and XR London are engaging with arguments to change perceptions of 'nature' through direct-action activism, into dialogue with academic theory on the concept of 'nature' and its role in justifying the oppression of people of colour, females, and non-humans. This research aims to assist both activist and academic efforts to change specific Western perceptions of 'nature' in a manner that facilitates just and effective mitigation of the climate crisis.