How do you critique activists? Some reflections on doing environmentalism badly

Environmental activism in the West is animated by a widespread and resolute belief that climate change poses a significant threat to the future of life on earth unless we act now. Western environmentalism is not renowned for feelings of hesitation or uncertainty – but that is exactly how I felt as I researched the social movement Extinction Rebellion UK. It is by drawing on Nicole Seymour’s (2018) notion of ‘bad environmentalism’, I reflect upon my many shortcomings as an ambivalent environmental activist. I consider both my own and the other climate activists’ improper relations to climate crisis, by following affects not typical to public performances of environmentalism. Focused on feelings like ambiguity, hesitancy and uncertainty, I examine sites and scenes of bad environmentalism drawn from an 18-month ethnography with Extinction Rebellion UK. Sticking with bad environmental affects, I show how the uncertain ground of academic-activism provides opportunities for developing careful, thoughtful and ultimately ambivalent practices of critique.