Surveys of participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 20-28 September, 2019, in 19 cities around the world

In September 2019, the third Global Climate Strike organized by the Fridays For Future (FFF) protest campaign mobilized 6000 protest events in 185 countries and brought 7.6 million participants out onto the streets. This report analyses survey data about participants from 19 cities around the world and compares it to data from an international survey conducted in 13 European cities in March 2019. Both surveys collected data following the well-established “Caught in the Act of Protest” survey methodology in order to generate representative samples.
What makes FFF new and particularly interesting is the involvement of schoolchildren and students as initiators, organizers and participants in climate activism on a large scale. The September mobilizations differed from the March events in the explicit call for adults to join the movement. Although older age cohorts were more strongly represented in September, young people continued to make up a substantial portion of the protestors – almost one third of demonstrators were aged 19 or under. Additionally, there was a high proportion of female FFF protestors. In both surveys nearly 60% of participants identified as female – with the largest share among the youngest demonstrators.
Overwhelming majorities of adult participants were well educated and had a university degree. Moreover, a large proportion of young people participating in the September strikes had parents who had studied at university level.
Despite the young age of the participants, interpersonal mobilization was the predominant method of recruitment to the strikes, particularly among friends and schoolmates. However, the growth in the size and popularity of the movement also includes a growing share of people who participate alone. Around a quarter of adults fit this category, as well as an initially small but growing number of young people.
When expressing their emotions concerning climate change and global warming, the majority of protesters felt worried, frustrated and angered, as well as anxious about the future, although they did not often express a feeling of hopelessness. Therefore, despite a general tendency of decreasing hopefulness that important environmental issues can be addressed through policies, FFF participants show that their action is driven by feelings, awareness of the issues and a willingness to engage in finding solutions. In answer to a series of questions concerning solutions to environmental problems, respondents were divided over whether modern science could be relied on to solve environmental problems. Agreement varied between cities and age-groups on the degree to which they thought stopping climate change could be accomplished through voluntary individual lifestyle changes. However, there was more unity in skepticism towards relying on companies and the market to solve these problems.
In conclusion, surveys of the strikes in March and September indicate important elements of continuity, as well as a small degree of change. Female participants and people with higher education predominate, interpersonal mobilization – particularly among friends – remains a central factor in recruiting support, and protesters are mostly driven by feelings of frustration, anger and anxiety. However, the age of protestors is becoming more diverse, protesters’ hopefulness seems to be in decline, and the “Greta effect” is becoming less influential. The report findings suggest that the movement is becoming more established although its emotional basis for mobilization may be changing.

2019年9月，由未来周五(Fridays For Future，简称FFF)抗议运动组织发起的第三次全球气候罢工，在185个国家动员了6000场抗议活动，并吸引了760万人走上街头。本报告分析了来自全球19个城市的参与者调查数据，并将其与2019年3月在13个欧洲城市进行的一次国际调查数据进行了比较。这两次调查均遵循了成熟的“抗议行为捕捉”调查方法，以生成具有代表性的样本。FFF之所以新颖且特别引人注目，在于其将学童和学生纳入了大规模气候行动的发起者、组织者和参与者。9月的动员活动与3月的事件不同，其明确呼吁成年人加入运动。尽管9月活动中的老年群体代表比例较高，但年轻人依然构成了抗议者群体中的重要组成部分——近三分之一的示威者年龄在19岁以下。此外，FFF抗议者中女性比例较高。在两次调查中，近60%的参与者自称为女性——其中，在年龄最小的示威者中，这一比例最高。成人参与者中绝大多数受过良好教育，拥有大学学位。此外，参与9月罢工的年轻人中，有很大一部分其父母曾就读于大学。尽管参与者年龄年轻，但人际动员仍然是招募罢工的主要方式，尤其是在朋友和同学之间。然而，随着运动规模和受欢迎程度的增长，越来越多的人选择单独参与。大约四分之一的成年人和一小部分起初数量不多但逐渐增多的年轻人属于这一类别。在表达对气候变化和全球变暖的情感时，大多数抗议者感到担忧、沮丧和愤怒，以及对未来的焦虑，尽管他们并不经常表达绝望的感觉。因此，尽管普遍认为通过政策解决重要环境问题可能会降低希望感，FFF的参与者表明，他们的行动是由情感、对问题的认识以及寻找解决方案的意愿所驱动的。针对一系列关于解决环境问题方案的问题，受访者对于是否可以依赖现代科学来解决环境问题存在分歧。在停止气候变化是否可以通过自愿的个人生活方式改变来实现的程度上，城市和年龄群体之间的意见存在差异。然而，对于依赖公司和市场来解决这些问题的怀疑态度上，意见更为统一。总之，3月和9月的罢工调查表明，其中存在着重要的连续性，以及一定程度的变化。女性参与者和受过高等教育的人群占主导地位，人际动员——尤其是在朋友之间——仍然是招募支持的中心因素，抗议者主要由挫败感、愤怒和焦虑的情绪所驱动。然而，抗议者的年龄构成正变得更加多元化，抗议者的希望感似乎在下降，而“格蕾塔效应”的影响力正在减弱。报告的发现表明，该运动正在变得更加成熟，尽管其动员的基础情感可能正在发生变化。