Real Activism for Australia
By: Andrea Luo
Australia is experiencing one of its worst bushfire seasons, and the response to this crisis has taken social media by storm. We have all seen the videos and pictures of the raging fires in Australia plastered all over the news and social media. As you scroll through your Instagram stories or Discover pages, it is inevitable that you’ll see a variant on the infamous “1 like = 1 tree” post.
Why has this explosion of support occured? This seems to be the first time that the mainstream media has brought Australia’s annual fires to the global stage. Perhaps, this is tied to the increased visibility of climate movements at-large—bushfires are part of a conversation wrapped in global politics around climate issues.
In this day and age, social media has the power to wield tremendous influence over Millennials and Generation Z. To this end, the wide dissemination of news about the fires down under has become a wakeup call to a whole generation of people around the world.
Footage of animals fleeing from burning forests came as a shock to me—I certainly didn’t expect to see the murky skies of New Zealand’s Tasmanian Glacier when I logged onto Twitter. From the deluge of posts, I came to a renewed realization that climate change is a grave problem that we need to face together.
This isn’t like seeing the odd post of a dramatic fire anymore. It is very much real. It forces us to face an undeniable truth—our behaviors are having an impact on the climate right now, not just at some indeterminate point in the future. This is how social media can play a role in climate betterments.
Around two months have passed since the posts blew up on social media. What effect has it wrought? On one hand, the news has reached people around the world and put pressure on the media to report about the wildfires.
Yet, on the other hand, I feel that all this has become a futile effort to continue posting and reposting about the same issue. Is liking a post really going to make an impact? Social media does have a positive impact—it influences and educates. This is not the time, however, to be deceiving people into thinking that they’re helping solve a global issue, particularly when real action can be taken.
If you want to truly make a difference, donate to organizations directly involved in combating the fires. Consider making a contribution, for instance, to the following reputable organizations: