Where have all the climate activists gone?

Many activists like Greta Thunberg have turned their main focus away from the climate (Picture: AFP)

This evening most of the UK will be under a partial solar eclipse, with more than 90% of the Sun blocked by the Moon.

For many of us, those few penumbral minutes may well come as a blessed relief – it’ll be the first time in several weeks that anything in the sky has made a proper effort at getting in the Sun’s way during daytime.

And it’s hot. It’s very hot. The Met Office is predicting that exhausted Londoners and Brummies will once again have to endure temperatures that could reach 37°C tomorrow.

This afternoon, Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired an emergency Cobra meeting with ministers and officials to discuss the heatwave as much of the country faces worsening drought conditions.

With all this going on, you might be forgiven for asking: where have all the climate activists gone?

The first half of this decade was their heyday. It seemed that every couple of weeks another bridge was obstructed, another office building was sprayed with paint, and traffic on another motorway was slowed to a crawl.

That all seems to have fizzled out, while the summers continue to get hotter. What happened?

A cynic might point to the case of arch-eco warrior Greta Thunberg and argue that left-wing campaigners have shifted away from the environment to focus on Palestine amid the destruction of Gaza by Israel.

(Those campaigners might argue – as Thunberg has done – that support for Palestinians is consistent with the concern for human rights and marginalised people that drives the climate movement. Not to mention the catastrophic environmental impact of the bombing itself.)

Similarly, Zack Polanski became Green Party leader last year by ramping up the anti-billionaire rhetoric and conspicuously speaking less about the environment. His wildfire press conference last week will have been the first time many people saw him put the issue front and centre.

But one other reason we’re seeing less overt climate activism these days is that it sorta… worked.

A group of environmental campaigners from the Just Stop Oil group block traffic as they take part in a slow procession around Parliament Square in May 2023 (Picture: Getty)

When Just Stop Oil announced it was ‘hanging up the hi-vis’ in March 2025, the campaign group partially attributed that decision to the fact ‘demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy’ after Labour won the previous year’s general election.

The climate protesters ended up with a supremely passionate and energetic energy secretary in Ed Miliband, and his replacement at Defra, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is said to share his environmental zeal.

In the meantime, Miliband has indicated he’ll place the climate crisis at the heart of his approach to international relations in his new role as foreign secretary. Global warming is global, after all, and the UK can only do so much on its own.

We may yet see another dust-up in the coming weeks, as a decision is due on whether to start production at the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field. Anger will be ignited either way.

Until then, let’s hope this 30°C+ heatwave is the last for this summer. Get some sun cream on and stay hydrated – even if the Moon is willing to help us out briefly.

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