Description
This empirical paper examines state-public relationships that are being re-shaped by environmental pressures and digitised worlds. The paper draws on ethnographic research across three case studies of grassroots environmental movements with distinct digital lives in Scotland, Singapore and India, part of a broader project undertaken to reflect on what it means to be human in the digital anthropocene. Three related findings are discussed: First, the three cases illustrate the potential varieties of digital environmentalism, embedded within unique historical and political contexts. Second, the digital lives of the campaigns may be used to map broader and iterative changes in state-society relations, with regards to environmental attitudes, public perceptions of (collective) action and civic participation, and the possibilities of transnational solidarity. Third, the environmental action corresponding to the cases are used to reflect on increasingly urgent questions around the ethical responsibilities of Big Tech companies. While technological capacities can help communities to organise against the power of states and corporations, these capacities are enmeshed within privatised systems that work hand-in-glove with repressive governments and anti-democratic modes of operation built on data surveillance, exploitation and manipulation.
