Climate Activism and the Destabilization of Business-as-Usual in Milan, Italy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe and analyse how climate activists in the city of Milan try to intervene in the production and consumption of fossil fuels. The material worked on here was accumulated over three years (2019–2021): it consists of field notes through participant observation, conversations held on messaging apps and documents made available to participants in the local coalition about the internal workings and strategic objectives of the activists. The article explores their political experiments to slow down the pace of climate change and transform the socio-political conditions that underpin the trajectory of business-as-usual. Along the way, we will witness the emergence of various agents and practices that seek to intervene to reduce or block business-as-usual—through actions that can erode the material and immaterial spaces for the reproduction of fossil fuels.