Victim, litigant, activist, messiah: the child in a time of climate change

Abstract

In this article, I identify and examine four framings of the child in regard to climate change issues, including activism and policy reform. My focus is on the extent to which children are moving beyond the category of victim and assuming a disparate role and distinctive voice in various climate discourses: as litigant, as activist and as messiah. I explore the changing role of the child as a political, legal and social phenomenon, and consider the extent to which writers of climate and other forms of fiction have anticipated and contribute to these different framings of the child.