Light Environmentalists and Quiet Activism: Identity Alignment among Participants in Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Programs

Abstract The environmental movement has seen declining political activism over the last 20 years, while engagement in nonpolitical conservation behaviors has increased (e.g., recycling, carrying reusable shopping bags, etc.). Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring bridges gaps in movement tactics by allowing participants to engage in public, collective pro-movement behavior without engaging in politics or protest. In light of this, I analyze how VWQM participants conceptualize their role in and relationship to an evolving environmental movement, articulate group (collective, movement) and individual identities (personal, activist), and use VWQM as a vehicle for identity alignment. Results indicate : (1) Participants see VWQM as a unique opportunity to support the environmental movement in a way congruent with their personal identity, (2) participants readily accept collective and movement identities associated with the environmental movement but resist identities related to activism, and (3) movement participation and identity development is jointly influenced by processes of movement institutionalization and neoliberalism.