In today’s world there are countless ways to spread your influence, and social media has played a huge role in the spread of environmentalism.

The earth has never been in worse shape: we have risen multiple degrees, cut down more than half of the world’s trees, killed out hundreds of species of animals, and destroyed our oceans. Experts from the United Nations state that we have about twelve years to fix our global warming issue or it will become irreversible and the animals that we have forced to extinction will never come back. We have to raise awareness before we completely destroy this planet. We have to communicate our global issue through any way possible, and come up with a solution.

Social media has been proven to be an effective platform for raising environmental awareness because the majority of people spend time online. Many environmentalists use social media to spread their message and some have even made a name for themselves just by being on social media. Instagramers Immy Lucas and Blue Ollis both use their platform to show others how they can live an ethical lifestyle. Lucas is known for her advocacy of zero waste, environmentalism, and veganism and Ollis has written a cookbook full of vegan recipes. These social figures have used the media to make a name for themselves, while environmental activists such as sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg use it to further spread their message.

The video “Dear Future Generations: Sorry” by Prince Ea, makes a powerful speech about how this and past generations have ruined the earth; how we have taken its beauty and made it into something awful. But, he says that we don’t need to be apologizing to future generations if we stop right now and work as one earth and stop this damage. That we need to stop being wrapped up in all these politics and focus on what actually matters. This six minute video has over sixteen million views and it has reached over sixteen million people across the globe who each individually can make a difference.

Environmentalism is becoming more mainstream instead of a “fake” concept, and the impact that social media has had on the spread of it across generations and the globe is huge and important.