Environmental activism, emotions and the TikTok affect: ‘Can’t you hear the Earth screaming?’

In this article we explore how TikTok functions as an affective space in which deep emotions about the climate emergency are both conveyed and invoked. Drawing on thematic content analysis of a purposive sample of TikTok videos, we explore how the platform is being used as a tool for mediating environmental activism. We organise our analysis in relation to the deployment of ‘affective couplets’, which act as narrative devices for simultaneously seizing attention and stressing the magnitude of the climate emergency. In the context of growing recognition that environmental despoliation is a source of contemporary ontological insecurity, we evaluate the potential utility of TikTok as a portal for communication and political engagement for environmental activists.