How Fridaysforfuture matters. Mobilisation for implementing socio-ecological practices

In recent years, attention to the future of succeeding generations and, more broadly, the theme of environmental sustainability has garnered significant interest, especially among the young. They emerge as the primary drivers of a culture of environmental sustainability, urging everyone to reconsider their lifestyles and thought patterns responsibly. The goal is to close the human-environment divide and ensure a more livable future (Francesconi et al., 2021; Hayes and O’Neill, 2021). The Fridays For Future movement is a collective force propelling this process of change. It aims not only at achieving sustainable and planet-friendly social, economic and public policies but also at a cultural and widespread objective: fostering a culture of sustainability. Through awareness-raising and mobilisation, the Fridays For Future movement appears to play a significant role in promoting bottom-up sustainability education. This serves as an engine for the spread of new cultural models based on a perspective that is respectful of limits, encourages care and responsibility towards the planet, and the promotion of a harmonious relationship with the environment (Kowasch et al., 2021). In the outlined framework, this process of change seems to place the focus on the new generations. By promoting the implementation of actions aimed constructively at achieving the common good, they embrace the perspective of an anthropologically oriented and integral sustainable development, where everything is interconnected (Senatore and Spera, 2021). By analysing the results of a campaign of narrative interviews with activists from the international Fridays For Future network operating nationally, the aim of this paper is to investigate the commitment and participation of the movement in implementing a new culture of sustainability. Therefore, the goal is to examine the narratives of the interviewees in order to trace the mobilisation strategies adopted in real and virtual places of social interaction, and to identify and outline the principles and ideals underlying the identity dimension of Fridays For Future, around which young activists build their environmental awareness efforts. Finally, the authors seek to identify the concrete actions and their associated meanings in their commitment to cultural change that promotes environmental protection.