Vol.:(0123456789) SN Soc Sci (2021) 1:245 https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00253-z ORIGINAL PAPER Music and the twenty‑frst century eco‑warrior Donna Weston 1  · Leah Coutts 1  · Marcus Petz 2 Received: 2 February 2021 / Accepted: 2 September 2021 / Published online: 27 September 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Abstract Humanity is currently faced with the extreme efects of anthropogenic climate change and, within the cultural realm, music and activism have important roles to play. This interaction between musical cultures and those engaged with environmen- talism is explored in this paper, which focuses on the concept of the eco-warrior as a driver of direct environmental action, and the relationship between eco-warriors and music activism. Warrior culture is examined through various musical genres, focus- ing on its manifestation in a range of environmental movements from Earth First! to Extinction Rebellion. We discuss the role of warrior culture in these musical genres in refecting the eco-warrior archetype, and follow the transition of this music to more mainstream styles, with a parallel activist shift from aggressive action, to non- violent direct action. We ofer a defnition of the contemporary ecowarrior—a gen- eralized archetype of an activist for whom musical culture may play an important role in identity shaping and action—via analysis using Collective Action Framing. The fndings are contextualised in conclusion through Social Movement Theory pro- posing a link between musical style and types of action. Keywords Eco-warrior · Collective action framing · Social movement theory · Eco- musicology · music activism * Donna Weston d.weston@grifth.edu.au Leah Coutts l.coutts@grifth.edu.au Marcus Petz Marcus.kit.petz@student.jyu.f 1 Queensland Conservatorium, Grifth University, Southbank, QLD 4101, Australia 2 Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland