She also revealed on social media this week that she had received racist messages over the past two years.

University of Queensland research fellow Dr Robyn Gulliver says the ebb and flow of the environmental movement is not new. Throughout history, she says there are peaks – often driven by large events, such as the 2006 peak driven by Al Gore’s film The Inconvenient Truth, or when Swedish student Greta Thunberg, then 15 years old, sparked a global movement after she protested outside the Swedish parliament in 2018.

While Sydney student Kayla Hill has been concerned about the environment for years – her family in Indonesia has experienced homelessness through climate disasters – it was seeing Thunberg’s protest that got the 17-year-old involved. She had found the energy around climate change action in 2019 exciting, but only a handful of people showed up for the first protest she organised after the pandemic.

Hill remains optimistic. “The sign of a successful protest isn’t just having millions of people across the world. It is about every little thing you do that helps to contribute to the climate movement,” she says. Hill adds that many climate strikers are now of voting age, and she hopes that will encourage change.

Gulliver says in the lulls between the peaks, the climate movement still ticks along, without the same momentum or media coverage. She expects it won’t be long before another peak emerges.

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Farmers, doctors and architects are among a growing diversity of professions now forming climate action groups.

Gulliver notes Australia’s history of direct action to create change - the 1982 Franklin River protest in Tasmania, the 1983 anti-nuclear protests and, more recently, the actions of protestors who disrupt traffic by dangling themselves from bridges and tunnels. Despite threats from NSW authorities that offenders face $22,000 fines and two years’ imprisonment, relatively new groups like Blockade Australia and Fireproof Australia say they will continue their actions.

A Fireproof Australia spokeswoman said many members resorted to direct action after trying more traditional forms of activism for years with little success. “History has told us, the only way to make a difference is to make social and political change is through civil disobedience,” she says. “We are very ordinary people ... what we are doing is important to us, and we feel that someone has to be doing this.” Despite the new crackdown on protesters, their determination was just as strong.

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Gulliver says that while traditional activism – which includes organising community events or letter-writing campaigns – was instrumental, it might not get the same media coverage as direct action. “Everyone has a different goal, for some people they might value that media attention, or maybe they are using direct action because they want to highlight the urgency [of the issue],” she says.

The climate change movement had swept across western countries at the same time, unlike the civil rights or women’s’ movements, which had been more country-specific. Social media has helped the environment movement transcend international borders.

Deakin University senior research fellow Dr Josh Roose says civil disobedience is part of a healthy democracy, particularly within the climate movement, and plays a role in shaping civic discourse. This was evident in the number of independent candidates running in this year’s election who have prioritised climate change, he says.

As the movement becomes more mainstream, its biggest challenge will be how it maintains this new momentum.

For young people, their drive to see stronger climate action comes from an existential threat that older generations have not felt in the same way. This, Roose says, is why young people need a more substantive role in shaping the world.

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More broadly, social media was changing how people interacted and was instrumental in driving extremism, particularly the alt-right movement. This was particularly evident during the pandemic when people spent more time online than ever before. As people feel a growing sense of dissatisfaction with politicians, they were more likely to seek similar views to their own online.

Sharma hopes the upcoming federal election will bring change. “This election is so instrumental because it is the last, meaningful opportunity we have to make our voices on climate change heard. The future of the climate movement rests on this election,” she says.