TASHKENT’S YOUTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM: BETWEEN “TIKTOK ECOLOGY” AND REAL PARTICIPATION IN YASHIL MAKON

Abstract

This article examines how young people in Tashkent move between two uneven channels of environmental engagement: the expressive culture of “TikTok ecology” and embodied participation in Yashil Makon (“Green Space”), Uzbekistan’s national afforestation programme. Drawing on the digital-activism and slacktivism literatures and on a qualitative analysis of normative acts, air-quality data, media reporting, and regional scholarship, it argues that the gap between online expression and offline action is shaped less by youth apathy than by two structural features: the top-down, campaign-driven design of Yashil Makon and the constraints of a managed digital public sphere. The article proposes an expression–action continuum for understanding youth eco-engagement and outlines a research agenda to test it.