Having lived through decades of stagnant government response to sedate climate change protests, Climate Defiance and founder/executive director Michael Greenberg pivot toward a different tack. This organization of young activists weasels their way into business conferences and crashes public and private events in order to nonviolently — but often wildly confrontationally — denounce the fossil fuel CEOs and politicians under the industry’s influence. Taking cues from the shock civil disobedience strategies of prior direct-action movements, they aim to make these contentious and viral engagements impossible for today’s media ecosystem to ignore.

Directors Emma Wall and Betsy Hershey follow Greenberg and his fellow activists in their actions, their crises, and their breakthroughs. They share a desperation over the apathetic attitude toward the climate, but that does not mean they agree on everything. With their non-violent actions, they shake society awake and create viral waves on social media. And in Just Look Up, this is fuelled musically by the likes of Chappell Roan, Doechii and Billie Eilish – voices that, like Greenberg himself, speak on behalf of a generation that wants change now.