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This post is part of an ongoing series where I’ll periodically highlight a particular plant, animal, or other living thing, with an emphasis on its unique adaptations and prospects for its survival. Usually, these will be species with whom I have personal experience. The lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is almost unique among Northwest conifers in…
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Not many eras in modern U.S. history have been as turbulent for activists as the last 18 months. Grassroots organizers have had to contend with a lingering pandemic, increasingly unstable geopolitics and signs that Earth’s ecological systems are finally paying us back for decades of abuse. For the climate movement in particular, it’s been a…
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Photo credit: Fabrice Florin There’s a pervasive idea in our society that protests are largely pointless. Standing around with a sign doesn’t accomplish anything, the thinking goes–it’s a useless way of venting anger, a naive attempt to participate in the democratic process, or a pointless gesture in a world where the rich and powerful control…
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Photo: Forest slated to be logged as part of the Breaking Bud Timber Sale. Credit: Universal Wildlands One of the biggest challenges of a grassroots campaign that involves submitting public comments to a decision-making agency has to do with quantity vs. quality. In general, it’s much easier to get large numbers of people to submit…
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It’s with much excitement that I’m here to announce today’s release of the second edition of Movement Makers: How Young Activists Upended the Politics of Climate Change. Doing a second edition of a book is always a big decision. However, at a time when new developments in climate politics–not to mention the grassroots movement to…
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The internet abounds with tips for how to do something about the climate crisis. From eating less meat to changing your lightbulbs, there’s no shortage of positive steps you can take–or at least, that’s the message being broadcast by countless blogs, articles, and social media accounts about sustainability. There’s just one problem: most of the…
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Last week I was in Hillsboro, Oregon during an exceptionally warm stretch of days in late December. The sun and relatively balmy temperatures made being outside pleasant, but I couldn’t help speculating that I was observing the effects of the climate crisis playing out in real time. Again and again, I found myself torn between…
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Banner photo: Friends of Family Farmers When Alice Morrison was growing up in suburban Louisville, Kentucky, her mother taught her to grow tomatoes in the garden. It was about as close as Morrison, a future farmer and small farms advocate, got to agricultural work back then. “I lived in a place where agriculture wasn’t very…
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In a first for the United States, young people in Montana recently won a precedent-setting court victory grounded in the state’s constitution. As someone who spent over four years organizing against fossil fuel projects in this coal and oil-producing state (working with many amazing student activists along the way), I felt especially elated to learn…
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This piece originally appeared on Waging Nonviolence As pandemic restrictions fade, students are finding innovative ways to end higher ed’s many ties to the fossil fuel industry. From late November through early March of this year, visitors to the University of Washington Career Center in Seattle would have found students sitting in a circle on…
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Nick Engelfried 