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Community action and climate change

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 161–163 (2017)Cite this article

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President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2015 established the viability of grassroots mobilization modelled on the social movement organization Bold Nebraska. This set a precedent for communities fighting energy projects that threaten natural resources and contribute to climate change.

One fundamental barrier to achieving a renewable energy economy lies in the powerlessness that many people feel when confronted by daunting problems like climate change. Awareness of the danger often does not lead to meaningful political action1. In the US, the most common form of environmentalism is individualist and market-centred — attempting to cope with climate change through sustainable lifestyle choices and green consumerism. While efforts of this kind are helpful and positive, larger solutions require collective action. The question then arises: under what conditions will people unite to protect natural resources and mitigate climate change? The recent success of Bold Nebraska in organizing against the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline sheds light on that question.

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  1. James P. Ordner is at the Sociology Department, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA,

    James P. Ordner

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  1. James P. Ordner
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Correspondence to James P. Ordner.

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Ordner, J. Community action and climate change. Nature Clim Change 7, 161–163 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3236

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3236

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