ABSTRACT
The capacity of the new technology to isolate and target issues, legislative bills, and regulations and to contact influential policymakers—in short, its lobbying capacity—has most profoundly influenced environmental politics. "Campaigns" are important components of this environmental strategy. The Alaska Rainforest Campaign, a project of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, has enlisted the combined efforts of groups such as the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Wilderness Society in developing its own website to protect Alaska's remaining wildlands. Internet-assisted campaigns are by no means limited to domestic matters; indeed, they can surmount challenges posed by global threats that traditional organizational mechanisms cannot. E-mail activism may be a victim of its own success. The ease and economy of communicating to policymakers through Internet action networks has dramatically increased participation, but the conviction behind participation may be qualified by the very ease with which it is expressed.
