ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the external logic of campaigns against fossil fuels promotes expansion and commitment, as counterintuitive as this initially may seem. American environmental activism has a long and varied history, but the basic pattern of action from Ronald Reagan's rise to power in 1981 until the boom of campaigns against fossil fuels is actually quite clear. The goals of campaigns against fossil fuels reflect a firm commitment to the principle of ecological integrity and a sense of environmental urgency. The key to explaining and understanding campaigns against fossil fuels is found in the activist worldview. The extraction of fossil fuels causes local environmental destruction and social displacement. Both the transportation and burning of fossil fuels are potent environmental and public health threats. The lack of emphasis on specific proposals in anti-fossil fuel campaigns is, however, neither an accident nor an omission. All the activities emphasized in the anti-fossil fuel campaigns have the major advantage of building a movement.
