ABSTRACT
Since the dual failures of the U.N. climate agreement in Copenhagen in 2009 and of climate legislation under the Obama administration, the North American climate movement has redoubled efforts to challenge the fossil fuel sector. This has resulted in a “brushfire rebellion” of direct action campaigns against oil, gas, fracking, pipelines, and coal. New fossil fuel infrastructure has become a mobilizing point for the movement, with direct action campaigns against mountaintop removal coal mining, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the Dakota Access Pipeline helping undermine the industry’s ability to continue business as usual. The chapter defines direct action, reviews the recent history of direct action in the environmental movement, discusses civil society failures that necessitated an upsurge of direct action on climate issues, and describes the backlash against the climate movement by industry and the state.
