Young Indigenous organizers are taking the fight against oil pipelines to Biden
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
Hundreds of people rallied in front of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Washington, D.C. on April 1 to deliver 400,000 petition signatures calling on the Biden administration to stop a pair of major oil pipelines threatening Indigenous nations’ land and water.
Overwhelming odds, unexpected alliances and tough losses — how defeating Keystone XL built a bolder, savvier climate movement
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
When President Biden rescinded a crucial permit for the Keystone XL pipeline last week, it marked the culmination of one of the longest, highest-profile campaigns in the North American climate movement.
Indigenous-led resistance to Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline threatens Big Oil’s last stand
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
Most of Line 3’s path through Minnesota bisects territory covered under the terms of a series of treaties signed between the U.S. government and different Anishinaabe bands in the mid-1800s.
As the smoke subsides, West Coast climate activists show what an effective response looks like
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
Even as communities begin picking themselves up after the devastation, West Coast climate activists are experimenting with what an effective response to such crises looks like.
After a Big Win against Coal, NY Climate Activists are Closer than ever to Ending all Fossil Fuel Investments
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
When New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced last month that the state would divest its over $200 billion Common Retirement Fund from more than 20 coal companies, it marked an important milestone for a grassroots campaign that has seen a recent burst of new momentum.
How a New Generation of Climate Activists is Reviving Fossil Fuel Divestment and Gaining Victories
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
A wave of student-led actions swept across the campuses of around 60 U.S. and Canadian schools last month, as students turned to sit-ins, walkouts and banner drops to pressure universities into divesting their endowments from fossil fuel companies. Called “Divestment Day” by activists, the Feb. 13 series of actions was just the latest escalation for a movement that’s been undergoing a serious revival.
First Nations Take on Canadian Government to Stop Trans Mountain Pipeline
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
Saturday’s rally was only the latest manifestation of the indigenous-led resistance to the Trans Mountain project, which has grown in size and boldness this year.
8 Lessons for Today’s Youth-Led Movements from a Decade of Youth Climate Organizing
By Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence
Like all large movements, youth climate activism has had its successes and setbacks, its enormously inspiring moments and others when it failed to live up to its ideals. What follows are some reflections on lessons from the movement, necessarily limited by my own experience and position as a white male organizer from a middle-class background.