Response Essay: The (Im)possibility of Voice in Environmental Advocacy

Few in the field of environmental communication would contest that society faces a number of impending anthropogenic threats to the planet. Currently national attention may be most focused on the approaching climate crisis due to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. As of this writing, climate change and environmental activists from the Sierra Club to 350.org to Greenpeace to Idle No More are calling on their supporters to fight the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada and North America to refineries in the Gulf Coast. Opponents suggest that the Keystone XL project not only facilitates extraction of “one of the dirtiest, costliest, and most destructive fuels in the world” (National Wildlife Federation, 2013), but also represents “game over for the climate” in terms of efforts to control CO₂ emissions to stem global warming (Hansen, 2012). Despite the scientific consensus on climate change and knowledge of what has to be done to prevent further global warming, climate activists have struggled to find a compelling voice that will persuade skeptical publics and intractable politicians to take action. More broadly, despite the findings that 64% of Americans believe that environmental protection is more important than economic growth (Leiserowitz, Maibach, Roser-Renouf, & Smith, 2011), environmentalism in its many manifestations has struggled and continues to struggle to find broad support for individual, institutional, and societal changes to mitigate environmental problems.