Civil Disobedience and Climate Change: Does it Work?

Washington State and British Columbia both are embroiled in debates over proposed carbon export infrastructure: two bitumen pipelines across BC, new coal ports in WA and BC, and numerous LNG projects in BC. There is strong local opposition to most of these projects, which has culminated in 2014 in over 100 people being arrested on Burnaby Mountain in efforts to block exploratory work for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline. This presentation will examine the role of civil disobedience as a political strategy in the climate movement. The influence of other factors on Canada's failure to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions will first be considered. The presentation will then consider the potential impact of civil disobedience on pubic opinion and, potentially, the 2015 Canadian election. About the Lecturer: Kathryn Harrison, Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.