Environmentalism, Grassroots

Grassroots environmentalism is that element of the wider environmental movement that engages in forms of contentious politics to develop knowledges about environmental issues, challenge examples of environmental destruction, and, from below, construct alternative visions and examples of ways of living that grassroots environmentalists argue are superior to, or potentially superior to, unequal or oppressive ways of organizing society. Grassroots environmentalism works from the grassroots, from ordinary people and activists who develop forms of contentious politics that they put into action themselves, using the resources and skills they have to hand and guided by strategies they develop themselves. Grassroots environmentalism assumes contentious politics, a feeling that something is not right, and that something must be done about it. This may be direct action, creating alternative visions and knowledges, or creating alternative institutions.