Multiscalar Activism and Petrochemical Proliferation
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Published:September 2023
In the context of intensifying public concern over the ecological crisis, petrochemical battlegrounds have started to shift. The key battles are over the two biggest environmental crises that are putting pressure on the petrochemical industry: the climate emergency, and plastic pollution. This chapter examines “multiscalar activism,” an emerging form of collective resistance that makes connections between social and environmental justice issues across diverse movements, sites, and scales of political struggle. Multiscalar activism against the hegemonic power of the global oil, petrochemical, and plastics complex has the capacity to raise the public visibility of local campaigns, but it can also pose political risks. The chapter asks if escalating resistance will ever be sufficient to halt the course of petrochemical proliferation.