People who want to change the world need to understand why some campaigns are successful while others aren’t. One US commentator has investigated the Keystone campaign’s success in this respect. The overlapping with the German nuclear phase-out is salient. By Craig Morris. Why all the attention to the Keystone pipeline given its limited impact on global carbon emissions? Over at Vox.com, David Roberts investigates that question. He compellingly argues that it’s the wrong one: “It would be like criticizing the Montgomery bus boycott because it only affected a relative handful of blacks.” And he says the question “confuses wonk logic and activist logic.” What exactly does that mean? First, climate change is abstract. A pipeline is concrete. It exists in particular areas, where rallies can be held. “If [Keystone campaign critics] think they can get hundreds of thousands of people in the street for a revenue-neutral carbon tax, they are welcome to try.” Second, Keystone impacts climate change but also brings together people interested in other issues. “Supply-side fossil fuel projects… offer clear villains, unambiguous … Continue reading What the US Keystone protests and the German nuclear phase-out have in common