Documentary Reflection

March 9, 2026 By: Kaiagolab T00755749

Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection — Civil Disobedience and Environmental Change

Dr. Norman Fennema

HIST 3991: Environmental History

Kaia Golab T00755749

Sunday, March 8th, 2026

A local-to-BC environmental issue I keep seeing in the news is the ongoing conflict over old-growth logging, where people turn to civil disobedience (road blockades, protest camps, and injunction-related arrests) to try to stop logging in ecologically significant areas. In late 2025, media reports described arrests and renewed blockades connected to old-growth logging disputes on Vancouver Island (Times Colonist, 2025; Nanaimo Bulletin, 2025). These stories bring up a hard question: when formal political processes move slowly—or when people feel unheard—does civil disobedience work?

My position is conflicted but leaning supportive of non-violent civil disobedience as a tool, especially when it draws attention to irreversible ecological loss (such as old-growth forests) and pushes governments to act faster. At the same time, I think it matters how civil disobedience is done: whether it is accountable to local Indigenous Nations, whether it keeps people safe, and whether it builds long-term public understanding instead of short-term disruption.

One reason civil disobedience can matter is that it forces an issue into public conversation. The Narwhal’s topic coverage of Fairy Creek describes how the conflict became a key national story and how enforcement and court injunctions shaped the protest dynamics (The Narwhal, n.d.). Even when protests don’t “win” right away, they can shift public awareness, affect political platforms, and change the reputational cost of continuing harmful practices. That said, civil disobedience can also lead to backlash, legal consequences, and polarization, which can make it harder to build coalitions.

To answer whether it works, I think it depends on the goal. If the goal is immediate policy change, it can be unpredictable. However, if the goal is to create sustained attention, slow down harmful activity, and make environmental destruction politically costly, it often does have an impact. A recent example outside old-growth logging is a case reported by The Tyee (2024) where climate activists were convicted for civil disobedience, with the judge rejecting climate change as a legal justification (The Tyee, 2024). That story shows a limit: the legal system may not accept “moral urgency” as a defence. It also shows why activists keep using civil disobedience—the legal and political pace feels out of sync with environmental timelines.

Historians of environmental activism tend to note that civil disobedience has played a role in environmental politics, from early conservation protests to modern climate and forest protection movements, specifically when citizens believe institutional decision-making has failed to protect ecosystems. Connecting this back to what environmental documentaries tend to highlight: civil disobedience is part of the history of environmentalism because it sits at the intersection of ethics and power. It asks who gets to decide what happens to land, whose knowledge is prioritized, and what people do when institutional routes fail. Personally, I think civil disobedience can bring positive change when it is non-violent, strategically clear, grounded in relationships, and paired with long-term organizing instead of being treated as a one-time event.

References

Times Colonist, “Protesters return to Upper Walbran logging blockade after arrests” (Nov

26, 2025): https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/protesters-return-to-upper-walbran-logging-blockade-after-arrests-11540601

The Narwhal, Fairy Creek topic page: https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/fairy-creek-blockade/

The Tyee, “Two Environmental Activists Convicted for Civil Disobedience” (May 3, 2024):

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/05/03/Climate-Change-Activists-Convicted-Civil-Disobedience/

Nanaimo Bulletin, “RCMP arrest four more at logging blockade near Lake Cowichan”

(Dec 9, 2025): https://nanaimobulletin.com/2025/12/09/rcmp-arrest-four-more-at-logging-blockade-near-lake-cowichan/