The transition to a renewable energy economy will mean more than just a change in energy policy—it will signal the emergence of a more equal economic system and the breakup of massive concentrations of wealth bound up in our reliance on fossil fuels. And it will require an activist movement that dares to challenge the country to choose between corporate plutocracy or a green, fair economy.

In this interview with Kevin Gosztola at Netroots Nation 2011, Peaceful Uprising’s Tim DeChristopher explains how environmental activists are using civil disobedience techniques learned from earlier American social movements to take bold action to resist the anti-environment status quo. DeChristopher currently faces up to four and half years of jail time for disrupting a 2008 auction of public lands arranged by the Bush administration.

—Kevin Donohoe