Adult Learning in New Social Movements: Environmental Protest and the Struggle for the Clayoquot Sound Rainforest

Abstract

During the summer of 1993, some 10,000 people, young and old, joined logging road blockades to protest the clear-cutting of old-growth temperate rainforest in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada. By the end of the summer, more than 900 protestors had been arrested for acts of civil disobedience in refusing to leave the road. In subsequent mass trials, many were then convicted of criminal contempt of court and sentenced to jail terms and steep fines for their activism. Led primarily by women and espousing feminist principles of nonviolence and consensus decision making, the 1993 protests and Clayoquot Peace Camp became the focal point of an environmental movement that eventually spread far beyond the Sound. Framed by the field of adult learning in new social movements and environmental adult education, this article examines the history of Clayoquot Sound protest, its philosophy and practices of learning, education and activism, and its outcomes and significance to adult education.