So your community has been selected for a new fossil fuel extraction project?
It’s time to defend yourself, your neighbourhood, your friends, your family, and your future!
Companies behind these projects often count on local communities feeling overwhelmed or believing the project is inevitable. It isn’t. Around the world, thousands of fossil fuel projects have been delayed, scaled back, or stopped entirely because people organised and fought back. You can too.
1. You are not alone
Your first task is to find other people who are concerned. Every successful campaign begins with a small group of committed people sharing information and working together. Post about the project in local groups, neighbourhood forums, and other social media. Set up a Signal or WhatsApp group so people can share news, divide up tasks, and coordinate action.
A connected opposition is far more powerful than a handful of individuals acting alone.
2. Find the project’s weak points
Every fossil fuel project has obstacles it must overcome. Learn what they are.
Does it need an environmental assessment? Does the law require free, prior, and informed consent from local communities? Which agencies/ministries must approve it? Are there local approvals still outstanding? Are there legal avenues to challenge the proposal? Don’t assume the project makes economic sense, either. Sometimes the strongest argument against a project is simply that it is a bad investment for the community and the country.
3. Organise locally, connect globally
Local people are usually the most credible voices against a project, but you do not have to fight alone. Attend public hearings, council meetings, and consultation sessions, and encourage others to come with you. A room full of angry residents sends a far stronger message than a single speaker. Encourage local businesses—including hotels, restaurants, shops, landowners, and contractors—to refuse to support the project where they can.
At the same time, reach out to national and international climate organisations. They may be able to provide legal advice, expertise, media support, materials, funding, or connections to people who have successfully fought similar projects elsewhere. The strongest campaigns combine local leadership with the resources and experience of the wider climate movement.
The louder your community’s voice, the harder it is for decision-makers to pretend the project has public support.
Talk to local journalists. Write letters to the editor. Contact radio and television stations. Share updates, photos, and videos on social media, and encourage others to do the same. Put faces to the issue by telling the stories of the people, places, and livelihoods that are at risk.
Above all, be visible. Companies and governments are far more likely to rethink a project when they see sustained, organised, public opposition. The louder your voice, the more likely you are to be heard—and the greater your chance of stopping the project before it is too late.
