Struggles over climate change in recent decades have conventionally been framed as a conflict between the fossil-fuel industries — and other advocates of “business-as-usual” — and activists and ecologists who insist that “another world is possible.”

But in the years since the alter-globalization movement, some of the prime movers in the global logistics and cybernetics industries have begun to trumpet their green ambitions. And partisans from across the political spectrum now agree on the need to develop an infrastructure that accommodates advanced technologies without relying on fossil fuels.

Activists have to adapt new strategies to fit this new reality. It is not enough to disavow “bad” forms of energy or to support particular alternatives. We need to start with a better understanding of energy and capitalism.