Although issues linked to global environmental change and its role within peace, conflict and security have been subject to social and political controversy for years, they are still not sufficiently respected by energy companies, trade unions, national governments and international institutions alike. Through applying the tools of a single instrumental case study linked to the application of discourse analysis I, this study explores the process of securitization of the environment in the extraordinary case of the resistance and occupation surrounding the Hambach Forest, thereby countering the widely held assumption that collective action aimed at radically changing existing structures is not possible. The particular exploratory focus is put on the way this non-conventional environmental security discourse has been created within a redefined securitization framework. By challenging the traditional focus of securitization theory on top-down construction through elites, this study provides a broadened, bottom-up account of environmental securitization stemming from local civil society actors as nonpowerholders that effectively proclaim their recognition of the environment’s intrinsic value from a grassroots level. Consequently, it argues for the significance of securitization as creative process of alerting policy makers, political leaders and the broader society to the emergency of climate change and global environmental degradation symbolized through the specific case of Hambach Forest.