This dissertation is a study of the rhetoric of environmental activism in the communication context of new media. I specifically focus on how the rhetoric of environmental activism operates on the internet. The group of media technologies known as new media are characterized by a high volume of cursory message fragments circulating speedily yet detached from a clear distinction between producers and consumers. I propose that in this communication context, circulation of new media texts is rhizomatic, moving on lines of flight rather than clearly delineated pathways. Determining the force of rhetoric requires engagement of textual elements, a surveying of relationships between textual fragments and technological characteristics in a discursive plateau. In this study I offer resonance as a conceptual basis for considering the rhetoric of advocacy in new media communication. Resonance aligns the rhetoric of a text with potential viewers experiences in discourse. Resonant elements of a text challenge dominant meaning, seeking to articulate knowledge more favorably to environmentalists. In order to account for the implications of an image-centered communicative circumstance, I also forward image resonance, a counterpart and compliment to resonance. Image resonance aligns with the rhetorical forces at the surface of images with the communicative conditions of the accelerated and surface-oriented world.