Editing David Foreman (section)

===Earth First!===
{{Main|Earth First!}}
In April 1980, Foreman and friends Howie Wolke, Ron Kezar, Bart Koehler, and [[Mike Roselle]] took a week-long hiking trip in the [[Pinacate Desert]]. It was during this trip that Foreman is believed to have coined the phrase "Earth First!"<ref name=NYTObit/> The movement that subsequently bore that name was inspired, in some part, by the writings of [[Edward Abbey]], author of the novel ''[[The Monkeywrench Gang]]''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2011-04-09|title=Dave Foreman|url=https://www.mountainfilm.org/festival/personalities/dave-foreman|access-date=2020-11-13|website=Mountainfilm|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=1991-03-10|title=Earth Angel: CONFESSIONS OF AN ECO-WARRIOR, By Dave Foreman|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-10-bk-187-story.html|access-date=2020-11-13|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> The group used [[direct action]] tactics,<ref name=APObit>[https://apnews.com/article/new-mexico-albuquerque-arizona-tucson-obituaries-74cab2b1474a2e4c6a57443a3f12f59a 'Eco-warrior' and Earth First! co-founder Dave Foreman dies], Associated Press (September 25, 2022).</ref> and in contrast with the cautious lobbying efforts of the established environmental organizations, "[[Sabotage|monkeywrenching]]"—industrial sabotage traditionally associated with labor struggles—would become the chief tactic of the [[Earth First!]] movement in the 1980s.<ref name=":0" /> The ''[[Earth First! Journal]]'', which grew out of the Earth First! newsletter, was edited by Foreman. In its first issue, Foreman set out the organization's goals: "We will not make political compromises. Let the other outfits do that. EARTH FIRST will set forth the pure, hard-line, radical position of those who believe in the Earth first."<ref name=NYTObit/> Some mainstream environmentalists and others accused Foreman of promoting [[eco-terrorism]].<ref name=APObit/>

In 1990, Foreman was one of five people arrested by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] following operation [[THERMCON]], in which FBI agents infiltrated an Arizona Earth First! group, encouraging them to sabotage a powerline feeding a water pumping station.<ref name=":0" /> While Foreman had no direct role in the attempted sabotage, he ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for handing two copies of ''Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching'' to an FBI informant, and received a suspended sentence.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=NYTObit/>

By the late 1980s, Earth First! had split into two ideological factions; Foreman and others adhered to a [[Biocentrism (ethics)|biocentrist]] view characterized by "apocalyptic biodiversity" but were increasingly challenged by a "[[Millenarianism|millenarianist]] [[social justice]] faction"<ref>Martha F. Lee, ''Earth First! Environmental Apocalypse'' (Syracuse University Press, 1995), pp. 146-48.</ref> influenced by the movement's [[Northern California]]-based members, including Roselle (who was based in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]) and [[Judi Bari]] (of [[Mendocino County, California|Mendocino County]]).<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/d70ff1994df6621e02c07437338074e2 Founder of Earth First 3/8 Disavows Organization], Associated Press (August 13, 1990).</ref> After less than a decade, Foreman left Earth First!, disillusioned by the changing character of the organization.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Geoff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKo7uZ3eWFQC |title=Encyclopedia of the Environment in American Literature |last2=Jones |first2=Brian |date=2014-01-10 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0053-6 |pages=123 |language=en}}</ref>  Foreman described himself "a redneck for the environment" and objected to the left-wing, social justice-oriented approach of younger environmental activists who had joined the group.<ref name=NYTObit/> Foreman and his wife, Nancy Morton, publicly split with Earth First! in 1990, writing in a letter at the time that the group had taken on an "overtly counterculture/anti-establishment style"<ref name=NYTObit/> influenced by the group's California wing.<ref name=Smith>Brent L. Smith, ''Terrorism in America: Pipe Bombs and Pipe Dreams'' (1994), p. 127.</ref> Roselle, in turn, denounced Foreman as "an unrepentant right-wing thug."<ref name=Smith/>