Editing Radical environmentalism

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'''Radical environmentalism''' is a grass-roots branch of the larger [[environmental movement]] that emerged from an [[ecocentrism]]-based frustration with the co-option of mainstream [[environmentalism]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Alberro|first=Heather|title=Radical environmentalists are fighting climate change – so why are they persecuted?|url=http://theconversation.com/radical-environmentalists-are-fighting-climate-change-so-why-are-they-persecuted-107211|access-date=2021-08-27|website=The Conversation|language=en}}</ref>

== As a movement ==

=== Philosophy ===
The radical environmental movement aspires to what scholar Christopher Manes calls "a new kind of environmental activism: iconoclastic, uncompromising, discontented with traditional conservation policy, at times illegal". Radical environmentalism presupposes a need to reconsider [[Western philosophy|Western]] ideas of religion and philosophy, including [[capitalism]], [[patriarchy]],<ref name = ern/>{{page needed|date=July 2022}} and [[globalization]],<ref name=":0" /> sometimes through "resacralising" and reconnecting with nature.<ref name=ern>Manes, Christopher (1990). ''Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization'', Boston: Little, Brown and Co.</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2022}}

The movement is typified by [[leaderless resistance]] organizations such as [[Earth First!]], which subscribe to the idea of taking [[direct action]] in defense of [[Mother Nature]] including [[civil disobedience]], [[ecotage]] and [[monkeywrenching]].<ref name=ern/>{{page needed|date=July 2022}} Movements such as the [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) and [[Earth Liberation Army]] (ELA) also take this form of action, although focusing on economic [[sabotage]], rather than civil disobedience.<ref>[http://www.carkeys.co.uk/features/everything_else/914.asp SUV Armageddon Approaching?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103104619/http://www.carkeys.co.uk/features/everything_else/914.asp |date=3 November 2007 }}, ''Car Keys'', 29 August 2003.</ref> Radical environmentalists can include [[earth liberation]]ists, as well as [[anarcho-primitivists]], [[animal liberationists]], [[bioregionalists]], [[deep ecologists]], [[eco-nationalism]], [[ecopsychologists]], [[green anarchists]], and less often [[anti-globalization]] and [[anti-capitalist]] protesters, [[ecofeminists]], [[neo-Pagan]]s, [[Third Position]]ists, and [[Wicca]]ns.<ref name=ern/>{{page needed|date=July 2022}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Matković|first=Aleksandar|year=2020|url=https://www.ips.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SPM-70-9.pdf|title=The Relation Between Political Ideologyand Radical Environmentalism|journal=Serbian Political Thought|publisher=Institute for Political Studies|volume=70|issue=4|pages=171–187|doi=10.22182/spm.7042020.9<!--|udc=504:321.01-->|s2cid=234069333 |access-date=19 July 2022|quote=However, actions of those movements mostly stay in the domain of classical environmentalism, without going into its more radical form. However, there are statements in literature that among radical environmentalists can be seen the whole spectrum of those who could not be described as admirers of political left-wing among others: Neopagans, Wiccans, anti-globalization protesters, Third Positionists, bioregionalists etc. (Manes 1990).}}</ref> This does not mean that everyone subscribing to those beliefs and values should be considered a radical environmentalist.<ref name=":1" />

=== History ===
{{Main|Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom|Timeline of Earth Liberation Front actions|Green Scare|Street of Dreams arson fires|M11 link road protest}}
{{further|Environmental Life Force|Earth First!|Earth Liberation Front|Earth Liberation Army|Plane Stupid|Camp for Climate Action}}
{{see also|Ecotage|Monkeywrenching|Earth liberation}}
[[File:Earthfirstmonkeywrench.png|thumb|right|180px|The symbol of [[Earth First!]] is a monkey wrench and stone hammer.]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:SkiResort.jpg|thumb|The [[Earth Liberation Front|ELF]] arson at the [[Vail Ski Resort|Vail Ski]], [[Colorado]], in 1998 caused an estimated $12 million in damages.<ref name=vail>[https://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan06/elf012006.htm Eco-Terror Incictments: 'Operation Backfire' Nets 11], ''[[FBI]]'', 20th January 2006.</ref>]] -->

While many people believe that the first significant radical environmentalist group was [[Greenpeace]], which made use of [[direct action]] beginning in the 1970s to confront [[whaling]] ships and [[nuclear weapon]]s testers,<ref name=ern2>[[Rex Weyler|Weyler, Rex]] (2004). ''Greenpeace: How a Group of Journalists, Ecologists and Visionaries Changed the World''. Rodale.</ref> others within the movement, argues as [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) prisoner [[Jeff Luers|Jeff "Free" Luers]], suggests that the movement was established centuries ago. He often writes that the concept of "eco-defence" was born shortly after the existence of the human race, claiming it is only recently that within the modern development of human society, and individuals losing touch with the earth and its wild roots, that more radical tactics and political theories have emerged.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2006-05-25|title=A Brief Description of Radical Environmentalism|url=http://shiftshapers.gnn.tv/blogs/9306/A_Brief_Description_of_Radical_Environmentalism|access-date=2021-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525015652/http://shiftshapers.gnn.tv/blogs/9306/A_Brief_Description_of_Radical_Environmentalism|archive-date=25 May 2006}}</ref><ref>[http://www.freefreenow.org/jw_writings.html Writings from Jeff Luers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517104136/http://freefreenow.org/jw_writings.html |date=17 May 2008 }}, ''Free Jeff Luers''.</ref>

The alternative tactic of using explosive and [[incendiary device]]s was established in 1976 by [[John Hanna (activist)|John Hanna]] and others as the [[Environmental Life Force]] (ELF), also now known as the ''original ELF''. The group conducted a campaign of armed actions in northern [[California]] and [[Oregon]], later disbanding in 1978 following Hanna's arrest for placing incendiary devices on seven crop-dusters at the [[Salinas, California]] airport on [[May Day]], 1977.<ref name=elf>{{Cite web |url=http://www.originalelf.org/ |title=Original ELF |access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415040756/http://www.originalelf.org/ |archive-date=15 April 2012 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It wasn't until over a decade and a half later that this form of [[guerrilla warfare]] resurfaced as the Earth Liberation Front<ref name="Earth Liberation Front">[http://www.earth-liberation-front.org Earth Liberation Front]</ref> using the same ELF [[acronym]].

In 1980 [[Earth First!]] was founded by [[Dave Foreman]] and others to confront environmental destruction, primarily of the American West. Inspired by the [[Edward Abbey]] novel ''[[The Monkey Wrench Gang]]'', Earth First! made use of such techniques as [[treesitting]]<ref>[http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html Earth First's first treesitting civil disobedience action] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016222643/http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html |date=16 October 2005 }}, ''Earth First! 1985'', Oregon, June 1985.</ref> and [[treespiking]]<ref>[http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html Tree Spiking Memo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424015446/http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html |date=24 April 2008 }}, ''Earth First!'', April 1990.</ref> to stop [[logging]] companies, as well as other activities targeted towards [[mining]], [[road]] construction,<ref name="wall">{{cite book | title = Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement: Radical Environmentalism and Comparative Social Movements | last = Wall | first = Derek | year = 1999 | publisher = Routledge }}</ref> [[suburb]]an development and [[Energy development|energy companies]].
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Hornebeagles.jpg|left|thumb|180px|An [[Animal Liberation Front|ALF]] raid removing 82 beagles and 26 rabbits from [[Harlan (company)|Interfauna]] in Cambridge on [[Saint Patrick|St Patrick's Night]] 1990.<ref name=Arkangel>[http://www.directaction.info/barry/barry.htm "The man, the activist"], first published in ''[[Arkangel (magazine)|Arkangel]]''.</ref>]] -->
The organization were committed to nonviolent [[ecotage]] techniques from the group's inception, with those that split from the movement in the 1990s including the [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) in 1992, naming themselves after the [[Animal Liberation Front]] (ALF) who formed in the 1970s.<ref>[http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/tree/16/fire.html ELF Burns Down Vail] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211235040/http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/tree/16/fire.html |date=11 February 2006 }}, ''FIRE'', December 1999.</ref> Three years later in [[Canada]], inspired by the ELF in [[Europe]] the first ''Earth Liberation'' [[direct action]] occurred, but this time as the [[Earth Liberation Army]] (ELA), a similar movement who use ecotage and [[monkeywrenching]] as a tool, although no guidelines had been published.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

The ELF gained national attention for a series of actions which earned them the label of [[eco-terrorism|eco-terrorists]],<ref>[http://prfamerica.org/EarthLiberationFrontNo1onFBIList.html Earth Liberation Front is now FBI's No. 1 Domestic Terrorist Threat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412091753/http://prfamerica.org/EarthLiberationFrontNo1onFBIList.html |date=12 April 2008 }}, ''Property Rights of America Foundation Inc'', March 2001.</ref><ref>[http://www.earthliberationfront.com/elf_news.htm ELF News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211170759/http://earthliberationfront.com/elf_news.htm |date=11 February 2009 }}, ''Earth Liberation Front''</ref> including the burning of a [[ski]] resort in [[Vail, Colorado]] in 1998 that the ALF also claimed credit for <ref>{{Cite web |title=Incident Summary for GTDID: 199810190004 |url=https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=199810190004 |access-date=October 26, 2024 |website=start.umd.edu, Global Terrorism Database}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wyrick |first=Randy |date=October 27, 2018 |title=Eco-terrorists set fire to Vail Mountain 20 years ago, and the response showed how mutual aid could benefit mountain communities |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/10/27/vail-mountain-arson-looking-back/ |access-date=October 26, 2024 |work=The Denver Post}}</ref>—and the burning of an [[Sport utility vehicle|SUV]] dealership in [[Oregon]] in 1999.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barcott |first=Bruce |date=April 7, 2002 |title=From Tree-Hugger to Terrorist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/magazine/from-tree-hugger-to-terrorist.html |access-date=October 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The defendants in the case were later charged in the [[FBI]]'s "[[Operation Backfire (FBI)|Operation Backfire]]", along with other arsons and cases, which were later named by environmentalists as the [[Green Scare]]; alluding to the [[Red Scare]], periods of fear over communist infiltration of U.S.<ref name=opb>[https://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan06/elf012006.htm Eco-Terror Indictments: "Operation Backfire" Nets 11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817222138/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan06/elf012006.htm |date=17 August 2010 }}, [[FBI]], 20 January 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.freedom4um.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=69570 Resentencing date set for Jeff Luers], ''Freedom4um'', 29 December 2007.</ref>
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[File:Climate Camp 04.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Camp for Climate Action]] protesters on their way to [[Drax power station|Drax Power Station]] in August 2006.|{{puic|1=Image:Climate Camp 04.jpg|log=2008 September 19}}]] -->

Following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] several laws were passed increasing the penalties for ecoterrorism, and hearings were held in Congress discussing the activities of groups such as the ELF. To date no one has been killed as a result of an ELF or ALF action since both groups forbid harming human or non-human life.<ref name=Taylor/>{{RP|1-42}} It was then announced in 2003 that ''"[[eco-terrorist]]"'' attacks, known as ''"[[ecotage]]"'', had increased from the ELF, ELA and the ''"Environmental Rangers"'', another name used by activists when engaging in similar activity.<ref>[http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1101/1101ecoterrorist.htm The eco-terrorist anthrax connection], ''ESR'', 21 October 2001.</ref> In 2005 the FBI announced that the ELF was America's greatest [[domestic terrorist]] threat, responsible for over 1,200 "criminal incidents" amounting to tens of millions of dollars in damage to property,<ref name=sb3>[[Steven Best|Best, Steven]] and Best & Nocella (2006). ''Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth'', [[Lantern Books]]. p. 47.</ref> with the United States [[Department of Homeland Security]] confirming this regarding the ALF and ELF.<ref name=cnn1>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/19/domestic.terrorism/index.html FBI, ATF address domestic terrorism], ''[[CNN]]'', 19 May 2005.</ref>

[[Plane Stupid]] then was launched in 2005, in an attempt to combat the growing airport expansions in the UK using [[direct action]] with a year later the first [[Camp for Climate Action]] being held with 600 people attending a protest called ''Reclaim Power'' converging on [[Drax power station|Drax Power Station]] in [[North Yorkshire]] and attempted to shut it down. There were thirty-eight arrests, with four breaching the fence and the railway line being blocked.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1223134.ece |title=The Battle of Drax: 38 held as protest fails to close plant |journal=[[The Independent]] |date=1 September 2006 |location=London |first=Jonathan |last=Brown |access-date=2010-05-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301045057/http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1223134.ece |archive-date=1 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/climatechange/story/0,,1862662,00.html|title=In the shadow of Drax, not so much a fight as a festival|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=1 September 2006 | location=London | first=Martin | last=Wainwright |author-link=Martin Wainwright (journalist) | access-date=2010-05-22}}</ref>

Radical environmentalism has been called a [[new religious movement]] by [[Bron Taylor]] (1998). Taylor contends that "Radical environmentalism is best understood as a new religious movement that views [[environmental degradation]] as an assault on a sacred, natural world."<ref name=Taylor>Bron Taylor. ''Religion, Violence and Radical Environmentalism: From Earth First! to the Unabomber to the Earth Liberation Front'', 1998. 10(4)</ref><ref>Taylor, Bron, 2005. "Radical Environmentalism," ''The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature''. {{ISBN|1-84371-138-9}}</ref>{{RP|1326-1335}}

Some writers have used it to refer to the hypothetical danger of future [[Dystopia|dystopian]] governments, which might resort to [[fascist]] radical environmentalist policies in order to deal with environmental issues.<ref name="Zimmerman">{{Cite book |last=Zimmerman |first=Michael E. |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Volume 1 |date=2008 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-1-44-112278-0 |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=Bron R. |location=London, UK |pages=531–532 |chapter=Ecofascism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4mvAwAAQBAJ&q=ecofascism}}</ref> Themes of eco-fascism and radical environmentalism can be found in movies and literature like ''Soylent Green'', ''Hunger Games'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon.com: The Hunger Games: Special Edition (Audible Audio Edition): Suzanne Collins, Tatiana Maslany, Scholastic Audio: Audible Books & Originals |url=https://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Games-Special-Edition-audiobook/dp/B07HHJ7669/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=HUnger+Games&qid=1647968826&s=books&sr=1-1 |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=www.amazon.com}}</ref> ''Z.P.G.'', and ''My Diary from 2091''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petiška |first=Eduard |url=https://www.amazon.com/My-Diary-2091-Eduard-Petiska-ebook/dp/B093X2CJV8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1620088265&refinements=p_27%253AV%25C3%25ADt++Bohal&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=V%25C3%25ADt++Bohal |title=My Diary from 2091 |year=2021}}</ref>

=== Offshoots ===

Several philosophies have arisen from ideas in radical environmentalism that include [[deep ecology]], [[ecofeminism]], [[social ecology (theory)|social ecology]] and [[bioregionalism]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Lake Chad fuelled the ecofeminist movement|url=https://greenworld.org.uk/article/how-lake-chad-fuelled-ecofeminist-movement|access-date=2021-08-27|website=Green World|language=en}}</ref>

Deep Ecology is attributed to [[Arne Næss|Arne Naess]] and is defined as "a normative, ecophilosophical movement that is inspired and fortified in part by our experience as humans in nature and in part by ecological knowledge."<ref name="Deep">{{cite book |last=Dunlap |first=Riley E. |editor-last=Dunlap |editor-first=Riley E. |editor2-last=Mertig |editor2-first=Angela G. |contribution=Deep Ecology and Radical Environmentalism |title =American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement, 1970-1990 |publisher =Taylor & Francis |year=1992 | location=Philadelphia |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanenvironm00dunl/page/52 52] |isbn=9780844817309 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanenvironm00dunl|url-access=registration }}</ref>

A rising Deep Ecologist among radical environmentalist circles is [[Pentti Linkola]], regarded as the founder of [[ecofascism]], and author of the book Can Life Prevail? A Radical Approach to the Environmental Crisis.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-03-19|title=Eco-fascism is undergoing a revival in the fetid culture of the extreme right {{!}} Jason Wilson|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2019/mar/20/eco-fascism-is-undergoing-a-revival-in-the-fetid-culture-of-the-extreme-right|access-date=2021-08-27|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

Ecofeminism originated in the 1970s and draws a parallel between the oppression of women in patriarchal societies and the oppression of the environment.<ref name="Long">Long, Douglas (2004). ''Ecoterrorism'' (Library in a Book). New York: Facts on File. pp. 21-23.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498569279/Ecofeminism-in-Dialogue|title=Ecofeminism in Dialogue|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2017|isbn=9781498569279|editor-last=Vakoch|editor-first=Douglas A.|editor-link=Douglas Vakoch|location=Lanham, MD|language=en|editor-last2=Mickey|editor-first2=Sam}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.routledge.com/Women-and-Nature-Beyond-Dualism-in-Gender-Body-and-Environment-1st/Vakoch-Mickey/p/book/9781138053427|title=Women and Nature?: Beyond Dualism in Gender, Body, and Environment|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=9781138053427|editor-last=Vakoch|editor-first=Douglas A.|editor-link=Douglas Vakoch|location=New York|editor-last2=Mickey|editor-first2=Sam}}</ref>

Social Ecology is an idea attributed to [[Murray Bookchin]], who argued that in order to save the environment, human society needed to copy the structure of nature and decentralize both socially and economically.<ref name="Long"/>

Bioregionalism is a philosophy that focuses on the practical application of Social Ecology, and theorizes on "building and living in human social communities that are compatible with ecological systems".<ref name="Long"/>

== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* [[Anarchism and animal rights]]
* [[Anarcho-primitivism]]
* [[Deep ecology]]
* [[Deep Green Resistance]]
* [[Earth liberation]]
* [[Ecoterrorism]]
* [[Ecofascism]]
* [[Eco-nationalism]]
* [[Ecotage]]
* [[Environmental crime]]
* [[Extinction Rebellion]]
* [[Green syndicalism]]
* [[Greenwashing]]
* [[Guerrilla gardening]]
* ''[[Planet of the Humans]]''
* [[Sexecology]]
* [[Social ecology (theory)|Social ecology]]
* [[Veganarchism]]
{{Div col end}}

== Further reading ==
*[[Steven Best|Best, Steven]] and Nocella, Anthony J. ''Igniting A Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth'', [[AK Press]], 2006. {{ISBN|1-904859-56-9}}
*Wall, Dereck. ''Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement: Radical Environmentalism'', [[Routledge]], 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-19064-9}}
*List, Peter. ''Radical Environmentalism: Philosophy and Tactics'', Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1993. {{ISBN|0-534-17790-5}}
*Davis, John. ''The Earth First! Reader: Ten Years of Radical Environmentalism'', Gibbs Smith, 1991. {{ISBN|0-87905-387-9}}
* de Steiguer, J.E. 2006. ''The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought.'' The University of Arizona Press. Tucson. 246 pp.
* [[Bron Taylor|Taylor, Bron]], ed. ''Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism''. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.
* Taylor, Bron, "Radical Environmentalism" and "Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front" in B. Taylor, ed., ''[http://www.religionandnature.com/ern/sample.htm Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature]'' London: Continuum International. Additional articles by Taylor about radical environmentalism, including those that explore its history and political impacts, are also available online.
*Garreau, Joel. "Environmentalism as Religion." The New Atlantis 28 (2010): 61–74.

==References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080517104136/http://freefreenow.org/jw_writings.html#Radical A Brief Description of Radical Environmentalism], [[Jeff Luers]], April 2005
* [http://www.greens.org/ Green Parties World Wide]
* {{cite journal|title=Ecology, environmentalism and green religion|journal=J.P. (Hamish) Kimmins|year=1993|doi=10.5558/tfc69285-3|last1=(Hamish) Kimmins|first1=J. P.|volume=69|issue=3|pages=285–289|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/25/environmentalism-religion|title=Environmentalism: a new religion|work=Rowenna Davis|date=25 June 2009 |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |last1=Davis |first1=Rowenna }}

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[[Category:Radical environmentalism| ]]
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