Radical environmentalism is a grass-roots branch of the larger

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

that emerged from an ecocentrism-based frustration with the co-option of mainstream

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

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 Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

ideas of religion and philosophy, including

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

, and

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, sometimes through "resacralising" and reconnecting with nature.Manes, Christopher (1990). ''Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization'', Boston: Little, Brown and Co. The movement is typified by

leaderless resistance Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a social resistance strategy in which small, independent groups ( covert cells), or individuals (a solo cell is called a " lone wolf"), challenge an established institution such as a law, econ ...

organizations such as

Earth First! Earth First! is a radical environmentalism, radical Environmental movement, environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron K ...

, which subscribe to the idea of taking

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

in defense of

Mother Nature Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother) is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess. European concept tr ...

including

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

ecotage Ecotage ( ) is sabotage carried out for environmental reasons. Cases All damage figures below are in United States dollars. Some well-known acts of ecotage have included: *Circa 1969 to 1985 – ecological activist James F. Phillips, opera ...

and

monkeywrenching Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''sab ...

. Movements such as the

Earth Liberation Front The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for Wiktionary:autonomy, autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to ...

(ELF) and Earth Liberation Army (ELA) also take this form of action, although focusing on economic

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

, rather than civil disobedience. Radical environmentalists can include earth liberationists, as well as

anarcho-primitivists Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of civilization that advocates a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization, abandonment of large-scale organization and all ...

, animal liberationists, bioregionalists, deep ecologists, eco-nationalism, ecopsychologists,

green anarchists Green anarchism, also known as ecological anarchism or eco-anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that focuses on ecology and environmental issues. It is an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian form of radical environmentalism, which e ...

, and less often

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist ...

and

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...

protesters, ecofeminists,

neo-Pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented ...

ists, and

Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...

ns. This does not mean that everyone subscribing to those beliefs and values should be considered a radical environmentalist.

History

While many people believe that the first significant radical environmentalist group was

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

, which made use of

beginning in the 1970s to confront

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

ships and

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s testers, Weyler, Rex (2004). ''Greenpeace: How a Group of Journalists, Ecologists and Visionaries Changed the World''. Rodale. others within the movement, argues as

(ELF) prisoner 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. The alternative tactic of using explosive and

incendiary device Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel ...

s was established in 1976 by 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 California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, later disbanding in 1978 following Hanna's arrest for placing incendiary devices on seven crop-dusters at the

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Salt pan (geology), Salt Flats") is a city in the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Monterey County, California, Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is ...

airport on

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

, 1977. It wasn't until over a decade and a half later that this form of

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

resurfaced as the Earth Liberation FrontEarth Liberation Front
/ref> using the same ELF

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

. In 1980

was founded by Dave Foreman and others to confront environmental destruction, primarily of the American West. Inspired by the

Edward Abbey Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the nov ...

novel '' The Monkey Wrench Gang'', Earth First! made use of such techniques as treesitting and treespiking to stop

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksmining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

construction,

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

an development and energy companies. The organization were committed to nonviolent

techniques from the group's inception, with those that split from the movement in the 1990s including the

(ELF) in 1992, naming themselves after the

Animal Liberation Front The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is a Far-left politics, far-left international, Leaderless resistance, leaderless, decentralized movement that emerged in Britain in the 1970s, evolving from the Bands of Mercy. It operates without a formal lead ...

(ALF) who formed in the 1970s. Three years later in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, inspired by the ELF in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

the first ''Earth Liberation''

occurred, but this time as the Earth Liberation Army (ELA), a similar movement who use ecotage and

as a tool, although no guidelines had been published. The ELF gained national attention for a series of actions which earned them the label of eco-terrorists, including the burning of a ski resort in

Vail, Colorado Vail is a Home rule in the United States, home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the ...

in 1998 that the ALF also claimed credit for —and the burning of an SUV dealership in

in 1999. The defendants in the case were later charged in the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

's " Operation Backfire", along with other arsons and cases, which were later named by environmentalists as the Green Scare; alluding to the

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

, periods of fear over communist infiltration of U.S.Eco-Terror Indictments: "Operation Backfire" Nets 11
,

, 20 January 2006. Following the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

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. It was then announced in 2003 that ''"

eco-terrorist Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines eco-terrorism as "...the use or threatened use of violence of ...

"'' attacks, known as ''"

"'', had increased from the ELF, ELA and the ''"Environmental Rangers"'', another name used by activists when engaging in similar activity. 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, Best, Steven and Best & Nocella (2006). ''Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth'', Lantern Books. p. 47. with the United States

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

confirming this regarding the ALF and ELF.FBI, ATF address domestic terrorism
''

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'', 19 May 2005. Plane Stupid then was launched in 2005, in an attempt to combat the growing airport expansions in the UK using

with a year later the first

Camp for Climate Action The Camps for Climate Action are Political campaign, campaign gatherings (similar to peace camps) that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major Global warming#Causes, carbon emitters, as well as to deve ...

being held with 600 people attending a protest called ''Reclaim Power'' converging on

Drax Power Station Drax power station is a large Biomass (energy), biomass power station in Drax, North Yorkshire, Drax, North Yorkshire, England. It has a 2.6 GW capacity for biomass and had a 1.29 GW capacity for coal that was retired in 2021. Its name comes f ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

and attempted to shut it down. There were thirty-eight arrests, with four breaching the fence and the railway line being blocked. Radical environmentalism has been called a

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...

by Bron Taylor (1998). Taylor contends that "Radical environmentalism is best understood as a new religious movement that views

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

as an assault on a sacred, natural world."Bron Taylor. ''Religion, Violence and Radical Environmentalism: From Earth First! to the Unabomber to the Earth Liberation Front'', 1998. 10(4) Some writers have used it to refer to the hypothetical danger of future

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

governments, which might resort to

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

radical environmentalist policies in order to deal with environmental issues. Themes of eco-fascism and radical environmentalism can be found in movies and literature like ''Soylent Green'', ''Hunger Games'', ''Z.P.G.'', and ''My Diary from 2091''.

Offshoots

Several philosophies have arisen from ideas in radical environmentalism that include

deep ecology Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and argues that modern human societies should be restructured in accordance with such idea ...

ecofeminism Ecofeminism integrates feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyze relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her 1974 ...

social ecology Social ecology may refer to: * Social ecology (academic field), the study of relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions * Social ecological model, frameworks for depicting ...

and

bioregionalism Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called '' bioregions'' (similar to ''ecoregions''). Bioregions are d ...

. Deep Ecology is attributed to 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." 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. Ecofeminism originated in the 1970s and draws a parallel between the oppression of women in patriarchal societies and the oppression of the environment.Long, Douglas (2004). ''Ecoterrorism'' (Library in a Book). New York: Facts on File. pp. 21-23. Social Ecology is an idea attributed to

Murray Bookchin Murray Bookchin (; January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. Influenced by G. W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and Peter Kropotkin, he was a pioneer in the environmental ...

, who argued that in order to save the environment, human society needed to copy the structure of nature and decentralize both socially and economically. 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".

References

External links

Jeff Luers, April 2005
Green Parties World Wide
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Radical Environmentalism Environmentalism Environmental movements Far-left politics Green politics Eco-terrorism