Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American ecophilosopher, writer, author, teacher and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

in the

anarcho-primitivist Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of civilization (anti-civ) that advocates a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization, and abandonment of large-scale orga ...

tradition, though he rejects the label "

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

". ''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

'' named Jensen among "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World" in 2008, and ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González (journalist), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, whi ...

'' says that he "has been called the poet-philosopher of the

ecology movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists adv ...

Jensen is a

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or govern ...

of the mainstream environmental movement's focus on preserving civilization and technology over preserving the natural world.Holzman, Jael (2022).
How a Fight over Transgender Rights Derailed Environmentalists in Nevada
. ''Politico''. Politico LLC. He specifically challenges the lifestyle changes and individualistic solutions broadly advocated, considering them drastically inadequate to the global scale of

environmental catastrophe An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...

.Kateman, Brian (2022).
To Save The Planet, We Need Systemic Change—But Your Individual Choices Still Matter
. ''Forbes''. Instead, he promotes

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a stat ...

, radical activism, and dismantling infrastructure on a massive level in order to halt what he has called "the murder of the planet". Jensen is a founder and leader within

Deep Green Resistance Deep Green Resistance (DGR) is a radical environmental movement that views mainstream environmental activism as being ineffective. The group, which perceives the existence of industrial civilization itself as the greatest threat to the natural ...

; his and the organization's belief that women-only spaces should

exclude {{Short pages monitor * * * * * , Seven Stories Press, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

Further reading