Ecoterrorism and radical environmentalists
Ecoterrorism refers to clandestine activities undertaken by radical environmentalists aimed at disrupting environmental degradation or preventing harm to animals. Emerging in the United States during the 1970s, ecoterrorism gained notoriety in the early 1990s, saw a resurgence around 1999 to 2001, and has continued in varying degrees into the twenty-first century. Acts associated with this movement include legal protests and illegal sabotage, with tactics like tree spiking, machinery decommissioning, and direct actions against whaling ships. Prominent groups involved in such activities include Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front, among others.
While some activists view these radical actions as necessary responses to environmental crises—drawing parallels to wartime resistance—others believe they tarnish the reputation of peaceful environmental advocacy. The FBI has increased scrutiny of these actions, especially following high-profile incidents of arson. Despite a decline in reported incidents since the early 2000s, recent studies indicate a renewed interest in ecoterrorism, fueled by a growing frustration among youth activists regarding climate inaction. This complex issue continues to evoke diverse opinions on the ethics and effectiveness of radical environmentalism.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Ecoterrorism and radical environmentalists
DEFINITION: Clandestine activities conducted by radical environmentalists with the intent of disrupting environmental damage or preventing cruelty to animals
The extreme activities of some radical environmentalists have caused considerable controversy, with critics noting that ecoterrorists have damaged the reputations of many hardworking environmentalist groups around the world.
Ecoterrorism began in the United States in the 1970s, experienced a peak in the early 1990s before waning for several years, and spiked again from 1999 to 2001. Acts of ecoterrorism continue into the twenty-first century, but more rarely and with far less attention than other terrorist activity. Other terms, such as "ecological sabotage," "monkeywrenching," "ecotage," and "decommissioning," roughly connote the same concept, but with much less pejorative implications. "Monkeywrenching" was coined by Edward Abbey in his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975). "Ecotage" refers to acts of sabotage for environmental ends.
The radical environmentalist group Earth First! probably engaged in more ecoterrorist activities during the peak period than any other group, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). In 1985 Dave Foreman, cofounder of Earth First!, published Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching, which describes a variety of radical environmental activities and ways to carry them out.
Lorenz Otto Lutherer and Margaret Sheffield Simon chronicle the history of ecoterrorism conducted by animal rights groups in Targeted: The Anatomy of an Animal Rights Attack (1992). They describe numerous cases of break-ins, vandalism, thefts of animals and equipment, and threats of violence against researchers and businesspeople. Animal rights activists who engage in these activities, these authors maintain, are a menace to society, scientific and economic progress, and democracy itself.
The types of activities that initially led critics to characterize particular environmental activists as ecoterrorists can be divided into three categories. The first involves legal protests that are still clear cases of monkeywrenching. Examples are sit-ins in front of offices, laboratories, factories, bulldozers, and even locomotives, sometimes accentuated by activists’ chaining themselves to gates or trees. Activists have also often engaged in a process called tree spiking, in which metal spikes are driven into trees to prevent logging with chainsaws.
The activities in the second category are characterized by their illegal nature, such as decommissioning machinery by pouring sand, sugar, or water into gas tanks and damaging motor vehicles by smashing distributors and spark plugs. Most break-ins at animal research facilities are included in this category. The third category consists of more daring but potentially hazardous operations, such as the ramming of whaling ships by Sea Shepherd activists.
Although many environmentalists oppose acts of violence in the name of their cause, others view monkeywrenching activists as "the conscience of the environmental movement." However, most agree that the term "ecoterrorism" more aptly applies to those who plunder the earth and its atmosphere in the name of capitalism and progress. Some environmental activists compare themselves to Resistance fighters of World War II; they see environmental damage as equivalent to the Holocaust and other war crimes, meriting drastic reprisals. In general, however, environmental activists believe that their actions ought to be nonviolent, and most who participate in ecotage are aggressive in taking preventive measures. For example, to avoid injuries, antilogging activists inform loggers and mill workers about trees that contain spikes by sending letters, telephoning, or marking trees with paint.
Opinions regarding the moral implications of ecoterrorism vary. Many environmental activists, whether or not they approve, agree that it can have a considerable impact. However, critics and even some activists feel that some radical activists have damaged the reputations of many hardworking, peace-loving environmentalists around the world. Others believe that the alleged threat of ecoterrorism is overblown, perhaps intentionally by antienvironmentalists seeking to turn public opinion against the environmental movement in general. Law enforcement in the United States took a firm stance against radical environmentalism from the late 1990s on, particularly following a high-profile case of arson against a Colorado ski lodge in 1998. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened Operation Backfire in response to that crime, and the US congressional hearings in 1998, 2002, and 2005 were held on the threat of ecoterrorism. Several major legal actions were taken against perpetrators, damaging the structure and image of the most radical groups, such as the Earth Liberation Front.
According to the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society, in 2014, acts of ecoterrorism throughout the world hit a high of 163 in 2001, declining steadily thereafter. By 2012, such incidents were virtually negligible. Experts largely attribute this decline to greater attention to terrorism in general following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The PATRIOT Act and other legislation passed in the wake of those attacks are thought to have helped broadly discourage environmentally-minded acts that could be prosecuted as terrorism.
According to the Hastings Environmental Law Journal, ecoterrorism still existed in the twenty-first century and was once again on the rise around the globe—it simply remained difficult to research and document, and other terrorist activities often overshadowed ecoterrorism. According to the FBI, incidents of ecoterrorism are again on the rise in the United States, with activities like the 2021 train derailment in Washington State which resulted in a massive oil spill. Ecoterrorism is also on the rise globally as youth activists become disillusioned with world leaders' ineffectiveness in combating climate change. Student activists took to the streets to protest what they saw as a lack of action at the November 2022 United Nations Conference of Parties Climate Change Summit (COP26). Experts believe these new twenty-first-century ecoterrorists are returning to the “ecotage” strategies of organizations like the now-defunct Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
Bibliography
Dykstra, Elizabeth. “The Future of Eco-Terrorism.” Fair Observer, 7 Jan. 2022, www.fairobserver.com/more/environment/elizabeth-dykstra-mccarthy-eco-terrorism-ecotage-climate-change-activism-news-77651/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2023.
Foreman, Dave, and Bill Haywood, eds. Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching. 3d ed. Chico, Calif.: Abbzug Press, 2002.
Gallagher, Zoe. "Will the Real Eco-Terrorists Please Stand Up?" Hastings Environmental Law Journal, vol. 29, no. 1, Winter 2023, repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=hastings‗environmental‗law‗journal. Accessed 16 July 2024.
Hirsch-Hoefler, Sivan, and Cas Mudde. "Ecoterrorism: Threat or Political Ploy?" The Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/12/19/ecoterrorism-threat-or-political-ploy/?utm‗term=.002752c56c7c. Accessed 16 July 2024.
Liddick, Don. Eco-Terrorism: Radical Environmental and Animal Liberation Movements. Praeger, 2006.
Lutherer, Lorenz Otto, and Margaret Sheffield Simon. Targeted: The Anatomy of an Animal Rights Attack. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Nagtzaam, Gerry. From Environmental Action to Ecoterrorism? Towards a Process Theory of Environmental and Animal Rights Oriented Political Violence. Edward Elgar, 2017.
Scarce, Rik. Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement. Updated ed. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, 2006.
Wolfe, Matthew. “The Rise and Fall of America's Environmentalist Underground.” The New York Times, 26 May 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/magazine/earth-liberation-front-joseph-mahmoud-dibee.html. Accessed 16 July 2024.