Ecoterrorism

Ecoterrorism. It's a scary word, maybe moreso to those living in the United States with the recent years of talk about terrorists filling every media slot. Ecoterrorism takes environmental concerns and issues and blends this concern with violent action. There are two different definitions of ecoterrorism:

The use of violence against innocent people or things by environment groups

Terrorist activity which intends to cause harm, or harms living beings or ecological systems

An interesting point to consider would be the fact that by definition, any company or organization which knowingly causes damage or destruction of people or the environment would be considered ecoterrorists.

A very clear example of ecoterrorism can be attributed to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. The Unabomber's motivation for his bombing campaigns was to draw attention to the machinations of big companies to break down human freedoms through the technologies these companies provide. Finally, when a small number of individuals had died and many more had been wounded, Kaczynski presented his manifesto to be printed by a periodical of his choosing. Anything less than satisfactory coverage of his 35,000 word document would result in more deaths. Kaczynski is an anarchistic primativist, beyond his ecoterrorist behavior, these social labels being presented to him by virtue of his ideals and the cause he fought violently for.

Ecoterrorists use many methods to get their environmental cause attention. Beyond conventional means of branching out through the internet, ecoterrorists have been known to:

• Commit arson - setting fire to buildings or property with malice
• Vandalize and instigate violence under the guise of environmental protest
• Monkey wrenching - economic warfare aimed at the causes supported by the ecoterrorists
• Possibly the worst, as it involves not only harming the environment, but possibly causing the deaths of many individuals - tree spiking. This practice involves inserting metal rods or other hard objects into the trunk of a tree so that when a logger comes through, they hit the rod or other object. This often causes the objects which were embedded to fly at high speeds around the logger.

As an individual who considers themselves a minimalist, a tree hugger, and a bit of an environmental anarchist myself, these types of actions are a radical extreme which most level-headed eco-anarchists do not condone. It is extremely hypocritical to support causes which are to influence creation, then turn around and commit crimes. With freedom to choose and live comes a higher level of personal accountability, a maturity and sanity that unfortunately slips by some individuals.

Please do not adopt ill views of ecoanarchists based on the actions of ecoterrorists. The two are worlds apart.

Save the earth!