Earth First!

Earth First!, radical environmental group focused on the protection of wilderness and wildlife. Earth First! was formed in 1980 as an alternative to mainstream environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. Those groups were seen as too moderate and too willing to sacrifice the protection of some wild areas in order to make deals with politicians. In contrast, Earth First! adopted the slogan, “No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.”

The characteristics that distinguished Earth First! from mainstream environmental groups included its organizational form, philosophy, and tactics. Earth First! was not a formal organization; rather, it was a loose network of autonomous regional groups, without a staff or formal leadership. The only way to become a member of Earth First! was to participate directly in the group’s activities. Earth First! published a periodical, the Earth First! Journal, to keep members informed.

Earth First! members found a unifying philosophy in deep ecology, which contends that all species of animals and plants have an inherent right to exist and that wilderness should be protected irrespective of its usefulness to humans. Critics of Earth First! argued, however, that deep ecology is misanthropic, favouring other species over humans. Although some early Earth First! members made controversial statements on overpopulation, later members highlighted common ground between social justice and the protection of nature.

Earth First! was widely known for its tactics. It generally eschewed the lobbying and political deal-making associated with mainstream environmental organizations. Instead, its activists typically engaged in nonviolent direct action, such as civil disobedience to block environmentally harmful activities and “monkeywrenching” (the sabotage of machinery involved in environmental destruction). In the first years after the group’s formation, the use of direct actions—standing in front of bulldozers and putting spikes (e.g., metal rods or nails) in trees to prevent them from being cut—brought national news coverage to Earth First!. The group subsequently grew.

By the late 1980s, however, Earth First! faced serious challenges. The growth of the group brought in new activists with new ideas that sometimes conflicted with the ideas of its founders. Some members advocated for an end to tree-spiking and machinery sabotage, since those activities put timber workers—who could also be viewed as victims of timber corporations—at risk of injury. Other members of the group, however, were even more anarchist than their predecessors and insisted on increasingly radical protest tactics, such as locking themselves onto objects, including vehicles, by placing U-shaped bicycle locks around their necks and by erecting large barricades to prevent road construction. As a result, Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front, an aggressive spin-off movement established by Earth First! members who were later labeled as ecoterrorists, increasingly became the target of police action, notably by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).