by Amy Augustine

Forget any preconceived notions that you may have about environmentalism. Think bigger. Think modern. Think … violence?

An extremist green revolution is spreading its seeds on an international scale, and, whether one condones or condemns the means of eco-fanaticism, the results are sprouting up everywhere.

In the United States, eco-terrorism is now considered a serious security threat. In 2005 the FBI compiled a report on eco-terrorist acts between 1990 and 2004. It found that roughly 1,200 criminal acts were committed by eco-extremist organizations resulting in tens of millions of dollars in damage across the country.

But the United States isn’t the only place where the eco-extremist phenomenon has rooted. In a January 2006 report released by The Times Higher Education Supplement, the UK had 83 serious attacks last year. Sweden reported 55. In the Netherlands, 21. Italy had 18, Switzerland, 14, and Spain and Germany both had 12.

Perhaps the most radical group leading the pack is the Earth Liberation Front. The group describes itself as an underground movement with no leadership, membership or spokespersons.

Over the past 25 years, in collaboration with the Animal Liberation Front, the ELF has taken responsibility for crimes ranging from vandalismto arson against groups the organization says cause harm to people, the environment and animals.

In California, a 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson and vandalism after he did $1 million worth of damage to a Hummer dealership.

At Michigan State University in 2000, an agricultural building was blown up in protest of the growing of genetically modified food at the school.

An Arizona man was arrested and indicted on 22 counts of arson for setting fire to eight under-construction homes in Phoenix in one year. Some of the houses were valued at $1 million dollars each. At his hearing, the man claimed that “God’s work has to be done.”

Are extremist groups giving a bad name to a cause that has traditionally been associated with peace, love and compassion?

Some environmental groups are taking a different, more seductive approach.

In 2004, a small group of “sexually open minded” individuals began an alternative non-profit organization called Fuck for Forest (www.fuckforforest.com), an environmental porn site sponsored by the Norwegian government. It is littered with facts about the havoc that human beings are wreaking over the environment. 

The goal is to save nature while showing the beauty of human sexuality, and, for just $12, anyone can become a member and get down for Mother Nature.

As the times change, acts of civil disobedience and eco-fanaticism have become more creative and increasingly extreme.

But at the end of the day, do the ends justify the means?

It’s hard to say. Shocking and scaring people into taking action may or may not be effective, but ultimately people need to make these types of decisions for themselves.

 As individuals, we all must make a choice about the future. Whether or not we choose to put ourselves before everything else will be the deciding factor in the fate of the planet.

Previously published in Provokator print magazine

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