Ecodefense
Encyclopedia
Edward Abbey
Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental...
.
Background
Ned Ludd Books published the first two editions, with Abbzug Press publishing a third edition. The book was first published in 1985.Much of the inspiration for the book, as well as the term "monkeywrenching", came from Edward Abbey's 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang
The Monkey Wrench Gang
The Monkey Wrench Gang is a novel written by American author Edward Abbey , published in 1975.Easily Abbey's most famous fiction work, the novel concerns the use of sabotage to protest environmentally damaging activities in the American Southwest, and was so influential that the term "monkeywrench"...
. Other inspiration for the book likely came from the 1972 book Ecotage!
Ecotage!
Ecotage! was a 1972 paperback book edited by Sam Love and published by Pocket Books.The book was a collection of ideas that had been solicited by the group Environmental Action over the previous year in preparation for the publication of the book, for using sabotage, attention-grabbing stunts, and...
, which was published by the group Environmental Action and was in turn inspired by the actions of an activist in the Chicago, Illinois area who called himself "The Fox
James F. Phillips
James F. Phillips was an environmental activist who was known in the Chicago area during the 1970s for his direct action activities under the pseudonym The Fox....
", and engaged in such vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
actions to protect the environment as plugging smokestacks. Much of the actual content for Ecodefense came from the "Dear Ned Ludd" column in the newsletter of the group Earth First!
Earth First!
Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979. It was co-founded on April 4th, 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, and less directly, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar....
during the 1980s.
Monkeywrenching is a form of ecodefense. So are temporary restraining orders and tree sitting
Tree sitting
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down...
, as well as non-violent blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
and civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
.
Other forms include tree spiking
Tree spiking
Tree spiking involves hammering a metal rod, nail, or other material into a tree trunk to discourage logging by attempting to devalue the commercial use of the wood, reducing the economic viability of logging in the long term, while not threatening the life of the tree...
, and billboarding
Billboarding
Billboarding is one form of ecotage in the form of monkeywrenching. It is the act of cutting down, burning, and/or defacing highway billboards. The American novelist Edward Abbey seems to have greatly advanced the art of billboarding starting around the year 1950 in and around the New Mexico city...
. These are more controversial because they involve destruction, vandalism, and/or the potential for injury.
“Tentatively called Ecodefense: A Handbook on the Militant Defense of the Earth, the publication was to be a radical environmental version of William Powell
William Powell
William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
's Anarchist Cookbook. In its final form, brought out by Foreman's own Ned Ludd
Ned Ludd
Ned Ludd or Ned Lud, possibly born Ned Ludlam or Edward Ludlam, is the person from whom the Luddites took their name. His actions inspirated the folkloric character of Captain Ludd, also known as King Ludd or General Ludd, who became the Luddites' alleged leader and founder.It is believed that Ned...
Books (suitably named after the nineteenth-century British worker who destroyed supposedly labor-saving machinery), Ecodefense: A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching gave practical , detailed instructions on how to decommission bulldozers, pull out survey stakes, spike trees, and generally harass and delay resource industry plans. It was an immediate success; dog eared copies of it could be found in the backpacks of young environmental militants literally throughout the world. This kind of popularity led Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
's Willamette National Forest
Willamette National Forest
The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of US state of Oregon.It comprises 1,675,407 acres making it one of the largest national forests. Over 380,000 acres are designated wilderness which include seven major mountain peaks...
supervisor Michael Kerrick to denounce the book in a white paper presented at a congressional hearing, in which he peevishly threatened to 'close the entire [national forest logging] area to unauthorized entry' if the ecotage described in the book took place. As good as his word, Kerrick soon thereafter introduced the controversial and legally questionable policy of closing national forests to the public whenever environmental protests were expected. It is no exaggeration to say, therefore, that Ecodefense changed forever the way public lands policy was made in this country and perhaps even abroad. Ecotage was, as Getty learned, a new factor in making environmental policy.”
See also
- Earth First!Earth First!Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979. It was co-founded on April 4th, 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, and less directly, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar....
- Earth Liberation FrontEarth Liberation FrontThe Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
- Eco-TerrorismEco-terrorismEco-terrorism usually refers to acts of violence or sabotage committed in support of ecological, environmental, or animal rights causes against persons or their property....
- Ecotage!Ecotage!Ecotage! was a 1972 paperback book edited by Sam Love and published by Pocket Books.The book was a collection of ideas that had been solicited by the group Environmental Action over the previous year in preparation for the publication of the book, for using sabotage, attention-grabbing stunts, and...
[book] - Operation BackfireOperation Backfire (FBI)Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation , into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI....
- FBI operation initiated against environmentalists