History Of The Earth First Movement

“Earth First! is a verb, not a noun.” (Earth First! Journal.org/Direct Action). Founded in 1979, the Earth First! movement began in response to the increasingly corporate environmental community. The founders believed environmental activists were selling out rather than working to protect the environment. Frustrated by the direction of the environmental movement, they decided it was time to take aggressive action to defend Mother Earth. Their slogan became “No Compromise in the Defense of Mother Earth!” Supporters are composed of small groups that take it upon themselves to become familiar with the ecology of the area and the most immediate and serious threats to it by using litigation, education and civil disobedience (Earth First! Journal.org/About Earth First!). There is a broad diversity of groups ranging from forest defenders, fracking, wetlands activism, animal rights and agricultural activism but all agree on the need to take action. With views tied to deep ecology, supporters believe that all living organisms are valuable and that all forms of life are vitally connected. The life of the earth comes first and these beliefs are put into action by drawing public attention to the crises facing the natural world and succeeding in cases where other environmental groups have given up. Earth Firsters also believe the current technological system is unethical because it permits humans to prosper while other species become extinct. To save all species, humans must give up their technological luxuries ("If a Tree Falls in the Forest, They Hear It". New York Times News Archives, 04 November 1990. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/magazine/if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest-they-hear-it.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm). New ideas, strategies an...

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...ange and attention to many environmental issues at hand. The website encourages readers to act on behalf of various causes that are indeed ruining Earth’s natural resources. The website is informative, organized, clear on its intentions and easy to navigate. The website provides ample information on how to organize groups, protests and various actions to take. The movement supports activists who have given up their rights to fight for the rights of the Earth and their creatures which is admirable. On the other side, the movement is definitely radical and tends to go overboard. There are better ways to fight for the environment that does not promote violence. However, radical groups do serve an important political function by making the more traditional groups appear more respectable. But, it often seems that the issues do not make it past the issue attention cycle.