Radical Environmentalism

1. Radical Environmentalism Emily Roberts – Myth Debunking/What is Radical Environmentalism? Will Scheffler– Failure of Legislation Anna Schonleber– Effective Tactics Heidi Hirsh – Case Study (Sea Shepherd: Reykjavik Raid)

2. EMILY ROBERTS What it is. How it works.

3. Earth Life Force 1977 • “ELF strives to inform and inspire the people” about environmental issues • “This was the first eco-guerrilla unit to use direct action and the name ELF.  As originally conceived, the ELF would have no central leadership or chain of command.  Each cell was intended to be autonomous and an individual could join or drop out at will.  Anyone could call him or her self a member of ELF but no one can be an ELF leader.” • www.originalelf.org

4. Earth First! 1979 • “Our front-line, direct action approach to protecting wilderness gets results. We have succeeded in cases where other environmental groups had given up, and have drawn public attention to the crises facing the natural world.”

5. “We believe in using all the tools in the tool box, ranging from grassroots organizing and involvement in the legal process to civil disobedience and monkey wrenching.” • “It is not an organization, but a movement. There are no "members" of Earth First!, only Earth First!ers. It is a belief in biocentrism, thatlife of the Earth comes first, and a practice of putting our beliefs into action.” • earthfirst.org/about.htm

6. Earth Liberation Front 1992 • “If, as stated, the ELF's mission is to defend and protect the Earth for future generationsby means of direct action, then the high moral road must be taken in order to succeed.” www.earth-liberation-front.org

7. Claims about Radical Environmentalism

8. Claim: Radical environmentalism is the same as eco-terrorism MYTH

9. Eco-terrorism: the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against peopleor property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature • As defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation • Ecotage: sabotage with an ecological motive • Oxford English Dictionary

10. “A dialogue with other activists led to a consensus that terrorist actions were clearly counter-productive to the environmental movement- regardless of the perceived righteousness of a given cause.  The public will always reject violence and destructive actions.” • www.originalelf.com

11. “Regardless of the frustration we all feel about the enormous perils facing our Mother Earth, engaging the perceived wrong-doers with threats, intimidation and destructive tactics will always fail.  Fighting fire with fire will get you burned.” • www.earth-liberation-front.org

12. Claim: Radical environmentalism is violent and puts others in danger MYTH

13. The tactics used by radical environmentalists are not meant to harm or kill people, but rather to stop actions that would negatively impact the environment • Monkey wrenching: to sabotage, disrupt, or damage as a form of environmentalist protest • Ecotage: sabotage with an ecological motive • Oxford English Dictionary

14. John Hanna, original ELF founder, was convicted for using explosives on federal property. He no longer advocates for the group but still says: • “ELF took extraordinary measures to avoid loss of life or injury. The devices were designed so only the low-yield detonators would fire. The napalm mix had been allowed to solidify so it could not catch fire. The fuses were set to ignite at 2:00am. I waited nearby until all the detonators exploded. If someone would have happened by, I was prepared to warn him or her off even at the risk of capture.” • www.originalelf.org

15. MYTH • Claim: Radical environmentalists are misinformed about the issues and ultimate impacts of their actions

16. Advice on the Earth First! website: • Educate yourself on the ways you can attract attention to environmental concerns and dissuade people and corporations from destroying the Earth. • Learn the law. While getting arrested will often bring increased media attention, weigh all the options. Freedom is an important asset. Avoiding jail is sometimes a better strategy. • Become aware of the risks to which you will be exposed. Activists are often arrested during legal actions by police ignorant of the law.

17. Conclusion • The intent is not to harm others, and radical environmentalists take safety measures to try to decrease any possible dangers • Radical environmentalism uses direct action that will draw public attention to an environmentally harmful action • Their focus is on immediately stopping the action before the natural resource is lost due to the ineffectiveness of the slowness of legislation

18. The Failure of Environmental Legislation

19. Table of Contents Environmental Legislations: - Outdated - Inherently Full Of Compromises - Full Of Loopholes, Short Sight, and Corruption - Take Too Long To Be Enacted

20. Laws Are Outdated • National Environmental Protection Act: 1970 • Clean Air Act: 1970, Amended 1990 • Clean Water Act: 1972 • Ocean Dumping Act: 1972 • Endangered Species Act: 1973 • Safe Drinking Water Act: 1974

21. Laws Are Inherently Full Of Compromise

22. Loopholes Loopholes in current laws: - RCRA allows “scrap” hazardous e-waste to be shipped to other nations Energy Policy Act of 2005 = “Halliburton Loophole”

23. Short Sight • EPA failed to publicize information about common weed-killer in drinking water.

24. Corruption Breakup of MMS over Deepwater Horizon Blowout.

25. Length of Time it takes to draw up new regulations The adopting of environmental legislation and the enacting of regulations take extremely long just like any piece of government legislation, if not longer due to its highly controversial nature.

26. Works Cited • http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/node/12601 • http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/06/14/100614ta_talk_surowiecki • http://www.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/details.aspx • http://www.cleanwater.org/page/fracking-laws-and-loopholes

27. Tactics: The Bridge Between What Doesn’t Work and What Does Anna Schonleber

28. Sea Shepherd

29. Combating Over Fishing • Operation Blue Rage 2011 • Trying to lower the quota for Bluefin tuna • Sea Shepherd holds the position that the quota should be set at zero • Each Year Sea Shepherd sends out ships to search for illegal fishing operations

30. Operation Blue Rage 2011 • “We would be happy to remove ourselves from what should be the business of the ICCAT and the EU, if only they were actually doing the job.” (SeaShepherd.org)

31. Julia “Butterfly” Hill • Goal: To prevent the clear cutting of of the giant redwood forest by Pacific Lumber Co. • Live 180ft in “Luna” a redwood tree • Live on two 6ft by 6ft platforms for 738 days

32. Resolution • Decision reached in 1999 • Pacific Lumber Co. agreed to preserve Luna and all trees with in a 200ft buffer zone • Hill agreed to vacate Luna • $50,000 was given to the logging company which was then donated to Humboldt State University to go toward research into sustainable forestry

33. The Cove • Movie reveals massive dolphin slaughtering in Taiji, Japan • Called attention to high mercury levels in dolphin meat that was getting sold as part of a government sponsored school lunch program • IWC (International Whaling Commission) • Dolphins aren’t regulated by the IWC • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSiQVdq9Pns

34. Case Study SEA SHEPHERD’S REYKJAVIK RAID HEIDI HIRSH http://www.cherrycoloured.com/wordpress/?p=10171

35. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society • “We don’t protest whaling – we oppose illegal whaling activities. Our opposition are criminalsengaged in illegal behavior.” (seashepherd.org) http://www.seashepherd.org

36. Failure of Law • 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling • Purpose: • Give the world’s dwindling population of whales a chance to recover. • Allow time to develop a satisfactory data base for determining a sustainable hunting quota for any future whaling. • Icelandic government announced plans for a four-year study of whale populations. • “analysis” would require killing several thousand fin, sei, and minke whales • Japan and Norway followed suit

37. http://piperbayard.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/save-the-whales-eat-more-imperial-dwarf-deer/http://piperbayard.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/save-the-whales-eat-more-imperial-dwarf-deer/

38. Tactics • Mainstream environmental groups failed • Attempted to bring about the declaration of a boycott on Icelandic fish products • American secretary of commerce, Malcolm Baldridge • Two Sea Shepherds succeeded • Destroyed the refrigeration system at Whales Limited • Dismantled diesel engines • Demolished the laboratory • Poured acid on computer files • Sank two ships of the four-vessel whaling fleet $4.8 million worth of damage

39. Repercussions - Ecological Awakening • Two scuttled ships were raised but no longer seaworthy for further “research” • Persuaded Icelanders to change their views on whaling • Questioning of the formulation of environmental policy • Rise of Iceland’s first activist environmental group • Hvalvinurfelag (“Friends of the Whale”) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/iceland-whaling-makes-no-sense-030209/

40. Capt. Paul Watson flew to Iceland in 1988 and turned himself in to the authorities in accordance with the Sea Shepherd guideline of accepting moral and legal consequences for one’s actions. • His presence was embarrassing for the Icelandic government • He was held without charge for 24 hours then expelled without cause http://mediaboymusings.blogspot.com/2011/05/eco-pirate-story-of-paul-watson-film.html

41. Case Study References • Manes, Christopher. Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990. • Watson, Paul. "The Big Green Do Nothing: Fundraising Machine Condemns Activism." Sea Shepherd. 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. http://www.seashepherd.org/ commentary-and-editorials/2011/11/10/the-big-green-do-nothing-fundraising- machine-condemns-activism-492 • Sahagun, Louis. "Whaling Clash Highlights Two Hollywood Donors." The Los Angeles Times. LA Times, 07 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/ 07/local/la-me-whale-boat7-2010jan07>. • http://www.seashepherd.org

42. Rebuttal

43. There is too much time between realizing that there is an environmental problem to getting legislation passed to fix the problem • It also takes time for the legislation to kick in and have any sort of effect on the problem

44. Chart from a PBS article on the Clean Water Act

45. The chart continues to present times to show that there are still environmental problems that the act is not able to fix but that people may assume are covered by it. • This creates the need for further action to draw public attention to the existing problem

46. Rebuttal • Sea Shepherd believes they act under the World Charter for Nature of the United Nations which allows NGOs to help enforce environmental laws (within the boundaries of law) when authorities fail to effectively do so.

47. Objective • Radical environmentalism looks to bring media attention to bigger issues though tackling smaller issues themselves

48. Sea Shepherd Guidelines • Sea Shepherd crew members cannot use weapons. • They cannot use explosives. • They cannot undertake any action that could result in a physical injury to humans. • They must take responsibility for their actions. • They must accept moral and legal consequences for their actions.

49. International Support • English schoolchildren raised $25,000 in a save-the-whale walkathon in • Warner Brothers – Sea Shepherd II • Hollywood Donors • Ady Gil • Bob Barker • Animal Planet - Whale Wars • Hayden Panettiere

50. Versus Greenpeace • The Accusation (from John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace) “…we feel that we are winning the battle against whaling by talking to the Japanese themselves. Sea Shepherd are confronting Japanese people aggressively and it is exacerbating nationalism, and actually making it more difficult.“ • Defense(Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd) “Let me see John…Greenpeace builds a 33 million Euro ship to conduct fundraising tours while we intervene directlyagainst illegal Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. While you guys sent origami whales to President Obama to protest Japanese whaling, we sent the Japanese fleet home with only 17% of their kill quota. Sea Shepherd has prevented the slaughter of nearly 3,000 whales while Greenpeacers were sitting and eating whale meat with the Japanese to demonstrate so-called sensitivity to Japanese culture. Greenpeace street solicitors tell the public that they send ships to the Southern Ocean, although they have not done so since 2006. They blatantly lie to raise funds.”