Ecoterrorism
From RationalWiki
Ecoterrorism (aka monkeywrenching to many of its practitioners) is the act of destruction of infrastructure and equipment involved in industrial or scientific activities perceived to be unnecessarily damaging to the environment. Most people identified as ecoterrorists tend to be leftist, often closely associated with the animal rights and hard green movements, and they generally target objects and sites rather than people, with the objective of causing economic rather than human damage.
The term is usually associated with (and correctly used to refer to) two groups, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, and sometimes with the Unabomber. However, anti-environmentalists also use the label as a snarl word for a variety of other groups they don't like such as PETA, Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Society, Earth First!, and Rainforest Action Network, among others. It is unclear to what extent there is an actual epidemic of ecoterrorism, as opposed to much of it being a media-driven moral panic. The term itself is a neologism invented by anti-environmentalist activists who felt the term "monkeywrenching" was too soft or had good connotations; also because "monkeywrenching" was associated with nonviolent vandalism such as pulling up survey stakes and with direct action protests such as tree sitting, and a harder term was needed for things like arson and bombings, although it should be noted that the term's adoption by anti-environmentalists was intended to blur the distinction between the two, not clarify it.
Known ecoterrorism tactics include:
- Sabotaging lab equipment
- Burning or bombing lab or production facilities
- "Spiking" trees to prevent their being logged safely
- Releasing caged animals (generally considered highly counterproductive for many reasons -- for example, some become invasive species)
As a general rule, ecoterrorism is not widely supported by rationalists -- whether or not the activity or business being targeted is operating ethically, it is highly disruptive to scientific research, a potentially serious danger to the environment in and of itself, and is generally driven more by emotional response than logical consideration of the consequences.
