Ecotage
Encyclopedia
Ecotage is a portmanteau of the "eco-" prefix and "sabotage
". Ecotage is often used as a descriptive term for the direct action
s of environmental groups such as Earth First!
and similar groups throughout the Western world. The term is only applied for actions of sabotage
committed within the context of the environmentalist movement. Often, because of a lack of clear definitions between the three and because of the subjective nature of those ineffective definitions, ecotage is often seen as indistinguishable from acts of civil disobedience
or even eco-terrorism
.
All damage figures below are in United States dollar
s. Some well-known acts of ecotage have included:
's book The Monkey Wrench Gang
. It has also been treated in novels by T. Coraghessan Boyle
(A Friend of the Earth
), Carl Hiaasen
(Tourist Season
, Sick Puppy
, Hoot
), Neal Stephenson
(Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller
), and Richard Melo
(Jokerman 8
), and movies such as Choke Canyon
(1986) and On Deadly Ground
(1994).
Ecotage!
is also the title of a 1972 humor book by Sam Love, which is the likely origin of the word.
Ecotage is mentioned in Mars trilogy
of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson
as a means of protest shown by the Red political party. Typically the "Reds" would destroy terraforming ventures in an effort to slow the terraforming of Mars
.
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
". Ecotage is often used as a descriptive term for the direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
s of environmental groups such as 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....
and similar groups throughout the Western world. The term is only applied for actions of sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
committed within the context of the environmentalist movement. Often, because of a lack of clear definitions between the three and because of the subjective nature of those ineffective definitions, ecotage is often seen as indistinguishable from acts of 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...
or even eco-terrorism
Eco-terrorism
Eco-terrorism usually refers to acts of violence or sabotage committed in support of ecological, environmental, or animal rights causes against persons or their property....
.
Cases
All damage figures below are in United States dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
s. Some well-known acts of ecotage have included:
- 1998 – Arson of buildings at Vail Mountain in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the 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...
(ELF). - March 11, 1999 – Genetically engineeredGenetic engineeringGenetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
potatoes uprooted at Crop and Food research centre in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. - December 25, 1999 – In Monmouth, OregonMonmouth, Oregon- History :Monmouth was settled in 1853 by a group of pioneers who made a point of allocating to build both a city and a "college under the auspices of the Christian Church" and proceeds from the sale of these lands were used to found Monmouth University. By the early 1880s the college fell on...
, fire destroys the main office of the Boise Cascade logging company costing over $1 million ($ million in dollars). ELF claim responsibility. - 2001 – Members of the ELF were prosecuted for setting off a firebomb that caused $7 million in damages ($ million in dollars) at the University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
's Center for Urban Horticulture - 2003 – On August 1, a 206-unit condominium being built in San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
was burnt down causing damage in excess of $20 million ($ million in dollars). A 12-foot banner at the scene read "If you build it, we will burn it," signed, "The E.L.F.s are mad." - 2003 – On August 22, arsonists associated with the 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...
attacked several car dealerships in east suburban Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, burning down a warehouse and vandalizing over 100 vehicles, most of them SUVs or HummerHummerHummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...
s (chosen for their notoriously poor fuel efficiencyGas-guzzlerGas-guzzler commonly refers to a vehicle that consumes fuel inefficiently.The term originally came into use in the US when congress established Gas Guzzler Tax provisions in the Energy Tax Act of 1978 to discourage the production and purchase of fuel-inefficient vehicles...
) and causing over $1 million in damage ($ million in dollars).
In fiction
Ecotage was popularized in 1975 by Edward AbbeyEdward 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...
's book 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"...
. It has also been treated in novels by T. Coraghessan Boyle
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Tom Coraghessan Boyle is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the mid 1970s, he has published twelve novels and more than 100 short stories...
(A Friend of the Earth
A Friend of the Earth
T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel A Friend of the Earth is a story of environmental destruction. The novel is set in 2025; as a result of global warming and the greenhouse effect, the climate has drastically changed, and, accordingly, biodiversity is a thing of the past.-America in 2025:Due to habitat...
), Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia...
(Tourist Season
Tourist Season
Tourist Season is a 1986 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It was his first solo novel, after co-writing several mystery/thriller novels with William Montalbano.-Plot:...
, Sick Puppy
Sick Puppy
Sick Puppy is a novel by Carl Hiaasen.-Plot summary:Florida's corrupt governor, Dick Artemus, pursues schemes to line his pockets and those of his rich entrepreneur backers at the expense of the environment. His schemes have always foundered in the past, but he has high hopes of a plan involving...
, Hoot
Hoot (novel)
Hoot is a young-adult novel by Carl Hiaasen. The story takes place in Coconut Cove, Florida, where Roy and his two new friends try to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of burrowing owls who live on the site...
), Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
(Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller
Zodiac (novel)
Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller is Neal Stephenson's second novel, which tells the story of an environmentalist, Sangamon Taylor, uncovering a conspiracy involving industrialist polluters in Boston Harbor. The "Zodiac" of the title refers to the brand of inflatable motor boats the hero uses to get around...
), and Richard Melo
Richard Melo
Richard Melo is an American author and book reviewer. His debut novel, Jokerman 8, was published in 2004.-Biography:Richard Melo was born in San Francisco, California and attended the San Francisco State University...
(Jokerman 8
Jokerman 8
Jokerman 8, by Richard Melo, is a novel of so-called eco-terrorists whose aim is to hurt no one. It was published in 2004 by Soft Skull Press and was reviewed in The Oregonian, The Believer, and other print and online periodicals...
), and movies such as Choke Canyon
Choke Canyon
Choke Canyon is a 1986 movie starring Stephen Collins as a "cowboy scientist" trying to develop an alternative energy source. It was filmed mostly in the vicinity of Moab, Utah.-Plot:Dr...
(1986) and On Deadly Ground
On Deadly Ground
On Deadly Ground is a 1994 environmental action-adventure film, co-produced, directed by and starring Steven Seagal, and co-starring in an all-star cast, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, Kenji Nakano, and Billy Bob Thornton in one of his early appearances. The film held a...
(1994).
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...
is also the title of a 1972 humor book by Sam Love, which is the likely origin of the word.
Ecotage is mentioned in Mars trilogy
Mars trilogy
The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...
of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
as a means of protest shown by the Red political party. Typically the "Reds" would destroy terraforming ventures in an effort to slow the terraforming of Mars
Terraforming of Mars
The terraforming of Mars is the hypothetical process by which the climate, surface, and known properties of Mars would be deliberately changed with the goal of making it habitable by humans and other terrestrial life, thus providing the possibility of safe and sustainable colonization of large...
.
See also
- Radical environmentalismRadical environmentalismRadical environmentalism, is a grassroots branch of the larger environmental movement that emerged out of an ecocentrism-based frustration with the co-option of mainstream environmentalism...
- Environmental movementEnvironmental movementThe environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
- SabotageSabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
- Operation Backfire (FBI)Operation 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....
- Green ScareGreen ScareThe Green Scare, alluding to the Red Scares periods of fear over communist infiltration of US society, is a term popularized by environmental activists to refer to legal action by the US government against the radical environmental movement....
External links
- Ecodefense: A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching - Online text