Ecoterrorist or Justicar

We make our choices and take our chances. It seems to me they will create a backlash of public opinion against themselves, plus go to jail and pay fines or something. Really, self defeating.

They are insipid. Both self-defeating and simply stupid. All they will do is make more SUVs to replace the ones they destroy.

They are just generfating more waste and polution in exchange for feelings of self-importance.

Eco-terrorism isn't going to get anywhere with their tactics, except like Edgar said, in poor graces with public opinion and/or in jail.

Peaceful protest, in my opinion, does much more to further a cause than does any kind of terrorism. The people at E.L.F. are no better than thieves or vandals. Being radical in action doesn't have to mean violence or destruction -- think about the women involved in the early women's movement and their "radical" action of refusing to have doors opened for them by men, or the blacks' refusal to ride buses. Non-violent, and got the point across.

I am in agreement with the above posters. As important as it is to achieve a wider environmental awareness, care must be taken as to the tactics which we employ. Sadly, the ecoterrorist serve only to discredit an important movement.

I have learned that the mechanisms that might be useful in detering ecological damage are often in place, but people do not avail themselves of the process, simply because the process is made deliberately unwieldy.

An example: in my neighborhood there is a car repair shop that routinely dumped motor oil waste and other fluids directly into the local sewers. The stream, vented each day like clock work had left a permanent stain on the sidewalk, and all the neighbors knew about it. But no one seemed to care. I called the city department of environmental protection to lodge a complaint.

Getting the complaint through was a chore, the agencies routinely defend themselves from having to exert any effort by simply not answering phones, and in cases where they really do already know about the problem, they send inspectors who don't bother to really inspect. In the case of this particular complaint, a blind man could have found the problem... I called in the complaint, and got a few other neighbors to do so. After two weeks, no inspectors had come, we called in a fresh round of complaints and hung a public notice on the shop window.

One of our allies was an old woman who (you know this urban type) lived her life in her window. She was to call me if EPA trucks came around. When finally one did, I was at home... I ran right down and guided the inspectors to the running stream of oil (which was in full flow, and too wide to jump across). Said inspector had been unable to locate it until I pointed him to it (no sir, I mean THAT gigantic mess over there, in your blind spot)... yes, he was angry at having to do his job, and yes the people who ran the business hate my guts. But the place shut down for two weeks and reopened with a brand new shiny waste storage tank.

Whether the contents of that tank will ever be properly disposed of (whatever that means), is still a mystery. But it doesn't get vented directly into the local environment.

Takes work.

Work is harder than pranksterism, but it gets the job done.

Good one, beedles.

Are you truly a believer in Earth first? Then quit harming the ecosystem and opt for immediate suicide.

If there's no problem with wanton destruction for one's own objectives then there really sholdn't be a problem having an evening club to hunt down and slaughter Earthfirsters: turrets mounted on SUVs?

Earthfirsters are hyrpocrites: using destruction to stop (alledged) environmental destruction.

Those folks can be pretty damned silly. I read once that a group of PETA activists had "freed" dozens of turkeys from a farm in California, so that they would not be slaughtered during the holidays. Considering how stupid the wild variety of turkey is, i can only imagine how the coyotes felt when all their dreams came true, as all that fresh, incredibly stupid meat came wandering into the arroyo.

Even the less extreme groups have silly agendae. Groups who opposed environmental degradation frequently oppose hydro-electric projects in third world countries, because of the threat to the environment. So the locals go out and cut down forests to provide fuel for cooking and heating. This, of course is anathema to the environmental activitst as well, and it creates air pollution. Additionally, children who grow up in smokey hovels have respiratory and vision problems all their lives.

These people are just as misguided as any right-wing nut who wants to shoot them all.