Civil Disobedience and Land Ethics

Earth First! a radical environmental group was originally founded with the intent of protecting the environment from destruction of wildlife habititats. The group participated in public stunts of protest like organizing a tree sitting. Many of the early protests were peaceful and did not cause harm or damage to anyone or anything. The group attracted members with an anarchist political background and soon evolved into the Earth First! group many are familiar with today. Some who were uncomfortable being associated with having this political view left the Earth First! group and started different organizations. Soon after, Earth First! began participating in sabatoge.

Personally, I can see myself being a founder of this organization. When I say that I refer to the group who had the original intent of protecting wildlife through peaceful means. While I am aware that it is civil disobedience the way the group was going about it was harmless to the environment and humans. Now that Earth First! is involved with sabatoge and eco-terrorism I would not identify with the group. I feel that participating in a peaceful demonstration is acceptable. Causing damage to private property, whether it be a piece of equipment or an actual business location, is inappropriate. Our country was founded on freedom and I feel that everyone has the right to express their feelings, however you lose that right when you can only express it in violent, harmful ways.

In high school I was always the first one to stand up for what I believed in no matter how menial the matter seemed. Now that I am older and more mature I understand that I cannot be an advocate for everything so I must dedicate my time and energy to what I feel is most important. As long as demonstrations or protests for the cause were peaceful and did not harm or damage people or property I would have no problem participating in them.