Ecotage

Ecotage is the commission of usually illegal acts of sabotage motivated by environmentalism, including the prevention of ecocide. As a term it goes back to 1972 and long predates the more recent neologism "eco-terrorism." Ecotage is also referred to as ecodefense or monkeywrenching.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Earth Liberation Front claims that ecotage requires neither aggression nor any direct confrontation with police, politicians, or other authority, as the actions are carried out in secret and at times of day where the risk to life is nil. Though it has been claimed that certain types of ecotage (e.g. tree spiking) can cause injury or death after the act has been committed, there have been no verifiable cases of this occurring.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many environmentalists see non-destructive forms of civil disobedience, such as tree sitting, as more effective, particularly if the goal is to influence public opinion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to its detractors, the reverence for life professed by those who perform ecotage is not reflected in their disregard for property rights or willingness to risk the lives and safety of humans to make a political point.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ecotage was popularized in 1975 by Edward Abbey'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), and Neal Stephenson ('), 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: radical environmentalist, ecology movement.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sabotage: Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction....

Environmentalism: Environmentalism is the support or involvement with the environmental movement by environmentalists....

Ecocide: Ecocide is the killing of an ecosystem, which includes consuming it and using it to feed some other process or system - ecophagy. There are however ways to render an ecosystem not viable that do not require consuming or crushing all of its parts. It is thus a serious mistake to assume that measure...