Earth First!, The Eco-Terrorists

(Special Report) - Part 2 in a series on extremist environmentalist groups

Earth First! is the extremist group we'll be discussing today.

Motto
“No Compromise in Defense of Mother Earth”

Basic Ideas
“To put it simply, the Earth must come first.” This sums up the basic ideology of ‘Earth First!ers. Earth First! is a radical environmentalist group that believes anything must be done in order to protect mother earth. Members of the group believe in biocentrism, the belief that every life of every species is equally valuable.

Goal
To end the so-called ‘oppression’ of certain living beings.

History
Earth First! is most well known for its assumed attempted bombing in the UK 1990. In the incident, a bomb placed in activist Judi Bari’s car detonated, injuring her and fellow activist Darryl Cheney.

Earth First! was formed in the spring of 1980 after angry environmentalists pledged decided the environmentalist movement was being ‘sold out’ by mainstream environmentalists working for corporate cronies.

After the Bari bombing incident, EF became primarily associated with non-violent direct action activities.

Earth First! was the first 'mainstream' environmental extremist group. In fact, the more well known Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and its sister group, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) evolved from Earth First!.

Supporters
According to Earth First!, “Earth First! is not an organization, but a movement. There are no "members" of Earth First!, only Earth First!ers.”

Website(s)
Unofficial:
Earth First! Journal
Earth First!