There are different environmental organizations around the world. They each have their own idea of helping the world. There are some that try to help in ways that the government are against and those organizations end up being labeled ecoterrorists.
Some organizations that have been labeled as such are Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Ocean Conservancy, Sierra Club, Earth First, Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Each organization has its own history of how they got started and what they are doing now to try to help make the world a better place.
Green peace international organization founded in 1971 in British Colombia. Their mission is “Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future”. Founded by Bob Hunter, David McTaggart, Dorothy Stowe, and Irving Stowe. a small fishing vessel sailed from Vancouver to Amchitka Island in Alaska.
Their founding voyage that started it all was a small fishing vessel sailed from Vancouver to Amchitka Island in Alaska. Their mission was “to try and stop a U.S. nuclear weapons test.” (Greenpeace) Before they could even go on their voyage, they had to raise money. Their first idea to raise money was to sell buttons that said green peace with a peace sign for 25 cents didn’t work. The second idea they came up with was putting on a rock concert. Where they raised more than twenty-three thousand dollars and set sail.
This small mission brought surface to so many more after that and caused more people to join and for it to become an international organization. Their current campaigns they have is: “Saving the Artic, Protecting Forests, Fighting Global Warming” just to name a few. Their most recent mission was November 20th which was holding up a ship for thirty-six hours that was loaded with “Wilmar’s dirty palm oil which is the world’s largest palm oil trader.” They held up said ship because to make palm oil plantations they have to destroy Indonesian rainforests. That orangutans, birds, and people rely on to live.
World Wildlife Fund was created in April of 1961 it was created to help fund the Morges Manifesto. The first president of the organization was Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. In the organizations first year they had five projects totaling $33,500. Some of their early projects were “working with the bald eagle, the Hawaiian sea bird, the giant grebe of Guatemala, the Tule goose in Canada and the red wolf in the southern United States.”
Their mission is “To stop the degradation of the of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature by: conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.” One of their current projects is the sustainable ranch initiative. This project is the WWF partnering with ranchers to help them recognize why they need to keep the grassland intact to help with beef production and improve soil quality.
Ocean Conservancy was first named The Delta Corporation it was founded by Bill Kardash in 1971. What inspired Bill was “shaggy haired” guitar player who he had a conversation about whales with asked him “Well, what are you [he is] going to do about it?” That artist who inspired him turned out to be John Denver. Who later on created a petition that was signed by half a million Americans discouraging whaling. That was the organizations first project the Whale Protection Fund which caused the International Whaling Commission to put a ban on commercial whaling. They first focused on whales.
Seals, and sea turtles with all the success they were having they decided to shift to more ecosystem-based approaches. Their mission statement is “Together, we create science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.” One of their programs they have in place is trash free seas. In this program they are utilizing volunteer efforts and picking up trash on the beach, so it doesn’t go in the water.
The Sierra Club was founded on May 28 of 1892 by John Muir. Their mission statement is “To explore, enjoy and protect the planet. To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out those objectives.”
It first started by supporting “the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.” (Sierra Club) Their most recent project is the Crystal Springs Washed Docent Program. Which will increase public access and protect vital water supply. This area where the Peninsula Watershed is in central San Mateo County is known for having the highest rate of rare, threatened, and endangered animals.
Dave Foreman and several other environmentalists formed Earth First in 1980. It was formed to create contrast from the “modern” groups of that time. Their slogan is “No compromise in defense of Mother Earth.” The group had no formal leader and kept their identity autonomous. The members partake in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to stop harmful actions from being done to the environment. They would sabotage machinery, stand in front of bulldozers and put in trees to prevent them from being cut down.
After this information became national the group grew but they soon faced serious challenges. With all the new members came new ideas some more radical than others. Lots of the ideas conflicted the ideas of the founders. They started doing things that could cause injury to them and others. These actions put targets on members and labeled them ecoterrorists. Their most recent actions were scientists identified a vast underground ecosystem containing billions of micro-organisms.
The Earth Liberation Front was formed in Britain in 1992. It was based off Earth First and was modeled after the Animal Liberation Front. The Earth Liberation Front was a more violent version of Earth First. It had the same principle of keeping its members anonymous but took the nonviolent demeaner of Earth first and turning it violent.
They didn’t want to hurt people they just wanted to destroy buildings and equipment. The group was known for setting 13 destructive fires on science labs, buildings, houses, and cars. They also urge activists to commit arson by radio broad casts and the release of a “how to manual on vandalism, arson techniques.” (US Domestic Terrorism) There were several activists arrested from 2004 to 2005.The Earth Liberation Front hasn’t been as active since 2009.
There isn’t an exact date for when the Animal Liberation Front was founded it was between late 1970’s or early 1980’s. It was founded by Ronnie Lee. The philosophy of the Animal liberation movement was to free animals that are in captivity.
The ALF mission statement is “to effectively allocate resources (time and money) to end the ‘property’ status of nonhuman animals.” their objective of their mission is “to abolish institutionalized animal exploitation because it assumes that animals are property.” The Animal Liberation Front and its sister organization the Earth Liberation Front caused over forty-three million dollars in damages between 1996 and 2002.
The last action they were known for in the United States was on October 6,2017. They threatened to publicly and “humanly” execute sheep till “Trump’s agenda passed.” The most recent thing they had happen was two of the members being released from prison for “releasing thousands of animals from fur farms and causing damage to other businesses associated with the fur industry.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was created in 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk, Alex Pacheco. Their mission statement is “PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.” (PETA)
They were inspired by an Australian writer Peter Singer’s book “Animal Liberation.” Their first efforts were exposing a “litigation against government and private research laboratories that used animals in testing.” (Kort) The PETA targeted cosmetics brands alongside clothing brands to discontinue the use of animal testing and suggest big brands to go fur-free.
Their most recent actions are making a video exposing the “mohair industry” and how they were getting the mohair from “terrified angora goats, who are often cut open during shearing, dragged, thrown by the legs and tails, and mutilated before being killed.” (PETA) Over 300 clothing brands worldwide have banned the fiber. Another recent action is there exposing of the “angora wool industry, which revealed that rabbits scream in pain as they’re stretched across boards and their hair is torn out.” Over 330 clothing brands worldwide have banned angora.
All these groups are trying to save the world some are just more violent than others. There is so many ways to help save the world almost all these organizations accept donations for their causes. The ones that do accept donations for sure are not ecoterrorists.
The ecoterrorists are the ones that are violent in their ways of helping by setting fires, destroying property, and killing animals. Although ecoterrorism is a thing it is not as big of now as it was in the 1900’s it was big then, but it has gotten less known about as the years go on it is probably still a problem, but it is very hard to find out about.
A lot of the groups were eradicated in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Most of the people that were arrested are either still in jail of getting out now. I hope they don’t go back to their ecoterrorist ways and bring ecoterrorism back. This has been my paper on environmental organizations and ecoterrorism.
