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Radical environmentalists are fighting climate change – so why are they persecuted? Published: December 11, 2018 10.56am EST

Heather Alberro Associate Lecturer/PhD Candidate in Political Ecology, Nottingham Trent University

Climate change, deforestation, widespread pollution and the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity all

define living in our world today – an era that has come to be known as “the Anthropocene”. These

crises are underpinned by production and consumption which greatly exceeds global ecological limits,

but blame is far from evenly shared.

The world’s 42 wealthiest people own as much as the poorest 3.7 billion, and they generate far greater

environmental impacts. Some have therefore proposed using the term “Capitalocene” to describe this

era of ecological devastation and growing inequality, reflecting capitalism’s logic of endless growth

and the accumulation of wealth in fewer pockets.

As social inequality and ecological breakdown escalate, steady change may no longer be enough to

avoid civilisational collapse. Environmentalists cannot rely on timid appeals to power any longer.

Enter ‘radical’ greens

Defiant. Shutterstock/Ryan Rodrick Beiler.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know radical environmentalists from numerous groups throughout

my doctoral research. I’m especially interested in uncovering their worldviews – how they diagnose

the root causes of ecological decline and what motivates them to engage in often high-risk

interventions on behalf of the natural world and other species.

They reject human superiority and separateness from other species. They blame such views, in

addition to capitalism and endless economic growth, for the dire state of modern ecosystems. Many

follow a burning desire for a more viable and inclusive future for all.

Notable radical green groups include Earth First!, Extinction Rebellion, the Hambacher forest

occupation, and Sea Shepherd.

Early Earth First! activists in the US sat in trees and dismantled tractors to prevent old-growth forests

from being felled. For years, Sea Shepherd vessels successfully intervened and protected countless

whales from Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. However, last year they ended their anti-

whaling campaign due to, among other things, advancements in military grade technology by the

Japanese whaling industry.

Activists have occupied the ancient Hambach forest in Western Germany for a remarkable six years in

an ongoing effort to keep coal giant RWE at bay. Many were violently evicted by police recently.

Traditional environmental organisations like the WWF tend to focus on making industrial capitalism

more sustainable rather than questioning capitalism itself. The radical green movement was born in

response to the perceived inability of these mainstream environmental organisations to curb

ecological decline. They advocate direct action in the form of civil disobedience, blockades, tree-sits,

and even the dismantling of machinery for halting ecological destruction.

The resurgence of the ‘Green Scare’

Sea Shepherd activists clash with a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Adam Lau/EPA

Criminalising and repressing non-violent activists could fatally delay an effective response to climate

change. In the UK, anti-fracking activists were arrested recently after blocking a convoy delivering

equipment to the Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire. They were initially given excessive

prison sentences but were eventually released.

Political theorist Steve Vanderheiden referred to such incidents in his 2005 article on the “Green

Scare”. The “Green Scare” at its height in the mid-2000s saw the US government mount full-scale

persecution of environmental activists. The FBI classed radical environmental groups such as the

Earth Liberation Front as the nation’s lead domestic terrorist threat, even though it never targeted

living beings.

Even the legal definition of “terrorism” was altered to include property destruction. This sought to

target radical greens and their attacks against ecologically harmful infrastructure. Lengthy prison

sentences and fines befell “eco-terrorists” caught engaging in direct action deemed threatening to

economic interests.

These are desperate times. We’ve lost a staggering 60% of monitored vertebrate life within just 40

years. Climate change will endanger millions through disease, extreme weather, starvation, and rising

seas.

Occupying trees or blockading a road to a fracking site is clearly justified resistance during times of

widespread injustice. These are the ideas that environmental protectors are attempting to bring to the

forefront.

As George Monbiot noted, a “hopeless realism” in the form of piecemeal “tinkering around the edges”

has led us to our present predicament. Similar approaches simply won’t fix the mess. Radical

responses – direct action and mass political mobilising – might be our only hope for building the

better world that is still within our reach.

A pianist plays for activists mourning the death of photojournalist Steffen Meyn, who died falling from a tree-sit in the Hambach Forest occupation. Jonas Nolden/EPA