Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Dave Foreman and Earth First!

Dave Foreman, founder of Earth First!, died earlier this week.  Earth First! was founded in 1980, and its motto, also Foreman's idea, was "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth."

This was the group that slashed logging truck tires, put sugar into bulldozer gas tanks, and pushed a philosophy called "deep ecology."  Deep ecology says nature has value whether or not it is useful to man.

The F.B.I. started a file on the group and arrested Foreman for terrorism.  The charges were dropped when it was revealed that the agents had encouraged sabotage.  Foreman did plead guilty to a misdemeanor for giving the agents his book Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching.

I used that book for one of the readings in my political philosophy class at San José State.  My Earth First! tee shirt features a large rattlesnake.  Don't tell the F.B.I.

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