User:Alvin1000/Eco-terrorism

Craig Rosebraugh, spokesperson of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, prominent groups accused of ecoterrorism, justifies destructive or violent direct action as necessary evils In response to the lack of action regarding environmentalist efforts. Rosebraugh cites a "choice-of-evils defense" and asks whether it is a "greater evil to destroy this property of this corporation or to choose to allow these corporations to continue to destroy the environment"

Many of the groups accused of eco-terrorism spawn from the radical environmentalist philosophy of deep ecology. Deep ecologists believe that human self-realization must come from identification with the greater environment. Deep ecology calls for complete solidarity with the environment and therefore categorizes many conservation groups as "shallow", encouraging more drastic approaches to environmental activism. Biocentrism is a central tenet of deep ecology which describes the belief that humans are a single aspect of the greater environment and that all aspects of the environment are equally important and deserve equal protection. Other eco-terrorists are motivated by different aspects of deep ecology, like the goal to return the environment to its "natural", i.e., pre-industrial, state.

Eco-terrorism is often defined as the use of violence to further environmental policy change. Eco-terrorists are willing to inflict emotional and physical distress on their victims if they believe it will further their environmental goals. This more radical version of environmental action is illegal, as compared to its more moderate forerunner of eco-activism which is not illegal and would be classified as a form of civil disobedience and uses protests, sit ins and other civil actions to effect environmental change. Eco-terrorism can also include sabotage in the name of the environment, which is illegal as this includes crimes against property which could lead to harm to humans. In the United States, the FBI's definition of terrorism includes acts of violence against property, which makes most acts of sabotage fall in the realm of domestic terrorism.

Many radical environmentalists contest the FBI's definition of eco-terrorism as being inaccurate to other definitions of terrorism such as that of the International Policy institute for Counter-Terrorism which states that acts of terrorism are only those purposely directed at civilians. Radical environmentalists also criticize conflation of eco-terrorism with ecotage by governments and media as rhetorical tools to take advantage of preconceived notions about terrorism and apply them to acts which do not fit what terrorism really is.

Sabotage involves destroying, or threatening to destroy, property, and in this case is also known as monkeywrenching or ecotage. Many acts of sabotage involve the damage of equipment and unmanned facilities using arson.