Promising the Earth by Robert Lamb in collaboration with Friends of the Earth. Routledge: New York (1996). 242 pages. $16.95 pbk.

During the Spring of 1980, five men sat around a campfire in the deserts of Mexico complaining bitterly about their jobs. These men despised the idle nature of their professions, each holding a prominent position in a mainstream environmental group. Their disappointment stemmed mainly from the ineffectuality and compromises of their particular groups. The environmental community had suffered a great loss with the outcome of RARE II (Roadless Area and Review Evaluation), by which unprotected wilds were surveyed and decisions made on which terrain would be preserved or opened to development. The result was that the Forest Service was going to open immediately 36 million acres to development and that 11 million would be considered for future planning, leaving only 15 million acres protected. For these five men, the wilderness meant home and family, and the loss they suffered with RARE II affected them for decades to come.

While each of the five has a different story on how Earth First! (EF!) began, myth has it that it was on this trip that EF! was born. This tale is retold in Earth First! Environmental Apocalypse by Martha E. Lee, who tries to prove (not very successfully) that the Earth First! movement is a millenarian sect of the larger environmental movement. It should be said that a spokesperson from EF! explained that Lee's book is not the best authority on their history.

Earth First!

Earth First! takes you through the struggles and successes of the movement until 1989 -- when Dave Foreman, a founder, left to pursue other interests -- and then to the present.

In the early days, Foreman was clearly the leader. He had resigned from several groups, including the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club. For him, RARE II symbolized the end of an era -- an era where change occurred through "clean," legal means. Foreman concluded that the earth had been sold out to the top bidder. He and the others -- Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar -- unanimously agreed that at all times and in every measure, the earth must always come first: before industry, before humanity, before civilization. Deep Ecology, a philosophy which advocates a biocentric worldview and the equality of all living entities, became the group's credo.

The early Earth First!ers combined this philosophy with youthful abandon. They symbolically cracked the Glen Canyon Dam and embarked on a nationwide "Road Show," of songs and lectures educating people about the goals of the movement, urging local groups of EF!ers to act on their own and create local change through direct action under the Earth First! umbrella. Over the next few years, EF! groups throughout the United States would protest environmental destruction by blockading wilderness areas from loggers, spiking or occupying trees chosen for felling, pouring sugar in bulldozers' gas tanks, and countless other acts of sabotage. By 1988, the group had moved onto larger targets -- a single EF! group cut 30 electric power poles which serviced the Grand Canyon Uranium Mine, costing the company $200,000 and cutting power for almost a week. To this day, EF! neither condones nor condemns acts of vandalism against logging companies, nuclear plants or other areas of industry.

Whether it's called "monkeywrenching" or "ecotage," direct action is the tactic that Earth First uses in making its point. Today, the group has over 100,000 members worldwide and a budget that by 1988 was $200,000, with each local group raising their own funds for selected activities. EF! also has an extensive bi-monthly journal, and is very active in the Pacific Northwest. These days, EF! is dedicated to making connections with other social justice movements, such as labor unions and other environmental movements.

Friends of the Earth

During the time when EF! was carrying out its first direct actions, the English group Friends of the Earth was celebrating a decade of activism and advocacy for the wilds. In Promising the Earth, Robert Lamb, in collaboration with Friends of the Earth (FoE), creates a concise, thorough history not only of this particular organization, but also of the entire environmental movement. Unfortunately, such scope means a reader can become overwhelmed by the numerous names and actions described. Nevertheless, Promising the Earth remains an authoritative reference.

FoE was founded in 1970 by American David Brower, after he left the Sierra Club. His aim was to create a group which counteracted the supposedly objective mainstream environmental organizations with a new group which he characterized as "a global druid bodyguard, keeping the 'wise use' weasels and rank destroyers out of nature's temples." From its inception, FoE showed a flair for the theatrical and photo opportunities, with groups across the world performing small direct actions. FoE dumped a few hundred bottles outside the Cadbury Schweppes offices to protest the company's lack of interest in implementing recycling. FoE's next major campaign was 'Save the Whale' where FoE members dragged an inflatable whale up the River Thames to the Houses of Parliament in London. In 1979, FoE gathered 6,000 bicyclists in Trafalgar Square and held up traffic for hours to promote cycling as an alternative to driving. Two years later, FoE protested the trade in endangered species by dropping half a ton of bones in front of the U.K. Department of the Environment.

Throughout the past quarter of a century, FoE has been prominent in countless other actions: protecting land in England and Scotland, protesting roadways in pristine areas of the world, exposing toxic landfill sites, and covering the Rio Earth Summit and reporting the disappointing results to the public. FoE has also filed complaints with the European Commission against governmental cover-ups, and proposed bills, reports and documentation on proper, as well as improper, methods of saving the earth.

Perhaps FoE's greatest success to date has been its staying power. Coupling the sort of stunts detailed above with a reputable research division and a legislative arm has led to many considerable victories for FoE, including pressuring the U.K. government to pass the Endangered Species Act and publicizing governmental data revealing alarming levels of air and water pollution. It has grown from an inexperienced grass-roots band of like-minded individuals to an effective, international assembly. Faced with financial ruin in its early days, FoE set up a capable monetary division with the ability to delegate funds, not to the top members of FoE, but to divisions like the research sector. This has leant FoE vital credibility. In 1989, FoE published Safe As Houses and Uses of CFCs in Buildings to show how the construction industry can curb CFCs. More recently, FoE published Working Future? Jobs and the Environment, detailing the employment potential in cutting pollution, conserving resources, and enhancing environmental protection.

Differences

There are several immediate differences between Earth First! and Friends of the Earth. While FoE, like EF!, started small, the English group has subsequently grown to immense proportions, with 110 employees, 260 local groups, and 180,000 supporters (1995 figures). (It is unclear exactly what the current budget is). Today FoE is the most active and popular environmental pressure group in England and has become a household world.

Earth First! is still unknown to most outside the environmental arena. It is a smaller group, which has stayed relatively consistent with the principles upon which it was founded. And while some may suggest that it is not the group it once was, Earth First!ers continue to cause trouble for the destroyers of the West. While FoE concentrates on the dramatic and symbolic, Earth First! focuses on destroying actual property. While FoE aims to change public policy, Earth First! tries to stop the devastation immediately.

Over the last two decades, these particular groups have been extremely successful in achieving their goals, offering different techniques to fight exploitation of the Earth. Ironically, EF! and FoE, once hailed as the definitive embodiment of civil disobedience, have been overtaken by other groups more militant and "extreme" [See Direct Action Groups]. While only time will determine which method is more or less effective, it's beyond dispute that both groups hold an important niche in the history of our relationship with the environment.

Contact Earth First! at PO Box 1415, Eugene, OR 97440 or 541-741-9191 or FoE at their membership dept., 56-58 Alma Street, Luton LU1 2YZ., England.

 

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