1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: Rip Current is a production of iHeart podcasts. 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,319 Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 2: if the host, producers, or parent company listener discretion is it. 4 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: Five earth First was founded in nineteen eighty by five 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: men Dave Foreman, Mike Rosell, Howie Woke, Bart Kohler, and 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: Ron Keysar during a week long hiking trip in the 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: Pinnacade Desert. Of the five, Dave Foreman was the most charismatic, 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: the most galvanizing speaker. He and other Earthbursters would go 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: on road trips, stopping at campuses to recruit students for 10 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: the cause. 11 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 3: Would tour colleges in the Pacific Northwest. I was going 12 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 3: to college at the time in Oregon, and a friend 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 3: of mine said, why don't you come and listen to 14 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 3: this guy is really interesting. I'm Christopher Manus. 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 4: I wrote a book, Green Rage, about earth First and 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 4: the radical environment movement in general. So I went and 17 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 4: he was really charismatic and sparked my interests in environmentalism 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 4: in a new way. Because he was not part of 19 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 4: the professional organizations, national organizations like the Sierra Club, who 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 4: were by this time rather stolid and corporate. 21 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 3: So he would come up in his blue jeans and 22 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 3: his dirty T shirt and hat, and he'd yell and 23 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,960 Speaker 3: scream and say, we need to do something to stop this. 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: Here's a taste of Dave Foreman style, speaking in front 25 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: of a crowd at the nineteen eighty seven Grand Canyon 26 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: Round River Rendezvous, an annual meeting of Earth First activists 27 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: from around the country. 28 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 5: It's time for a. 29 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 6: Warrior society to rise up out of the Earth. I 30 00:01:55,240 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 6: burn ourselves in front of the juggernaut of destruction, the 31 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 6: Vina bodies against the human box that's ravaging this precious, 32 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 6: beautiful planet. I don't want to live if there aren't 33 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 6: Denny rhyanosh Ressas. I don't want to live if there 34 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 6: aren't Anny Moundlines in California. That's what my life is for. 35 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 6: Has to throw it in the wheels of this insane 36 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 6: progress and the fight for it. 37 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 5: That's what warriors are for. 38 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 3: He was a wonderful spirit. There's some kinds of charisma. 39 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 3: His charisma was authentic, so he didn't have to cultivate it. 40 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: Christopher was intrigued. It was the beginning of his association 41 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: with Earth First. 42 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 3: There was no membership, but in the membership cards we 43 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 3: had participants, and I was involved. 44 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: Earth First was a new kind of organization, one that 45 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: prioritized action over negotiation, one who's ethos was summarized in 46 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: their motto, no fromise in defense of Mother Earth. I'm 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: Toby Ball and this is rip current episode four monkey Wrench. 48 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: Earth First was not an organization with a hierarchy. It 49 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: wasn't really a single organization at all. It was a 50 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: number of local groups united by the principles of Earth First. 51 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: To the extent that there was a central organization, it 52 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: was through a newsletter edited by Dave Foreman, the Earth 53 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: First Journal. A self described New Mexico redneck, Foreman did 54 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: not fit the stereotype of a radical environmentalist. He was 55 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: a conservative in his youth, campaigning for Barry Goldwater during 56 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty four presidential election campaign, among other things. 57 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 7: Don't look now, young man, but somebody has his hand 58 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 7: in your pocket. It's the hand of big government. It's 59 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 7: taking away about four months pay from what your daddy 60 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 7: earns every year, one dollar out of every three in 61 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:06,119 Speaker 7: his paycheck. 62 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 8: I ask you to join me and helping restore the 63 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 8: individual freedoms and initiatives this nation once knew to make 64 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 8: government more of. 65 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 5: The servant and not the master of us. 66 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 7: All in your heart, you know he's rightd loan. 67 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 5: For Barry Goldwater. 68 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: After an undesirable discharge from the US Marine Corps Officer 69 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: Candidate school and a stint as a teacher on the 70 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: Zuni Indian Reservation, he worked for seven years at the 71 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: Wilderness Society, mostly in New Mexico, but also for a 72 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: year as director of Wilderness Affairs in Washington, d C. 73 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: This year would leave him disillusioned with attempts to protect 74 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: the environment from within the system. This is Foreman interviewed 75 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: sometime around nineteen eighty seven. He's sitting in the woods 76 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: wearing a tan T shirt and a camouflage bucket hat. 77 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: He's burly and his beard is wild. 78 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 9: Ten years ago, I was the chief lobbyist for the 79 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 9: Wilderness Society in Washington, DC. I began to feel, along 80 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 9: with other people, that the environmental movement was steadily losing 81 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 9: its passion and its soul. There were basically two things 82 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 9: going on. People working for environmental groups who had started 83 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 9: out as volunteers and passion to amateurs were becoming professionals. 84 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 9: And we're becoming more concerned with careers with salaries, with status, 85 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 9: with access to high places, for the intrinsic value of 86 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 9: access to high places. And while that was going on, 87 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 9: we were asking for less, we were taking weaker stands 88 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 9: in position. 89 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: A major reason for his anger was the outcome of 90 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 1: an initiative called the Roadless Area of Review and Evaluation 91 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: that President Jimmy Carter had the Forest Service undertake. This 92 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: is longtime Earth First activist Andy Caffrey talking about President Carter. 93 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 10: All of the pundits and historians who were talking about 94 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 10: him talked about all this environmental stuff that he did, 95 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 10: but he was the person who spurred the creation of 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 10: Earth First because under his administration, they were doing a 97 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 10: survey of all the unlogged force in the US and 98 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 10: they were going to make a decision which ones to preserve. 99 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 8: The Forest Service was coming up with these plans, what 100 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 8: were we going to designate as wilderness, what are we 101 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 8: going to open up prologing, and what are we going 102 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 8: to hold in the banks because we haven't decided yet. 103 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 8: And right about seventy nine ish nineteen eighty, they came 104 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 8: out with a new rollers Area Review and Evaluation. 105 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: Professor of Religion and Nature at the University of Florida. 106 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 8: Bron Taylor four minutes of time had been along with 107 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 8: many of his compadres, had been conservationists in the Willderness 108 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 8: Society and other mainstream environmental organizations, and they felt like 109 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 8: they had gone in and they had made biologically informed, 110 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 8: rational analyzes about what to protect, and they were arguing 111 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 8: it ought not just to be rocks and ice high elevation. 112 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 8: It needs to be these lower elevation biologically significant old 113 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 8: growth forests and so forth. 114 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: The idea here was that instead of looking at how 115 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: many acres would be preserved, it was important to look 116 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: at where those acres were. If they were an unforceded 117 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: or alpine areas and not old growth forests, they would 118 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: not really be protecting wild forest land. 119 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 8: They felt like the extractive industries folks and the off 120 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 8: highway recreational folks who came in and argued that it's 121 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 8: our sacred right to be everywhere we want, that's what 122 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 8: liberty is all about, or those who viewed capitalism as 123 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 8: a kind of a sacred economic system. 124 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: When the reviews recommendations came out, it was clear that 125 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: the environmentalists had not won the argument. Ten million acres 126 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: in the lower forty eight states were recommended as wilderness areas. 127 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: Thirty six million were open for development and eleven million 128 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: were set aside for further assessment. 129 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 8: Basically, Forman and his crew felt like they got slaughtered 130 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 8: when the Forest Service recommendations came out. 131 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 10: There was a lot of forests that was preserved acreage wise, 132 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 10: but most of it was what we call snow and ice. 133 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,359 Speaker 10: It was a high elevation scenic stuff, and the ecologically 134 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 10: significant river bottoms were completely abandoned to the timber companies. 135 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 10: So he unleashed all of these rapacious timber interests, and 136 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 10: that was what spurred a bunch of lobbyists like Dave 137 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 10: Foreman and Howie Walkee for the Wilderness Society and Friends 138 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 10: of the Earth Earth to completely reject that kind of activism. 139 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:08,959 Speaker 8: And they thought, well, if a political spectrum is like here, 140 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 8: where do political decisions get made, Well, let's expand the 141 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 8: range of political debate and energy by creating a real 142 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 8: extremist green movement that might shift the center more towards 143 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 8: our side. 144 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: Then came the hiking trip to the Pinnacade Desert and 145 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: the birth of the idea of Earth First. Earth First 146 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: was not going to engage in lobbying in the tactics 147 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: of groups like the Sierra Club. 148 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 3: I know their original feeling about it was that the 149 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 3: environmental movement had become so compromised by a corporate interest 150 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 3: that it was not doing what it needed to do. 151 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 3: It kept giving things up. The Glen Canyon damn incident 152 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 3: was the incident that precipitated all this. 153 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: Their first action took place on March twenty first, nineteen 154 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: eighty one, the first full day of spring, when they 155 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: pulled off an ambitious prank at the Glen Canyon Dam 156 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: in northern Arizona. The Glen Canyon Dam controls the flow 157 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: of the Colorado River, and his creation had flooded the 158 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: land up stream, creating Lake Powell. This large scale environmental 159 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: destruction was exactly the kind of thing to attract the 160 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: attention of the newly formed group. The earth First action 161 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: began at nine forty that morning. This is an excerpt 162 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: from the Earth First Journal's article about that day, read 163 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: by a voice actor. 164 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,440 Speaker 11: Six earth Firsters drove to a locked gate on the 165 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,439 Speaker 11: western access road of Glenn Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona. 166 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 11: A one hundred pound bundle was muscled over the fence, 167 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 11: and four men and one woman carried it four hundred 168 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:51,599 Speaker 11: yards out to the center of the dam, as the 169 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 11: remaining commando drove away the vehicle. When the attack team 170 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 11: moved out into the dam, they saw some seventy five 171 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 11: First members watching from the waterway of the Colorado River 172 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 11: Bridge just downstream. The team of earth Firsters from Wyoming, 173 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 11: New Mexico, and Montana reached the center of the dam 174 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 11: and placed their bundle on the lip of the downstream side. 175 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 11: A huge cheer rose up from those on the bridge 176 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 11: and was answered by cries of earth First from the 177 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 11: wilderness berserkers on the dam. Two ropes were tied to 178 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 11: a grill bolted to the top of the dam, and 179 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 11: then accompanied by shouts of free the Colorado. Three hundred 180 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 11: feet of black plastic tapered from twelve to two feet 181 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 11: in width, held together by seven hundred feet of rope 182 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 11: and one thousand feet of duct tape, cascaded smoothly down 183 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 11: the five hundred foot tall face of the dam, creating 184 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 11: the impression of a crack growing down the concrete monster. 185 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 1: Among the people in attendance was the reclusive and curmudgeonly 186 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: author Edward Abbey, Abbey wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang, a 187 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 1: novel about a band of roving anarchists in the American 188 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: Southwest who sabotaged and man made structures they felt were 189 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: harming the environment. 190 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 3: And Abby was the patron saint, the eminent screeze of 191 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 3: the movement, and his book, of course, Monkey Wrench Gang 192 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 3: was Earth verst was almost a It was art becoming reality. 193 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 5: Abby spoke at the Damn staying in part. 194 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 12: I think we're morally justified the resort to whatever means 195 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 12: are necessary in order to defend our land from destruction, invasion. 196 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 12: I see this as an invasion. Things looked like creatures 197 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 12: from Mars to me. I feel no kinship with that 198 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 12: fantastic structure over there, no sympathy with it whatsoever. Yeah, 199 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 12: I would advocate sabotage subversion as a last resort when 200 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 12: political means fail. 201 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: Were the fake crack of the dam was an apt 202 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: first act for Earth first, hinting at the future, the 203 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: subversion and whimsy of the prank, the publicity it garnered, 204 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: and the nod to eco sabotage or monkey wrenching as 205 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: a weapon against environmental destruction. Private investigator Josh Morsel. 206 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:18,319 Speaker 5: This is an active theater. 207 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 3: It like references sabotage. 208 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 13: They didn't hurt the dam at all, but it's like 209 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 13: theater that sort of simulates hurting a damn. The talk 210 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 13: of sabotage played a role for Earth First. It energized people. 211 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 13: It's exciting lest people feel like we don't play by 212 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:35,679 Speaker 13: the rules. We're going to accomplish something, We're going to 213 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,199 Speaker 13: do something real when they're skeptical and disillusioned about the 214 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 13: capacity to save the environment through conventional institutional channels. 215 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: The conventional institutional channels were too passive, too much a 216 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: part of the establishment. 217 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 5: This thinking goes to. 218 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,319 Speaker 1: Really address the threads to the environment. A new approach 219 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: was needed, one that focused on action in the field, 220 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: not negotiations and lobbying in the corridors of power. This 221 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: is Dave Foreman again speaking at the nineteen eighty seven 222 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: Grand Canyon Round River Rendezvous. 223 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 9: One of the things we said when we started Earth 224 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 9: First was we'll let our actions set the finer points 225 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 9: of our philosophy. That's one of my disagreements with the 226 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 9: Greens is that they seem content to sit around and 227 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 9: hammer out these detailed agendas and statements of principles and 228 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 9: all of this and never do anything about it. Earth 229 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 9: First is the only activist green group around, if you 230 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 9: want to look at it that way. The others are 231 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 9: debating societies. 232 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 6: We don't have to figure it all out. 233 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 5: We don't all have to. 234 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 6: Be pure, we all don't have to be saints on 235 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 6: this planet to do something for it. 236 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 5: But do something. 237 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 14: Yeah. 238 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: When Foreman spoke of the others that were essentially debating societies, 239 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: he was speaking first and foremost about the Sierra Club, 240 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: the biggest and most influential of the establishment conservation organizations. 241 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 9: The world view of the executive director of the Sierra 242 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 9: Club is closer to the world view of Jim Watt 243 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 9: Ronald Reagan than it is to that of Earth. 244 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 5: First Again Christopher Manus. 245 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 3: James Watt, who was the Secretary of the Interior at 246 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 3: the time, was a crazy evangelistic Christian who thought that 247 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 3: the world was ending. He even said, I'm not making 248 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 3: this up. He said, what's the difference that we cut 249 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 3: everything down? You know, Jesus comes first. 250 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 15: And one reason why we see cr Club as being 251 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 15: inadequate is that they are basically trying to reform a 252 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 15: system which we feel is totally destructive. Of life, and 253 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 15: we are trying to subvert the system. We'd like to 254 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 15: see the system collapse. When I say the system, I 255 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 15: mean the modern industrial system as we know it. And 256 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 15: one reason why we see the modern industrial system as 257 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 15: being so destructive is because it is based on the 258 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 15: premise that human beings are superior, and that is, for 259 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 15: human beings that the world exists. And I think that 260 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 15: a lot of Sierra Clubbers accept that premise, whereas earth 261 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 15: Thirsters reject that in favor of a biocentric worldview. 262 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: It's probably no surprise that some people found this kind 263 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: of rhetoric strange and threatening. Earth Verse critics were quick 264 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: to exploit this tone. Here is Sue Jorger, executive vice 265 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association, in nineteen 266 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: eighty seven. 267 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 14: They don't have any compassion for people. They're out there, say, 268 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 14: trying to save the wilderness. And who are they trying 269 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 14: to save it for. If it's not people, I don't 270 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 14: know what they're trying to save it for. 271 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine a statement less in tune with 272 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: Dave Foreman's philosophy. And while the philosophy was jarring enough 273 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: for many people. What really worried them were the lengths 274 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: to which Earth First would go to achieve their defense 275 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: of Mother Earth after the break. As we mentioned earlier, 276 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: Earth First was a direct action group, meaning that they 277 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: would be taking actions that confronted the forces they saw 278 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: as destructive to the environment. This could take many forms, 279 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: including marches and protests, but also monkey wrenching actions such 280 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: as putting sand in construction equipment, pulling up survey stakes, 281 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: marking wilderness road paths, and other activities including as we 282 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: will see, tree spiking. Dave Foreman, speaking at the nineteen 283 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: eighty six Rainforest road Show at the University of California, Berkeley, 284 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: I'm not going to. 285 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 9: Tell anybody to stand in. 286 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 3: Front of a bulldoze. 287 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 2: That's got to be a very deliberate, thoughtful decision on 288 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 2: their apartment, because there are consequences. I'm not going to 289 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 2: in praage anybody to go out and pull up survey sticks, 290 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,400 Speaker 2: because one of my best friends did that and got 291 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,400 Speaker 2: six months in jail because he was careless. He got 292 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 2: the consequences, but he was willing to accept it. It 293 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 2: brings up the interesting question of violence. 294 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 10: What is violence? 295 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 9: Is self defense violence? 296 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 2: My definition of violence is to try to impose your 297 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 2: will on something else, to dominate something, to try to 298 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 2: take it away from its own evolutionary destiny. I think 299 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 2: cutting down a redwood forest with the chainsaw is violence. 300 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 2: I don't think it's cutting sand and a bulldozer to 301 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 2: prevent that from happening. His violence. I think it's self defense. 302 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,920 Speaker 2: But it's got to be done. Whatever you do with 303 00:18:53,119 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 2: full deliberation, was full thoughtfulness, with the complete understand that 304 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 2: you're engaging in something very profile. 305 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 3: In fact, I think. 306 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,920 Speaker 2: He should started to do it as though as a sacrament, 307 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 2: as a religious act. 308 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 6: That doesn't mean you can't have a lot. 309 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 9: Of bull I'll drink a beer as a religious act. 310 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 3: Sutimes. 311 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 6: It pretty much is joy. 312 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty five, Foreman had published a book called 313 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: Eco Defense, A Field Guide to Monkey Wrenching, some of 314 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: which he wrote and some of which he compiled from others' writings. 315 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: It was a how to covering a wide range of 316 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: eco sabotage techniques. The contrast with traditional environmental groups such as. 317 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,120 Speaker 5: The Sierra Club could not have been clearer. 318 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 1: From nineteen eighty seven, this is Bob Hattoyd, the Southern 319 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: California regional director of the Sierra Club. He is holding 320 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: a copy of Eco Defense and is asked a question 321 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: about it. 322 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 5: A shocking book. It scares me in a way. 323 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 4: You know why. 324 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 6: It scares me because there's the potential for violence, potential 325 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:10,679 Speaker 6: for violence and harm to human beings. 326 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 3: And I have a problem with that. I don't want 327 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 3: to see old growth forest ripped down, and I don't 328 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 3: want to see people poisoned, and I don't want to 329 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 3: see the air polluted. 330 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 5: But I don't want to see. 331 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: Anybody die either. 332 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 5: I really don't. 333 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: Hatchway specifically mentions tree spiking, and this became the most 334 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: controversial of the monkey wrenching activities. Tree spiking simply involves 335 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: driving a large nail into a tree. The nail will 336 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: damage any saw that hits it. A sawyer's chainsaw will 337 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 1: be damaged or broken. A mill saw will have its 338 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 1: teeth shredded or worse. Both of these situations are dangerous 339 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 1: for the timber worker, though Eco Defense played down the 340 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: potential for serious harm to workers. The book describes the 341 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:56,400 Speaker 1: usefulness of tree spiking. 342 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,160 Speaker 11: The answer is that the value of spiking is as 343 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,399 Speaker 11: a long term deterrent. If enough trees and roadless areas 344 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 11: are spiked. Eventually, the corporate thugs in the timber company boardrooms, 345 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,679 Speaker 11: along with their corrupt lackeys who are the uniform of 346 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 11: the Forest Service, will realize that timber sales in our 347 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 11: few remaining wild areas will be prohibitively expensive, and since 348 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,439 Speaker 11: profits are the goal, they'll begin to think twice before 349 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 11: violating the wilderness. 350 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: This is earth Burst activist Mark Williams talking about tree 351 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: spiking in the late nineteen eighties. 352 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 16: Monkey matching is kind of almost a coup de grand, 353 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 16: the most unexpected tactic that we have, and as so 354 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 16: on the cost the other side the most money and 355 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 16: is harder some to defend against, and it absolutely is 356 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 16: part of a no vital strategy. 357 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: Even the threat of sabotage was enough to be disruptive. 358 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: While the Earth First group in Ecotopia did not engage 359 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,239 Speaker 1: in much actual sabotage, they certainly talked about it, and 360 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,119 Speaker 1: that talk was taken seriously by people in the timber industry. 361 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: Here's Darryl Turney, Judy Berry's partner in organizing earth First 362 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: and Ecotopia, talking about sabotage in northern California was so general. 363 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:11,880 Speaker 5: Truth Radio. 364 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 17: In my time in the late eighties and right through 365 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 17: the nineties, I would say there was probably a lot 366 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 17: more talk about sabotage than there was actual sabotage. However, 367 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 17: there was sabotage, so it's not I don't want to 368 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 17: cover that up. What was new about it was that 369 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 17: the environmental movement up to that point, I think was 370 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 17: perceived as weak, was perceived as caving in a lot 371 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 17: to the corporations and to the government. There is no 372 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 17: human being in this world who at some point won't 373 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 17: physically defend themselves in some manner. If somebody breaks into 374 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 17: your house, you have every right to defend yourself against that. 375 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 17: And I think what the earth First movement has seen 376 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 17: is that the corporations and the industrial technology have broken 377 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 17: into our house, our house being Mother Earth, and our 378 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 17: systematic destroying it. But then in nineteen eighty seven, a 379 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 17: sawmill worker was injured by a tree spike. Now I 380 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 17: can tell you unequivocally that that tree spike was not 381 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 17: part of any Earth First action. It was not in 382 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 17: a forest that somebody was trying to defend, and the 383 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 17: trees were actually very small. However, regardless of the circumstances, 384 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 17: it was proven that a human being can be injured, 385 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 17: and it was that moment which Judy Barry drew from 386 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 17: to renounce the tactic of tree spiking. 387 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: The sawmill worker was a twenty three year old named 388 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: George Alexander. He was an offbearer, which meant that he 389 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: pulled logs off the line as they were cut by 390 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: a band saw. At about ten to eight on the 391 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: morning of May eighth, nineteen eighty seven, the saw hit 392 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,919 Speaker 1: a spike lodged in a redwood log and shattered. A 393 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: piece of the saw ripped into Alexander's face, causing severe 394 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: lacerations to his left cheek, knocking out teeth, breaking his 395 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: john five places, and cutting his jugular vein. One of 396 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,719 Speaker 1: his fellow workers pressed a T shirt to Alexander's wound, 397 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: slowing the bleeding and likely saving his life. He was 398 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: back at work two months later. To the press and 399 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 1: the public, the likely suspects were obvious. The Santa Rosa 400 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: Press Democrat wrote an editorial that began, can there be 401 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: a more effective method for discrediting the conservation movement than 402 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: the violent tactics endorsed by a handful of radicals who 403 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: claimed to be environmentalists? Louisiana Pacific President Harry Murlow released 404 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,399 Speaker 1: his statement saying it was only a matter of time 405 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: before this terrorism in the name of radical environmental goals 406 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: caused a serious injury. Sue Yorger, the Timber Industry Association 407 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: vice president, had this to say. 408 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,160 Speaker 14: One of the most bothersome things here is that our 409 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 14: local and Sierra Club and even our local Earth First 410 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 14: chapter have not come out and strongly condemned the activities 411 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,159 Speaker 14: of Earth First. You never heard anybody saying, well, gosh, 412 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,679 Speaker 14: it's really too bad that the mill worker down in 413 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 14: northern California had his face ripped up by a spike. 414 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 14: And until people start saying, hey, we don't think it's 415 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 14: worth human life to save these areas, you know, they're 416 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 14: in a sense condoning murder. 417 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 1: In reality, the tree had not been spiked by anyone associated. 418 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:34,679 Speaker 5: With Earth First. 419 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: Editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Mark Scaramella. 420 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 18: The trees came from a plot of land that a 421 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 18: Republican neighbor was very upset about the trees having been cut. 422 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 18: An investigator concluded that he probably spiked the trees in 423 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 18: the neighboring plot to stop them from being cut. That 424 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 18: never was prosecuted, but that's what the report concluded that 425 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 18: it was in first who was show the neighbor. 426 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,159 Speaker 1: The fact that this story has had so much staying 427 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: power is perhaps a testament to how little physical harm 428 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: tree spiking actually caused. This is Utah Senator Mike Lee 429 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: referring to it in a twenty twenty one Senate hearing. 430 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 19: Back in nineteen eighty seven, there was a gentleman who 431 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,960 Speaker 19: worked in a sawmill. His name was George Alexander. He 432 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 19: was twenty three years old at the time. He wasn't wealthy. 433 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 19: You don't get wealthy by working on a sawmill. He 434 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,440 Speaker 19: was just doing his job, trying to make ends meet. 435 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 19: While doing his job, operating a sawmill, all of a sudden, 436 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 19: his saw struck a spike that had been placed into 437 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 19: that tree. 438 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 3: I don't know. 439 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 19: Exactly when that spike was placed in that tree, but 440 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 19: at some point somebody put it in there with that object, 441 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 19: with that intent, with that understanding of what it would do, 442 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 19: and it had its intended effect. The blade shattered and 443 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 19: it severely wounded him. It caused a wound stretching from 444 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 19: his eye all the way down to his chin, his 445 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:09,160 Speaker 19: teeth were smashed in and his. 446 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 5: Jaw was cut in half. The incident made national news. 447 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 19: This was two years before this incident that we're talking 448 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 19: about now, so it became understood then what happens when 449 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 19: you put a spike in a tree. Now, other people 450 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 19: were not as fortunate as George Alexander. Other people have died, 451 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 19: other people have received worse injuries than he received. But 452 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 19: he was permanently maimed and disfigured and endured a severe 453 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:43,439 Speaker 19: amount of pain, discomfort, inconvenience, and incapacity as a result 454 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 19: of this savage act of brutality. 455 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 1: He doesn't name any of the people he claims to 456 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: have died or been maimed. I wondered if that was 457 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: because there aren't such people. In nineteen ninety five, a 458 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: Senator from Idaho named Larry Craig introduced a bill to 459 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: increase criminal penalties for tree spiking. He too claimed that 460 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,479 Speaker 1: people had been killed and maimed, but he said there 461 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: was no list that he could locate, according to the 462 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: Idaho Statesman newspaper. In the same article, the Statesman says 463 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: that at the time, the National Forest Service had records 464 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: of about two dozen instances of spiking resulting in one injury, 465 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: presumably George Alexander's. The legislation passed anyway. I tried to 466 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,719 Speaker 1: find any instance of someone being killed by a tree spike, 467 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: but was unsuccessful. That doesn't mean that there isn't one, 468 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 1: but it's not easy to find out about it if 469 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: there is. Again, Judy Barry and Earth First and Ecotopia 470 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: renounced the practice of tree spiking after George Alexander was injured. 471 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: Author of Defending Giants, Darren Spease. It actually became a schism. 472 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: Dave Foreman, who was one of the original founders, you know, 473 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: with Roselle and others of Earth First, we're like, no, no, 474 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: we created this organization to like stop the destruction of 475 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: wild places period. The consequences kind of be damned. 476 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 20: The lion in the sand is drawn, and we're going 477 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 20: to side with the forests and with the trees and 478 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 20: with you know, endangered species. The North Coast Earth First 479 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 20: folks were like, no, we're not going to tree spike. 480 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 20: We don't want to do we don't want to harm 481 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 20: like loggers when they're out there, they're like our neighbors, 482 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 20: they're in the community. They're not the ones making the decisions. 483 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 20: About this stuff. They're just doing their jobs and and 484 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 20: that created a schism. 485 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 5: It was a real thing. 486 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 20: A lot of like the older earth First folks were like, no, 487 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 20: this is not the way we do things. We wouldn't 488 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 20: need to stop industrial logging at all costs. 489 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: Earth First activists Andy Caffrey. 490 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 10: Now, the thing is, nobody has ever been hurt by 491 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 10: an earth First tree spiking, because it's not about vengeance, 492 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 10: it's not about hurting laggers. The whole idea is you 493 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 10: go in and you put spikes in several trees, sometimes 494 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 10: they even mark them, and then you call the timber 495 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 10: company and tell them about it. And the whole idea 496 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 10: is that they won't go in there because they don't 497 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 10: want to hurt the workers. No one ever hit a 498 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 10: spike when they were cutting a tree, but the laggers. 499 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 5: There was this. 500 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 10: Big focus on tree spiking, even though they didn't They 501 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 10: couldn't find anybody, any timber workers anywhere in the country 502 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,239 Speaker 10: who had ever been hurt. But so so they had 503 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 10: a press conference Mike Grizel, Darryl, Greg King, Judy and 504 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 10: they said we can't say that Earth versus renouncing tree spiking, 505 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 10: but we as prominent activists within the community are saying 506 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 10: that we will discourage it and that we reject that tactic. 507 00:30:55,760 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 8: She's been portrayed as a non violent saint, you know, 508 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 8: the woman who led to the renunciation of tree spiking. 509 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,959 Speaker 8: There was always a caveat about that though. You know, 510 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 8: that renunciation was for their region because of the threats 511 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 8: they were encountering. She didn't want to make that for 512 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 8: all Earth Firsters everywhere, that there ought never be that 513 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 8: kind of tactic, And that was a controversial tactic, even 514 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 8: in northern California. Just like in any kind of radical movement, 515 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 8: not everybody agrees with about everything, right, So that was 516 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 8: very controversial and it was very harshly criticized by those 517 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,719 Speaker 8: outside of the Pacific Northwest who felt like she was 518 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 8: pretending to speak for the entire movement. 519 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,760 Speaker 10: Reporters didn't understand the subtlety of the Earth Verse has 520 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:51,800 Speaker 10: no formal leaders, there's no organization. It's like Christianity as 521 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 10: opposed to the Presbyterian Church. It's that amorphous. But the reporters, 522 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 10: you know, here were like nine people who they had 523 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 10: interviewed and talked to before. These were the people in 524 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 10: southern Oregon and northern California that led most of the 525 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 10: actions that we had up here, so they kind of 526 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,959 Speaker 10: saw them as if that was a formal office that 527 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 10: they held. So by the time the story got across 528 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 10: the country, it was more like Earth verst is abandoning 529 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 10: tree spiking. Well, I hated this. I was not one 530 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 10: of those people, and I tried to get them to 531 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 10: not do it because as a media guy myself, I 532 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 10: knew how this would get muddled. And they had no 533 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 10: authority to speak for Earth First and all these other 534 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 10: Earth verses. 535 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 5: Who the hell are they to speak for me? 536 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: In the Earth First Journal, published in nineteen ninety four, 537 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: Judy Barry and a person going by the name of 538 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: Wolverine laid out the arguments against and for tree spiking. 539 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,440 Speaker 1: Wolverine acknowledged the tree spiking goal of increasing the cost 540 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: of cutting quote why is there so much media government 541 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: reaction against monkey wrenching, including spiking because they're scared of it. 542 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,600 Speaker 1: It weakens them. All they care about is money is 543 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: what fuels their destruction. So monkey wrenching has a valid 544 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 1: role to play. It ups the Annie, it puts greater 545 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: pressure on them to consider if the project being wrenched 546 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: is economically or politically viable. Judy focused on the difference 547 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: between above and below ground tactics. She argued that mixing 548 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:33,800 Speaker 1: the two was suicidal. Above Ground tactics, such as standing 549 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: in front of a bulldozer, rely on the thread of 550 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: moral outrage if the protester is run over by the bulldozer. 551 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: Tree spiking reduced the sympathy for protesters and threaten the 552 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: lives of those undertaking above ground actions. She recommended focusing 553 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: Earth First activities on above ground work and leaving the 554 00:33:54,760 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: underground stuff. To quote Elves in the Woods again, Taylor, 555 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,840 Speaker 1: what she was saying is that tree spiking is counterproductive. 556 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 8: She didn't have a moral. 557 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 5: Objection tree spiking. 558 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 8: She said it's counterproductive here. We've got to renounce it 559 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 8: to strengthen the movement. 560 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,760 Speaker 1: Judy's stance was the reaction to the hostility and violence 561 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: encountered by earth Fursters and Ecotopia, confrontations and violence that 562 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: often took place on remote logging roads or deep in 563 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:33,280 Speaker 1: the woods, isolated places. An atmosphere of paranoia and fear 564 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: grew in the late nineteen eighties. 565 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 5: In the months leading up to the. 566 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: Bombing of Judy Berry's car. 567 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 21: The threats they were becoming more specific and seemingly targeting her, 568 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 21: especially a woman engaged in the middle of this. Ru 569 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 21: Hal was probably more of a target than Darryl Turney was. 570 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 21: She just drew that kind of animosity increasingly, the level 571 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 21: of threats I felt were more dangerous and they were 572 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 21: possibly getting in the harm's way next time on Rip Current. 573 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,279 Speaker 22: Rip Current was written and hosted by Toby Ball. Our 574 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,200 Speaker 22: executive producers are Trevor Young and Matt Frederick, with supervising 575 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 22: producer Remat el Kylie and producers Nomes Griffin and Jesse Funk. 576 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 22: Original music by Jeff Sadoff. Our voice actor for Judy 577 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,760 Speaker 22: Barry is Gina Rickikey. Editing and sound design by Nomes Griffin, 578 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 22: Rima el Kylie and Jesse Funk. The show is mixed 579 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 22: by Rima el Coyoli. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 580 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 22: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.