Green Rage & the Environmentalist Movement
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In the book Green Rage, Christopher Manes (1990) discusses the rise, goals, activities, and excesses of the radical environmentalist movement, with reference to a number of groups that can be placed under this heading. Manes tells of the history of this movement and of the way many groups became radicalized because of the perception that they were not otherwise being as effective as they wished. He also shows how the movement has become more radicalized as it has sought more and more change and developed a stronger and more explicit philosophy of what the relationship between human beings and nature should be. The subtitle for the book is a bit grandiose in its assessment of the situation -- ARadical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization@ -- but the distinction between environmentalism and civilization is one many of the radical fringe would make and would see the need for their side to win at all costs.Manes first notes some of the tactics that have developed among certain environmental groups to protect old-growth forests, such as spiking trees to hurt anyone who tries to cut them down, a tactic attributed to Earth First!, or tree sitting, which involves climbing the tree and sitting in it to prevent anyone from cutting it down. Various groups, notably Geenpeace, have taken to the high seas to protect whales by interfering with whaling ships trying to track and capture a herd. Manes notes that often such groups draw fire for their radicalism, allowing m
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is that had to be addressed immediately and with radical action to bring change. Part of their strategy was sabotage under the term ecotage to force corporations and the government to pay attention to them, and their first big success in this area was with the protection of a wilderness area in Wyoming.
From this beginning, the radical movement escalated its rhetoric, its ecotage, and its demands over time. Manes shows how many of the areas given attention by the movement had ecological problems extending back many years, often because of collusion between business interests and the government agencies like the Forest Service that had been created precisely to prevent environmental degradation and to preserve the land for all the people. This shifted after 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act, but that act also brought about a rush to add more and more acreage for protection. Some groups were based on a strictly nonviolent approach, and Greenpeace even ejected one member for breaking a Canadian law while protecting seals. Other groups did not avoid violent confrontation and used the potentially violent method of spiking or even the planting of bombs to make a point. Tree sittings were a nonviolent challenge, as wer
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Unmaking Civilization@, Deep Ecology, Vietnam War, Civil Disobedience, Christopher Manes, Wilderness Act, Earth Day, Naess Norwegian, Rights Movement, Forest Service, radical environmentalism, environmental movement, deep ecology, environmental crisis, critics deep ecology, critics deep, human nature, action bring, movement radicalized, tree sitting, green rage,
Approximate Word count = 1334
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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