Earth First ! formed in 1979 , in response to an increasingly corporate , compromising and ineffective environmental community . It is not an organization , but a movement . There are no “ members ” of EF !, only Earth First ! ers . We believe in using all of the tools in the toolbox , from grassroots and legal organizing to civil disobedience and monkeywrenching . When the law won ’ t fix the problem , we put our bodies on the line to stop the destruction . Earth First !’ s directaction approach draws attention to the crises facing the natural world , and it saves lives .
Guided by a philosophy of deep ecology , Earth First ! does not accept a human-centered worldview of “ nature for people ’ s sake .” Instead , we believe that life exists for its own sake , that industrial civilization and its philosophy are anti-Earth , antiwoman and anti-liberty . Our structure is nonhierarchical , and we reject highly paid “ professional staff ” and formal leadership .
To put it simply , the Earth must come first .
This philosophy is informed by a much more radicalized agenda . The Earth First ! website regularly posts pictures of attacks on construction sites and other industrial sites which are causing environmental damage around the world . The group makes a point , however , not to injure people in their protests . But even this movement was not radical or successful enough for some . In 1992 , The Earth Liberation Front ( ELF ) was formed to carry out world-wide forms of violent protest against capitalism and environmental degradation . Self-proclaimed as anarchists on their website , ELF points to the Edward Abbey novel ,
116