- Also called:
- ecological terrorism or environmental terrorism
- Related Topics:
- terrorism
- bioterrorism
ecoterrorism
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What is ecoterrorism?
Ecoterrorism is destroying or threatening to destroy the environment to intimidate or coerce governments or civilians. It includes violence against existing political structures, like threats to contaminate water or destroy energy utilities.
Environmental warfare, a form of ecoterrorism, involves illegally destroying or modifying the environment during conflict. Some environmental activists' violent actions, such as trespassing, sabotage, and "monkeywrenching," have also been called ecoterrorism.
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Why do people commit acts of ecoterrorism?
People commit acts of ecoterrorism to intimidate or coerce governments or civilians through the destruction, or threat of destruction, of the environment. Ecoterrorism is sometimes practiced by groups engaged in violence against existing political structures. Some groups of environmental activists commit criminal trespass on the property of companies and obstruct operations through sabotage or modification of natural resources to make them unsuitable for commercial use.
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What are some common actions or examples of ecoterrorism?
Ecoterrorism involves using violence or sabotage to intimidate or coerce governments, companies, or civilians for environmental or political goals.
Examples include:
* Threatening to contaminate water supplies
* Sabotaging company equipment
* Destroying property in stores that sell fur
* Bombing laboratories that perform experiments on animals
* Plugging factory waste outlets
* Driving spikes into trees to prevent logging, also known as "monkeywrenching"
* Deliberate destruction or modification of the environment during conflict, like setting fire to oil wells2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is ecoterrorism different from peaceful environmental protests?
Ecoterrorism employs violence or sabotage to intimidate or coerce governments or civilians regarding environmental issues. It can include acts such as contaminating water supplies, destroying energy utilities, or sabotaging company equipment. Peaceful environmental protests, in contrast, involve non-violent actions like demonstrations, petitions, and public awareness campaigns to advocate for environmental protection. The key difference lies in the use of violence and intimidation tactics in ecoterrorism versus the non-violent approach of peaceful protests.
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How do governments and law enforcement respond to ecoterrorism?
Ecoterrorism involves environmental destruction to intimidate governments or civilians and interfere with activities seen as harmful environmental warfare.
Governments and law enforcement respond to ecoterrorism with legal measures and increased penalties. For example, in the United States, the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA) in 1992 and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) in 2005 increased criminal penalties for felonies committed during animal rights protests. The FBI has also considered ecoterrorism by animal rights activists as a major domestic security threat.
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What are some debates or controversies about how ecoterrorism is defined and treated?
Debates surrounding ecoterrorism involve its definition, scope, and appropriate legal treatment. Some define it as violence or sabotage intended to hinder activities considered damaging to the environment. Others apply the term to a broader range of actions, including non-violent but criminal acts like tree spiking.
Critics argue that laws like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) are too broad, imposing harsh penalties that could stifle legitimate animal rights protests. The FBI once considered ecoterrorism by animal rights activists as the greatest domestic security threat. The core of the debate lies in balancing environmental protection and freedom of expression while addressing acts of violence or intimidation.
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ecoterrorism, destruction, or the threat of destruction, of the environment by states, groups, or individuals in order to intimidate or to coerce governments or civilians. The term also has been applied to a variety of crimes committed against companies or government agencies and intended to prevent or to interfere with activities allegedly harmful to the environment.
Ecoterrorism has been practiced by groups engaged in “anti-system” violence (i.e., violence against existing political structures). This kind of terrorism, also known as bioterrorism, includes, for example, threats to contaminate water supplies or to destroy or disable energy utilities, as well as practices such as the deployment of anthrax or other biological agents.
Another form of ecoterrorism, often described as environmental warfare, consists of the deliberate and illegal destruction, exploitation, or modification of the environment as a strategy of war or in times of armed conflict (including civil conflict within states). Modification of the environment that occurs during armed conflict and is likely to have widespread, long-lasting, or severe effects is proscribed by the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1976. Nevertheless, such destruction has occurred with some regularity. In the 1960s and ’70s the U.S. military used the defoliant Agent Orange to destroy forest cover in Vietnam, and in 1991 Iraqi military forces retreating during the Persian Gulf War set fire to Kuwaiti oil wells, causing significant environmental damage. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in 1998, defines such modification or destruction as a war crime.
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Finally, the sometimes violent activities of some groups of environmental activists have been described as ecoterrorism. They include criminal trespass on the property of logging companies and other firms and obstruction of their operations, sometimes through the sabotage of company equipment or the environmentally harmless modification of natural resources in order to make them inaccessible or unsuitable for commercial use. Examples of this practice, known as “monkeywrenching,” are the plugging of factory waste outlets and driving spikes into trees so that they cannot be logged and milled. Other activities described as ecoterrorist include protest actions by animal rights groups, which have included the destruction of property in stores that sell products made of fur and the bombing of laboratories that perform experiments on animals.
In the United States, criminal penalties for felonies committed in the course of animal rights protests were dramatically increased with the passage in 1992 of the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA). The act defined a new legal category of “animal enterprise terrorism” as the intentional “physical disruption” of an animal enterprise (e.g., a factory farm, a slaughterhouse, an animal experimentation laboratory, or a rodeo) that causes economic damage (including loss of property or profits) or serious bodily injury or death. In 2005 the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) expanded the definition of animal enterprise terrorism to include “interfering with” the operations of an animal enterprise, extended protection to third-party enterprises having a relationship to or transactions with an animal enterprise, expanded the definition of animal enterprise to include any business that sells animals or animal products, and increased the penalties imposed by the AEPA. Critics of both measures argued that they were excessively broad and vague, that they imposed disproportionately harsh penalties, and that they would have a chilling effect on all forms of animal rights protest. In 2006 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that it considered ecoterrorism by animal rights activists to be the greatest domestic security threat facing the United States. In 2009 an American animal rights activist, Daniel Andreas San Diego, became the first “domestic terrorist” to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.