The term eco-warrior is sometimes a self description for environmental activist that adopts a 'hands on' effort to save or salvage a plot of land, or to advance some ecological ideology. In the UK it was the media that coined the term in the '90s, a label that many people actively taking ecological direct action resisted, for philosophical reasons.
Eco-warriors are individuals who care for our environment through their activities and decision making. A common symbol of an eco-warrior is the Eco Warriors Flag.
Another use of the term refers to an environmental activist who engages in illegal activities, also known as eco-terrorism. However, an eco-warrior is also someone who utilizes the courts to halt, suspend, or otherwise derail a human activity that the activist believes adversely impacts the environment.
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Types
An eco-warrior can be someone as mundane and non-confrontational as a tree sitter or someone who engages in direct action, ranging anywhere from planting tree spikes into trees on public lands, to keep the lumber industry from cutting them down, to sit-ins which occupy a corporate office. Also, an eco-warrior can be someone who engages in an environmental organisation (e.g. Greenpeace) or an environmental company that delivers safekeeping/improvements for the environment (e.g. directly by selling environmental products as environmentally friendly cars, ... or indirectly by carbon dioxide offsets). People advocating/recommending the use of fundamentally new green technologies (eg Amory Lovins, Amy Smith, Elon Musk, Robin Murray, Bjørn Lomborg, ...[1][2]) can also be considered eco-warriors.
Connotation
The term eco-warrior often has a negative conation when referred to in the media as well as in the minds of the general public, as highlighted above the general view is of people sitting in trees or clambering on the back of airplanes at Heathrow airport, but there is another form of eco-warrior appearing on the horizon and that is the Eco Warrior in a Suit. These people come from many different industries, IT, Service Sector, Media and Telecoms to name a few and they are committed to reversing the detrimental impact mankind has had, and is continuing to have upon the planet. These warriors wear suits as their uniform and they drive change in corporate organisations by focusing minds and actions on conducting business in a more sustainable manner.
Notable eco-warriors and warrior actions
- In 2006, an eco-warrior group who sabotaged heavily polluting terrainvehicles became known in Paris (France), calling themselves 'Les Dégonflés'
- Another well known British "eco-warrior" is Daniel Hooper, who is also known as Swampy.
- Chico Mendes and Ken Saro-Wiwa are the most famous green activists in Brazil and Nigeria, respectively.
- Made famous in the US for a hurling a brick through the window of a McDonald's during the so-called "Battle in Seattle", French activist and small scale cheese farmer Jose Bove has been fighting neo-liberalism on his home turf for decades.
Emergence of green celebrities
Lately, several celebrities have gone about decreasing their impact on the planet. Although their impact remains relatively high due to jet travel and luxuries, they can be said to perform a beneficial role nonetheless by visibly promoting environmentally conscientious living to the public. Celebrities such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, ... have set up their own environmentally oriented foundations. [3]
In popular culture
- In the TV-movie Medicine Man (film), Sean Connery uses eco-warriorism to defend the rainforest against a lumber company.
- In the TV-movie Erin Brockovich (film), Erin Brockovich's takes on a fight against a polluting energy company called Pacific Gas and Electric Company
- One of the best written books about the subject is Confessions of an Eco-Warrior by David Foreman, co-founder of Earth First!, a leading eco-warrior organisation.
See also
- Eco Warriors Flag
- Enforcement action[4]
References
- Environmental activism by Jacqueline Vaughn Switzer[5]
External links
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