Have environmental groups ever killed anybody?

Question

I am preparing a debate: "That environmental groups should commit violent acts in pursuit of their aims" in the negative position (i.e. that they should NOT commit violent acts).

I have plenty of examples of radical environmental groups causing damage to property (i.e. arson, equipment sabotage, breaking into animal testing labs) as well as death threats; but have there been any incidents where people have died or been injured either as a result of intentional violence against them or inadvertantly during other acts of eco-sabotage?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The former president of the Sierra Club has to be accompanied by security now because he has been threatened with violence.  During his Sierra Club days, he called Wal-Mart "toxic" and now he has an environmental consulting firm and he took Wal-Mart on as one of his top clients.  This angered many members of the environmental movement as the saw him as a traitor and he has stated that he has feared for his life.  If someone can have their life threatened for helping an environmental nemesis lessen its damage, I have no doubt that harm has come to others through the environmental movement.  I know I haven't answered your question exactly, so I can do some research and get back to you.

Answer 2

they are working on it in-directly thru the promotion of ethanol at the expense of food. Riots are breaking out in many countries because of food shortages, Al Gore refuses to answer questions relating to the food shortage and rising prices of food. The lingo has changed from "global cooling" to "global warming" to now "global climate change."

if ethanol was a good fuel, they would remove the gov't subsidies for it... let it stand on it's own and let the market decide.

That's as close as I can come to answer your question- Can't find any direct examples of death caused by them... good luck in your debate!

Answer 3

The Animal Liberation Front (which has ties to PETA) has murdered several researchers.

Answer 4

Absolutely... do some research into the groups "Earth First", ELF, and ALF who advocate "Monkey-wrenching".

"In May, 1987, sawmill worker George Alexander was nearly decapitated when a tree-spike shattered his sawblade at the Cloverdale Louisiana-Pacific mill in northern California."  http://www.iww.org/unions/iu120/local-1/...

Here is a link to FBI testimony to Congress in 2002 regarding Eco-Terrorism:  http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/j...

Here is sentencing report for ELF members regarding a long arson spree: http://portland.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2007...

GOOD Luck on your report

Answer 5

Cut the c**p about the ELF.  Dude with the chainsaw was killed by a chainsaw in his hands... not a member of E.L.F. That is if the ELF actually exists as a "group" - Good luck finding a meeting location!  E.L.F. is used as a scapegoat by people in the "natural resources" and development industries.

I'd say no an environmental group has never killed anyone and if it has happened, i doubt that any env. group would attempt to justify it or stand by it.

P.S. look at the lingo... "Eco-Sabotage" --- sounds like the effects of "global capitalism" to me.

Answer 6

Yes they have, in fact they do some terrible things. If you look through the FBI's page you will find a unsolved firebomb attack that the ELF claimed responsiblity for that almost killed a elderly woman.

These groups have been spiking trees for years and this has killed and seriously injured many loggers. Is it the hard working loggers fault that he has to earn his living? How to save a tree, nail a 8 inch spike into it.. seems ironic doesnt it.

The ALF beat a man half to death with pick axe handles, no kidding. That just goes to show you how much these nuts value human life.

Answer 7

As mentioned before, the Environmental Terrorists group ELF, or Earth Liberation Front does some strange things in the name of ecology.  There are several accounts of these groups setting fire to new homes claiming that they are not "environmentally friendly."  

My question would be to them, how is pouring thick black smoke into the air and all the chemical in the houses they set fire to, helping the environment?   What a weird bunch.

I don't think they're pro-environment or save the Earth so much as they're anti-human.

Answer 8

probobly in the past

Answer 9

Don't buy that c**p about ethanol.  That's something the highly anti environmentalist government of George Bush and the EU have promoted, not the environmentalists.  Ethanol probably has a small role in meeting future energy needs, similar to nuclear, but neither is a solution.

Back to your question then.  Yes, there have been casses where people trying to stop logging drove metal spikes and other metal objects into trees so that the chain saws would break and the chains injure the logger.