Ecotage

Ecotage is sabotage motivated by a desire or need to protect ecological integrity, including the prevention of ecocide. It is a term that was coined to counter the term "eco-terrorism". Ecotage is also referred to as ecodefense or monkeywrenching.

According to its advocates, including the Earth Liberation Front, ecotage is the most effective way to combat destruction of natural ecosystems. It requires neither violence nor any direct confrontation with police, politicians, or other authority, as the actions are carried out in secret and at times of day where the risk to life is nil.

However, many environmentalists see non-destructive forms of civil disobedience, such as tree sitting, as more effective, particularly if the goal is to sway public opinion rather than directly interfere.

According to its detractors, the reverence for life expressed by those who perform ecotage is not reflected in their disregard for property rights or willingness to risk the death of humans to protect the environment.

One counter-argument is that all species compete most intensely with others of their own kind, and that to place any and all risks to any life of those of one's own species uniformly above that of all other life, simply guarantees that extinction and ecocide not only continue but accelerate. Thus at some point, a tradeoff must be made between human life and the integrity of all living ecosystems on which they depend. See Deep Ecology for this view in detail.

Ecotage was popularized in 1975 by Edward Abbey's book The Monkey Wrench Gang. It has also been treated in novels by T. Coraghessan Boyle (A Friend of the Earth) and Carl Hiaasen (Tourist Season, Sick Puppy).

Ecotage! is also the title of a 1972 humor book by Sam Love, which is the likely origin of the word.

See also: radical environmentalist, ecology movement.