Editing Earth First! (section)

== Protest and ecodefense ==
Most activists of Earth First have previously participated in more moderate forms of environmental and political activism, including protest marches and writing letters to politicians. 'Fawn", an Earth Firster in the United States, grew up as a Republican, in a middle-class family.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Oz_wAEACAAJ TreeHuggers: Victory, Defeat & Renewal in the Northwest Ancient Forest Campaign]. by Kathie Durbin. The Mountaineers Press Seattle. p 269-271</ref> Most members of Earth First identify as [[decentralisation|decentralized]], locally informed activists whose ideas stem from [[communitarianism|communitarian ethics]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} One of the early critics of Earth First's change in tactics later accused the FBI of deliberately introducing the concept of [[Non-Violence]] to the group.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences by William P. Meyers|url=http://www.iiipublishing.com/books/nonviolence.htm|work=iiipublishing.com}}</ref>

In various parts of the United States, individual citizens and small groups form the base for grassroots political actions.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} These may take the form of legal actions, including [[protest]]s, timber sale appeals, and educational campaigns or [[civil disobedience]], including [[tree sitting]], [[road]] [[blockade]]s, and [[sabotage]] (also called "[[ecotage]]" by some Earth First members, who claim it is a form of [[ecodefense]]). Often, disruptive direct action is used primarily as a stalling tactic in an attempt to prevent possible environmental destruction while Earth First [[lawsuit]]s try to secure long-term victories.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} Reported tactics include road blockades, activists locking themselves to heavy equipment, tree-sitting, and sabotage of machinery.<ref name="hcn.org" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Ecotage: A Practical or Punishable Means of Environmental Activism?|url=http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/sustain/global/sensem/jones297.htm|work=uci.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Earth First! Tactics in Fight to Save Planet Anger Some, Tickle Others|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-14-me-906-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=14 August 1988 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Earth First! protests the destruction of Redwood Forests (Redwood Summer), United States, 1990|url=http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/earth-first-protests-destruction-redwood-forests-redwood-summer-united-states-1990}}</ref>

Earth First was known for providing information in the ''Earth First! Journal'' on the practice of [[tree-spiking]] and [[monkeywrenching]] (or ecotage), although there is no evidence that Earth First was involved in related activity.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Secret History of Tree Spiking - Part 1|url=http://www.iww.org/history/library/Bari/TreeSpiking1|work=iww.org}}</ref> In 1990, [[Judi Bari]] convinced Earth First in the [[Northern California]] and Southern [[Oregon]] region to renounce the practice of tree-spiking, calling them counterproductive to an effort to form a coalition with workers and small logging businesses to defeat large-scale corporate logging in Northern [[California]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Police used non-lethal weapons and tactics against Earth First protesters including pepper spray, pain compliance holds, police dogs, and the [[Menacing|threat of guns]] in attempts to coerce the protesters to abandon their lock downs.<ref name=":2" />