Editing Earth First! (section)

== United Kingdom ==
{{Main|Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:MersysideDockAction.jpg|thumb|An arrest at the Liverpool docks (1992), with protestors occupying cranes in the background]]
The movement in the United Kingdom started in 1990, when a group in [[Hastings]], [[Sussex]] organised an action at [[Dungeness nuclear power station]] in [[Kent]]. It grew rapidly, and many groups formed, with or without the EF name, over the next years.

The first major Earth First action happened in December 1991 at [[Port of Tilbury]] and focused around the importation of tropical hardwood. The second major action, the ''Merseyside Dock Action'', attracted between 200–600 people who occupied [[Port of Liverpool|Liverpool docks]] for two days.  This action coincided with the Earth First roadshow, in which a group of UK & US Earth Firsters toured the country. Other early campaigns also focused on timber-yards, most notably the Timbmet yard in Oxford.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news| url=http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,481362,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Grey green | date=May 2, 2001 | access-date=May 1, 2010 | first1=Jake | last1=Bowers | first2=Jason | last2=Torrance}}</ref>

There are now various regional Earth First groups, the "EF! Action Update" has been joined by the "EF! Action Reports website"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports|title=Earth First! Action Reports - Direct action - no leaders - confront, stop & reverse the destruction of the earth|work=earthfirst.org.uk|access-date=2008-12-23|archive-date=2009-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204110637/http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a yearly Earth First national gathering.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk|title=Earth First! Gathering|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402225934/http://earthfirstgathering.org.uk/|archive-date=2006-04-02}}</ref> At the first gathering in Sussex the debate focused on the use of criminal damage as a protest technique. Earth First decided to neither 'condemn nor condone' criminal damage, instead it focused more on [[non-violent direct action]] techniques. Some people at the gathering coined the term [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF), which became a separate movement and spread back to the US. Actions involving criminal damage often happened under cover of night, typically done under an ELF banner and attributed to [[elves]] and [[pixie]]s, or the Earth Liberation Faeries, giving a distinctly British feel to the movement.

Major growth in the direct action movement started with a concurrent focus on roads, and a protest camp at [[Twyford Down]] was started, against the M3 in Hampshire. Whilst Earth First groups still played an essential part, other groups such as the [[Dongas road protest group|Dongas tribe]] soon formed. Alongside [[SchNEWS]], such publications as the "Earth First! Action Update",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau|title=Earth First! Action Update|work=earthfirst.org.uk|access-date=2008-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212091652/http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau/|archive-date=2009-02-12|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''Do or Die''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eco-action.org/dod|title=Do or Die|access-date=2006-03-28|archive-date=2008-09-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916104721/http://www.eco-action.org/dod/|url-status=dead}}</ref> were means of communication between the groups. The movement grew to other road protest camps including the [[Newbury bypass]], the [[A30 road|A30]] and the [[M11 link road protest]] in London, where whole streets were [[Squatting|squatted]] in order to slow down the construction work.  Later the focus widened to other campaigns including [[Reclaim the Streets]], anti-genetics campaigns,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/|title=ライトデビル|work=geneticsaction.org.uk}}</ref> and [[Rising Tide UK|Rising Tide]]. More recently, there have been groups such as Peat Alert!<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peatalert.org.uk/|title=peat alert in south yorkshire|work=peatalert.org.uk|access-date=2006-06-05|archive-date=2008-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516182911/http://www.peatalert.org.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Plane Stupid]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.planestupid.com|title=Plane Stupid - bringing the aviation industry back down to earth!|work=planestupid.com|access-date=2019-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060415050348/http://www.planestupid.com/|archive-date=2006-04-15|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The UK Earth First groups differed considerably from the U.S. groups as reported in a ten-year retrospective of the Earth First by two of the founders Jake Bowers and Jason Torrance:

{{blockquote|We knew EF US's original hardline 'rednecks for wilderness' attitude wouldn't appeal here, so we set out to build a group that combined radical action and social justice to protect Britain's few remaining natural places.<ref name="autogenerated1" />}}

Seeing ecological and social justice as one and the same, in addition to organizing along anarchist lines and bringing in other radical and militant struggles, mixed with audacious actions and real radicalism spread the EF ideal to other countries and helped morph the US movement.