English
April 8, 2007
Environmental Sabotage
The way that some people get their points of views out is through vandalism or nonviolent protest. The people who stand up for the environment do things to prevent destruction of wilderness or animal habitats. They do things such as standing in front of bulldozers, burn buildings, and as they do in the book Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, the environmentalists pull up construction stakes. These are just some of many things that people do to help protect what they believe in.
Environmental sabotage is used in many forms and is sometimes effective. The whole point of it is to get your point across to corporations and the United States Government. Protesters or secret organization groups like ALF (Animal Liberation Front) and ELF (Earth Liberation Front) do a lot to help stop animal cruelty and deforestation. As environmental sabotage, two individuals were held accountable for eight different forms of arson on the Vail Ski Area. The damage that these people did caused the resort over twelve million dollars in damage. They burned down three new buildings on top of the ski mountain, and damaged four ski lifts that ran to the top of the mountain. These protesters used a more violent and extreme form of sabotage to get their point across. Although Vail ski area rebuilt the burned buildings, ELF still proceeded in sabotaging the Vail Corporation. Since the attacks, there have been one hundred lynx released in the mountains of Vail. The original plan was to help the Canadian lynx to repopulate their species in the Colorado area. There have been eighteen attacks during 1996-2001 and thirteen people were charged for these attacks. Although the attacks on the ski area did not do much effect on the building, the lynx population increased by 100, which was the original plan.
The Earth Liberation Front is not the only organization that helps stop events and series of either environmental or animal destruction. The ALF (Animal Liberation Front) also helps with sabotage of corporate business from destroying the Earths natural wonders. There are many instances in witch the ALF has helped against animal cruelty. For example, at Duke University School of Medicine used to use live pigs for dissection for its third year of surgery course. ALF has stopped the using of live pigs for dissection in 125 schools across the country. That leaves thirteen medicine schools left to stop the animal cruelty. Although the ALF does not go as extreme the Animal Liberation Front is international and stops animal cruelty in Canada, and all across Europe. The issue with Duke was not the only incident in which the Animal Liberation Front acted to save animals. There are many other instances in which they help animals, ALF helped stop animal testing, rodeos, and destroying of animal habitats.
In the book Hoot by Carl Hisaasen he portrays a form of environmental vandalism although the events that occur In the book are not true and are not as severe they still have the same effect on the perpetrators that try to destroy what was already there. The main character in the book is a boy named Roy he and two of his friends Mullet Fingers and Beatrice both find lot of land that is going to be taken over by a Mother Paula’s pancake house. The owls are small and help less and are about to be taken over by a corporation. Roy and his friends sabotage the pancake house by doing things such as spray painting cop cars putting alligators in porter potties and taking up construction stakes, “Again the trespassers had methodically removed every survey marker and filled in the stake holes” (Carl Hisaasen 24). The sabotage worked and the boys got what they wanted they helped save innocent animals and stopped a major corporation. When people group together and help out to do what is right then they can achieve great things.
Work Sited
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
New York: Yearling,
2002.
“Vail Arsonists to be Sentenced.” Earth Liberation Front. Available:
