Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Student Theses 2015-Present Environmental Studies Spring 5-15-2016 Controlling What Is Wild: The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and Ecoterrorism Thomas J. Levendosky Fordham University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/environ_2015 Recommended Citation Levendosky, Thomas J., "Controlling What Is Wild: The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and Ecoterrorism" (2016). Student Theses 2015-Present. 33. https://fordham.bepress.com/environ_2015/33 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Environmental Studies at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses 2015-Present by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Controlling What Is Wild The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and Ecoterrorism Thomas Levendosky Environmental Studies 4000: Senior Thesis May 15, 2016 1 Abstract This thesis examines the extremist side of the environmental activism commonly known as ecoterrorism, and the subsequent implications of categorizing criminal activism as terrorism. Groups such as Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) strive to protect the natural world from the detrimental impacts of industrialization. Activists affiliated with these groups endorse direct action against environmentally harmful enterprises. Extremists are motivated by the belief that they are on the frontline defending the defenseless. They hope to dissuade corporations and government agencies from exploiting the natural world by exposing unethical practices and causing economic damage. The strategy of direct action can involve sabotaging of industrial equipment (monkeywrenching), arson, and tree spiking. Direct action also promotes nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to obstruct industrial development.