12th Annual Human Rights Film Series Resource Page
Over the past several decades, the threat of domestic terrorism has had increasing prominence. The
radicalization of both the environmental protection and animal rights movements has led to an increasing
number of violent actions which have been categorized as a new form of terrorist activity in the United States.
Since the 1970s, hundreds of groups in the U.S. have advocated for stricter legal protection for animals and the
environment. Some activists on the fringes of these causes, frustrated by the pace of incremental progress, have
turned to violence, creating a radical underground terrorist movement to combat corporations and practices they
consider abusive and immoral. During the past two decades alone, extreme animal rights and environmental
activists, or “eco-terrorists,” have committed hundreds of arsons, bombings and acts of vandalism and
harassment, causing more than $100 million in damages to property.
In 1998, a firebombing at a ski resort in Vail, Colorado caused an estimated $12 million in damages— the costliest
act of eco-terrorism in American history at the time. The Earth Liberation Front (commonly referred to as ELF)—a
decentralized network of radical environmentalists operating in separate autonomous cells—claimed
responsibility for the Vail arson. According to the ELF Press Office, the group claims to use “economic sabotage
and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment.” For years, ELF had launched
spectacular arsons against dozens of businesses they accused of destroying the environment. In 2001, the FBI
designated ELF affiliates as “eco-terrorists” and classified the group as America's top domestic terrorism threat,
responsible for over 1,200 "criminal incidents" amounting to millions of dollars in damage to property.
While post-9/11 discussions of terrorism tend to focus on radical Islamic threats, eco-terrorist attacks continue to
occur around the country and pose significant problems for law enforcement officials. Many argue that the threat
of eco-terrorism has been overblown. According to the FBI, however, eco-terrorism continues to be the greatest
domestic terrorism threat facing the U.S. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front examines this
debate as it considers environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism in a post-9/11 world.
Additional Resources:
Film Website - http://www.ifatreefallsfilm.com/
Anti-Defamation League, Center on Extremism in America, Ecoterrorism Resource http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/ecoterrorism.asp?learn_cat=extremism&learn_subcat=extremism_in_america&
xpicked=4&item=eco
FBI Article on Eco-Terrorism - http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/the-threat-of-eco-terrorism
Guardian Article on Eco-Terrorism- http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/17/eco-terrorismpolicing-environmental-activists
ELF Website - http://earth-liberation-front.org/