Final Discussion in CMJR 450

Question: Write a bit about stories that has stuck with you and why does that story stick with you? What are some of the different elements in that story that stuck with you?

Answer: One of the social organizations that I enjoyed reading about was Earth First! The idea of people giving up their God commanded nature to go and dominate Earth is a true commitment to social change. The article discussing how the movement constructed the ideas and how people got involved to show their commitment to the cause was amazing. People would actually bury themselves in the ground and then identify with how the ground looked up at people walking from above. In this sense advocates from Earth First! were not simply advocating for a cause, they were physically putting themselves in a position to be the cause itself. By burying themselves in the Earth, chaining themselves to trees and etc, it forced them to identify with the world in a different way. It also forced people to recognize the beauty of the natural world and by using physical bodies it actually changed the way people viewed nature. It also became a platform to gain community publicity. It's not everyday that someone would literally get completely naked and bury themselves in the ground.

Bugs and everything crawling all over them, just as if they were a piece of the Earth, they would proclaim that the Earth had a right to be protected. This also brings in the metaphor of life and death as a cycle. No matter how far the human species advances at some point each and every one of us will be buried in the ground again. Either as ash in a clay jar or in a wooden box, by physically burying themselves in the ground advocates of EarthFirst! were literally taking a physical metaphor of life and death by creating a new way for people to understand the reality of our situation on this planet. This is the kind of rhetorical reasoning based on the tenets that made the EarthFirst! campaign so successful.

Another way advocates of EarthFirst! were successful was in the way they used non-violent protest. Again this plays on the metaphor of the Earth not fighting back as humans dominate it again and again. As these people were buried in the ground or living in trees they became the defenseless Earth being brutalized by civilized society. Some advocates choose not to come down out of trees even as lumber companies cut the trees down. A number of Earth First! advocates lost their lives this way or had their heads beaten by lumber jacks. As the blood flowed out of their body they became the broken and beaten trees that bled sap from the wounds of chain saws and hatchets.

Lastly, the campaign was successful. Stories such as the Julia Butterfly story show that if certain people try hard enough they can make a difference. The Julia Butterfly Hill tree sitting story was a favorite of mine. One woman living in a tree was literally able to stop a corporate lumber company from cutting the tree down. The lumber company literally clear cut the entire forest around the tree that Julia was sitting in down but her tree remained. This shows that one individual can make a difference and in the midst of chaos and anarchy, one determined soul can save another living thing. Julia's story was all over the news and to this day the tree still remains living because of her dedication to a cause.

Question: What strategies do you think were the most effective that we have read about?

Answer: Many of the strategies used are discussed above. The strategy of literally using non-violent protest and putting themselves in a defenseless position to show how defenseless the Earth is in defending itself against civilized society. This strategy opened up a new way that people could see the Earth. The idea that another individual would give up their right to protect or defend themselves for the Earth was a concept never before seen. Earth First! developed this concept further and used it's visual imagery to gain support for their cause. Was the brutalization of a human life really necessary to clear cut for a housing development? People didn't think that brutalizing humans was the same as brutalizing the Earth because the Earth couldn't say how it was feeling. But people could not only say how they were feeling, they could show the damages being physically done.

When Earth First! was going to protest they made sure that representatives were standing by to explain what they were advocating for changing. These weren't the people sitting in the ground but other people that could discuss the reasons why people were sitting in the ground. At first this was one of the downsides of Earth First! They would get the publicity but the stories about what they were trying to accomplish didn't match up. This is why the campaign changed over time and Earth First! was able to find their niche in telling people about what they were trying to accomplish. Stories that would never have been told were told and the invisible power of corporate capitalism was finally made public through the absolute brutality and lack of care on the part of corporate lumber companies.