Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization

by Christopher Manes

Radical environmental groups throughout the world, militantly committed to defending the ecology, are growing in size and influence. In this country, activists engage in ecological civil disobedience and "ecotage"-- the sabotaging of equipment to prevent ecological damage-- in the struggle to preserve wilderness lands. These ecoteurs have gone beyond traditional conservation concerns to a new philosophy-- Deep Ecology, or biocentrism-- that calls into question not only the wisdom, but the legitimacy of humanity's domination of nature. In "Green Rage", Christopher Manes has written a brilliant defense of radical environmentalism, challenging the ethics of modern industrial society and asserting the right of the natural world to blossom, evolve, and exist for its own sake.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Environment, Theory, Philosophy, History

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Christopher Manes is an award-winning author, journalist and documentary film-maker

His books include Green Rage (Little, Brown), nominated for a Los Angeles Times book award in science; and Other Creations: Rediscovering the Spirituality of Animals (Doubleday). Portions of Other Creations were anthologized in The CAFO Reader: The Tragedy Of Industrial Animal Factories (Univ. Of Cal. Press), which is the 2011 Winner of the Nautilus Book Award for Investigative Reporting, and the 2011 Independent Publishers Award for Outstanding Book "Most Likely to Save the Planet."

His articles have ranged from solo treks across the interior of Iceland to Beowulf scholarship to explorations of environmental ethics. They have appeared in numerous publications, including Los Angeles Magazine, Mother Earth News, Environmental Ethics, Orion Nature Quarterly, Northern Lights, Houghton Mifflin's Encyclopedia of the Environment, English Language Notes, Human Ecology Review, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, and have been widely anthologized and quoted.

He wrote and produced the documentary Earth First!: The Politics of Radical Environmentalism, which was screened at the 1st Annual Environmental Film Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with excerpts appearing on 60 Minutes, MTV, Inside Edition, and numerous news programs.

Reviews

[delievi · Rating 5 out of 5]

good books are easy to read

u know u r a real unga bunga when u get teary-eyed reading descriptions of ecological destruction

an amazing telling of historical and philosophical underpinnings of radical environmentalism

me likey very much

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for anyone wanting to learn more about the history and philosophy of radical environmentalism, with a focus on the Earth First! movement. Manes does an amazing job of attacking misconceptions from within and from without environmentalism, such as the difference between an organization and a movement, the difference between radical and reformist environmentalism, and the false stereotyped image of radical environmentalists as pinko liberal vegan commies (not that there's anything wrong with that!). He also describes the popular and judicial response to radical enviromentalist tactics, and the response of the corporate resource industry.

The book is certainly not written from a neutral point of view (which should be obvious from the title!), but whether that is a good or a bad thing is up to the individual to decide. It's very clear that Manes is trying to convince in addition to describe, and his argument is indeed very convincing that our acceptance of practices and social mores which value short-term economic gain for the few to the detriment of the world we all share is both erroneous and dangerous.

One issue I take with this book is that at least on a couple of occasions, the author glosses over facts with the generalizations he relies on to drive home his points. For example, Europe, although highly "developed" and primarily a place of human culture and civilization, is not as nature-less as Manes would like the reader to believe. There are areas in the Alps, in Scandinavia and especially in Finland, Poland, and Belarus (the old growth Bialowieza Forest for example) among other places, where rich ecosystems do still exist. It makes me wonder in what other parts Manes omitted or glossed over facts on subjects I don't happen to be as knowledgable about.

Also, keep in mind it was written in 1991 so it's already a bit dated..

Still overall a great book and highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admire the old Earth First!. They had the repution for being over the top radicals, but in retrospect were they really all that radical? I don't recall anybody involved with Earth First! ever doing anything violent, even in self defense, and there were several instances where EF! people were physically attacked. There were tree spikings and vandalism that was attributed to them but the majority of the tactics they used were really just text book civil disobedience. The out and out criminal acts that were attributed to Earth First! turned out to be done by government agents in their bogus attempts to frame Dave Foreman. EF's main thing was the idea that forests and wildlife were just as important as human life and were more than something to be exploited and used for profit and enjoyment.

Although Green Rage isn't exactly that, it is probably the closest you will get to a manifesto for the old Earth First! before the founding members left and Earth First! became intertwined with bad left wing political causes and political correctness. Green Rage also serves as a pretty good history of the environmental/conservation movement. Highly recomended reading!

[Guy McArthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

A balanced look at deep ecology and radical environmentalism.