Eco-terrorism — arson, bombings, and sabotage done in the name of protecting the environment — is on the rise in the American West. At least 100 major acts of eco-terrorism have taken place in the West since 1980, causing $42.8 million in damages, and 33 of the incidents occurred in the last four years. The acts are typically intended to disrupt logging, the recreational use of wilderness, or the exploitation of animals for fur, research, or food, and most have gone unsolved and unpunished. Many radical environmentalists argue that the term “eco-terrorism” unfairly spreads blame on all those who care for the Earth, and some dispute any widespread trend of illegal activity.
