nstream environmental movement's agenda or the niceties of politics or even the constraints of thelaw. Earth First! should stand for the radical proposition that the natural world should be preserved for its won sake, not for the sake of any real or imagined benefits to humanity. Restoring the natural world to its wild state, thereby putting the integrity of ecosystems above economic and political considerations, a position that in its academic setting was known as biocentrism, or more generally Deep Ecology. The central idea of Earth First! is "that humans have no divine right to subdue the Earth, that we are merely one of several million forms of life on this planet. We reject even the notion of benevolent stewardship as that implies dominance. Instead we believe, as did Aldo Leopold, that we should be plain citizens of the land community". This meant no permanent human habitation (with minor exceptions); no use of mechanized equipment or vehicles; no roads; no logging, mining, water diversion, industrial activity, agriculture, or grazing; no use of artificial chemical substances; no suppression of wildfires; no overflights by aircraft; no priority given to the safety and convenience of human visitors over the functioning of the ecosystem. Even more visionary than these land community guidelines was the demand for the restoration of dams, roads, power lines, and the other intrusions of industrial society. 5. The campaign of the Sea Shepherds brought international attention to the problem of unregulated whaling. Norwegian authorities began an investigation of a bank that had part ownership in the pirate operation, a Japanese fishing company became the object of an inquiry, and the South African government began a crackdown on pirate whalers operating out of its country. Over the years the Sea Shepherds made many campaigns, from stopping seal hunts along the Labrador coast to interfering with B.C.'s wolf eradication ...
