Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
never happen. Our world is too centered around greed, and unfortunately that desire often blinds a person from seeing anyone else but themselves and what is best for them. All this to say that promoting an act of ecosabotage leads to a slim chance of any positive events from happening, as there are real-life instances that work to prove my exact claim. On October 19, 1988, a huge fire killed four people and burned 15+ buildings to the ground at the Vail Ski Lodge in Colorado. On the morning of October 20, two members of the Earth Liberation Front sent communication from the Denver Public Library claiming that they, as well as five other members (all of whom had given themselves the name of “The Family”) had started the fires as an act of ecosabotage to prevent the ski lodge from expanding as it would destroy native lynx habitat. What started from a place of genuine concern, on behalf of the rapidly decreasing lynx population, ended up creating detrimental effects to both these creatures, as well as many others and the natural environment at Vail Lodge. Five of the seven ecosaboteurs faced jail-time, and two are still considered fugitives as they seem to have fled the country and never returned. 3 While the act in itself seemed like a good idea to this environmentalist organization at the time, what came out of it was anything but beneficial to their larger goal. When interviewed for Denver7, Scott Miller, a local reporter who followed the story for seven years, said: “It [the act] made people mad. And they decided, ‘Well, no. We’re not going to take this!’” 4 This follows the logic represented in what I stated earlier - that these acts of ecosabotage will do nothing but perpetuate a sense of anger in people towards the environment because of the anger they feel towards those that represent the environmental movement. However, it is not just the general “people” that one should be worried about angering, but those with lots of societal, economic, and political power. This was seen in the Vail arson 3 Randy Wyrick, “Eco-Terrorists Set Fire to Vail Mountain 20 Years Ago,” The Denver Post, October 26, 2018, www.denverpost.com/2018/10/27/vail-mountain-arson-looking-back/. 4 Jeff Anastasio and Landon Haaf, “The Night Vail Mountain Was Set Ablaze in a Historic Act of Ecoterrorism, 25 Years Later.” Denver 7 Colorado News (KMGH), October 19, 2023, https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/the-night-vail-mountain-was-set-ablaze-in-a-historic-act- of-ecoterrorism-25-years-later .
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