WEBVTT

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- Like so many others
in this century,

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I found myself a displaced
person shortly after birth.

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And I have been
looking half my life

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for a place to take my stand.

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- Stand by for action.

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- OK.

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- Action.

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- Of all the books
Ed Abbey has written,

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none are more famous than the
ones about canyon country.

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\"Desert Solitaire\" and
\"The Monkey Wrench Gang\"

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are southern Utah classics.

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- I\'d go so far as to say that a
bulldozer tearing up a hillside

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is committing a kind of
terrorism against life.

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- At this mine, 7
billion tons of coal

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are being strip mined each year.

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- Monkeywrenching.

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It\'s part guerrilla
theater, part sabotage.

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(HOWLING)

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- Compromise is a losing
game at this time.

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- While denouncing
the road block,

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forestry officials
concede that it probably

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speeded legislation which set
aside a million acres of forest

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as wilderness land.

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- I think it\'s my
duty as an American

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to protect and defend
this kind of country.

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I think this land is too
beautiful and too precious

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to be turned into an
industrial dump of any kind.

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- An environmental activist
threw a controversial oil

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and gas auction into chaos.

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- I believe they\'re
terrorists in their actions.

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- Four people are in federal
custody this morning.

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- What you have is an
attempt not to bring justice,

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but to silence a movement.

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- Human society is like a stew.

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If you don\'t keep
it get stirred up,

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you get a lot of scum on top.

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Agitate.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

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- Thank you all
for coming tonight.

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It\'s really difficult
for me to wrap my mind

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around the very idea
that Ed Abbey has

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been gone for 20 years today.

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His words and his books
are still as relevant,

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and there\'s such a deep
philosophical underpinning

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in even his most cavalier
tales of personal adventure

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that I think it expresses
a lot of people\'s attitudes

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about wilderness preservation.

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That\'s why we couldn\'t
let this anniversary go

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by without commemorating it.

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So I was fortunate enough to
be able to get Ken Sleight, Mr.

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Old School, and Tim
DeChristopher, Mr. New School,

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on the same bill together.

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And I have to think that old
Cactus Ed would be awfully

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proud that his works had
a part in inspiring Tim

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DeChristopher\'s actions.

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- I started reading
Edward Abbey when

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I was 18, which is probably
why I turned out like this.

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It\'s kind of a dangerous age
to start reading \"The Monkey

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Wrench Gang.\"

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I was old enough
to understand it,

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but not quite old
enough to realize

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that it wasn\'t a manual.

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- Environmentalists treat
the man like a hero,

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but now he faces the possibility
of 10 years in federal prison.

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- A federal grand jury today
indicted environmental activist

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Tim DeChristopher
on two felony counts

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for disrupting a federal
auction of oil and gas leases.

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- Reading Edward
Abbey, I realized

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that there was kind of a
different way to do things,

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and environmentalists
didn\'t always

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have to play by the rules.

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And I think if we\'re going to
have a future, a lot of people

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are going to have to think about
what it really personally means

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to stand up and defend the
things that we care about.

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And I think a lot of
the answers to that

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can be found in Edward Abbey.

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He\'s got a lot of
inspiration for that.

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Not that we should be
following exactly what he did,

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but that we should feel
as passionately as he did.

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That we should take it
as personally as he did,

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and that we should get as
angry as Edward Abbey did.

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- Who needs wilderness?

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Civilization needs wilderness.

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The idea of wilderness
preservation is one

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of the fruits of civilization,
like Bach\'s music,

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Tolstoy\'s novels, Novocain,
space travel, free love,

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the double martini,
the secret ballot,

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and a thousand another
good things one could name,

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some of them trivial,
most of them essential,

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all of them vital to that great
bubbling, disorderly, anarchic,

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unmanageable diversity
of opinion, expression,

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and ways of living which
free men and women love,

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and which the authoritarians
of church and state and war

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and sometimes even art despise
and always have despised...

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and feared.

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- Ed and I were camping
buddies primarily.

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Both of us came from Appalachia.

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And we both fell in love
with this incredible place.

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The American Southwest...

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the centerpiece of
the American Southwest

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is the Colorado
Plateau, which is

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one of the most
beautiful environments

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in the entire world.

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To see it be desecrated
by industrialism

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and its various components
was more than either of us

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could bear.

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It was like Armageddon
happening right there

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before your very
eyes in paradise.

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- Ed helped make that sense that
we\'d done something terrible

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and we\'re not going
to do it anymore

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and we\'re going to fix
it, restore things.

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He made that almost
a national idea.

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- And I\'ve always felt that
my family, my generation

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of Western wilderness people,
were probably more influenced

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by Abbey than anybody else.

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He sort of was a voice for us.

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(HONKING)

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And that influence helped us
take a more irreverent look

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at things.

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It allowed us to really
think outside the box

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and take things in
a new direction.

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- When I first came to the
Arches country back in 1956,

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this was the official
entrance road.

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Eight miles of sand
and dust and rocks.

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And when it rained, as it
sometimes did, a lot of this

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turned into quicksand.

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Real wheel sucking muck.

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But I loved it.

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Of course, I was paid
to love this place.

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I was a park ranger
in those days.

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In the mid-\'60s, I was advised
by a publisher to write a book

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about my experiences
as a park ranger.

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Partly a book of
personal history.

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One man\'s odyssey in
search of his Ithaca.

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- \"Desert Solitaire.\"

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I think that really set
the stage for activism

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in conservation realms.

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That was a remarkable book.

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It was just so new, so
different, so refreshing,

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so funny.

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- And in the end piece
of his introduction

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to the original \"Desert
Solitaire,\" I think these words

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are still very seminal.

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\"You can\'t see
anything from a car.

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You\'ve got to get out of the
goddamn contraption and walk.

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Better yet, crawl on hands
and knees over the sandstone

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and through the thorn
bush and cactus.

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When traces of blood
begin to mark your trail,

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you\'ll see something, maybe.

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Probably not.\"

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- Right around when
Ed was 18, an event

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occurred that
placed him squarely

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on the path he\'d follow
for the rest of his life.

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He was drafted in World War
II and headed for Japan.

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And the weird sense of
relief and poignance

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and awfulness he must have felt
when they didn\'t have to go

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do that, because
the A-bomb landed

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on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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And it was at that
point that Ed started

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vigorously getting people
to burn their draft cards.

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And he started getting his
FBI file back in 1946, \'47.

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I was there, alive
and unconscious,

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throughout the entirety
of the Second World War.

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And the end of that war was
the threat of nuclear war.

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And we\'ve all seen the
results of the films that were

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shot watching bombs go off.

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I\'ve happened to see three
of them go off at close range

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myself.

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(EXPLOSION)

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And some of us became
really inspired,

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and realized that everything
in the vicinity of that bomb

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was gone.

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The biotic community no
longer existed, period.

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And that really turned
me into what I am today.

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I saw that I wasn\'t
the one who was nuts.

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Ed really wanted to figure out
how to effectively challenge

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what was happening around us.

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His approach came from
his belief in anarchism.

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He got a lot of
that from his dad,

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who read Walt Whitman and
other thinkers to him as a kid.

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And it all culminated
in his master\'s thesis,

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titled \"Anarchism and the
Morality of Violence.\"

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- People get confused.

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They think anarchy means
you\'re going to throw

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a brick through a window.

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But what it means is an
absolute, in his sense...

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he was a classical anarchist,
meaning he didn\'t trust

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centralized power.

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That any concentration of power
is dangerous, and I agree.

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- He thought that through
pure anarchist endeavor,

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pure democracy could occur.

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But he had the incredible wisdom
to be able to extend that sense

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to go beyond the human
community to include

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the biotic community.

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- I consider myself almost
an absolute egalitarian.

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I think all human
beings are essentially,

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in some essential way, equal.

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By virtue of being
alive, living things,

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we deserve to be
respected as individuals.

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And I\'m saying that that
respect for the value

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of each human being should be
extended to each living thing.

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Our fellow creatures...

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I think a tree, a shrub,
deserves respect and sympathy

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as a living thing.

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I can even go beyond that
to the air, to the water,

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because it\'s all a part
of the whole, each part

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depending on most
of the other parts.

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And so we should, if
only for our own self

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respect and survival, learn
to love the world around us,

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instead of simply trying
to dominate it, subjugate

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it, enslave it, as we\'ve been
doing for the last 5,000 years.

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I think southeast Utah is one of
the great adventure places left

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on Earth, and I
think we should try

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to keep it wild and primitive.

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It really is the
property not only

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of all the American people, but
of all the people of the world.

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- He really felt the rage
about what was going on.

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And regardless of
what your issue is

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or what you want to
do with your life,

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you really have to
confront that rage

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if life is meaningful
beyond yourself,

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if you want to project
into the rest of the world.

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There has to be a
motivation to do something.

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That was what Ed, to me,
conveyed with a fire that was

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within him... the fire in
your belly or however you want

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to describe it.

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And it really made you think,
we have to do something.

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And you just can\'t go gentle
into that good night, you know?

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- The smog produced daily
by the local smelter...

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the smell is like that of
a decomposing jellyfish.

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The golfers inhale the
powder and the gases,

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and they swell with pleasure.

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Mention pollution, and
they say, \"Son, that smells

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like money to me.\"

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- What is being destroyed, in
Abbey\'s view, was our home.

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The wilderness is as much of
a home as we\'ll ever have.

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All we\'ve ever needed, you know?

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Resist much, obey little.

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And the muscle that Abbey
put in, beyond the humor,

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there was an urgency there.

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And of course, it was
Ed\'s personal hope

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that he would inspire little
cells of Monkey Wrench Gang

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people all over the place.

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And anyway, he did, in a way.

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- I supposed to
arrival in the west,

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I could imagine
nothing more romantic

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than becoming a cowboy,
nothing more glorious

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than owning my own little
genuine working cattle outfit.

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The only thing
better, I thought,

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must be a Big League
baseball player.

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I never dreamed, in
those days, that I\'d sink

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to writing books for a living.

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- He was the person who
best, to my point of view,

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actually melded anarchism
and environmentalism.

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Nobody has even come close
to Ed in that respect.

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He developed the anarchist
theme in his writing as well.

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His second novel,
\"The Brave Cowboy,\"

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was adapted into a movie.

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And in that book,
Ed introduced us

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to a character who
would ride through four

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of his novels, Jack Burns.

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Jack loved his freedom and the
open spaces he called home.

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- Jack Burns was self willed,
and he wouldn\'t allow anybody

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to stamp their will on him.

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Not another person,
not the state.

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Here\'s Jack Burns on the
west side of Albuquerque,

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where Rio Rancho is now.

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It\'s all built up, and
you get this scene...

00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:00.854
here\'s this barbed wire fence.

00:16:00.855 --> 00:16:04.639
And Jack Burns gets down
off his horse and clips

00:16:04.640 --> 00:16:06.819
the fence and rides through.

00:16:06.820 --> 00:16:10.829
And that was, I
think, very symbolic

00:16:10.830 --> 00:16:14.829
of Jack Burns being a
throwback to the time

00:16:14.830 --> 00:16:16.350
when the West was unfenced.

00:16:19.770 --> 00:16:23.069
And in an interesting
way, that says

00:16:23.070 --> 00:16:24.999
something about wilderness.

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.734
And I think it really gets to
the heart of what wilderness

00:16:28.735 --> 00:16:30.469
is.

00:16:30.470 --> 00:16:31.989
- What are you
talking about, Jack?

00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:33.197
- Well, you don\'t understand.

00:16:33.198 --> 00:16:34.589
A westerner likes open country.

00:16:34.590 --> 00:16:36.047
That means he\'s
got to hate fences.

00:16:36.048 --> 00:16:38.215
And the more fences there
are, the more he hates it.

00:16:38.216 --> 00:16:40.306
- I never heard such
nonsense in my life.

00:16:40.307 --> 00:16:41.140
- It\'s true, though.

00:16:41.141 --> 00:16:44.504
You ever notice how many
fences there are getting to be?

00:16:44.505 --> 00:16:46.629
The signs that they\'ve got
on them... \"No Hunting\",

00:16:46.630 --> 00:16:50.139
\"No hiking,\" \"No Admission\", \"No
trespass\", \"Private Property\",

00:16:50.140 --> 00:16:53.219
\"Closed Area\", \"Start Moving\",
\"Go Away\", \"Get Lost\",

00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:54.120
\"Drop Dead\".

00:16:54.121 --> 00:16:55.309
Know what I mean?

00:16:55.310 --> 00:16:56.769
- I don\'t even want to know.

00:16:56.770 --> 00:16:59.769
- And they got those fences
that say, \"This side\'s jail\".

00:16:59.770 --> 00:17:01.009
Or \"That side\'s the street\".

00:17:01.010 --> 00:17:04.449
Or here... \"Here\'s Arizona,
that\'s Nevada\", or \"This is us,

00:17:04.450 --> 00:17:05.075
that\'s Mexico.\"

00:17:05.076 --> 00:17:07.799
- Jack Burns was unfenced.

00:17:07.800 --> 00:17:11.700
So in a sense, Jack Burns
is the spirit of wilderness.

00:17:13.710 --> 00:17:20.439
- He rode through
\"The Brave Cowboy.\"

00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:24.011
He, in \"The Monkey Wrench
Gang,\" is the Lone Ranger.

00:17:24.012 --> 00:17:26.919
And it interests
me that it\'s not

00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.839
revealed to near the
end of \"Hayduke Lives!\",

00:17:29.840 --> 00:17:34.409
the sequel to \"The Monkey Wrench
Gang,\" that actually, the Lone

00:17:34.410 --> 00:17:40.739
Ranger is Jack Burns,
and that Jack Burns is

00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:44.336
the father of the radical
environmental movement.

00:17:49.760 --> 00:17:55.669
I actually have to think that
in reality, Jack Burns was Ed.

00:17:55.670 --> 00:17:57.889
- I believe that in
wildness is really

00:17:57.890 --> 00:17:59.959
the preservation of ourselves.

00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:03.329
And Ed Abbey gave me this
notion that maybe the only thing

00:18:03.330 --> 00:18:05.692
worth saving at
all was wilderness.

00:18:05.693 --> 00:18:08.459
And I agreed with
it 40 years ago,

00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:10.539
and I\'m still fighting
those battles today.

00:18:10.540 --> 00:18:11.720
And I won\'t stop.

00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:28.329
- I recorded Ed back in
January the 1st, 1983.

00:18:28.330 --> 00:18:32.019
We knew he had the malaise
that would carry him away.

00:18:32.020 --> 00:18:35.071
And one of the things
that he said in there

00:18:35.072 --> 00:18:38.119
was that he does
all of his defending

00:18:38.120 --> 00:18:40.679
from behind a typewriter,
where other people like Dave

00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.263
Foreman and Dave Brower,
to name a couple,

00:18:43.264 --> 00:18:44.680
were out there on
the front lines.

00:18:47.590 --> 00:18:49.549
But I\'m here to
tell you that Ed did

00:18:49.550 --> 00:18:51.909
a lot of defending of
habitat, and the typewriter

00:18:51.910 --> 00:18:53.759
was nowhere to be tripped over.

00:18:53.760 --> 00:18:54.889
He was out there doing it.

00:18:54.890 --> 00:18:55.890
He called it night work.

00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:01.269
- Ed had a hatred of authority
and a love of the land,

00:19:01.270 --> 00:19:06.439
and a kind of a casual way
about addressing problems.

00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.830
And he\'d been
monkeywrenching all his life.

00:19:12.040 --> 00:19:13.769
- Ed started cutting
down billboards

00:19:13.770 --> 00:19:16.109
back in the early 1950s.

00:19:16.110 --> 00:19:21.189
And it became really a big
deal down around Albuquerque.

00:19:21.190 --> 00:19:23.679
And he and another
group of folks

00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.969
were cutting down
billboards vigorously up

00:19:25.970 --> 00:19:27.853
around Taos County.

00:19:27.854 --> 00:19:29.590
(COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING)

00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:41.949
- And then Ed took over
the paper in Taos in 1959.

00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:43.649
It was called The
El Crepusculo De La

00:19:43.650 --> 00:19:47.289
Libertad, The Dawn
of Liberty, which

00:19:47.290 --> 00:19:48.689
appealed to Ed, of course.

00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:50.709
But that\'s where the
Monkey Wrench Gang began.

00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:55.369
And the funny thing is, that
the owner of the Melody Sign

00:19:55.370 --> 00:19:57.599
Company came into
the paper to put

00:19:57.600 --> 00:20:02.595
in an ad for the apprehension
of these villains, these crooks,

00:20:02.596 --> 00:20:05.839
these swine of the
earth who had done this.

00:20:05.840 --> 00:20:09.779
And he offered $4,000
for the apprehension.

00:20:09.780 --> 00:20:12.139
And Ed, being the
editor, took the ad,

00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:14.829
and suddenly burst out laughing.

00:20:14.830 --> 00:20:18.789
Later, he told me, \"God,\" he
said. \"$4,000 bucks, DePuy!

00:20:18.790 --> 00:20:22.360
I was thinking of
turning you in!\"

00:20:25.300 --> 00:20:30.869
- These people just loved the
natural resource of pure land.

00:20:30.870 --> 00:20:32.619
And they felt they
had no recourse.

00:20:32.620 --> 00:20:33.989
And monkeywrenching was simple.

00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:36.484
You know what a
wrench is, and you

00:20:36.485 --> 00:20:38.076
know what a monkey wrench is.

00:20:38.077 --> 00:20:39.743
So they were going
to wrench the system.

00:20:41.330 --> 00:20:43.359
- The spanner in the works.

00:20:43.360 --> 00:20:46.209
The wooden shoe in the
gears of the machine.

00:20:46.210 --> 00:20:47.260
That type of thing.

00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:52.419
You slow something down.

00:20:52.420 --> 00:20:54.269
You make it not
worth their while

00:20:54.270 --> 00:20:56.599
to go into certain wilderness.

00:20:56.600 --> 00:21:00.369
It\'s not overthrowing
the industrial system.

00:21:00.370 --> 00:21:01.460
It\'s not revolutionary.

00:21:04.340 --> 00:21:06.389
- I regard defending
the wilderness something

00:21:06.390 --> 00:21:08.525
like defending your own home.

00:21:08.526 --> 00:21:09.026
- Yo!

00:21:09.026 --> 00:21:09.526
Yo!

00:21:09.527 --> 00:21:12.059
- Turn it off!

00:21:12.060 --> 00:21:17.259
- And when it\'s being invaded by
clear cutters and strip miners,

00:21:17.260 --> 00:21:21.359
I feel not only the right but
the duty, the moral obligation,

00:21:21.360 --> 00:21:23.944
to defend it by any means I can.

00:21:23.945 --> 00:21:27.719
And if writing letters to
congressmen doesn\'t do it,

00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:30.689
the I am perfectly willing
myself to go out and perform

00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:33.419
illegal actions.

00:21:33.420 --> 00:21:35.889
Civil disobedience,
if that will help.

00:21:35.890 --> 00:21:39.910
And if that also fails, why,
then, even more direct action.

00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:44.169
- I had some land
near Monticello,

00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:46.219
near Devil\'s Canyon.

00:21:46.220 --> 00:21:48.109
And it was just rough, you know?

00:21:48.110 --> 00:21:48.960
I camped there.

00:21:48.961 --> 00:21:51.859
And a person who had some
land right next to mine

00:21:51.860 --> 00:21:53.179
was Bevin Wright.

00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:56.929
He was the Chief of
Police in Blanding.

00:21:56.930 --> 00:21:59.319
And one night, Ed and I, we
were standing around the fire

00:21:59.320 --> 00:22:00.999
cooking some steaks.

00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.399
And up comes Bevin and
says, \"You boys wouldn\'t

00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.759
know anything about
that D3 Cat that

00:22:06.760 --> 00:22:10.049
went off Comb Ridge a number
of years ago, would you?\"

00:22:10.050 --> 00:22:13.559
(LAUGHING)

00:22:13.560 --> 00:22:17.669
And Ed, his face turned white.

00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.479
And Ed and I had
found this D3 Cat

00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:22.959
in the construction
of that stinking

00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.312
highway down to the Colorado.

00:22:25.313 --> 00:22:28.937
And the stupid idiots had
left the key in the ignition.

00:22:28.938 --> 00:22:32.459
So we turned the damn
thing on and sent it off

00:22:32.460 --> 00:22:34.399
the cliff about 500 feet.

00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:37.869
Made a nice shot when
it blew up in flames.

00:22:37.870 --> 00:22:40.639
And Bevin winked at me,
so I knew it was a joke.

00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.228
The reason it was a joke
was that the Mormon ranchers

00:22:44.229 --> 00:22:45.020
hated that highway.

00:22:45.021 --> 00:22:46.352
They didn\'t want the damn thing.

00:22:46.353 --> 00:22:49.019
So they were happy when the
D3 Cat went over the side.

00:22:49.020 --> 00:22:50.310
But Ed didn\'t know this.

00:22:53.360 --> 00:22:56.019
- One time, Ed showed up while
we were building our house

00:22:56.020 --> 00:22:59.519
in 1974, it had to be.

00:22:59.520 --> 00:23:01.359
The purpose of the
visit was he brought

00:23:01.360 --> 00:23:03.469
a sack full of
splitting wedges that we

00:23:03.470 --> 00:23:06.689
would put on the railroad tracks
outside of a huge strip mine

00:23:06.690 --> 00:23:10.459
to tip over the coal train.

00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:15.129
And to me, the idea was
great, except there was always

00:23:15.130 --> 00:23:18.089
somebody on the train.

00:23:18.090 --> 00:23:23.719
And the first rule is to
cause harm to no fellow human.

00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:26.089
There were a lot of things
we could have or maybe should

00:23:26.090 --> 00:23:27.319
have done.

00:23:27.320 --> 00:23:29.529
It felt like an
invasion back then.

00:23:29.530 --> 00:23:32.939
The population was exploding,
and the one thing everybody

00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:35.849
needed was a steady
supply of water.

00:23:35.850 --> 00:23:38.069
Dams were built all
along the Colorado River

00:23:38.070 --> 00:23:42.779
to create reservoirs and to
control its erratic flow.

00:23:42.780 --> 00:23:47.479
Hoover was the first mega dam
used to subjugate the river.

00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:52.163
But for us, the worst was
what happened in Glen Canyon.

00:23:52.164 --> 00:23:53.830
(MUSIC KATIE LEE,
\"SONG OF THE BOATMAN\")

00:24:35.340 --> 00:24:38.819
- When I first went into the
Glen, the first thing I noticed

00:24:38.820 --> 00:24:42.209
was its serenity.

00:24:42.210 --> 00:24:45.609
It was just a quiet,
peaceful place.

00:24:45.610 --> 00:24:48.829
So I didn\'t really
know at first what

00:24:48.830 --> 00:24:54.379
was happening to my whole
being, my personality.

00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:58.099
I just thought, well, this
is very beautiful and very

00:24:58.100 --> 00:25:02.289
unusual, especially when we went
into the side canyons, of which

00:25:02.290 --> 00:25:05.629
there were 125 at least.

00:25:05.630 --> 00:25:09.179
I would say one of
the most impressive

00:25:09.180 --> 00:25:10.869
was Little Arch Canyon.

00:25:10.870 --> 00:25:15.659
And Little Arch Canyon had
a willow clogged entrance.

00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.189
And then we wove into this...

00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:19.429
I don\'t know what to call it.

00:25:19.430 --> 00:25:22.809
It\'s not a tunnel, but the
walls were like silver.

00:25:22.810 --> 00:25:26.399
They looked like they just
had raindrops all over them.

00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.389
And when we came
to the end of it,

00:25:28.390 --> 00:25:32.419
and we looked up into
this stone teepee

00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:37.299
with a skylight that was no
bigger than the length of two

00:25:37.300 --> 00:25:40.209
of our arms put
together like that.

00:25:40.210 --> 00:25:45.199
And that shone down into
this teepee where we stood,

00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:50.699
and we got the feeling that
we were the first humans that

00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:52.451
had ever been in that spot.

00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.900
It just makes you feel like
you\'re part of the earth.

00:26:04.792 --> 00:26:08.151
(EXPLOSION)

00:26:08.152 --> 00:26:10.193
(MUSIC KATIE LEE, \"WRECK
THE NATION BUREAU SONG\")

00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:25.449
When we heard that Glen
Canyon was going to be dammed,

00:26:25.450 --> 00:26:27.229
it was just something
we didn\'t believe.

00:26:27.230 --> 00:26:30.989
We didn\'t think that
anybody in their right mind

00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:35.090
could destroy a place
like a natural Eden.

00:27:02.510 --> 00:27:06.134
- I was, of course, down
Glen Canyon when they started

00:27:06.135 --> 00:27:09.499
filling up the reservoir.

00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:12.059
I always knew, of
course, for years before,

00:27:12.060 --> 00:27:16.519
that they were going to put
water in there and fill it up.

00:27:16.520 --> 00:27:20.249
But I wasn\'t prepared for it.

00:27:20.250 --> 00:27:23.689
You know it\'s coming, but you\'re
not prepared for that defining

00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:24.690
moment.

00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:33.029
That\'s the way it
was in \'61 and \'62.

00:27:33.030 --> 00:27:38.139
And in \'63, of course,
they closed the cofferdams,

00:27:38.140 --> 00:27:40.499
and the water came up.

00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:42.744
Surprised me how
fast it came up.

00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.839
- I had a little
runabout that I took.

00:27:52.840 --> 00:27:55.699
I don\'t know why I wanted to
torture myself and go back

00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:57.969
in there and look at it.

00:27:57.970 --> 00:28:01.499
And I, uh, came around the
bend, and I looked down

00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:05.889
into the water, and sure
enough, there was the hole.

00:28:05.890 --> 00:28:10.479
And so I dove down
into the water.

00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:13.910
I could see into that
teepee where we had stood...

00:28:19.590 --> 00:28:21.375
two or three years before that.

00:28:26.549 --> 00:28:28.089
- You go up into
these sacred places,

00:28:28.090 --> 00:28:31.409
and the inscriptions
on the wall,

00:28:31.410 --> 00:28:37.249
one trip you took, there they
were, and the next trip they

00:28:37.250 --> 00:28:38.869
were covered.

00:28:38.870 --> 00:28:45.619
You take your hand down beneath
the surface of that water,

00:28:45.620 --> 00:28:47.699
and you can feel
the inscriptions.

00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:48.750
But it\'s not the same.

00:28:53.130 --> 00:28:56.489
That was the
toughest of my life.

00:28:56.490 --> 00:29:01.549
If you say, why am I
an environmentalist?

00:29:01.550 --> 00:29:05.659
It\'s because I saw so
much destruction right

00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:06.790
in front of my eyes.

00:29:24.520 --> 00:29:27.979
- Apparently, the movement
had forgotten the exhortation

00:29:27.980 --> 00:29:34.409
of David Brower, who said
\"Polite conservationists leave

00:29:34.410 --> 00:29:38.469
no mark, save for
the scars on the land

00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:46.470
that could\'ve been prevented
had they held their ground.\"

00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:01.539
- The dam flooded 186 miles of
magnificent Slickrock Canyon

00:30:01.540 --> 00:30:02.999
country.

00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:07.369
Phoenix and Tucson wanted the
water, and in order to get it,

00:30:07.370 --> 00:30:09.839
lots of power was
needed to pump it,

00:30:09.840 --> 00:30:13.539
and that would come from coal.

00:30:13.540 --> 00:30:16.979
Back in 1969, my
old pal Bill Brown,

00:30:16.980 --> 00:30:18.949
who was a Park
Service historian,

00:30:18.950 --> 00:30:21.379
had been picking up on
scuttlebutt within the Park

00:30:21.380 --> 00:30:26.279
Service that there was to
be a coal strip mine located

00:30:26.280 --> 00:30:30.615
on Black Mesa in
northern Arizona,

00:30:30.616 --> 00:30:32.989
which was situated right smack
in the middle of both Hopi

00:30:32.990 --> 00:30:37.029
and Navajo sacred lands.

00:30:37.030 --> 00:30:40.320
(EXPLOSION)

00:30:41.730 --> 00:30:44.279
Ed and I reacted
in different ways

00:30:44.280 --> 00:30:48.099
to the news of what was
happening up on Black Mesa.

00:30:48.100 --> 00:30:50.889
I was working on a
project basically

00:30:50.890 --> 00:30:55.209
to try to stop or forestall the
construction of more coal fired

00:30:55.210 --> 00:30:57.739
power plants in the
American Southwest.

00:30:57.740 --> 00:31:01.179
And I told people
out in Hopi country

00:31:01.180 --> 00:31:03.319
about what I\'d learned
about the coal strip mine,

00:31:03.320 --> 00:31:08.429
and they reacted very adamantly
against the idea of this.

00:31:08.430 --> 00:31:11.799
And so they asked me if I could
try to get something going.

00:31:11.800 --> 00:31:13.790
We started the Black
Mesa Defense Fund.

00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.973
Ed reacted in his
own Ed Abbey fashion.

00:31:23.820 --> 00:31:25.809
Abbey perceived the
interrelatedness

00:31:25.810 --> 00:31:29.479
between corporate
economics, industry,

00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:34.789
politics, the entire scenario
as truly one of the great evils

00:31:34.790 --> 00:31:35.935
manifest in this land.

00:31:38.650 --> 00:31:41.999
Ed was basically a
guerrilla warrior at heart,

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:43.599
and he applied his
thoughts to how

00:31:43.600 --> 00:31:45.849
to thwart the mining
of coal, which

00:31:45.850 --> 00:31:49.019
fed the generating stations
supplying the power

00:31:49.020 --> 00:31:51.339
to pump the water.

00:31:51.340 --> 00:31:54.779
And the pumping of water into
the central valleys of Arizona

00:31:54.780 --> 00:31:59.099
is known as the Central
Arizona Project.

00:31:59.100 --> 00:32:02.239
- What Arizona\'s done is
create the largest public works

00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:03.929
project in the history
of the country.

00:32:03.930 --> 00:32:08.349
And in the end, what we created
with it was a short term thing.

00:32:08.350 --> 00:32:10.979
We moved a bunch of
people into a desert

00:32:10.980 --> 00:32:12.535
where we can\'t sustain them.

00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:17.509
It was like sending a case
of whiskey to an alcoholic.

00:32:17.510 --> 00:32:19.889
I mean, there was no
conservation connection.

00:32:19.890 --> 00:32:22.659
Phoenix and Tuscon kept
growing like weeds,

00:32:22.660 --> 00:32:23.975
because now they had water.

00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:30.719
- And so to me, when you look
back on it, the Central Arizona

00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:35.599
Project itself, in conjunction
with the Glen Canyon Dam,

00:32:35.600 --> 00:32:39.419
was the reason the modern
environmental movement took off

00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:42.039
as it did in the
American Southwest.

00:32:42.040 --> 00:32:44.979
And it also really did
inspire \"The Monkey Wrench

00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:46.320
Gang\" right down the line.

00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:15.689
- \"The Monkey Wrench Gang\"
is an incendiary device

00:33:15.690 --> 00:33:17.479
bound as a book.

00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:20.839
Because what it says is
the salvation of the United

00:33:20.840 --> 00:33:24.445
States and the planet is blowing
up property that\'s killing it.

00:33:28.570 --> 00:33:31.089
Everybody around
Ed, including me,

00:33:31.090 --> 00:33:34.199
wanted to blow up
the goddamn dam.

00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:37.309
He invented a sort
of comic scenario,

00:33:37.310 --> 00:33:39.019
and he implanted the idea.

00:33:39.020 --> 00:33:42.019
And the real idea isn\'t
blowing up Glen Canyon Dam.

00:33:42.020 --> 00:33:46.185
It\'s one, this was a tragedy,
and two, this has to be undone.

00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.059
- Well, the story
is about, really,

00:33:52.060 --> 00:33:56.289
four people who got upset
with what was going on.

00:33:56.290 --> 00:33:59.069
All the roads that were
going through the country

00:33:59.070 --> 00:34:02.359
where they\'d hike that
turned up with bulldozers

00:34:02.360 --> 00:34:04.109
standing in front of them.

00:34:04.110 --> 00:34:06.049
And I can remember
some of my friends

00:34:06.050 --> 00:34:11.029
in southern Utah
just going bananas,

00:34:11.030 --> 00:34:13.164
because \"Don\'t they understand?

00:34:13.165 --> 00:34:16.718
These machines cost
millions of dollars.\"

00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:20.309
And I say, yes they do.

00:34:20.310 --> 00:34:25.738
But it doesn\'t take a million
dollars to repair a gas tank,

00:34:25.739 --> 00:34:29.069
so don\'t get so excited.

00:34:29.070 --> 00:34:34.229
- Back in 1975, Ed came
up for Thanksgiving,

00:34:34.230 --> 00:34:35.939
and he brought two gifts.

00:34:35.940 --> 00:34:38.979
One was 12 LP records
with the collective organ

00:34:38.980 --> 00:34:41.218
works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

00:34:41.219 --> 00:34:45.319
And the other gift was
this typewritten manuscript

00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:48.029
of \"The Monkey Wrench Gang.\"

00:34:48.030 --> 00:34:51.749
- I read that manuscript over,
and I thought, right on, Ed.

00:34:51.750 --> 00:34:52.630
Right on.

00:34:52.631 --> 00:34:56.445
It made an impact much greater
than I thought it would be.

00:34:56.446 --> 00:34:59.869
It listed a lot of
supporters, and it listed

00:34:59.870 --> 00:35:00.950
a lot of monkeywrenching.

00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:11.239
- So this is Abbey\'s old chair
that he had in his writing

00:35:11.240 --> 00:35:13.579
studio in Tucson.

00:35:13.580 --> 00:35:18.289
And he gave it to me after he
finally got a modern chair.

00:35:18.290 --> 00:35:20.299
And he said that he
wrote \"The Monkey Wrench

00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:23.459
Gang\" sitting in this chair
on his old typewriter.

00:35:23.460 --> 00:35:26.129
I would have loved to have
gotten the typewriter, too,

00:35:26.130 --> 00:35:29.409
but at least I have the chair.

00:35:29.410 --> 00:35:30.410
- I love the book.

00:35:30.411 --> 00:35:34.669
I mean, I love the way
Ed put the book together.

00:35:34.670 --> 00:35:38.559
And he realized that if
you\'re going to really inspire

00:35:38.560 --> 00:35:42.329
a bunch of people to get
cracking on this subject,

00:35:42.330 --> 00:35:44.609
you had to make
it look like fun.

00:35:44.610 --> 00:35:49.226
So he did. (LAUGHING)

00:36:15.700 --> 00:36:17.449
I think that book
was a brilliant way

00:36:17.450 --> 00:36:20.499
of striking back at the raping
and pillaging taking place

00:36:20.500 --> 00:36:21.859
out here.

00:36:21.860 --> 00:36:23.679
Some of his friends
felt much like Ed

00:36:23.680 --> 00:36:26.419
did, and in some way
or another inspired

00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:31.189
its four main characters:
Hayduke, Seldom Seen, Doc,

00:36:31.190 --> 00:36:33.129
and Bonnie.

00:36:33.130 --> 00:36:35.469
- Abbey picked his
friends because they

00:36:35.470 --> 00:36:36.879
thought a lot like him.

00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:39.649
There\'s no mystery about that.

00:36:39.650 --> 00:36:41.559
I can see my own
characterization in it.

00:36:41.560 --> 00:36:46.414
But yet, I see Abbey\'s thoughts
as well as my own, maybe,

00:36:46.415 --> 00:36:50.339
because we thought a
lot alike, Abbey and I.

00:36:50.340 --> 00:36:54.879
But he put into words
what a lot of us

00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:57.639
were talking about
around the campfire.

00:36:57.640 --> 00:37:04.899
And Seldom Seen Smith is Abbey,
with a token of maybe Sleight.

00:37:04.900 --> 00:37:08.469
- Seldom Seen Smith was a
river runner, just like Ken.

00:37:08.470 --> 00:37:11.869
But where did that
name come from?

00:37:11.870 --> 00:37:13.829
- Abbey and I, we had
a good a relationship.

00:37:13.830 --> 00:37:16.899
But sometimes he wouldn\'t
see me for months.

00:37:16.900 --> 00:37:20.129
That\'s where it
took from, I\'m sure.

00:37:20.130 --> 00:37:21.299
- Is that right, Ed?

00:37:21.300 --> 00:37:22.711
I think that\'s right.

00:37:22.712 --> 00:37:23.496
Yep.

00:37:23.497 --> 00:37:24.954
(LAUGHING)

00:37:35.890 --> 00:37:40.019
- The first time I met
Ken Sleight, Ed and I

00:37:40.020 --> 00:37:43.989
were going to spend a week
going down the Colorado.

00:37:43.990 --> 00:37:47.949
After a day or two,
we were nearing

00:37:47.950 --> 00:37:51.809
Big Drop, which is named that
way because that\'s how it is.

00:37:51.810 --> 00:37:55.759
And in the middle of Big
Drop is a huge boulder.

00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.389
And Ken decided it would be
best to use a little three

00:37:59.390 --> 00:38:03.299
horsepower motor that was
on the back of the raft.

00:38:03.300 --> 00:38:06.279
So he pulls on the
rope, and in the silence

00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:10.049
the motor goes sputter sputter.

00:38:10.050 --> 00:38:14.439
So Ken throws an oar to Ed.

00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:20.189
As soon as Ed put his oar in the
water, there was a loud crack.

00:38:20.190 --> 00:38:22.219
And he held it up in
the air, now nothing

00:38:22.220 --> 00:38:26.009
more than a broken
broomstick, and he said, \"Ken,

00:38:26.010 --> 00:38:29.929
I think something\'s
wrong with my oar.\"

00:38:29.930 --> 00:38:35.729
And I no longer recall how Ken
got us around that big boulder

00:38:35.730 --> 00:38:40.999
with one oar, but he managed.

00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:44.309
The time that Ed and I
cast our lot together

00:38:44.310 --> 00:38:47.189
is when he was writing
\"The Monkey Wrench Gang.\"

00:38:47.190 --> 00:38:51.909
And to the extent that Ed
modeled Bonnie after me...

00:38:51.910 --> 00:38:55.529
she\'s from the Bronx...
She\'s a dancer, which I was.

00:38:55.530 --> 00:38:59.220
And frequently, he would write
down, verbatim, conversations

00:38:59.221 --> 00:38:59.720
we had.

00:38:59.721 --> 00:39:04.699
And when I read the manuscript,
and then the galleys there...

00:39:04.700 --> 00:39:06.447
there it was.

00:39:09.250 --> 00:39:13.039
- Ingrid and Ed parted company
before the book was finished,

00:39:13.040 --> 00:39:16.349
but they remained
friends to the end.

00:39:16.350 --> 00:39:19.159
Bonnie, she\'s still passing
the wrench to others,

00:39:19.160 --> 00:39:22.549
even though Ed took out a huge
moment of her\'s from an earlier

00:39:22.550 --> 00:39:24.559
version of the book.

00:39:24.560 --> 00:39:30.629
- In that chapter, the Glen
Canyon Dam blew sky high.

00:39:30.630 --> 00:39:35.929
And this honor went to a
certain dancer from the Bronx.

00:39:35.930 --> 00:39:40.519
Who got to push down on the
plunger that blew up the dam

00:39:40.520 --> 00:39:43.437
and sent it sky high.

00:39:43.438 --> 00:39:45.374
(EXPLOSION)

00:39:49.250 --> 00:39:50.739
- This was in the early \'70s.

00:39:50.740 --> 00:39:53.289
Ed and I were camped alone
in the Cabessa Prieta

00:39:53.290 --> 00:39:54.319
at Eagle Tank.

00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:57.899
And then he told me about this
book he was going to write.

00:39:57.900 --> 00:40:00.299
And I told him, well, I can
help him here and there.

00:40:00.300 --> 00:40:02.269
And I was the one
that gave him all

00:40:02.270 --> 00:40:06.379
the counterinsurgent literature
that I\'d gleaned from my Green

00:40:06.380 --> 00:40:07.730
Beret demolition days.

00:40:13.730 --> 00:40:19.069
I came back from Vietnam
with an absolute certainty

00:40:19.070 --> 00:40:21.255
that the world was
not a good place.

00:40:24.180 --> 00:40:30.039
I\'d seen this destruction of
human life and jungle life.

00:40:30.040 --> 00:40:34.089
Just wholesale destruction in
Vietnam by the machines of war.

00:40:34.090 --> 00:40:36.109
And I came back and I see...

00:40:36.110 --> 00:40:38.369
I see the same things going
on in the American West.

00:40:38.370 --> 00:40:40.514
They\'re still going on today.

00:40:40.515 --> 00:40:44.299
And so that\'s what I
decided I would take on.

00:40:44.300 --> 00:40:45.899
That was going to
be my life is taking

00:40:45.900 --> 00:40:48.319
on the forces of
that destruction.

00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:50.889
And I happen to run this
guy Abbey about that time,

00:40:50.890 --> 00:40:55.089
and he picked Doug Peacock as a
wounded warrior who still loved

00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:57.619
the Earth, but somehow
had retained the elements

00:40:57.620 --> 00:40:59.069
of his own humanity.

00:40:59.070 --> 00:41:02.229
That was Ed\'s own input
into this character.

00:41:02.230 --> 00:41:05.039
And I think it\'s brilliant,
and I love him for it.

00:41:05.040 --> 00:41:06.040
Still do.

00:41:10.374 --> 00:41:12.039
- I once asked Doug
Peacock... you know,

00:41:12.040 --> 00:41:13.449
I\'d known Doug for years.

00:41:13.450 --> 00:41:17.014
And I said, well, how do
you decide what you do?

00:41:17.015 --> 00:41:20.459
And he says, \"When
I\'m out there and I

00:41:20.460 --> 00:41:23.139
see something that doesn\'t
belong there, I fuck with it.\"

00:41:23.140 --> 00:41:24.417
(LAUGHING)

00:41:24.418 --> 00:41:27.270
I said, OK, now I
know the ground rules.

00:41:29.860 --> 00:41:33.809
- I have a feeling that most
of the actual monkeywrenching

00:41:33.810 --> 00:41:37.129
events were based on
things Ed did himself

00:41:37.130 --> 00:41:41.279
at one time or another
with some friends.

00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:43.579
- Well, there was some
field research involved

00:41:43.580 --> 00:41:44.815
in the creation of that book.

00:41:44.816 --> 00:41:45.316
Yes.

00:41:45.317 --> 00:41:47.625
- Can you be more specific?

00:41:47.626 --> 00:41:50.544
- Do you think the statute
of limitations has run out?

00:41:50.545 --> 00:41:53.494
Yeah, I did some
night work, yes.

00:41:53.495 --> 00:41:58.739
I\'ll admit that I did
it 10, 15 years ago.

00:41:58.740 --> 00:42:01.559
- Ed did some night work
with a few of his companeros.

00:42:01.560 --> 00:42:03.829
But in the book, Doc
Sarvis\' night work

00:42:03.830 --> 00:42:07.489
was the beginning of everything.

00:42:07.490 --> 00:42:13.289
I think that Ed was a big part
of Doc, but there were others.

00:42:13.290 --> 00:42:16.739
- How many billboards do you
think Doc Sarvis really...?

00:42:16.740 --> 00:42:17.660
- Did in?

00:42:17.660 --> 00:42:18.160
- Yeah.

00:42:18.161 --> 00:42:20.369
- Couple of hundred.

00:42:20.370 --> 00:42:23.953
As well as other things,
which we won\'t discuss.

00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:30.379
In \"The Monkey Wrench Gang,\"
at least three of the events

00:42:30.380 --> 00:42:33.569
actually took place.

00:42:33.570 --> 00:42:39.504
In retrospect, I wonder if
we achieved much at all.

00:42:39.505 --> 00:42:41.614
I think the only thing
we really achieved

00:42:41.615 --> 00:42:44.359
was a raising of consciousness.

00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:45.360
That was the main thing.

00:42:45.361 --> 00:42:47.459
Because you couldn\'t
stop that monolith.

00:42:47.460 --> 00:42:49.290
It was just hopeless.

00:42:54.050 --> 00:42:57.389
- He likened the entire
scene to a kraken... a great,

00:42:57.390 --> 00:43:03.029
many tentacled creature that
could reach out and destroy.

00:43:03.030 --> 00:43:07.559
And so in his own way,
and in his own mind,

00:43:07.560 --> 00:43:10.309
he wanted to present
this in such a light

00:43:10.310 --> 00:43:12.809
that people could enjoy
themselves reading

00:43:12.810 --> 00:43:15.659
the book while being
confronted by some

00:43:15.660 --> 00:43:18.349
of the most important
concepts that

00:43:18.350 --> 00:43:20.890
could be imagined in our time.

00:43:23.010 --> 00:43:27.539
- I think \"The Monkey
Wrench Gang\" signified

00:43:27.540 --> 00:43:31.499
all those dangers coming,
and this band of characters

00:43:31.500 --> 00:43:32.959
was going to do
whatever they could

00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:35.119
to stop it from happening.

00:43:35.120 --> 00:43:37.429
And I think that\'s one of
the reasons why probably

00:43:37.430 --> 00:43:39.934
\"The Monkey Wrench Gang\"
has developed such a cult

00:43:39.935 --> 00:43:41.199
following.

00:43:41.200 --> 00:43:43.249
A lot of people
thought, yeah, the way

00:43:43.250 --> 00:43:45.249
these other people have
behaved, that\'s probably

00:43:45.250 --> 00:43:46.390
what you should have done.

00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:51.544
I had been concerned about what
was being lost in the West,

00:43:51.545 --> 00:43:52.645
because I could see it.

00:43:52.646 --> 00:43:54.379
And Ed... you know,
Ed lived there.

00:43:54.380 --> 00:43:57.069
I mean, the fact is
that he lived there.

00:43:57.070 --> 00:44:02.899
He patiently worked there in
fire watches in Tonto National

00:44:02.900 --> 00:44:04.249
Park, in Glacier National Park.

00:44:04.250 --> 00:44:09.610
I mean, he became part of
that fabric of the West.

00:44:09.611 --> 00:44:11.609
And so when I did \"The
Outlaw Trail,\" I thought,

00:44:11.610 --> 00:44:12.961
I\'m gonna call this guy.

00:44:12.962 --> 00:44:14.419
And I said, do you
want to do this?

00:44:14.420 --> 00:44:17.439
All you have to do is ride a
horse and meet in Lost Cabin.

00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.419
He said, \"Yeah, I\'ll do it.\"

00:44:19.420 --> 00:44:24.919
That was about the end of it
until we met on the trail.

00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:27.809
I first became aware of
the Outlaw Trail because

00:44:27.810 --> 00:44:29.429
of the film \"Butch Cassidy.\"

00:44:29.430 --> 00:44:32.519
It\'s got a great history that a
lot of people don\'t know about.

00:44:32.520 --> 00:44:34.911
I thought about, what if
we rode the Outlaw Trail

00:44:34.912 --> 00:44:36.369
just like the
outlaws did when they

00:44:36.370 --> 00:44:38.525
were escaping from a robbery?

00:44:38.526 --> 00:44:42.119
And so I had initially gone
to the National Geographic

00:44:42.120 --> 00:44:44.809
with just the suggestion
that they do this piece.

00:44:44.810 --> 00:44:47.865
That they cover the Outlaw
Trail before it was gone.

00:44:49.350 --> 00:44:53.749
I was by this time going against
coal and uranium, gas and oil,

00:44:53.750 --> 00:44:57.154
in effect to preserve
what was natural...

00:44:57.155 --> 00:44:58.530
Which is what
aligned me with Ed.

00:45:06.140 --> 00:45:08.020
You really had to fight
hard in this state.

00:45:08.021 --> 00:45:10.519
And they took a very dim view
in fact, a negative view...

00:45:10.520 --> 00:45:12.229
Of anyone that would speak out.

00:45:12.230 --> 00:45:15.459
But what I thought was Utah\'s
greatest asset was its land.

00:45:15.460 --> 00:45:17.449
- Movie actor Robert
Redford, among others,

00:45:17.450 --> 00:45:19.159
was burned in
effigy this weekend

00:45:19.160 --> 00:45:21.599
near the sight of the
proposed Utah power plant

00:45:21.600 --> 00:45:23.099
that he had campaigned against.

00:45:23.100 --> 00:45:25.449
- Once the threats went to
my kids, I thought, you know,

00:45:25.450 --> 00:45:27.469
that I had to take a
different approach.

00:45:27.470 --> 00:45:30.049
So that\'s when I went to doing
more behind the scenes stuff.

00:45:30.050 --> 00:45:33.259
But I\'m personally in
favor of grassroots

00:45:33.260 --> 00:45:35.389
right now, in particular
because I don\'t think

00:45:35.390 --> 00:45:37.399
the government\'s serving us.

00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:39.290
Congress is certainly
not serving us.

00:45:39.291 --> 00:45:40.789
Therefore, there
are a lot of people

00:45:40.790 --> 00:45:42.622
who feel they have no
leadership at the top,

00:45:42.623 --> 00:45:43.540
particularly morally.

00:45:43.541 --> 00:45:45.979
And so they have
only one recourse,

00:45:45.980 --> 00:45:48.359
and that\'s to build
from the bottom up.

00:45:48.360 --> 00:45:51.339
And I think the driving
force will be young people.

00:45:51.340 --> 00:45:53.379
- He\'s accused of
disrupting an oil and gas

00:45:53.380 --> 00:45:56.409
auction as a peaceful protest
against global warming.

00:45:56.410 --> 00:45:58.989
Tim DeChristopher is becoming
known to environmentalists

00:45:58.990 --> 00:46:02.029
across the country as a
symbol of civil disobedience.

00:46:02.030 --> 00:46:05.949
- He\'s a guy that
did what he could do.

00:46:05.950 --> 00:46:08.009
It was just a fabulous move.

00:46:08.010 --> 00:46:09.469
It was legitimate, what he did.

00:46:09.470 --> 00:46:11.613
Now they\'re going to
try to claim it isn\'t.

00:46:11.614 --> 00:46:13.779
They\'re going to try to
claim he\'s an eco-terrorist.

00:46:13.780 --> 00:46:17.859
All that nonsense and bullshit.

00:46:17.860 --> 00:46:22.309
No, he just honored
what he could do.

00:46:22.310 --> 00:46:25.829
And he did it, and they
couldn\'t handle it.

00:46:25.830 --> 00:46:27.539
- Well, it was meant
to be a parting

00:46:27.540 --> 00:46:31.434
gift from President George
W. Bush to the oil and gas

00:46:31.435 --> 00:46:32.509
industry.

00:46:32.510 --> 00:46:34.569
In the final weeks
of his presidency,

00:46:34.570 --> 00:46:37.399
the Bureau of Land
Management held an auction

00:46:37.400 --> 00:46:39.859
to sell the rights to
drill for oil and gas

00:46:39.860 --> 00:46:42.099
on federally protected land.

00:46:42.100 --> 00:46:45.039
- It was such a sneaky move.

00:46:45.040 --> 00:46:47.919
I became aware of it
through some folks

00:46:47.920 --> 00:46:51.919
that I knew, called NRDC
immediately and said,

00:46:51.920 --> 00:46:53.059
we gotta get on this.

00:46:53.060 --> 00:46:55.679
You\'ve got to get out
and loud about it quick.

00:46:55.680 --> 00:46:58.079
- The National Park
Service was against it,

00:46:58.080 --> 00:46:59.901
because they hadn\'t
even been consulted

00:46:59.902 --> 00:47:01.359
about the parcels
of land that were

00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:03.329
right on the
boundaries of Arches

00:47:03.330 --> 00:47:06.749
and Canyonlands National Parks,
and Dinosaur National Monument.

00:47:06.750 --> 00:47:09.149
- This, to me, is the most
cynical, very dangerous,

00:47:09.150 --> 00:47:12.719
and as you said, Rachel,
that once it\'s done

00:47:12.720 --> 00:47:13.640
it\'s intractable.

00:47:13.641 --> 00:47:15.489
And so I\'m mad.

00:47:15.490 --> 00:47:16.779
The American people are mad.

00:47:16.780 --> 00:47:18.099
And we can stop this.

00:47:18.100 --> 00:47:20.569
- It was building up as
this very urgent issue,

00:47:20.570 --> 00:47:22.329
and it seemed like
nothing people

00:47:22.330 --> 00:47:25.543
were doing to try to stop
it was being effective.

00:47:25.544 --> 00:47:26.959
So when I got down
to the protest,

00:47:26.960 --> 00:47:29.733
I saw people walking back and
forth with their signs outside,

00:47:29.734 --> 00:47:31.774
and there was kind of this
feeling of resignation

00:47:31.775 --> 00:47:33.289
and hopelessness.

00:47:33.290 --> 00:47:37.029
So I knew I wanted to do
more and push things harder.

00:47:37.030 --> 00:47:38.919
And so I went inside.

00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:41.669
And when I jumped in, I
knew that if I actually

00:47:41.670 --> 00:47:45.519
won any parcels, then I\'d
almost definitely go to prison.

00:47:45.520 --> 00:47:48.218
So I started out cautiously
just driving up the prices,

00:47:48.219 --> 00:47:49.759
but as I was doing
that, I was seeing

00:47:49.760 --> 00:47:52.176
that these parcels were still
going to the oil companies.

00:47:52.177 --> 00:47:54.259
And so at some point, I
just jumped all the way in

00:47:54.260 --> 00:47:56.059
and decided to start
winning parcels.

00:47:56.060 --> 00:47:57.559
And it was pretty
clear to everybody

00:47:57.560 --> 00:47:59.789
in the room what was going on.

00:47:59.790 --> 00:48:03.409
After the 13th parcel that I
won, they stopped the auction,

00:48:03.410 --> 00:48:06.339
and an agent came over to
me right away and said,

00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:08.729
\"We need to talk outside.\"

00:48:08.730 --> 00:48:14.309
And so I ended up winning
about 22,500 acres,

00:48:14.310 --> 00:48:17.659
for a total of
about $1.8 million.

00:48:17.660 --> 00:48:19.479
- Put on hold.

00:48:19.480 --> 00:48:21.383
The Obama
administration reverses

00:48:21.384 --> 00:48:22.799
the Bush
administration\'s decision

00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:25.959
to offer controversial leases
for oil and gas development

00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:26.820
in Utah.

00:48:26.821 --> 00:48:29.429
- And I\'ve gotten a
huge amount of support.

00:48:29.430 --> 00:48:32.659
Ken Sanders contacted me pretty
shortly after the auction.

00:48:32.660 --> 00:48:36.339
He had seen all the media
and stuff about what I did.

00:48:36.340 --> 00:48:38.869
So I came down there and ended
up sitting down with Ken,

00:48:38.870 --> 00:48:41.359
and he was telling me all
these old Edward Abbey stories,

00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:43.019
and some of the older
First! stories...

00:48:43.020 --> 00:48:45.339
Like the story of when they
dropped the crack down Glen

00:48:45.340 --> 00:48:46.340
Canyon Dam.

00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:49.639
- Even though the
auction was overturned

00:48:49.640 --> 00:48:52.039
and Tim\'s bids
negated, the government

00:48:52.040 --> 00:48:54.649
still decided to
prosecute Tim for what

00:48:54.650 --> 00:48:58.019
had become known as a
social justice crime.

00:48:58.020 --> 00:49:00.569
Essentially, Tim broke
a legislative law

00:49:00.570 --> 00:49:02.109
to fight for the common good.

00:49:02.110 --> 00:49:03.379
(CHEERING)

00:49:03.380 --> 00:49:06.299
I think they feared
what Tim was inspiring.

00:49:06.300 --> 00:49:08.904
- And I\'m not here to tell
you that this battle is

00:49:08.905 --> 00:49:10.214
going to be easy.

00:49:10.215 --> 00:49:14.599
I\'m here to tell you that
this battle is our\'s.

00:49:14.600 --> 00:49:17.229
- Tim DeChristopher is
just a breath of fresh air.

00:49:17.230 --> 00:49:21.319
And that\'s exactly,
in 1981, what I felt.

00:49:21.320 --> 00:49:23.939
I was sort of jaded
from the \'70s and \'60s

00:49:23.940 --> 00:49:26.069
environmental wars
and that whole thing.

00:49:26.070 --> 00:49:28.249
And I\'d kind of
retreated, frankly.

00:49:28.250 --> 00:49:31.649
And Earth First! came
along and was like,

00:49:31.650 --> 00:49:34.470
yeah, OK, this is
something I can get into.

00:49:41.110 --> 00:49:45.149
- I first met Ed Abbey at the
cracking of Glen Canyon Dam.

00:49:45.150 --> 00:49:51.139
And Ed Abbey, in many ways, was
an inspiration for doing that.

00:49:51.140 --> 00:49:54.659
Because during the
\'70s, he talked

00:49:54.660 --> 00:49:55.959
about that sort of thing.

00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:00.979
And while people in conservation
groups were inspired by what Ed

00:50:00.980 --> 00:50:07.389
said... well, Ed was over here,
and on some level wasn\'t to be

00:50:07.390 --> 00:50:09.339
taken that seriously.

00:50:09.340 --> 00:50:13.739
Well, Earth First! decided
to take Ed\'s message

00:50:13.740 --> 00:50:15.209
and make it serious.

00:50:15.210 --> 00:50:19.670
To really inject it into
the politics of the nation.

00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:23.749
- Gleefully, they tell
me these plans. \"Well,

00:50:23.750 --> 00:50:26.778
this is actually... it\'s
a 300 foot plastic crack,

00:50:26.779 --> 00:50:29.069
and we\'re going to drop it
off Glen Canyon Dam tomorrow

00:50:29.070 --> 00:50:30.339
morning.\"

00:50:30.340 --> 00:50:31.599
Hmm, sounds good.

00:50:31.600 --> 00:50:32.758
Count me in.

00:50:35.150 --> 00:50:40.079
- Surely, no man-made structure
in modern American history has

00:50:40.080 --> 00:50:44.799
been hated so much by so many
for so long with such good

00:50:44.800 --> 00:50:46.994
reason as Glen Canyon Dam.

00:50:46.995 --> 00:50:48.795
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:50:55.790 --> 00:50:58.269
- That was a fun thing to do.

00:50:58.270 --> 00:51:03.579
Even the Sheriff\'s Deputy who
came to deal with the problem

00:51:03.580 --> 00:51:05.869
was amused by it.

00:51:05.870 --> 00:51:07.919
He was very happy
to get to meet Ed

00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:11.309
Abbey and that sort of thing.

00:51:11.310 --> 00:51:12.719
- I was like a lot of people.

00:51:12.720 --> 00:51:15.919
If I had to go to one
more Sierra Club meeting,

00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:17.789
there was only
two possibilities.

00:51:17.790 --> 00:51:21.019
I was either going to kill
them, or commit suicide.

00:51:21.020 --> 00:51:24.539
I was tired of loving the
natural world becoming

00:51:24.540 --> 00:51:26.859
a sort of dull religion.

00:51:26.860 --> 00:51:29.539
- It has been decided by the
Reagan administration\'s EPA

00:51:29.540 --> 00:51:35.144
that it is acceptable for
128 of you to die today.

00:51:35.145 --> 00:51:38.329
(BOOING)

00:51:38.330 --> 00:51:42.639
So they brought fun back into
what we call environmentalism.

00:51:42.640 --> 00:51:46.829
They also moved it
past conservation,

00:51:46.830 --> 00:51:48.804
which is a kind of
hobby horse of the rich.

00:51:48.805 --> 00:51:51.690
We\'ll rape the country and
create a deer park somewhere.

00:51:55.700 --> 00:51:56.909
Because Earth First!

00:51:56.910 --> 00:52:00.082
And Edward Abbey had
an outlook on the world

00:52:00.083 --> 00:52:00.916
that was ecological.

00:52:00.917 --> 00:52:02.859
It was a natural system.

00:52:02.860 --> 00:52:05.819
It\'s not, we save a viewpoint.

00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:09.309
- Wilderness is the essence
of everything we\'re after.

00:52:09.310 --> 00:52:11.659
Natural diversity.

00:52:11.660 --> 00:52:14.251
We aren\'t an
environmental group.

00:52:14.252 --> 00:52:15.709
- What they wanted
to accomplish...

00:52:15.710 --> 00:52:17.959
And it was very damn simple
they wanted to take

00:52:17.960 --> 00:52:21.109
the environmental movement,
all these conservation groups,

00:52:21.110 --> 00:52:22.609
and let\'s say their
position\'s here.

00:52:22.610 --> 00:52:25.499
They wanted to move
them way over there.

00:52:25.500 --> 00:52:28.079
They were going to be so damn
crazy that everybody would

00:52:28.080 --> 00:52:29.999
get more radical and
still look like they\'re

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:32.209
moderates compared to them.

00:52:32.210 --> 00:52:33.979
- Earth First! says
it will continue

00:52:33.980 --> 00:52:36.013
this summer\'s campaign
of conservation

00:52:36.014 --> 00:52:36.930
through confrontation.

00:52:36.931 --> 00:52:41.409
- People in Earth First! think
that the big US conservation

00:52:41.410 --> 00:52:45.279
organizations
compromise too much.

00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:47.219
That it\'s time for
an end to compromise,

00:52:47.220 --> 00:52:50.669
and time for extreme
and radical statements.

00:52:50.670 --> 00:52:52.889
At least from somebody.

00:52:52.890 --> 00:52:54.764
And I\'ve always been
happy to be an extremist

00:52:54.765 --> 00:52:57.269
and a radical myself.

00:52:57.270 --> 00:52:59.904
And I find it quite
pleasing that there

00:52:59.905 --> 00:53:03.439
are thousands of other
people who feel as I do.

00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:06.819
- I first met Ed Abbey at the
1987 Earth First! rendezvous

00:53:06.820 --> 00:53:08.689
on the North Rim of
the Grand Canyon.

00:53:08.690 --> 00:53:12.889
And I think he laid out a
pretty good moral justification

00:53:12.890 --> 00:53:16.479
for taking radical action, and
it resonated with something

00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:18.339
that we were feeling.

00:53:18.340 --> 00:53:20.859
That we were living in
this beautiful place

00:53:20.860 --> 00:53:22.869
that had a power and
a will of its own,

00:53:22.870 --> 00:53:24.659
and that it was, first
of all, completely

00:53:24.660 --> 00:53:30.119
foolhardy to try to impose our
short term goals on the wild.

00:53:30.120 --> 00:53:33.129
And second of all, that we
really had a moral obligation

00:53:33.130 --> 00:53:37.019
to take some kind of action
against this foolishness.

00:53:37.020 --> 00:53:39.259
- Tonight\'s special segment
is about monkeywrenching.

00:53:39.260 --> 00:53:41.939
It\'s part guerrilla
theater, part sabotage.

00:53:41.940 --> 00:53:43.539
(HOWLING)

00:53:43.540 --> 00:53:47.839
- And you need a whole
range of approaches.

00:53:47.840 --> 00:53:50.759
It\'s just like the
old growth issue.

00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:55.139
We were in southwestern
Oregon, and discovered

00:53:55.140 --> 00:54:00.059
that the Sierra Club and other
conservation groups there

00:54:00.060 --> 00:54:03.629
had essentially decided they had
lost on the old growth forest

00:54:03.630 --> 00:54:05.764
issue, and weren\'t going
to fight it anymore.

00:54:05.765 --> 00:54:07.469
(HOWLING)

00:54:07.470 --> 00:54:10.919
Well, we decided we weren\'t
going to let that happen.

00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:15.269
And that was the beginning
of real civil disobedience

00:54:15.270 --> 00:54:17.289
for Earth First!

00:54:17.290 --> 00:54:19.299
- Vowing to live
up to its motto,

00:54:19.300 --> 00:54:22.526
\"No compromise in the
defense of Mother Earth.\"

00:54:22.527 --> 00:54:24.109
- They\'re just the
logical consequence

00:54:24.110 --> 00:54:26.310
of the world Ed was
writing and describing.

00:54:28.844 --> 00:54:30.119
Earth First!

00:54:30.120 --> 00:54:33.879
Is his natural bastard child.

00:54:33.880 --> 00:54:36.809
- While Earth First! talks
tough, most of its activities

00:54:36.810 --> 00:54:38.109
are fairly tame.

00:54:38.110 --> 00:54:40.429
- Most of the stuff that I
was doing with Earth First!

00:54:40.430 --> 00:54:44.849
As a group... we mostly did
street theater and stuff around

00:54:44.850 --> 00:54:47.629
public lands and
public land policy.

00:54:47.630 --> 00:54:49.704
We did a lot of stuff
around Yellowstone

00:54:49.705 --> 00:54:52.734
and the grizzly
habitat at that time.

00:54:52.735 --> 00:54:54.839
Doug Peacock was involved.

00:54:54.840 --> 00:54:59.959
And the uranium mining in
and around the Grand Canyon.

00:54:59.960 --> 00:55:02.809
I never got arrested
until the 1987 rendezvous

00:55:02.810 --> 00:55:06.216
on the North Rim, when we
shut down the Pigeon Mine.

00:55:11.580 --> 00:55:13.349
This is the first time
that a bunch of us

00:55:13.350 --> 00:55:15.629
got arrested that I know
of that ended up staying

00:55:15.630 --> 00:55:17.189
more than five hours in jail.

00:55:17.190 --> 00:55:19.169
We ended up in there
for three days.

00:55:19.170 --> 00:55:22.539
And that was a big
change in the way

00:55:22.540 --> 00:55:25.389
things were being handled
around us and our protests

00:55:25.390 --> 00:55:26.409
and such the like.

00:55:26.410 --> 00:55:29.214
And so it was kind
of a big deal.

00:55:29.215 --> 00:55:32.009
- Foreman and the other founders
of Earth First! advocated

00:55:32.010 --> 00:55:34.179
breaking the law in
defense of nature.

00:55:34.180 --> 00:55:37.068
Their tactics angered developers
and environmentalists alike,

00:55:37.069 --> 00:55:38.860
and caught the attention
of the government.

00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:43.089
- There were way too many
events during those years.

00:55:43.090 --> 00:55:45.112
And as they grew and
did these road shows,

00:55:45.113 --> 00:55:47.079
they got larger and larger.

00:55:47.080 --> 00:55:51.774
But by the mid-1980s, there
were so many dirty tricks

00:55:51.775 --> 00:55:53.649
being played by the Feds.

00:55:53.650 --> 00:55:56.430
And it was really,
really getting ugly.

00:55:58.040 --> 00:56:02.129
They were following us around,
videotaping us constantly.

00:56:02.130 --> 00:56:05.939
It just got really,
really creepy.

00:56:05.940 --> 00:56:09.469
There was just this really
dark, dark side to it.

00:56:09.470 --> 00:56:12.059
- Tonight, the FBI alleges
four Earth First! members

00:56:12.060 --> 00:56:13.849
were involved in a
conspiracy to take

00:56:13.850 --> 00:56:18.079
ecotage a giant step further,
and sabotage the Diablo Canyon

00:56:18.080 --> 00:56:19.969
Nuclear Power Plant
in California.

00:56:19.970 --> 00:56:22.860
The Palo Verde Nuclear
Power Plant was...

00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:25.899
- At the time,
the FBI was really

00:56:25.900 --> 00:56:28.949
working us because we had
a couple of informants,

00:56:28.950 --> 00:56:31.959
we had an FBI agent, we
had all kinds of people

00:56:31.960 --> 00:56:35.529
around us trying to form
us into something else.

00:56:35.530 --> 00:56:39.319
And a lot of
conversations about things

00:56:39.320 --> 00:56:41.714
like power plants
and this and that.

00:56:41.715 --> 00:56:45.349
But we were not
involved in any of that.

00:56:45.350 --> 00:56:48.289
- And the undercover
FBI agent had just

00:56:48.290 --> 00:56:51.079
been working on the
people in Prescott

00:56:51.080 --> 00:56:53.699
to try to get them
to do something.

00:56:53.700 --> 00:56:58.169
And it took them a lot of work
to get them to do anything.

00:56:58.170 --> 00:57:01.219
- Using two operatives, the
FBI targeted four people

00:57:01.220 --> 00:57:02.799
in the sting operation.

00:57:02.800 --> 00:57:07.989
Ilse Asplund, Mark Davis,
Marc Baker, and Peg Millett.

00:57:07.990 --> 00:57:11.189
- Mark was right that Mike
Fain was a deep plant.

00:57:11.190 --> 00:57:14.239
And I think it\'s
probably a plus to be

00:57:14.240 --> 00:57:17.499
an uncharismatic person when
you\'re an undercover agent.

00:57:17.500 --> 00:57:22.239
And so Mike Fain would sort
of lurk around in his hat,

00:57:22.240 --> 00:57:26.049
and kind of look at his
toes and kick the dirt.

00:57:26.050 --> 00:57:28.769
You know, he was out there
in the woods spiking trees,

00:57:28.770 --> 00:57:31.489
and he had this whole
made up pedigree.

00:57:31.490 --> 00:57:35.929
And so he was sort of
milling around, trying

00:57:35.930 --> 00:57:38.689
to not so much get
information, but to sort

00:57:38.690 --> 00:57:40.475
of up the ante on everything.

00:57:41.910 --> 00:57:43.479
The mole...

00:57:43.480 --> 00:57:45.439
I guess the snitch...

00:57:45.440 --> 00:57:47.559
was Ron Frazier.

00:57:47.560 --> 00:57:50.029
And he was a very
talented welder.

00:57:50.030 --> 00:57:52.179
He did a lot of welded artwork.

00:57:52.180 --> 00:57:54.359
He, in fact, loved
heavy machinery,

00:57:54.360 --> 00:57:56.209
and liked repairing
it and working on it.

00:57:56.210 --> 00:57:58.060
So that\'s how we
came to know him.

00:58:00.440 --> 00:58:04.265
- Unbeknownst to Ilsa at the
time, Ron had plans for her

00:58:04.266 --> 00:58:06.549
as well.

00:58:06.550 --> 00:58:14.179
- In his mind, he thought
that he would recruit me.

00:58:14.180 --> 00:58:18.089
And then I, while
living with Mark Davis,

00:58:18.090 --> 00:58:21.664
would also begin working
for the FBI in tandem

00:58:21.665 --> 00:58:23.120
with him, Ron Frazier.

00:58:26.760 --> 00:58:30.669
So I don\'t know if
you\'re hearing music

00:58:30.670 --> 00:58:34.089
from \"The Twilight
Zone\" at this point,

00:58:34.090 --> 00:58:36.500
but that was the scenario
that he was running.

00:58:38.790 --> 00:58:42.069
- Frazier moved slowly
and gained Ilse\'s trust,

00:58:42.070 --> 00:58:43.060
but Fain...

00:58:43.061 --> 00:58:46.109
well, he kept
pushing for action.

00:58:46.110 --> 00:58:49.709
A plan slowly developed to take
down a high voltage power line

00:58:49.710 --> 00:58:52.864
tower feeding a pumping
station for the Central Arizona

00:58:52.865 --> 00:58:55.159
Project.

00:58:55.160 --> 00:59:01.169
And so Mark wanted to cut a
pole using a cutting torch.

00:59:01.170 --> 00:59:04.649
And between Fain and Mark,
the next thing we knew

00:59:04.650 --> 00:59:06.809
was that thermite would
be a much better way

00:59:06.810 --> 00:59:07.810
to cut the poles.

00:59:11.310 --> 00:59:14.269
Mark said, \"Well, I don\'t
have money for thermite.\"

00:59:14.270 --> 00:59:21.279
So somehow it ended up that
Mark drove Fain to Tucson

00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:25.659
to try to get the money to buy
thermite from Dave Foreman.

00:59:25.660 --> 00:59:29.949
And this was going to be how the
FBI was going to put Dave away

00:59:29.950 --> 00:59:31.419
for the rest his life.

00:59:31.420 --> 00:59:33.129
- We\'re sticking a
wrench in the system!

00:59:33.130 --> 00:59:34.678
We\'re slowing it down!

00:59:34.679 --> 00:59:35.470
We\'re thwarting it!

00:59:35.471 --> 00:59:38.849
We\'re kicking it in the face!

00:59:38.850 --> 00:59:43.389
- And I think the FBI learned
from their repression of civil

00:59:43.390 --> 00:59:46.189
movements in the
\'60s and \'70s that...

00:59:46.190 --> 00:59:51.289
they try to infiltrate groups,
but it\'s extremely effective

00:59:51.290 --> 00:59:56.467
if you can make an example
of a high profile person.

00:59:56.468 --> 00:59:57.422
- Earth First!

00:59:57.423 --> 01:00:00.761
(CHEERING)

01:00:04.580 --> 01:00:07.699
- Dave never talked to
anyone about the thermite,

01:00:07.700 --> 01:00:11.799
and Fain\'s attempts to implicate
him in the plan failed.

01:00:11.800 --> 01:00:14.129
Frazier was the one who
finally made some headway.

01:00:14.130 --> 01:00:18.699
He asked Dave to sign a copy
of his book, \"Eco Defense.\"

01:00:18.700 --> 01:00:20.659
Dave agreed, and wrote, \"To Ron.

01:00:20.660 --> 01:00:23.920
Happy wrenching.\"

01:00:27.390 --> 01:00:30.479
By doing this, Dave was
pulled into the conspiracy

01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:32.255
case being built by the FBI.

01:00:34.660 --> 01:00:36.589
- And so there was
me and Mark Davis

01:00:36.590 --> 01:00:39.279
and Marc Baker and Mike Fain.

01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:43.339
And there was I don\'t know how
many microphones running that

01:00:43.340 --> 01:00:45.939
night... because
Mike had one on him,

01:00:45.940 --> 01:00:48.029
and then there was
one in the truck...

01:00:48.030 --> 01:00:50.259
the truck that was
owned by the FBI.

01:00:50.260 --> 01:00:55.099
And also, the acetylene
was also bought by the FBI.

01:00:55.100 --> 01:00:58.689
And oh yeah, the gas also
was bought by the FBI.

01:00:58.690 --> 01:01:01.609
And so we get there and I\'m
putting out little fires,

01:01:01.610 --> 01:01:04.819
because every time Mark was
using the acetylene torch,

01:01:04.820 --> 01:01:05.979
little fires are happening.

01:01:05.980 --> 01:01:08.709
And all of a sudden,
a flare goes off.

01:01:08.710 --> 01:01:11.079
And then I heard, \"Halt!

01:01:11.080 --> 01:01:13.289
It\'s the FBI!\"

01:01:13.290 --> 01:01:15.259
And these metallic clicks.

01:01:15.260 --> 01:01:19.709
And I went, uh, I
think I better leave.

01:01:19.710 --> 01:01:21.934
So I just turned tail and ran.

01:01:21.935 --> 01:01:24.959
- FBI agents have been searching
for 35-year-old Margaret

01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:26.674
Millett of Prescott
since last night.

01:01:26.675 --> 01:01:28.974
Millett eluded arrest
as two others...

01:01:28.975 --> 01:01:32.909
38-year-old Mark Davis and
37-year-old Marc Baker...

01:01:32.910 --> 01:01:34.739
Allegedly were using
a propane torch...

01:01:34.740 --> 01:01:38.519
- At that moment, I knew
that Fain was a narc.

01:01:38.520 --> 01:01:40.659
I saw the whole thing.

01:01:40.660 --> 01:01:46.684
Very strange kind of a calm
feeling, like oh, I get it now.

01:01:46.685 --> 01:01:48.679
I didn\'t know my
house had been bugged,

01:01:48.680 --> 01:01:51.860
and I didn\'t know Frazier
had been working for them.

01:01:54.150 --> 01:01:57.679
Finding out about it
was really hard for me,

01:01:57.680 --> 01:02:03.259
because the level of
violation was so...

01:02:03.260 --> 01:02:04.925
out of line.

01:02:04.926 --> 01:02:08.169
And Ron...

01:02:08.170 --> 01:02:10.035
I trusted him to
babysit my kids.

01:02:14.080 --> 01:02:16.649
- Four people, including the
co-founder of the radical

01:02:16.650 --> 01:02:18.419
environmental
group Earth First!,

01:02:18.420 --> 01:02:20.769
are in federal
custody this morning.

01:02:20.770 --> 01:02:23.309
They are charged with conspiring
to sabotage nuclear power

01:02:23.310 --> 01:02:25.599
plants in California
and Arizona,

01:02:25.600 --> 01:02:28.129
and a nuclear weapons
factory in Colorado.

01:02:28.130 --> 01:02:32.279
- The FBI finally got their
man, and arrested him in bed

01:02:32.280 --> 01:02:33.280
at 6:00 AM.

01:02:39.750 --> 01:02:43.555
- Well, the FBI had
spent $3 million dollars

01:02:43.556 --> 01:02:48.310
trying to frame me, and to
wreck the Earth First! movement.

01:02:49.290 --> 01:02:51.591
- So this really isn\'t the
guy we need to pop, I mean,

01:02:51.592 --> 01:02:54.339
in terms of actual perpetrators.

01:02:54.340 --> 01:02:57.413
But this is the guy we need
to pop to send a message.

01:02:57.414 --> 01:02:58.829
And that\'s all
we\'re really doing.

01:02:58.830 --> 01:03:01.046
And if we don\'t nail this
guy, and we only get Davis,

01:03:01.047 --> 01:03:03.129
we\'re not sending any
message he hasn\'t predicted.

01:03:03.130 --> 01:03:05.889
- This band of wrenchers,
known as the \"Arizona 5\",

01:03:05.890 --> 01:03:08.829
were put on trial
for conspiracy.

01:03:08.830 --> 01:03:10.639
Their lawyers
countered, and said

01:03:10.640 --> 01:03:12.739
the government
entrapped the five

01:03:12.740 --> 01:03:16.189
and created a conspiracy
through the actions of Frazier

01:03:16.190 --> 01:03:17.190
and Fain.

01:03:18.820 --> 01:03:23.249
- The FBI agent had this habit
of leaving his tape recorder

01:03:23.250 --> 01:03:26.019
on after he was done.

01:03:26.020 --> 01:03:29.689
And he tape recorded himself
talking to his supervisor

01:03:29.690 --> 01:03:32.239
over the phone.

01:03:32.240 --> 01:03:34.669
And the way it got
transcribed by the FBI

01:03:34.670 --> 01:03:38.949
said, \"Yeah, we got into
a little traffic problem.\"

01:03:38.950 --> 01:03:42.829
But what he really says is, \"I
got into a little entrapment

01:03:42.830 --> 01:03:49.389
problem.\" (LAUGHING) Two
very different things.

01:03:49.390 --> 01:03:51.149
- The government
sees it differently.

01:03:51.150 --> 01:03:53.959
The prosecutor told
the jury that the FBI

01:03:53.960 --> 01:03:56.659
put an end to what she
called \"Earth First!\'s

01:03:56.660 --> 01:03:58.309
terrifying adventure.\"

01:03:58.310 --> 01:04:01.199
- The trial dragged on, and
ultimately the entrapment

01:04:01.200 --> 01:04:02.859
argument failed.

01:04:02.860 --> 01:04:05.719
Even so, a plea
bargain was arranged.

01:04:05.720 --> 01:04:10.059
Ilse, Peg, Marc Baker and
Mark Davis pled guilty

01:04:10.060 --> 01:04:11.170
and served time.

01:04:13.570 --> 01:04:16.769
Dave served no time, but
agreed to a felony conspiracy

01:04:16.770 --> 01:04:19.489
charge that would be knocked
down to a misdemeanor

01:04:19.490 --> 01:04:20.490
after five years.

01:04:22.460 --> 01:04:25.209
I wish Ed had been around
to respond to this,

01:04:25.210 --> 01:04:30.809
but he died just six weeks
before the arrests took place.

01:04:30.810 --> 01:04:34.779
- The thing I missed through
all that was Ed not being there,

01:04:34.780 --> 01:04:38.809
because Ed could have so well
excoriated the government

01:04:38.810 --> 01:04:43.979
spooks and undercover agents and
the whole repression of Earth

01:04:43.980 --> 01:04:45.419
First!

01:04:45.420 --> 01:04:50.020
And we didn\'t have that voice
which I really missed.

01:05:04.160 --> 01:05:08.790
- That\'s what I show the Feds
when they knock at my door.

01:05:14.740 --> 01:05:16.799
You know, somebody asked
me about monkeywrenching

01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:19.699
and its relevance to today.

01:05:19.700 --> 01:05:21.639
It\'s still relevant today.

01:05:21.640 --> 01:05:26.429
And, you know, it\'s not just
the physical monkeywrenching

01:05:26.430 --> 01:05:32.579
of taking on the tools of
technology and destruction,

01:05:32.580 --> 01:05:38.099
but I think today, it\'s more
a metaphor for standing up

01:05:38.100 --> 01:05:39.550
for what\'s right at the time.

01:05:41.130 --> 01:05:44.219
And that means taking an
individual stance every day

01:05:44.220 --> 01:05:50.639
for what you see as
wrong, and act upon it.

01:05:50.640 --> 01:05:54.099
And I mean to stand up
in a nonviolent way.

01:05:54.100 --> 01:05:56.839
I mean to stand up in
a more militant way.

01:05:56.840 --> 01:06:00.401
- These are lifelines, and this
man\'s neck is connected to it.

01:06:00.402 --> 01:06:02.749
He cannot move.

01:06:02.750 --> 01:06:05.539
- So monkeywrenching is
relevant mostly today,

01:06:05.540 --> 01:06:09.374
I think, as a symbol
for that militancy

01:06:09.375 --> 01:06:11.949
and the refusal to
compromise, especially when it

01:06:11.950 --> 01:06:13.215
comes to issues of wilderness.

01:06:15.508 --> 01:06:17.476
(MUSIC PLAYING)

01:06:51.920 --> 01:06:54.349
- You know, when you talk
about monkeywrenching,

01:06:54.350 --> 01:06:56.359
it\'s something very
close to my heart.

01:06:56.360 --> 01:07:01.009
Because I come from a family
whose construction business has

01:07:01.010 --> 01:07:03.599
been tied to oil and gas.

01:07:03.600 --> 01:07:07.459
And so when Ed Abbey was
talking about monkeywrenching

01:07:07.460 --> 01:07:11.199
and as Doug and Foreman
were out doing it,

01:07:11.200 --> 01:07:13.929
my family were
the beneficiaries.

01:07:13.930 --> 01:07:16.454
But I have to tell
you, I asked my father,

01:07:16.455 --> 01:07:19.549
will you come with me
to go hear Ed Abbey?

01:07:19.550 --> 01:07:21.265
So my father went,
and he was dubious.

01:07:21.266 --> 01:07:22.889
He said, \"I want to
see who this guy is

01:07:22.890 --> 01:07:25.509
who\'s been sugaring my trucks.\"

01:07:25.510 --> 01:07:28.839
My father was the first one
to stand after Ed sat down,

01:07:28.840 --> 01:07:31.739
and my father was also the first
person that went up and said,

01:07:31.740 --> 01:07:34.399
\"Mr. Abbey, I don\'t
agree with your politics,

01:07:34.400 --> 01:07:36.669
but I agree with you.\"

01:07:36.670 --> 01:07:41.889
- I think that what Ed
did that probably nobody

01:07:41.890 --> 01:07:46.659
else of his generation was
able to do with his words

01:07:46.660 --> 01:07:52.184
and his actions
were just something

01:07:52.185 --> 01:07:56.519
that made everybody stop
and think how much he meant

01:07:56.520 --> 01:08:00.123
for this to keep on going.

01:08:00.124 --> 01:08:00.832
- Yes, it\'s true.

01:08:00.833 --> 01:08:03.959
I\'m going to experiment
on you people tonight...

01:08:03.960 --> 01:08:09.719
use you for guinea pigs, try
out a chapter from a new book.

01:08:09.720 --> 01:08:14.869
The book is called
\"Hayduke Lives!\"

01:08:14.870 --> 01:08:17.834
(APPLAUSE)

01:08:18.855 --> 01:08:20.228
- And this chapter
I want to read

01:08:20.229 --> 01:08:25.148
tonight is called
\"Rendezvous.\" \"They

01:08:25.149 --> 01:08:29.929
straggled in from everywhere
that\'s dim, obscure, unsavory.\"

01:08:29.930 --> 01:08:31.576
- In writing
\"Hayduke Lives!,\" Ed

01:08:31.577 --> 01:08:33.409
wrote down some of the
most radical thoughts

01:08:33.410 --> 01:08:35.349
that he\'d ever had.

01:08:35.350 --> 01:08:39.148
And, of course, they surrounded
George Washington Hayduke.

01:08:39.149 --> 01:08:41.831
- \"...and every
which way but loose.\"

01:08:44.290 --> 01:08:46.398
And so on.

01:08:46.399 --> 01:08:49.899
(LAUGHTER)

01:08:52.020 --> 01:08:54.228
This is quite a lengthy chapter.

01:08:54.229 --> 01:08:55.229
I guess...

01:08:57.729 --> 01:09:00.705
I better skip some of
the better parts here.

01:09:07.540 --> 01:09:10.089
- \"The eco-warrior
does not fight people.

01:09:10.090 --> 01:09:12.179
He fights an institution...

01:09:12.180 --> 01:09:16.419
the planetary empire
of growth and greed.\"

01:09:16.420 --> 01:09:17.220
I\'ve forgotten...

01:09:17.221 --> 01:09:21.409
I mean when you think that
this is the first draft,

01:09:21.410 --> 01:09:25.357
this book is the first
draft and the last thing

01:09:25.358 --> 01:09:26.358
that he ever wrote.

01:09:29.290 --> 01:09:31.983
Hayduke, by this
time, has escaped.

01:09:31.984 --> 01:09:34.778
He is now at the Sea of Cortez.

01:09:34.779 --> 01:09:38.938
He\'s driven his
Cadillac down there...

01:09:38.939 --> 01:09:42.568
Which would have been
Ed\'s Cadillac convertible,

01:09:42.569 --> 01:09:44.163
which was a horrible car.

01:09:44.164 --> 01:09:45.499
Really was.

01:09:45.500 --> 01:09:48.728
He wanted me to go in on it with
him, half and half, and I said,

01:09:48.729 --> 01:09:50.739
are you out of your mind?

01:09:50.740 --> 01:09:55.049
Anyway, Hayduke has gotten
to the Sea of Cortez.

01:09:55.050 --> 01:09:56.709
The bad guys are on his tail.

01:09:56.710 --> 01:09:58.730
They\'ve been shooting
at each other.

01:10:01.570 --> 01:10:04.639
- \"Hayduke heard the shot,
waited, felt no harm, continued

01:10:04.640 --> 01:10:05.510
stroking forward.

01:10:05.511 --> 01:10:08.029
He reached the shadow of
the dark ship an easy half

01:10:08.030 --> 01:10:08.900
hour later.

01:10:08.901 --> 01:10:11.969
He read the name under
the bow. \'Sea Shepherd.\'\"

01:10:11.970 --> 01:10:14.270
\'That you, George?\' a voice
called down from the rail

01:10:14.271 --> 01:10:14.770
above.

01:10:14.771 --> 01:10:16.479
\'It\'s me, Paul.\'

01:10:16.480 --> 01:10:17.390
\'About time.\'

01:10:17.391 --> 01:10:18.889
A rope ladder tumbled
down the side,

01:10:18.890 --> 01:10:20.739
barely reaching the
water as the ship

01:10:20.740 --> 01:10:22.674
rocked gently back and
forth. \'Grab that thing

01:10:22.675 --> 01:10:23.580
and come aboard.

01:10:23.580 --> 01:10:24.530
Had us worried, buddy.

01:10:24.531 --> 01:10:25.889
All that vulgar gunfire.

01:10:25.890 --> 01:10:28.049
You all right?\'

01:10:28.050 --> 01:10:30.759
\'I\'m all right, Captain.\'
Hayduke wrapped a hand around

01:10:30.760 --> 01:10:33.751
the ladder\'s bottom rung
and rested for a moment.\"

01:10:33.752 --> 01:10:37.249
- \"He stared back at the
coast of Sonoran Mexico,

01:10:37.250 --> 01:10:40.499
the dark unpeopled
desert, the rising

01:10:40.500 --> 01:10:44.039
brightening and triumphant moon.

01:10:44.040 --> 01:10:47.379
He unlatched the life jacket
and caressed his hairy chest.

01:10:47.380 --> 01:10:48.669
Scratched his belly.

01:10:48.670 --> 01:10:51.629
Felt the steady
pumping of his heart.

01:10:51.630 --> 01:10:53.759
Alive.

01:10:53.760 --> 01:10:58.184
He was alive.\"

01:10:58.185 --> 01:10:59.160
Phew.

01:10:59.161 --> 01:11:01.129
Amazing book.

01:11:01.130 --> 01:11:04.159
In a way, Ed is
working on the dialogue

01:11:04.160 --> 01:11:07.399
through his adult
life as to how far you

01:11:07.400 --> 01:11:10.760
have to go to defend homeland.

01:11:16.870 --> 01:11:22.669
I tell you, Ed and I, we always
wondered how far was too far.

01:11:22.670 --> 01:11:26.801
And what would happen
if things got to that.

01:11:26.802 --> 01:11:34.019
- Well, you know, I think that
the FBI raids on Earth First!

01:11:34.020 --> 01:11:38.819
Had a huge unintended
consequence.

01:11:38.820 --> 01:11:41.049
- They sang familiar
protest songs,

01:11:41.050 --> 01:11:43.959
and did familiar protest things.

01:11:43.960 --> 01:11:45.739
Many came to be
arrested, and were.

01:11:45.740 --> 01:11:50.339
- We don\'t believe
in Rocky Flats.

01:11:50.340 --> 01:11:53.199
- Their goal was to
destroy the movement.

01:11:53.200 --> 01:11:56.729
But what happened was there
were a tremendous amount

01:11:56.730 --> 01:12:01.029
of very dedicated
creative young people

01:12:01.030 --> 01:12:06.239
who went on to form dozens of
other environmental groups.

01:12:06.240 --> 01:12:10.599
And so they didn\'t kill the
passion and the drive at all.

01:12:10.600 --> 01:12:16.009
If anything, they reinforced
it and they pushed it out

01:12:16.010 --> 01:12:20.975
into 100 different tentacles
that they couldn\'t control.

01:12:24.350 --> 01:12:27.929
- And then, as time went on
and as Earth First! developed,

01:12:27.930 --> 01:12:29.409
and there were all
different types

01:12:29.410 --> 01:12:32.579
of actions from monkeywrenching
to civil disobedience,

01:12:32.580 --> 01:12:36.889
there was almost a splinter
within that movement that felt

01:12:36.890 --> 01:12:38.879
even that was not far enough.

01:12:38.880 --> 01:12:40.759
That that was not
achieving the results

01:12:40.760 --> 01:12:43.949
necessary to protect
our natural environment.

01:12:43.950 --> 01:12:48.689
And they asked the question,
\"What do we do now?\"

01:12:48.690 --> 01:12:50.869
- The first time I received
a communication was

01:12:50.870 --> 01:12:52.789
from the Animal
Liberation Front,

01:12:52.790 --> 01:12:54.529
and this was claiming
responsibility

01:12:54.530 --> 01:12:59.039
for the release of about
12,000 mink from a fur farm

01:12:59.040 --> 01:13:00.899
about half an hour
from Portland, Oregon.

01:13:00.900 --> 01:13:03.429
- The Animal Liberation
Front is taking credit

01:13:03.430 --> 01:13:05.629
for the release of thousands
of mink in Kaysville.

01:13:05.630 --> 01:13:07.128
- It had the ability
to actually get

01:13:07.129 --> 01:13:09.169
a decent amount
of public support.

01:13:09.170 --> 01:13:10.869
And at some point
along the line,

01:13:10.870 --> 01:13:14.429
individuals within that movement
realized that the 20 animals we

01:13:14.430 --> 01:13:17.199
just took from that
university the night before...

01:13:17.200 --> 01:13:18.779
they were replaced the next day.

01:13:18.780 --> 01:13:21.113
The university just went and
bought more from a breeder.

01:13:22.010 --> 01:13:26.339
So they graduated in their own
line of thinking and tactics.

01:13:26.340 --> 01:13:28.319
And they would destroy
laboratory equipment

01:13:28.320 --> 01:13:30.919
in that process to make
it so they couldn\'t just

01:13:30.920 --> 01:13:32.839
pick up and operate
the very next day,

01:13:32.840 --> 01:13:34.829
as if nothing happened.

01:13:34.830 --> 01:13:37.549
And then I received a
communication at one point

01:13:37.550 --> 01:13:40.589
from a group calling themselves
the ELF, or Earth Liberation

01:13:40.590 --> 01:13:41.590
Front.

01:13:42.180 --> 01:13:43.814
It was a far leap
from taking animals

01:13:43.815 --> 01:13:45.189
out of a laboratory
of a fur farm

01:13:45.190 --> 01:13:48.919
and burning entire
buildings to the ground.

01:13:48.920 --> 01:13:51.009
So I had to think about
that quite a lot before I

01:13:51.010 --> 01:13:52.979
agreed to release
that information

01:13:52.980 --> 01:13:54.389
to the press and media.

01:13:54.390 --> 01:13:58.249
And I eventually did
that only because I

01:13:58.250 --> 01:14:00.974
felt the public had a right
to know that these aren\'t just

01:14:00.975 --> 01:14:02.229
terrorists.

01:14:02.230 --> 01:14:05.299
These were people out there
that had gone through everything

01:14:05.300 --> 01:14:07.709
that they had been taught to
change things in our world

01:14:07.710 --> 01:14:10.090
if you see an injustice,
and it didn\'t work.

01:14:12.340 --> 01:14:15.559
I understand their motives, but
the benefit versus the risk...

01:14:15.560 --> 01:14:17.419
is it the right thing
for the movement?

01:14:17.420 --> 01:14:19.779
Is it going to win
public support?

01:14:19.780 --> 01:14:21.619
And is it going to kill someone?

01:14:21.620 --> 01:14:24.629
- Security has been beefed up at
the nation\'s largest ski resort

01:14:24.630 --> 01:14:26.569
in Vail, Colorado this morning.

01:14:26.570 --> 01:14:29.124
An environmental group claimed
responsibility for the blaze,

01:14:29.125 --> 01:14:31.419
saying that they set
the fire on purpose

01:14:31.420 --> 01:14:34.229
to protect an endangered
species, the lynx.

01:14:34.230 --> 01:14:37.459
- Meanwhile, the arson attacks
have increased... some by ALF,

01:14:37.460 --> 01:14:38.599
some by copycats.

01:14:38.600 --> 01:14:40.869
- acts of ecological terror.

01:14:40.870 --> 01:14:44.259
- And as time went on, and
the momentum increased,

01:14:44.260 --> 01:14:47.009
it got so large
and began to get,

01:14:47.010 --> 01:14:50.219
I think, increasingly
careless about the targets

01:14:50.220 --> 01:14:51.190
that were picked.

01:14:51.191 --> 01:14:54.139
So from a strategy
standpoint, the question

01:14:54.140 --> 01:14:55.748
is, was it beneficial
to the movement?

01:14:55.749 --> 01:14:57.289
And that\'s where I
have to say that I

01:14:57.290 --> 01:14:58.629
don\'t think it probably was.

01:14:58.630 --> 01:15:01.599
Because those particular actions
the way they were done,

01:15:01.600 --> 01:15:03.849
when they were done
in terms of history...

01:15:03.850 --> 01:15:06.410
Did not have the ability
to win that public support.

01:15:08.310 --> 01:15:11.435
- One of the problems
with the ALF approach

01:15:11.436 --> 01:15:16.174
is that their tactics go way
beyond what monkeywrenching

01:15:16.175 --> 01:15:17.629
was.

01:15:17.630 --> 01:15:19.539
When you start
dealing with arson,

01:15:19.540 --> 01:15:21.989
you\'re in a whole
other ball game.

01:15:21.990 --> 01:15:25.339
- The Feds making a dent in
a major eco-terrorism ring...

01:15:25.340 --> 01:15:28.819
- They were labeled the number
one domestic terror threat.

01:15:28.820 --> 01:15:31.999
And, by association,
the movement as a whole

01:15:32.000 --> 01:15:34.471
was suspect.

01:15:34.472 --> 01:15:35.804
- They\'re not environmentalists.

01:15:35.805 --> 01:15:37.699
They\'re terrorists.

01:15:37.700 --> 01:15:41.529
- Terrorism is terrorism,
no matter what the motive.

01:15:41.530 --> 01:15:43.294
- They even have \"The
Monkey Wrench Gang\"

01:15:43.295 --> 01:15:45.809
and Dave Foreman\'s
\"Eco-Defense: A Field Guide

01:15:45.810 --> 01:15:49.969
to Monkeywrenching\" on an
eco-terrorism watch list.

01:15:49.970 --> 01:15:54.459
- I would distinguish between
terrorism and sabotage.

01:15:54.460 --> 01:15:57.859
Terrorism is violence
against living things...

01:15:57.860 --> 01:16:00.719
People and other animals.

01:16:00.720 --> 01:16:06.859
Sabotage is violence
against machinery, property.

01:16:06.860 --> 01:16:10.189
I\'d go so far as to say
that a bulldozer tearing up

01:16:10.190 --> 01:16:14.109
a hillside, ripping out trees
for the purpose of a logging

01:16:14.110 --> 01:16:19.179
operation or a strip mine, is
committing a kind of terrorism

01:16:19.180 --> 01:16:20.180
against life.

01:16:22.210 --> 01:16:27.229
- Eco-terrorism, to me, is what
happens to habitat when it is

01:16:27.230 --> 01:16:28.480
being turned into money.

01:16:41.885 --> 01:16:43.009
- What is an eco-terrorist?

01:16:43.010 --> 01:16:43.800
Hmm.

01:16:43.801 --> 01:16:45.219
Exxon\'s an ecoterrorist company.

01:16:45.220 --> 01:16:47.609
BP\'s an eco-terrorist company.

01:16:47.610 --> 01:16:49.565
Union Carbide\'s an
eco-terrorist company.

01:16:49.566 --> 01:16:51.689
The eco-terrorists are
terrorizing the environment.

01:16:51.690 --> 01:16:54.359
That is, to me, the
definition of eco-terrorism.

01:16:54.360 --> 01:16:58.489
Those people who are trying
to protect our planet are,

01:16:58.490 --> 01:16:59.040
of course...

01:16:59.041 --> 01:17:02.509
I guess could be rightfully
called eco-warriors, in a way.

01:17:02.510 --> 01:17:07.133
I don\'t really go for the
titles very much on that.

01:17:07.134 --> 01:17:08.799
But I think defending
the natural world,

01:17:08.800 --> 01:17:11.299
of course you\'re going to bring
a lot of anger and hostility

01:17:11.300 --> 01:17:14.239
towards you, because there\'s
so much money being made

01:17:14.240 --> 01:17:15.480
from destroying this planet.

01:17:17.460 --> 01:17:21.099
- The issue isn\'t an
environmental issue.

01:17:21.100 --> 01:17:22.959
It\'s a cultural issue.

01:17:22.960 --> 01:17:25.339
It\'s about how people
live their lives nowadays.

01:17:25.340 --> 01:17:27.949
Sometimes I get the impression
from some of my friends

01:17:27.950 --> 01:17:30.149
who are environmentalists
that they think

01:17:30.150 --> 01:17:34.779
only Republicans drive cars or
build houses or use flat screen

01:17:34.780 --> 01:17:35.680
televisions.

01:17:35.681 --> 01:17:39.959
We complain about leases being
sold near Arches National Park,

01:17:39.960 --> 01:17:41.429
but we don\'t
acknowledge the fact

01:17:41.430 --> 01:17:43.369
that we, as consumers,
would probably

01:17:43.370 --> 01:17:45.869
be using the oil that would
come from those leases

01:17:45.870 --> 01:17:48.189
if those leases
had been developed.

01:17:48.190 --> 01:17:52.359
This is a global issue, and it\'s
about greed and materialism.

01:17:52.360 --> 01:17:55.469
And we are all
involved and guilty.

01:17:55.470 --> 01:17:57.749
And I think it\'s important
that we remember that.

01:17:57.750 --> 01:18:00.429
Instead of always pointing
fingers at somebody else,

01:18:00.430 --> 01:18:03.387
I think we need to point them
at ourselves from time to time.

01:18:06.740 --> 01:18:09.659
- It\'s very difficult
when you have

01:18:09.660 --> 01:18:12.309
a species that lives in
a fantasy world, which

01:18:12.310 --> 01:18:14.809
is what our species does.

01:18:14.810 --> 01:18:19.659
We have constructed
this anti-nature fantasy

01:18:19.660 --> 01:18:22.299
that we live in so
that we\'re no longer

01:18:22.300 --> 01:18:24.009
a part of the natural world.

01:18:24.010 --> 01:18:26.343
I was giving a talk at
the University of Texas

01:18:26.344 --> 01:18:28.259
a couple months ago, and
somebody said, \"Well,

01:18:28.260 --> 01:18:31.649
we don\'t need other species.

01:18:31.650 --> 01:18:34.819
We as human beings could live
on this planet by ourselves,

01:18:34.820 --> 01:18:37.608
and we have technology, and
we have all these things.\"

01:18:37.609 --> 01:18:39.649
And I said, well, first
of all, what do you mean,

01:18:39.650 --> 01:18:41.194
you don\'t need other species?

01:18:41.195 --> 01:18:42.319
I said, I\'m looking at you.

01:18:42.320 --> 01:18:43.358
What am I seeing?

01:18:43.359 --> 01:18:45.399
Are you an individual?
\"Yeah, I\'m an individual.\"

01:18:45.400 --> 01:18:47.059
I said, no you\'re not.

01:18:47.060 --> 01:18:49.059
You know, there\'s
2 and 1/2 kilograms

01:18:49.060 --> 01:18:51.059
of living things
in and on your body

01:18:51.060 --> 01:18:55.119
representing some 700 to
1,000 species of bacteria,

01:18:55.120 --> 01:18:56.969
representing a total
population probably

01:18:56.970 --> 01:18:59.619
of a trillion
individual organisms.

01:18:59.620 --> 01:19:03.189
And these organisms
digest your food,

01:19:03.190 --> 01:19:06.259
manufacture the
vitamins that you need,

01:19:06.260 --> 01:19:08.129
and groom your eyelashes.

01:19:08.130 --> 01:19:09.419
You\'re not an individual.

01:19:09.420 --> 01:19:11.959
You are a symbiont.

01:19:11.960 --> 01:19:15.685
And whatever happens to those
bacteria will affect you.

01:19:22.160 --> 01:19:24.949
- I think the question
that I keep asking

01:19:24.950 --> 01:19:28.759
myself is, how serious am I?

01:19:28.760 --> 01:19:30.012
How serious are we?

01:19:31.700 --> 01:19:36.419
It comes down to some
really tough choices about,

01:19:36.420 --> 01:19:38.449
how shall we live?

01:19:38.450 --> 01:19:40.859
What does that look like?

01:19:40.860 --> 01:19:43.209
And that requires sacrifice.

01:19:43.210 --> 01:19:45.339
- A demonstration of
civil disobedience

01:19:45.340 --> 01:19:47.249
played out in Salt
Lake this evening

01:19:47.250 --> 01:19:49.396
over the conviction
and prison sentence

01:19:49.397 --> 01:19:50.605
of an environmental activist.

01:19:53.150 --> 01:19:56.219
- Tim DeChristopher
has made a sacrifice.

01:19:56.220 --> 01:19:59.519
I think what Tim has
asked us to consider

01:19:59.520 --> 01:20:05.069
is, what are we willing to
do for a livable future?

01:20:05.070 --> 01:20:10.459
- A judge decided that
environmental problems

01:20:10.460 --> 01:20:15.139
like global warming is not
to be used in his defense.

01:20:15.140 --> 01:20:20.441
Thus, the reason he did it:
for environmental reasons.

01:20:20.442 --> 01:20:24.819
But if he can\'t use that in
his defense in front of a jury,

01:20:24.820 --> 01:20:27.359
where does he go from here?

01:20:27.360 --> 01:20:32.659
- Tim DeChristopher\'s case
is an amazing culmination

01:20:32.660 --> 01:20:35.449
of the last 20 years.

01:20:35.450 --> 01:20:38.039
I had been consulting
with Edward Abbey

01:20:38.040 --> 01:20:41.929
on an ending for his sequel
to \"The Monkey Wrench Gang.\"

01:20:41.930 --> 01:20:45.849
And he intended a very
different ending in that book.

01:20:45.850 --> 01:20:49.439
He was going to have the entire
Monkey Wrench Gang prosecuted

01:20:49.440 --> 01:20:50.989
and placed on trial.

01:20:50.990 --> 01:20:54.609
But the legal team was
going to turn the tables

01:20:54.610 --> 01:20:59.199
and have the jury acquit the
defendants by finding that

01:20:59.200 --> 01:21:02.029
even though they may
have violated the law,

01:21:02.030 --> 01:21:04.949
that they were acting
out of an intent

01:21:04.950 --> 01:21:08.930
to prevent a greater harm
to the general welfare.

01:21:12.510 --> 01:21:14.296
- What do you want
to tell the judge?

01:21:14.297 --> 01:21:15.754
- Well, I\'ve got
plenty of comments

01:21:15.755 --> 01:21:17.719
that I\'m going to make
to the judge today.

01:21:17.720 --> 01:21:19.429
- Do you regret what you did?

01:21:19.430 --> 01:21:20.061
- No.

01:21:20.061 --> 01:21:20.560
- Why?

01:21:20.561 --> 01:21:22.142
- It was an act of
civil disobedience.

01:21:22.143 --> 01:21:23.913
It was a conscious choice.

01:21:23.914 --> 01:21:29.929
And it\'s played out in a way
that the facts have supported

01:21:29.930 --> 01:21:31.999
my suspicions
about this auction,

01:21:32.000 --> 01:21:34.749
and the government has
admitted the mistakes that were

01:21:34.750 --> 01:21:36.702
made and reversed the auction.

01:21:40.118 --> 01:21:43.279
So I don\'t see anything that
I should be remorseful about.

01:21:43.280 --> 01:21:44.939
- Would you do it again?

01:21:44.940 --> 01:21:45.940
- Yes.

01:21:48.910 --> 01:21:50.699
- I was at Tim\'s trial.

01:21:50.700 --> 01:21:54.029
And the thing that
was so horrifying

01:21:54.030 --> 01:21:56.346
is that Tim was never
allowed to tell his story.

01:21:58.500 --> 01:21:59.939
- Hang in there, Tim!

01:21:59.940 --> 01:22:02.819
(CHEERING)

01:22:02.820 --> 01:22:06.149
- Tim was sentenced to two years
for stopping the illegal lease

01:22:06.150 --> 01:22:08.349
of our publicly held trust.

01:22:08.350 --> 01:22:12.719
Before they took him away, he
had this to say to the court.

01:22:12.720 --> 01:22:17.239
\"You have authority over my
life, but not my principles.

01:22:17.240 --> 01:22:20.559
I\'m not saying any of
this to ask you for mercy,

01:22:20.560 --> 01:22:22.999
but to ask you to
join me in valuing

01:22:23.000 --> 01:22:28.479
this country\'s rich history of
nonviolent civil disobedience.

01:22:28.480 --> 01:22:33.938
The choice you are making today
is, what side are you on?\"

01:22:37.555 --> 01:22:41.469
Tim\'s action brings to
mind another effective form

01:22:41.470 --> 01:22:43.139
of wilderness protection.

01:22:43.140 --> 01:22:46.259
It\'s called \"paper
monkeywrenching.\"

01:22:46.260 --> 01:22:49.269
- Well, paper
monkeywrenching is something

01:22:49.270 --> 01:22:53.759
that\'s been going on
for a long, long time.

01:22:53.760 --> 01:22:58.939
It\'s a matter of stopping
agencies or others

01:22:58.940 --> 01:23:03.739
from doing bad things, and
using the system against them.

01:23:03.740 --> 01:23:07.559
Even the Wilderness
Act in 1964 was a form

01:23:07.560 --> 01:23:09.389
of paper monkeywrenching.

01:23:09.390 --> 01:23:12.009
- No single Congress
in my memory

01:23:12.010 --> 01:23:16.759
has done so much to keep America
as a good and wholesome and

01:23:16.760 --> 01:23:17.880
beautiful place to live.

01:23:19.779 --> 01:23:22.319
- Most of the environmental laws
we work with today have been

01:23:22.320 --> 01:23:26.879
on the books since the late
\'60s or \'70s, but were largely

01:23:26.880 --> 01:23:28.859
ignored.

01:23:28.860 --> 01:23:30.599
And we and a whole
bunch of other groups

01:23:30.600 --> 01:23:34.909
in the early \'90s decided to
go out and use these laws,

01:23:34.910 --> 01:23:38.259
use these processes
set up by the system

01:23:38.260 --> 01:23:40.589
to their fullest extent.

01:23:40.590 --> 01:23:47.139
Because we do litigate so much,
we\'re sometimes criticized...

01:23:47.140 --> 01:23:49.929
Even by folks in the
environmental movement...

01:23:49.930 --> 01:23:54.329
For not compromising enough.

01:23:54.330 --> 01:23:56.709
And it\'s really a
crazy thought when

01:23:56.710 --> 01:24:00.879
you think about it, because
environmental laws are

01:24:00.880 --> 01:24:02.449
the compromise.

01:24:02.450 --> 01:24:09.179
No environmental law is what
we wanted it to be initially.

01:24:09.180 --> 01:24:12.279
So our position is,
we are enforcing

01:24:12.280 --> 01:24:17.679
laws created by Richard Nixon
in front of judges appointed

01:24:17.680 --> 01:24:19.809
by Ronald Reagan.

01:24:19.810 --> 01:24:24.709
And that can hardly be thought
of as a radical activity

01:24:24.710 --> 01:24:26.379
or a failure to compromise.

01:24:26.380 --> 01:24:30.309
We\'re enforcing the
compromises of the past.

01:24:30.310 --> 01:24:33.179
And if we don\'t do
that, all we\'re doing

01:24:33.180 --> 01:24:34.660
is compromising away the future.

01:24:40.180 --> 01:24:44.029
- Ed\'s writing is a form of
paper monkeywrenching as well,

01:24:44.030 --> 01:24:47.805
and I think his books changed
the path of many lives.

01:24:47.806 --> 01:24:50.649
None more, perhaps, than
Tim DeChristopher\'s,

01:24:50.650 --> 01:24:53.580
who\'s currently incarcerated
at Ken\'s bookstore.

01:24:56.130 --> 01:24:58.729
- Well technically, as we
speak, Tim DeChristopher

01:24:58.730 --> 01:25:00.309
is still in prison.

01:25:00.310 --> 01:25:04.349
But he was sentenced for the
last six months of his prison

01:25:04.350 --> 01:25:07.659
sentence to a halfway house
here in Salt Lake City.

01:25:07.660 --> 01:25:12.819
As a condition of that release,
he had to have a 40 hour a week

01:25:12.820 --> 01:25:14.324
full time job lined up.

01:25:14.325 --> 01:25:17.029
So it didn\'t take me very
long to say yes, we\'d

01:25:17.030 --> 01:25:21.459
be happy to hire Tim
DeChristopher at the bookstore.

01:25:21.460 --> 01:25:25.004
And as part of his sentencing
to the halfway house,

01:25:25.005 --> 01:25:26.649
he can\'t talk to the media.

01:25:26.650 --> 01:25:29.809
If he starts doing
what they consider

01:25:29.810 --> 01:25:32.219
to be \"social
justice activities\",

01:25:32.220 --> 01:25:34.786
it\'ll land him right
back in prison.

01:25:34.787 --> 01:25:37.939
You know, one of Ed
Abbey\'s great quotes

01:25:37.940 --> 01:25:39.629
was \"The wilderness
needs no defense.

01:25:39.630 --> 01:25:42.444
Only more defenders.\"

01:25:42.445 --> 01:25:44.979
I think that Tim
DeChristopher perceived

01:25:44.980 --> 01:25:48.149
an inequality and
an injustice that

01:25:48.150 --> 01:25:51.859
was going to affect a
whole new generation.

01:25:51.860 --> 01:25:55.819
So I consider his actions a real
act of courage and of defiance,

01:25:55.820 --> 01:25:58.609
and I certainly
think they come out

01:25:58.610 --> 01:26:03.409
of an Edward Abbey school of
actions to save the planet.

01:26:03.410 --> 01:26:06.104
But what I\'d say to Ed
Abbey today if he were still

01:26:06.105 --> 01:26:06.605
around...

01:26:06.606 --> 01:26:09.089
I\'d say, \"You know,
Ed, I don\'t know

01:26:09.090 --> 01:26:11.119
if the old school
monkeywrenching is going

01:26:11.120 --> 01:26:12.889
to get anything done anymore.

01:26:12.890 --> 01:26:14.549
I think the stakes are higher.

01:26:14.550 --> 01:26:17.499
I think the problem is nearer.

01:26:17.500 --> 01:26:22.589
I think we\'ve got to
take more direct action.\"

01:26:22.590 --> 01:26:25.319
- The most severe extended
drought in a century

01:26:25.320 --> 01:26:27.399
is threatening to
draw Lake Powell down

01:26:27.400 --> 01:26:29.019
to record low levels.

01:26:29.020 --> 01:26:31.159
Late last week, it forced
the federal government

01:26:31.160 --> 01:26:33.459
to announce an
unprecedented reduction

01:26:33.460 --> 01:26:34.910
in flows out of the lake.

01:26:36.215 --> 01:26:37.579
- Well, these are tough times.

01:26:37.580 --> 01:26:39.729
These are the most
perilous times

01:26:39.730 --> 01:26:41.529
we\'ve seen in the
history of the Earth.

01:26:41.530 --> 01:26:45.159
Even when Ed and
I and Jack and Ken

01:26:45.160 --> 01:26:47.559
were raging against
the dying of the earth,

01:26:47.560 --> 01:26:49.989
we didn\'t know this
was coming around.

01:26:49.990 --> 01:26:53.639
And there\'s really no compromise
left that we can make and still

01:26:53.640 --> 01:26:57.293
hang on to a semblance of
a world for our children,

01:26:57.294 --> 01:26:58.459
let alone our grandchildren.

01:26:58.460 --> 01:27:00.089
I mean, that\'s what\'s at stake.

01:27:00.090 --> 01:27:03.550
It\'s not just the fate of the
lynx and the grizzly bear.

01:27:11.620 --> 01:27:14.619
- There\'s 7 billion of us
on the planet right now,

01:27:14.620 --> 01:27:15.999
and there\'s going to be more.

01:27:16.000 --> 01:27:17.919
We\'re gobbling the place up.

01:27:17.920 --> 01:27:21.199
And the only thing I can
see is self-restraint...

01:27:21.200 --> 01:27:24.829
Voluntarily holding back, of
learning about to be a better

01:27:24.830 --> 01:27:25.580
neighbor.

01:27:25.581 --> 01:27:29.319
I think in many ways that\'s
the essence of the conservation

01:27:29.320 --> 01:27:31.746
consciousness, is
that we are part

01:27:31.747 --> 01:27:33.829
of this natural community,
along with the mountain

01:27:33.830 --> 01:27:36.869
mahogany and everything else.

01:27:36.870 --> 01:27:41.269
But we also have to recognize
that to get anything done

01:27:41.270 --> 01:27:44.409
politically or socially... which
is what conservation is really

01:27:44.410 --> 01:27:47.889
about... we have to be
part of a community, too.

01:27:47.890 --> 01:27:51.129
- And that\'s the enduring
legacy of Edward Abbey.

01:27:51.130 --> 01:27:53.429
He created community.

01:27:53.430 --> 01:27:54.929
A different kind of community.

01:27:54.930 --> 01:27:59.529
A community that honored
a sovereignty of spirit,

01:27:59.530 --> 01:28:01.839
taking the word
radical and bringing it

01:28:01.840 --> 01:28:04.439
into the notion of conservative.

01:28:04.440 --> 01:28:07.669
To conserve, to protect.

01:28:07.670 --> 01:28:11.039
- And Abbey also said, \"Be
a half-hearted zealot like

01:28:11.040 --> 01:28:11.990
myself.\"

01:28:11.991 --> 01:28:14.929
Fight for the freedom
of the wilderness

01:28:14.930 --> 01:28:18.529
and the integrity of
the place, but you also

01:28:18.530 --> 01:28:22.859
have to get yourself out there
and be energized by the place

01:28:22.860 --> 01:28:26.182
and be changed by it.

01:28:39.601 --> 01:28:44.429
- If people don\'t know what\'s
been lost, what\'s being lost,

01:28:44.430 --> 01:28:48.059
or what\'s at stake to
be lost in the future,

01:28:48.060 --> 01:28:50.599
how can you care
about a place that you

01:28:50.600 --> 01:28:52.190
don\'t know anything about?

01:28:54.110 --> 01:28:57.389
How do you feel
about an issue deeply

01:28:57.390 --> 01:28:58.835
that you\'re unaware exists?

01:29:03.930 --> 01:29:08.059
- Direct action and
the monkey wrench.

01:29:08.060 --> 01:29:09.850
Ed and I talked about that.

01:29:12.090 --> 01:29:16.149
The monkey wrench
is your talent.

01:29:16.150 --> 01:29:17.899
What it might be...
it might be speaking.

01:29:17.900 --> 01:29:19.624
It might be teaching.

01:29:19.625 --> 01:29:21.779
It might be writing, like Abbey.

01:29:21.780 --> 01:29:24.299
- We\'re not going to allow
them to take the water out

01:29:24.300 --> 01:29:25.579
of that river.

01:29:25.580 --> 01:29:28.449
I say this in a lot of
my talks and so forth.

01:29:28.450 --> 01:29:31.719
\"Bring your monkey wrenches
out and go at them.\"

01:29:31.720 --> 01:29:33.520
Which people think about...

01:29:33.521 --> 01:29:35.644
they think, \"Well, you\'re
going to throw the monkey

01:29:35.645 --> 01:29:39.699
wrench into the machines.\"

01:29:39.700 --> 01:29:41.764
Well, what it is is
throwing your talent

01:29:41.765 --> 01:29:45.269
and your expressions
and all your everything

01:29:45.270 --> 01:29:48.419
to make this a
better place to live.

01:29:48.420 --> 01:29:50.340
That\'s your monkey wrench.

01:29:58.040 --> 01:29:59.604
- What is all this
fantasizing to do

01:29:59.605 --> 01:30:01.509
with wilderness and freedom?

01:30:01.510 --> 01:30:03.949
We can have wilderness
without freedom.

01:30:03.950 --> 01:30:06.689
We can have wilderness
without human life at all.

01:30:06.690 --> 01:30:09.609
But we cannot have freedom
without wilderness.

01:30:09.610 --> 01:30:11.409
I see the preservation
of wilderness

01:30:11.410 --> 01:30:15.449
as one sector of the front in
the war against the encroaching

01:30:15.450 --> 01:30:17.939
industrial state.

01:30:17.940 --> 01:30:20.239
Every square mile
of range and desert

01:30:20.240 --> 01:30:24.089
saved from the strip miners,
every river saved from the dam

01:30:24.090 --> 01:30:28.829
builders, every forest saved
from the loggers, every swamp

01:30:28.830 --> 01:30:33.899
saved from the land speculators
means another square mile saved

01:30:33.900 --> 01:30:37.279
for the play of human freedom.

01:30:37.280 --> 01:30:41.344
We must bring a halt to
the ever-expanding economy,

01:30:41.345 --> 01:30:44.808
and put the growth maniacs
under medical care.

01:30:48.294 --> 01:30:51.536
(MUSIC - TR RICHIE, \"CACTUS ED\")