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The Future of Environmental Direct Action: a Case for Tolerating Disobedience

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Environmental Futures

Abstract

In recent years the number of environmental activists in the UK who have taken part in direct action has increased. There is an increasing number of Earth First! groups from about 50 world-wide (Badolato, 1991, p. 237), and single figures in the UK, in 1991, to over 50 in the UK alone2 in 1995. There are also other groups, forming around types of issues (such as live export of animals from the UK, and road-building), and around particular local issues.

My thanks to participants at the 1994 IRNES conference and the Cardiff Philosophy Seminar, to Professor Robin Attfield, and to my fellow editors for their comments, which have resulted in modifications being made to the chapter; to that extent I share authorship with them. A considerably longer version of this chapter can be found in Fairweather, 1996 (pp. 191–303).

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© 1999 N. Ben Fairweather

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Fairweather, N.B. (1999). The Future of Environmental Direct Action: a Case for Tolerating Disobedience. In: Fairweather, N.B., Elworthy, S., Stroh, M., Stephens, P.H.G. (eds) Environmental Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27265-5_7

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