ecotage

English

Etymology

Blend of ecological +‎ sabotage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːkəˌtɑːʒ/

Noun

ecotage (uncountable)

1. The commission of usually illegal acts of sabotage motivated by environmentalism.

   Synonyms: ecodefence, monkeywrenching

   Coordinate term: ecoterrorism

   • 2009 September 25, Robert Macfarlane, “Robert Macfarlane on The Monkey Wrench Gang”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Pro-conservation, pro-guns and extremely pro-booze, anti-mining, anti-tourism and extremely anti-dams, Hayduke appoints himself protector of the remaining desert regions of the American southwest, and becomes a pioneer in the art of "eco-tage", also known as "monkey wrenching" – using the tools of industry to demolish the infrastructure of industry in the name of the biosphere.

   • 2013, Elizabeth Bomberg, David Schlosberg, editors, Environmentalism in the United States: Changing Conceptions of Activism‎^[2], Routledge, →ISBN:

     As Abbey notes, in denouncing terrorism but defending ecotage, ‘sabotage is violence against inanimate objects: machinery and property. Terrorism is violence against human beings.  […]’ (Dowie 1996, p. 210).

   • 2018, Joel Spring, Global Impacts of the Western School Model: Corporatization, Alienation, Consumerism‎^[3], Routledge, →ISBN:

     Like Antifa groups, some environmental groups advocate violence or “ecotage” to protect the environment. Some ecotage advocates compare it to protection of minority rights among humans, only in this case, all plants and animals must be protected, sometimes, by violent or disruptive acts.

Derived terms

• ecoteur