Earth First! is a priority, not an organization. Earth First! is an international movement composed of small, bioregionally-based groups. Earth First!ers (EF!ers) take it upon ourselves to become intimately familiar with the ecology of our area and the most immediate and serious threats to it. Our actions are tied to Deep Ecology, the spiritual and visceral recognition of the intrinsic, sacred value of every living thing. We apply "direct pressure" to stop the bleeding, with a combination of education, litigation, and creative civil disobedience.

We are at the tail end of a decade where corporate globalization rooted itself in the US and spread across the planet like a plague. And now that the reality of climate change is finally sinking into the mainstream consciousness, the same superpowers that pushed so-called ‘free trade’ policies to exploit wild nature more efficiently are promoting carbon trading in attempt to make a profitable industry out of the disasters they’ve created. Earth First! must rise and recognize that it’s presence is a strong component of making the broader environmental movement truly effective. We are its spine--we are the lions of a movement ‘ecosystem’. Our niche is critical, and its presence (or absence) is felt deeply by our surroundings.

The need for resistance in solidarity with the wild has never been louder or clearer than it is today.This Roadshow’s primary intention is to strengthen our radical grassroots ecological network. For almost 30 years, we have been an organized voice bridging conservation biology with grassroots community organizing, road blockading and eco-sabotage. In the past 5 years we have seen numbers and experience-level in the EF! movement decline drastically. Yet, our place has never been more urgent. New groups are popping up across the country, but they are detached from many of the groups, history, and skills that came before them. We can’t afford to stumble and make the same mistakes over again.

UCI in particular is in dire need of awakening. As students, we should be the loudest voices calling for change; yet our campus is painfully silent. The Radical Student Union seeks to promote environmentalism and social justice on campus by bringing existing groups together and helping other young activists participate. We hope this event can be a space where we can begin to achieve this goal; we are inviting environmental activists from campus and the community present their groups as a means of stimulating collaboration and encouraging participation in defense of our Mother Earth.

If you would like your group to participate, or have any other questions or comments, please contact us at IrvineRadicalStudents@riseup.net