Monkey-Wrenching

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Monkey-wrenching

Also called ecotage (ecological sabotage), monkey-wrenching refers to techniques used by some radical environmentalists to stop or slow the machinery used in logging , strip mining , and other sorts of environmentally destructive activities. The term was popularized by Edward Abbey's novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) and the concept was developed by Dave Foreman in Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching (1987). The techniques of monkey-wrenching include "spiking" old-growth trees to prevent loggers from cutting them down, "munching" logging roads with nails to puncture the tires of logging vehicles, pulling up surveyors' stakes, putting sand or grinding compound in the gas tanks or oil intakes (or oatmeal or Minute Rice in the radiators) of bulldozers and logging trucks, and other forms of disruption or destruction.

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