How I Became an Eco-Warrior (excerpts)

By Jeff "Free" Luers

"The 400-600 year old Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and 2 Red Cedar tower over head. Standing before them is a humbling experience, like standing before a God or Goddess, it is breath taking. Hundreds and hundreds of years this forest has stood silent witness to the passing of time.

These trees were here before Christopher "Genocide" Columbus landed thousands of miles away. They stood as whites encroached further west. The protested "non-violently" in shocked silence as their fellow forest dwellers and protectors, the indigenous nations were massacred. They stood proud in defiance as their peers feel to the axe.

...Our Mother Earth is a living being, the giver of life and our home. The places we defend are ecosystems that support all kinds of life, including ours. The struggle for the Earth, for animals and humyns, is not one of separate issues. It is not just one of the oppressed against the oppressors. It is a struggle for us to remember a different way of life, one forgotten by our society. Our very lifestyles have to change. We must learn to walk in harmony and balance with the world around us. We must teach these ways to our children so that they can build on them and teach them to their children.

We have also inherited the task of ensuring that there will be wild places and animals left for our children. That the world they grow up in is not one of pollution. We must fight to ensure that their world is free from oppression in all its forms. It is not our children's battle and we cannot leave it to them to fight."

http://www.elfpressoffice.org/ecowarrior.htm

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"In June 2001, 23 year-old forest defense activist Jeffrey "Free" Luers was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for the burning of three Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV's) in Eugene, Oregon. To make a statement about global warming, Jeff and his codefendent, Craig 'Critter' Marshall, set fire to 3 Sport Utility Vehicles at a Eugene car dealership. Their stated purpose was to raise awareness about global warming and the role that SUVs play in that process. No one was hurt in this action nor was that the intent. An arson specialist at trial confirmed that the action did not pose any threat to people based on its size and distance from any fuel source. Despite the fact that this action hurt no one, caused only $40,000 in damages and the cars were later resold, Jeff was sent to prison for a sentence considerably longer than those convicted of murder, kidnapping and rape in Oregon state. Jeff is a political prisoner and continues to write and agitate for his release while imprisoned at Oregon State Penitentiary."

http://www.freefreenow.org/