For the Wild: Ritual and Commitment in Radical Eco-Activism

307 Pages·2017·16.595 MB·English

by  Sarah M. Pike

For the Wild
Ritual and Commitment
in Radical Eco-Activism
Sarah M. Pike
university of california press
For the Wild

For the Wild
Ritual and Commitment
in Radical Eco-Activism
Sarah M. Pike
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most
distinguished university presses in the United States,
enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship
in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and
by philanthropic contributions from individuals and
institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2017 by Sarah M. Pike
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pike, Sarah M., 1959– author.
Title: For the wild : ritual and commitment in radical
eco-activism / Sarah M. Pike.
Description: Oakland, California : University of
California Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2017013715 (print) | lccn 2017015386
(ebook) | isbn 9780520967892 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520294950 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9780520294967 (pbk : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Animal rights—Moral and ethical
aspects—United States. | Animal rights movement—
United States. | Animal rights activists—United States. |
Environmentalists—United States—Attitudes. |
Nature—Eff ect of human beings on. | Environmental
ethics—United States.
Classifi cation: lcc hv4708 (ebook) | lcc hv4708 .p565
2017 (print) | ddc 179/.30973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013715
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my children, Dasa Grey Schill, Jonah Paul Schill,
and Clara Bergamini, with all my love

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: For All the Wild Hearts 1
1. Freedom and Insurrection around a Fire 26
2. At the Turn of the Millennium: Youth Culture and
the Roots of Contemporary Activism 38
3. Childhood Landscapes of Wonder and Awe 71
4. Into the Forest 104
5. “Liberation’s Crusade Has Begun”: Hare Krishna
Hardcore Youth and Animal Rights Activism 137
6. Circles of Community, Strategies of Inclusion 162
7. Rites of Grief and Mourning 196
Conclusion 230
Notes 237
Bibliography 271
Index 283

Acknowledgments
This book has been over ten years in the writing and many people have
helped it along the way.
I owe much to the many activists who took time to speak with me or
shared their stories by mail from prison. I am particularly grateful to Jef-
frey Luers, Rod Coronado, Peter Young, and Chelsea Gerlach for the let-
ters they wrote that set me along certain paths I never would have taken
without their insights. Thanks to Nettle and Darryl Cherney for hanging
out with me for hours and telling me about their lives. The Earth First!
Journal and its many editors over the years of my research had a profound
eff ect on this project. The artists included in EF!J and the authors of let-
ters, articles, pleas, complaints, reportbacks, and poems shaped my under-
standing of activism and confi rmed much of what I saw and heard during
fi eldwork. Many other activists generously tolerated being interviewed,
taught me medic and climbing skills, accompanied me to gatherings, told
me about their childhoods, shared meals with me, and welcomed me into
their communities. This book would not have been possible without their
hard work and passionate dedication to the lives of other species.
Much appreciation goes to Max Lieberman for fi eldwork assistance
and his thoughtful perspectives on a number of thorny issues.
Eric Schmidt at the University of California Press was positive and
encouraging towards this project from the moment I fi rst mentioned it.
Thanks to Maeve Cornell-Taylor, Kate Hoff man, and others at the press
who worked on the book during various phases of its production.
ix