About this collection

This collection features an expanding archive of journals, pamphlets and other ephemera from the Earth First! Movement and its many offshoots. The environmentalist group Earth First! was founded in 1980 on the idea that every life form and ecosystem has a right to live and flourish regardless of human interests. Shortly after, it began its flagship journal, Earth First! Divergent perspectives within the movement led to new publications such as Wild Earth, ALARM, and Live Wild or Die!, as well as rich ephemera including calls for action, pamphlets, and primers. The collection is compiled by Bron Taylor, who generously donated hard copies of the publications to the Rachel Carson Center. Ephemera is provided courtesy of Bron Taylor. These are available here as full-text searchable PDFs. In his Virtual Exhibition for the Environment & Society Portal entitled Radical Environmentalism’s Print History: From Earth First! to Wild Earth, Taylor contextualizes this collection while providing an insightful and unique look at the movement and its evolution. The Rachel Carson Center’s Environment & Society Portal makes archival materials openly accessible for purposes of research and education. Views expressed in these materials do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Rachel Carson Center or its partners.

Journals

Journals

  • Earth First!

    Earth First! is the official publication of the Earth First! movement. The environmentalist group Earth First! was founded in 1980 on the idea that every life form and ecosystem has a right to live and flourish regardless of human interests. First published as a newsletter in 1980, Earth First! has existed alongside the movement as a way to spread commonly held beliefs in Earth First! culture, such as biocentrism, deep ecology, and direct action. The magazine is also commonly known as the Earth First! Journal.

  • Wild Earth

    Intended as yet another instrument for attacking anthropocentric ideologies and voracious agricultural/industrial civilizations, the journal Wild Earth was published by the Earth First! movement between 1991–2004.

  • ALARM

    The ALARM began in 1991 as a revolutionary ecological news quarterly published by Earth First! groups active in the northeastern United States, emphasizing news and direct actions significant to regional and indigneous groups. The local Earth First! group Biodiversity Liberation Front EF! was its original publisher; issue 3 was the first issue to be broadly circulated. The local group Big River EF! published issue 10, and Mass EF! published issue 11. The Eastern North American Native Forest Network took over its annual publication with issue 12.

  • Live Wild or Die!

    Live Wild or Die!, the most radical of the publications to derive from—even reject—the Earth First! movement, was published in various locations along the west coast of the United States starting in February 1988.