Hugh Wilson, MSN Environment Contributor

Extreme Environmentalists

Vegan and straight edge tattoos cover the legs of a young eco extremist (FRED HAYES/AP/PA Photos Image © )

You’ve probably done your bit for the environment. You might have replaced all your light bulbs with low energy equivalents, or insulated the loft to keep the heat in.

On the other hand, you probably haven’t undergone voluntary sterilisation or sat in the middle of the local park crying for the souls of dead trees.

Welcome to the world of extreme environmentalists, who regard the sort of everyday measures most of us take – recycling, switching off appliances, arguing about the Congestion Charge in the pub – as the tip of a very large (if melting) iceberg. Their activities are sometimes illegal and - occasionally - a little unhinged, but they do illustrate the passions that are aroused by the deteriorating state of the planet.

Raw Foodies

Take the raw food movement, for example. You probably like the odd apple, and may have even enjoyed the satisfying crunch of an uncooked carrot. But imagine eating nothing but raw food for every meal, and refusing to let anything that has been roasted, fried, boiled or steamed pass your lips.

Raw food fanatics do exactly that. Fruit, seeds and nuts are obvious mainstays of a raw food diet, and tough vegetables are blended into raw food juices. Dairy, meat and fish are usually off-limits.

Raw food lovers often cite the alleged health benefits of raw food, but many also point to the environmental benefits of a diet that is usually organic and locally sourced, and which requires no recourse to oven or hob.

Eating raw food saves on energy cooking costs

Locavores

In fact, the way we eat has become something of a cause celebre for extreme environmentalists. As well as the raw foodies, a growing number are taking the idea of eating locally to its logical conclusion.

To reduce food miles, Locavores only eat food that has been grown within a limit – usually100 or 200 miles - of their homes. Their bible is a book called ‘The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Eating Locally’ by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. In the book, the authors make their own pasta from local flour and even get salt by evaporating seawater.

Voluntary Extinction

Evaporating seawater for salt sounds like pretty hard work, but it’s nothing compared to the lengths some environmentalists are prepared to go for the sake of the planet. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEM) argues that, just as mankind created the environmental crisis, so mankind should solve it. By, er, dying out.

The VHEM does not advocate the use of violence or force. It simply believes that humanity should voluntarily agree to stop breeding and slowly fade from the face of the Earth. “May we live long and die out,” as its motto says.

It’s utterly bonkers, of course, but you can’t say it wouldn’t work.

Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population

Child Free

And though most would never describe themselves as followers of the VHEM, some women are putting its central tenet into practice anyway. Women choose not to have babies for all sorts of reasons – career, finances, or just a lack of maternal feeling. Now we can add another to that list: environmentalism.

Debate: What's the most extreme thing you've done?

Toni Vernelli, 35, was sterilised at 27 for the sake of the planet. “Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population," she told the Daily Mail.

Other women have also ruled out children because of the environmental consequences. Which is fine, and it’s certainly true that the planet is overcrowded. But most experts limit their advice to having fewer kids rather than none at all.

Deep Ecologists

Both supporters of VHEM and those who become voluntarily sterile subscribe to the philosophy of deep ecology (whether knowingly or not). So do many others. This deep green movement justifies drastic action in defence of the environment with the belief that humans have no more rights over the earth and its resources than ants or badgers.

In practice, advocates tend to call for a drastic reordering of society, an end to Western capitalism and a large reduction in population.

Earth First is one deep ecology group that also advocates direct action to protect ancient woodland and pristine countryside. That’s not unusual. What is more curious is the habit some Earth Firsters have for walking into the woods and wailing for the souls of dead trees.

Some people are willing to further than others to make their point

In America, it’s not uncommon to see members of the group sitting in forest clearings weeping over rotting logs. “I want to mourn the loss of all the old growth trees,” cried one Earth Firster filmed for Australian TV, “and tell them that we love them and that we don’t want them to die.”

Earth Liberation Movement

Occasionally, some followers of the philosophy of deep ecology also cross the line that divides legal protest from criminal activity.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is an environmental group that is prepared to go well beyond handing out leaflets in front of Tesco in the battle for planetary survival. The ELF has said that it will use “economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment.”

In practice, the ELF practices environmental vandalism. In 2003, more than 100 gas-guzzling cars were damaged or destroyed by members of the ELF in a wave of attacks in Los Angeles. Earlier that year, the ELF burnt down a large upscale apartment building under construction in San Diego, leaving a banner at the scene which read: “If you build it, we will burn it.”

Ecomagic

Needless to say, burning a few Hummers is unlikely to stop capitalism in its tracks, or do much beyond the symbolic to help the environment. But what if you could enlist the services of those who live in another dimension? What if you could ask the spirit world for help?

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Well, not quite. The basis of many ancient religions was respect for the Earth and, in prehistoric days, the Gods didn’t dwell in heaven or Valhalla, they were present in the soil and sunshine and water that provided the means of life.

So it’s no surprise that present day pagans have leapt on the environmental bandwagon. In Britain, the Dragon is a network of people who practice ecomagic – casting spells and summoning spirits in defence of the environment. According to the Dragon network, “some of the most effective ecomagic involves working with the Genius Loci of the place, the Devas or Faery Folk.”

They also work with Gods and Goddesses, and prepare talismans for use in campaigning and direct action. Whether any of this makes the slightest difference is open to question, of course, and unfortunately, the Faery Folk were unavailable for comment.