Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom

The environmental direct action movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with the forming of the first UK Earth First! group. The movement rapidly grew to include road protest camps, airport camps, anti-GMO actions, electricity generators, and quarry actions.

The Earth First! movement in the United Kingdom started around 1990/1991.

Earth First! were committed to direct action techniques from the group's inception, with support for nonviolent ecotage manifesting itself in the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).

Earth First! consisted of a loose collection of groups and activists with no central organisation. Most actions were organised by individual groups and attended by people from other groups in the movement, some of them wore distinctive colours. Co-ordination happened through various publications including Do or Die the Earth First! Action Update and later SchNEWS.

The first Earth First! actions focused around the importation of tropical hardwoods. The first major action happened at Tilbury Docks in London and the second major action the Merseyside Dock Action attracted over 200 people who blockaded Liverpool docks. This action coincided with the Earth First! roadshow, in which a group of UK and United States Earth First!ers toured the country.

Earth First! groups, together with many other groups, then became involved in the road protest, as an attempt to reverse the government's road-building programme. The first road protest happened at Twyford Down where a permanent protest camp was set up. The Dongas tribe arose from this camp. The first tree-sits happened at Jesmond Dene in Newcastle in 1993, organised by the Flowerpot Tribe.

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