Thomas Zeitzoff, "No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis" (Oxford UP, 2026)

Feb 19, 2026

Thomas Zeitzoff, a professor of public affairs who studies political violence and social media, walks through the rise, tactics, and decline of radical environmental activism. He covers Earth First and monkeywrenching, the Earth Liberation Front’s arson campaigns, the Green Scare crackdown, punk and animal rights links, and contemporary debates over sabotage versus nonviolence.

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INSIGHT

What Defines Radical Environmentalists

The radical environmental movement is leaderless, anarchist-leaning, and accepts a range of contentious tactics.
Zeitzoff defines it by its willingness to escalate beyond mainstream lobbying into sabotage and property destruction.

ANECDOTE

Security Culture Among Activists

Zeitzoff describes intense vetting and security culture among activists, including requests to see faculty IDs.
He found activists used Signal, avoided Google invites, and guarded real addresses to avoid surveillance.

ANECDOTE

Punk Scene Fueled Radical Networks

Zeitzoff was surprised by how central punk and DIY subculture were to Earth Liberation Front and animal rights networks.
He learned zines and punk shows circulated target lists and normalized escalation for newcomers.

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An authoritative history of the radical environmental movement in the United States, No Option But Sabotage explores how far activists are willing to go to defend the planet in the face of repression and the escalating climate crisis.

After 9/11, the radical environmental movement was considered the number one domestic terror threat by the U.S. government. But by the end of the decade the movement had largely gone silent. What happened? And given the threat from climate, why haven't more radical tactics re-emerged?

In No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2026), Thomas Zeitzoff traces the origins, rise, fall, and potential rise again of the movement. Using in-depth interviews with past and current activists, as well as experts, Zeitzoff covers the main factions and actors. These include: Earth First! and its early advocacy for "monkeywrenching;" the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski and his years-long anti-technology bombing campaign; the connections between animal liberation, punk, and the emergence of the Earth Liberation Front and its arson campaign; and more recent climate activists and their use of disruptive tactics. Along with providing a comprehensive overview of the movement and its various sub-movements that emerged over time, Zeitzoff also asks the bigger question-given the scope and threat from climate change why haven't activists escalated their tactics? Property destruction, sabotage, and even arson were once regular features of the movement in the 1990s and early 2000s--will activists use them again, or will they stick to non-violence? Will the threat of increasing state repression scare activists, or radicalize them?

Not just a history of a major extremist movement, this book tells the story of radical environmentalism and highlights how activists are confronting the dual threats of climate change and repression, and asking themselves how far they are willing to go to protect the planet.

Thomas Zeitzoff is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University. His research focuses on political violence, social media, and political psychology.

Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

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