THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060398
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
They read Thoreau and Malcolm X. They wear earrings and baggy Army shorts. They drink black coffee and draw inspiration from rock bands named Sedition and Dead Silence.
And they just organized the first chapter of Earth First! in Hampton Roads.
The militant environmental group, considered more radical than Greenpeace, is best known for spiking trees in the Pacific Northwest to thwart loggers' saws and for its motto, ``No Compromise in Defense of Mother Earth.''
``We're still young, we can afford to spend a few nights in jail for what we believe in, if that's what it takes,'' said Shawn O'Hern, 19, the oldest of five teenagers who last month became official local contacts for the Oregon-based Earth First!
Their chosen chapter name: Massive Retaliation.
Construction crews, developers and other ``enemies'' of Mother Earth are hardly shaking in their boots, however. After all, these are five school kids without money, a receptive audience or even a car. They ride bicycles.
But, as the five emphasized over a steady flow of coffee and filterless cigarettes one night recently, they have conviction. And they carry that open-eyed fearlessness that often accompanies idealistic youth.
``We're not doing this to be cool, no way,'' said Mike Elliott, a history and literature buff who plans to attend Tidewater Community College next fall. ``Just the opposite, really. We take a bunch of crap for what we're doing. We got called communists the other day.''
The activists pledge protests, educational campaigns and petition drives to focus attention on what they call ``the struggle'' for a greener environment. They hope their actions attract more participants, young and old, to their fledgling chapter.
But when asked how far they would go to stop, say, a new shopping mall planned in an important mature forest, they are intentionally unclear.
``I don't think you can rule anything out - except if it hurts other people,'' said Corey O'Hern, Shawn's 16-year-old brother. He added that the threat of direct action against would-be polluters sometimes can be just as effective as action itself.
The new chapter held its first protest Thursday, waving signs and chanting slogans outside a Mitsubishi dealership on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Their opposition is not aimed at Japanese cars; they want to embarrass a Mitsubishi subsidiary that they say destroys rainforests for the sake of disposable paper products and chopsticks.
``Why can't they just invest in recyclable plastic chopsticks?'' asked Shawn O'Hern, his dyed-blond hair tucked under a backward baseball cap. ``I mean, c'mon. Use your brain.''
Establishing a radical environmental group is never easy, especially in a city as conservative as Virginia Beach. Greenpeace sent an advance team to Virginia Beach about two years ago, but it soon left for lack of support.
The teens are encountering that same lack of interest already. Earlier this month, they screened an anti-Mitsubishi video at the Virginia Beach Central Library. Only a handful of people showed up.
Several state and local environmental leaders, who prefer lobbying public officials and contesting government policy rather than spiking trees, were not aware that Earth First! had Virginia chapters.
While they denounced violence and property destruction, most said they felt Earth First! would serve a purpose in the environmental community, if only to counteract the far right and property-rights groups.
``I don't think you'd see a lot of people endorsing them publicly,'' said Virginia Beach City Councilman Robert Dean, an environmental advocate. ``But I, for one, would welcome them. I understand their philosophy; I just think there's a better way to go about achieving your goals.''
According to a national Earth First! directory, there are three contacts in Virginia, including the newest chapter in Virginia Beach. The others are in Staunton and Roanoke.
Robert Mueller, a 71-year-old retired scientist in Staunton, has been an Earth First! contact since 1983. His big issue is protecting national forests from government-sanctioned logging.
Asked if he has ever booby-trapped a tree with metal spikes to scare away loggers, a technique called ``spiking,'' Mueller laughed.
``If I told you that, or told any reporter that, I probably would never have stayed out of jail for as long as I have,'' he said.
``My policy is that I never tell people to monkey-wrench; that's up to the individual. I will tell you, though, that I see nothing wrong with it,'' Mueller said.
The U.S. Forest Service calls Earth First! a terrorist group, and the FBI arrested its founder and several members in 1989 for ``monkey-wrenching'' tactics, such as sabotaging construction equipment and conspiring to damage power lines from nuclear plants.
In Virginia Beach, though, chapter organizers just want to be heard, to contribute to the debate. More than anything, they want to make a difference.
``I was in an ecology club at school,'' said Corey O'Hern, ``and we cleaned the (Chesapeake) Bay for an hour and raised something like $50. And I was like, what's this going to do? Nothing. Meanwhile, timber was continuing to fall and nothing was changing.''
All five teens live with their parents, who they say are aware of their environmental activism. The O'Hern brothers have their own phone line, with an answering machine announcing upcoming events in environmental activism and other social causes they endorse.
``My parents recycle, they're for the environment. But they just are more accepting of the things Congress and the government does,'' said Keira Yaccarino, 17. ``But you can't just accept things if you're not satisfied. You have to get active, no matter how old you are.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Shawn O'Hern, 19, holds a sign during the June 29 protest of Earth
First! at a Mitsubishi dealership on Virginia Beach Boulevard in
Virginia Beach. ``We can afford to spend a few nights in jail for
what we believe in,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: ENVIRONMENTALISTS ACTIVISTS by CNB