Extremists threaten the green industry A couple of things happened one week in May that disturbed me deeply. ELF strikes again The first ugly event was an arson in Seattle. The extremist group Earth Liberation Front (with the charming acronym ELF) torched the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture. ELF felt that scientist Toby Bradshaw's research into rapid-growth poplars threatened the environment. Bradshaw's trees will hopefully one day eliminate harvesting old trees, since the new poplars replace themselves quickly and densely. Fewer acres are needed, so it's supposed to be a boon for the environment. The group, however, feels that any lumber harvesting devastates the Earth and needs to be stopped. It's hard to hate ELF. Besides the cute name, the group often gets together with ALF (Animal Liberation Front) and frees lab animals, albeit without a lot of forethought. Hundreds of minks were run over, drowned or starved after gaining their freedom in Michigan. And no one has yet been seriously injured by their attacks. Obviously, the group is made up of terribly sincere people under 30. And, perhaps due to their age, their logic is full of holes and filled with chilling prejudice. Bradshaw rightly told reporters the arson was "the work of ignorant cowards who don't understand how ecosystems really work." In a statement posted on the Internet, ELF says: "We are the burning rage of this dying planet… ELF works to speed up the collapse of industry, to scare the rich and to undermine the foundations of the state." Ironically, the group criticizes religion because it's "based on intolerance." More worrisome, for our industry, is the group's attitude about messing with the natural state of plants. The same night of the university arson, ELF torched an Oregon nursery that grew the poplars. Our green goods are molded by breeders, who transform leggy growth and pallid colors into neat habits and intense color. If you follow through on ELF's logic, why not torch our stores and our growing fields? Aren't we altering the natural state of the Earth? The other extreme The second event refers to something someone e-mailed me about a Pennsylvania garden center that had a hate-mongering section on its Web site. The site itself (which I refuse to publicize) looks great -- not only is it attractive, but its designers thought about what viewers might need from them. In the menu, you can learn more about the owner. He was at Woodstock. The store cat was rescued as a kitten, when it had worms, fleas, an infected eye and was emaciated. Awww. What a guy. But another menu item, the owner's journal, doesn't lead to practical advice on gardening. Instead, he shares a wide range of viewpoints, including his belief that the Japanese teens who drowned in the Greenville submarine tragedy are lowlife scum, deserving their deaths because of WWII atrocities. His writing is frightening due to its irrational tone as well for its appalling content. It's like listening to the frustrated rage of a 6-year-old, who hasn't learned how to channel his feelings or express himself. Illogical leaps from one thought to another, second-grade-level grammar skills, and repeated reliance on profanity add up to an unstable mind. We're an industry that includes many minorities. Yet those minorities are usually either shoppers or employees of white garden store owners and managers. Although the racial imbalance between management and employees is not deliberate, it can create a great deal of tension and resentment. Employees rely upon fair work conditions for security. Extremism should have no place in our industry. I pray that this man is an aberration. Personally, I'm surprised he's still in business. You would think somebody in his community would have stumbled across his 'journal' and passed the word around, sparking a boycott. I suggest we all ask ourselves a question. What does it take to stop doing business with someone? If the line of demarcation is purely financial, then we're helping men like our bigot above. Send this article to a friend Enter your e-mail address: Enter your friend's e-mail address: Click the image below to send: © 2001 Branch-Smith Publishing