Radical ecological thought is not a cohesive belief system or an ideology, but a general description of ideas held by Earth First!ers. It may be viewed as the radical and confrontational side of the ecology movement, as compared to people and movements limited to ideas of conservation. Radical ecological activists also challenge Greenwashing - a practice now rampant amongst corporations, politicians, governments and other aspiring political movements - to win the support of those swayed by the fad of environmentalism.

As Radical Ecologists, we follow no single line of march, though we are greatly influenced by different theoretical frameworks. Among them (though not limited to) are the following:

Social Ecology

Social Ecologists believe that the current ecological crisis is the product of capitalism. They believe it is not the number of people, but the way people relate to one another that has fueled the current economic crisis. Over-consumption, productivism and consumerism are thus symptoms, not causes, of a deeper issue with ethical relationships.

Undoubtedly Social Ecology is one of the most influential currents in the eco-anarchist thread within anarchism. Social Ecology is associated with the ideas and works of Murray Bookchin, who has been writing on ecological matters since the 1950s and, from the 1960s, has combined these issues with revolutionary social anarchism. His works include Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Toward an Ecological Society, The Ecology of Freedom and a host of others.

Social Ecology locates the roots of the ecological crisis firmly in relations of domination between people. The domination of nature is seen as a product of domination within society, but this domination only reaches crisis proportions under capitalism.

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Deep Ecology

Deep ecology is a recent philosophy or ecosophy based on a shift away from the anthropocentric bias of established environmental and green movements. The philosophy is marked by a new interpretation of "self" which deemphasizes the rationalistic duality between the human organism and its environment, thus allowing emphasis to be placed on the intrinsic value of other species, systems and processes in nature. This position leads to an ecocentric system of environmental ethics. Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it asks complex and spiritual questions about the role of human life in the ecosphere.

Proponents of deep ecology believe that the world does not exist as a resource to be freely exploited by humans. The ethics of deep ecology holds that a whole system is morally superior to any of its parts. They offer an eight-tier platform to elucidate their claims:

1. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman Life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
2. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.
3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs.
4. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
5. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
6. Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.
8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.

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Ecofeminism

As defined by its adherents, Ecofeminism is the social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected. It is one of the few movements and analyses that actually connects two movements. More recently, ecofeminist theorists have extended their analyses to consider the interconnections between sexism, the domination of nature (including animals), and also racism and social inequalities. Consequently it is now better understood as a movement working against the interconnected oppressions of gender, race, class and nature.

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Primitivism

Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. Primitivists argue that the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation. They advocate a return to non-"civilized" ways of life through deindustrialisation, abolition of division of labour or specialization, and abandonment of technology. There are however numerous other non-anarchist forms of primitivism, and not all primitivists point to the same phenomenon as the source of modern, civilized problems. Some see only the Industrial Revolution as the problem, others point to various developments in history such as monotheism, writing, patriarchy, the use of metal tools, etc. Anarcho-primitivists are often distinguished by their focus on the praxis of achieving a feral state through "rewilding".

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