The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn with Edward Abbey and Earth First!

The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn with Edward Abbey and Earth First is a short film that documents the birth of the radical environmental movement.

The birth of the radical environmental movement is captured in the short, poetic film on Earth First’s legendary direct action at Glen Canyon Dam in March of 1981. The film contains one of the only interviews ever given by the late, great, Monkey Wrench Gang author Edward Abbey along with his classic speech from the back of a pick-up truck. Produced by Christopher (Toby) McLeod, Glen Switkes and Randy Hayes.

Citation:
"The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn with Edward Abbey and Earth First! (1982)." Vimeo video, 9:46. Posted by "Sacred Land Film Project," March 14,
2017. sacredland.org/the-cracking-of-glen-canyon-damn-with-edward-abbey-and-earth-first/.

The "cracking" of Glen Canyon Dam in 1981 is best known as the first public action of Earth First! but it was also the occasion for one of the more significant speeches Edward Abbey ever delivered. Abbey spoke frequently to large groups, often without notes, but in this instance he prepared a written text, composed in longhand on the front of seven, yellow, letter-size pages, which he numbered in the upper right-hand corner. The speech, which Abbey titled simply, "Remarks, Glen Canyon Dam, Spring Equinox 1981," is significant for several reasons. Although it shows little evidence of revision - aside from a few crossed-out notes on the bottom of page three and an occasional deletion and interlinear substitution- the text is remarkably well structured, suggesting that Abbey's previous public appearances had taught him how to craft an effective speech with ease. It also underscores Abbey's skills as not only a natural history writer (although he hated that label) but also a political activist (although he claimed not to be one), seeing how the speech moves effortlessly from a lyrical description of Glen Canyon to a stirring call to arms in defense of the American West. And the speech also testifies to Abbey's centrality to the formation and development of Earth First! -a fact to which scholars have often alluded but have rarely documented in detail.
Abbey begins his remarks with a joke, employing clever wordplay and aggressive rhetoric to characterize his opponents as wholly ignorant of their cultural and natural context. Taking the geological perspective they do not, he prophesies the eventual demise of Glen Canyon Dam by the very force it was built to control - the Colorado River -and he predicts the rebirth of the canyon's flora and fauna, making full use of the symbolic value of the Spring Equinox. Recalling his own trip

(Text by Daniel J. Philippon)