Five luxury “green” homes in the “Street of Dreams” development in Woodinville, Washingon were set ablaze by suspected members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a radical environmental group founded in the UK in 1992. Categorized as ecoterrorists, the “Elves” use economic sabotage to stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment. The practice is known as ecotage or monkeywrenching.
The calling card was a bedsheet with red letters which read: Built Green? Nope BLACK! McMansions + RCD r not GREEN ELF
The $2 million homes, built for the 2007 Seattle Street of Dreams tour, were marketed as “green” luxury homes because of eco-friendly features such as low water landscaping and reused lumber in construction. Local opposition to the McMansions centered around the threat to local water sources and the wooded wetlands.
Fortunately, the furnished homes were unoccupied and no one was injured in the fires.
The Building Industry Association of Washington is offering a $100,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the people responsible.
For an interesting close up look at the homes, inside and out, click here. (thanks Debra)
(photo credit: The New York Times)
Other News Sources and Further Reading
Technorati Tags: ecoterrorism, ELF, Street of Dreams, ecotage, Seattle real estate
This is sad. Why hide behind a smart mentality and cause destruction. In my area there is such debate over building so called “Mega Mansions”. The issue has gone to the Superior Court but is this next??? Check it out; Google (Pleasanton Oak Grove) my site comes up and highlights it weekly. You asking; why is a mortgage broker following mega mansions??? Well, I grew up in Pleasanton, work in Pleasanton and I can’t read enough about Real Estate, Green Design and Mortgages. NERD. Best, Sellsius…
They won’t have any trouble catching these people. Because they are working for a cause they believe in, they won’t be able to help bragging about what they have done to people. This is like the people who kill abortion doctors. Violence is not a good solution, and it’s hard to believe that people think good is going to come from arson.
Ironically, a woman has been found quilty this week of arson in the torching of The Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. The ELF, this same group, was thought to have burned the center to the ground because they believed, erroneously, experiments were being done to genetically engineer trees. Many UW professors lost years of work in the fire. Here is a link to the article about the trial:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004266399_uwarson07m.html
So here they go again, accomplishing nothing good by what they do. This was the first Seattle Street of Dreams with a eco-friendly sensibility. Sustainable materials were the norm in the building process. It was great for the public to see homes beautifully done and “green” at the same time. It was a great learning experience for people and may also have encouraged people to go “green”. Yes, the homes were still huge, you can’t win them all, but the message of the sustainable materials went a lot farther with the public. How ironic for the group to have torched these homes.
The third irony for me as a blogger is the amount of hits I received on Monday and Tuesday for a post I wrote back in August about these Street of Dreams homes. As journalists will tell you, bad news travels fast and certainly grabs people’s attention. This is the post I wrote last year, if you want an idea of what the homes were like before the fire:
http://eastsiderealestatebuzz.com/2007/07/29/dream-a-little-at-the-seattle-street-of-dreams-show-homes-in-woodinville-wa/
This kind of thing makes me sick. There are extreme radicals in pretty much all groups and the need to be caught and punished.
Can we do away with the prefix “eco”?
These people are bullies at best and act more like terrorists then those with a “green” agenda. They have an agenda they want pushed and how it gets pushed doesn’t matter.
I grew up in the 60’s.. non-violent protest was how a lot of things changed. This is simply thug behavior trying to masquerade as civil disobedience.
I updated the post to include a link to Debra Sinick’s post. Thanks Debra.
This story just makes me sick. Every year we look forward to seeing some of these amazing homes that take months and sometimes years to build. Only to see some terrorist group go and do something like this.
What makes these people think they have the right to destroy someone else’s property to promote their cause? I hope they are caught and punished to the max. What a waste!
You are welcome, Joseph!
I can’t help but think of all the hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere by these supposedly eco-friendly eco-terrorists!
This is sad news related to Luxury Homes that Five luxury “green” homes in the “Street of Dreams” development in Woodinville, Washingon were set ablaze by suspected members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a radical environmental group founded in the UK. These things should not happen in the future and Government must take steps to resolve this.