Firebombs do not contribute to the legitimate debate

I am the University of Washington professor whose office and laboratory were firebombed by terrorists on Monday. Merrill Hall, at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture, has been destroyed, along with many irreplaceable books, historical documents and photographs belonging to the faculty, staff, students and volunteers who worked here for the past 20 years.

But, as any real environmentalist knows, fire is a powerful but ephemeral disturbance, and vigorous new growth often springs forth even before the ashes have cooled. And so it is here at the CUH, where our resilient little group has begun the laborious and sometimes emotional task of rebuilding a Seattle landmark, with help pouring in from friends, colleagues and many of the philanthropists who built Merrill Hall.

Although I was the target of the firebomb, presumably because of my basic research into the genetics of fast-growing hybrid poplars, the "collateral damage" to the CUH is nauseating.

Research efforts aimed at conserving endangered plant species, ecological restoration of wetlands, creating environmentally sound urban landscapes and gardens, and discovering the patterns of plant regeneration after the eruption of Mount St. Helens were severely affected by the fire, smoke and water.

Facilities for public outreach programs housed at CUH, including vegetable gardening classes for low-income families, are now in danger of collapsing.

Fortunately, most of the Miller Library collection was saved through the heroic efforts of the library staff, volunteers and the Seattle Fire Department.

The anonymous cowards who perpetrated this mindless act of arson should receive the following messages in no uncertain terms:

Terrorism is never the solution to any complex problem, including the problem of environmental degradation. Burning crosses didn't work for the KKK, burning books didn't work for the SS, burning buildings won't work for the Earth Liberation Front.

Mainstream environmental groups should step forward and strongly repudiate terror tactics and terrorist groups at every opportunity, including this one. Fire bombers should be treated as pariahs and criminals.

The University of Washington and its administration, faculty, staff, students and volunteers will not be intimidated by anti-intellectual bigots incapable of making a reasoned argument in a public forum, but capable only of throwing a firebomb in the dead of night.

The UW is fully committed to the freedom of scientific inquiry and to the open exchange of people, information and ideas that is the lifeblood of any great university. Research will go forward without delay, and we will not relinquish our openness even if it makes us vulnerable.

Like all living things on Earth, human beings extract resources from their environment and thereby alter it. Earth Liberation Front's slogan, "You cannot control what is wild," is a lie, the product of willful ignorance.

All organisms control their environment to some degree: Beavers build dams that change streams into ponds, bacteria excrete powerful acids that eat through solid rock, and the evolution of green plants millions of years ago caused a mass extinction of life forms unable to tolerate the increased abundance of a toxic gas -- oxygen.

Unless ELF members are subsisting on cattail tubers and wiping their posteriors with dried leaves, they too benefit from the control that humans exert over nature in the form of agriculture and (gasp!) forestry.

Terrorists certainly seem to be using fossil fuels (another product of human industry), judging from the odor of gasoline in my cremated office.

The appropriate role of humans in the environment is the legitimate subject of debate, research and non-violent political action. Firebombing will never contribute to finding answers and solutions, and in this case has threatened many of the people and institutions most committed to protecting the Earth.

Toby Bradshaw is research associate professor in the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington.

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