The explanation of the Non-Violence Code led into a history lesson on North Coast Earth First! And the environment it fights to protect. Our trainers told us how, in 1985, the MAXXAM Corporation from Texas snatched up the Pacific Lumber Company using money from junk bond deals and began clear-cutting the forests at a rate never seen before. As locals began noticing how fast they were loosing their forests, people began to take action.

Activism to save Headwaters Forest, as it came to be known, peaked in 1996, the year Sleeper and Cricket joined the movement. In 1997, tree-sitters like Julia Butterfly sparked national attention on the battle to save the world's largest old-growth redwoods, but fewer and fewer people were getting involved in active protests. In 1998, MAXXAM struck a deal with the environmentalists and the federal government and agreed to sell off some of the ancient redwood groves and open them for public use. Sleeper said the deal proved to be a scam to divert public attention from MAXXAM's shady business tactics. The deal saved a small part of Headwaters, but most of the forest was only leased for a few decades and much of it was left completely unprotected, he said.

In September of that year, North Coast Earth First! suffered the worst case of violence it had ever seen. A logger purposely fell a tree on an activist named Gypsy, who had chained himself to a tree and couldn't get away. The incident was never investigated and the authorities publicly tried to place the blame on the protesters. Sleeper's tone of voice got sharp and his face flushed with rage as he told the story of his friend's death.

"We live in a post-deal era where activists get killed and no one gives a fuck," he said.

Everyone in agreement After the emotionally charged history lesson, our group was taught the Earth First! decision making process. "We don't do things democratically," Sleeper said. "We have found that there are some major problems with democracy."

Every decision made by Earth First!, from planning actions to throwing parties, is done by consensus. To teach us the process, our group had to decide where, what and when we would eat. I was a little disappointed that it was just a mock exercise because I was starting to get hungry. Fortunately, I had followed Sleepers suggestion to get some munchies and had bought some chips and humus before the training began. I shared them with the group as we made proposals to get pizzas, sandwiches or burritos from different restaurants around town.

After a proposal to get pizza was unanimously decided on, we discussed the concerns of the members about what toppings it should have. Sleeper said he is vegan so the pizza couldn't have cheese or meat. I wanted sun-dried tomatoes and the others made requests for mushrooms, jalepenos and other toppings. We had to reform our proposal to include ordering two pizzas to accommodate the different tastes of the group. We had almost come to a consensus when I realized I had another concern.

"I don't think jalepenos go very well with sun-dried tomatoes. Couldn't we get some of the toppings on the side?"

Sleeper, who acted as the group's facilitator, said my concern was also what they call a "point of information" because I was informing the group that it would be possible to get items on the side. After more discussion on what toppings would go on the pizza and which ones wouldn't, we finally decided on two medium pizzas - one cheeseless with pineapple, tomatoes and garlic, and one with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and a side of jalepenos.

Had it been a more important decision with more people involved, other aspects on consensus might have come up and more "official" positions would have been filled. In larger groups, a timekeeper, a note taker and a vibes watcher help the facilitator keep order. If someone doesn't want to vote for a particular action, he or she could stand aside and go with the group's decision. To stop an action, a person has the option to block it. Cricket told us we should only vote to block an action if we had a moral obligation to do so. Like if the action involved breaking the Non-Violence Code.

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