Almost as soon as the green party hit the national headlines after its unexpected, rupert murdoch inspired, success in the 1989 european elections, political commentators latched on to the division within the party between the 'realos' and the 'fundis'. This distinction was borrowed from the very real splits which had developed in the west german green party after its premature entry into parliament in the early 1980s and yet its validity even there was dubious.

Deep greens draw on a number of intellectual sources from john muir, thoreau to aldo leopold. The most important philosophic development, however, occurred in 1972 when the norwegian philosopher arne naess coined the term deep ecology and promoted what he called 'biological equalitarianism' - the view that all creatures are equal and should have an equal right to self fulfilment.

Perhaps the most well known group advocating deep green politics was Earth First! In the mid 1980s, a number of radical environmental activists in america, who deplored the compromises of the established conservation organizations which allowed developers to exploit wilderness areas, decided that the only way to protect these areas was by taking direct action. They set up EF! with the slogan, 'No compromise in Defence of Mother Earth'.

Deep greens did not form a homogenous group but what distinguished many of them from dark greens was:-

Whilst dark greens like porritt support deurbanization, "There should be a massive programme of rural resettlement."[5] deep greens believed this would be a disaster for Wildlife. They wanted to ruralize urban areas (one-third of most cities is occupied by cars either in the form of roads, garages, car parks, petrol filing stations, etc) and put aside as much of the countryside as possible for Wildlife. Some demanded the return of indigenous species such as wild Boar, Bears and Wolves. (Deep greens believe it is wrong to demand that third world countries save Elephants, Tigers, etc., if a similar proportion of land is not made available in their own country for the exclusive use of Wildlife). Even in humanistic terms, it might have been thought that porritt's proposal would be a non starter given the social disasters that took place in britain in the 1950s and 1960s when middle class urban planners bulldozed closely knit inner city communities and forced millions of people to move onto what rapidly became degrading, soulless, outer estates.

Whilst dark greens are anthropocentric, deep greens believe there is an equality of status between humans and animals. They want all animal species and their habitats to be given Earth Rights, a guarantee of survival. Some, like john seed, have proposed a 'Council of All Beings' so that animals can have a 'vote' in decisions about Earthly affairs - the presence of a few wild Lions at the united nations, the world bank and G-7, might do wonders for raising environmental consciousness amongst some of the world's leading Earth rapists.

Whilst many dark greens have little to say about, or even support, population growth, deep greens regard it as a vital issue, "Conservation is a losing game without population control."[6] J. baird callicot proposed that, "The population of human beings should, perhaps, be twice that of bears."[7]. Whatever the proportion, it is irrefutable that the ooman race can survive with Wildlife but it cannot survive without them. The abundance of Wildlife is the only guarantee that oomans are living within the planet's carrying capacity and within the parameters of a stable climate.

One of the most vehement critics of EF! was murray bookchin, an eco-socialist, who argued, "the domination of nature by man stems from the very real domination of human by human."[8] In other words, once capitalism and nation states around the world have been overthrown, oomankind (sic) will be free from domination (implying that thousands of years of sexism, nationalism, racism, ageism, genderism - to mention only a few isms - will instantaneously disappear) and oomans will suddenly discover they love nature and desist from killing, or using, Animals.

Wildlife are a gift; given by no one to no one but a gift nevertheless. And yet we are confronted today with the prospect of the total annihilation of all wild Animals. Huge numbers of Fish are being vacuumed from the oceans by factory fishing ships using 40 mile long 'wall of death' nets. Huge numbers of Birds are being killed every year either by egg collectors, poachers, gamekeepers, or blood sports' enthusiasts (italy's devotion to the sport is such that these murderers are legally entitled to trespass on private property in pursuit of their defenceless victims). Huge areas of Forest are being razed killing the abundant variety of Wildlife that lived there; huge areas of land are being covered in concrete and tarmac destroying more Animal habitats; Whales are still being threatened with extinction; and the world's most fabulous Animals are being destroyed at an ever increasing rate all over the African, Asian and American continents.

Ultimately, it is possible to save Wildlife only through a green government. Firstly, only governments can take comprehensive action against Animal exploitation and set up, and protect, Wildlife conservation areas. Secondly, and much more importantly, only governments can stop the indirect threats to Wildlife by reducing the ooman population, banning cars, banning the use of fossil fuels, and curbing pollution. Thirdly, only governments are capable of carrying out the massive programme of Reforestation needed to avert the environmental disasters caused by global burning - which will invariably entail the deconstruction of substantial proportions of the over-industrialized nations.