Endangered Species No, not owls or elephants. Humans who fight to save the planet are putting their lives on the line.

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FOR MOST PEOPLE INTERESTED IN protecting the environment, the costs of activism are measured by a little time and a little money. Attend an Earth Day rally, write a check, recycle the trash -- that's about all it takes. But for some of the most determined defenders, the commitment -- and the costs -- can be much higher. Around the world, more and more ecoactivists are paying with pain and peril, and sometimes their lives.

Chico Mendes, the Brazilian organizer who was assassinated in 1988 by ranchers for trying to preserve the Amazon forests for small-scale rubber tappers, remains the best known of the ecomartyrs, but his case is far from unique. In many countries, crusaders bring down the wrath of private interest groups, government agencies and even fellow citizens, and endure abuse ranging from intimidation and arrests to beatings and murder. "It's not at all unusual to have someone threatened or harassed in some way," says Pat Costner, director of toxics research for Greenpeace U.S.A. "It happens more often than not."

Costner, who testifies at public hearings on the hazards of waste incinerators, became a target herself last year. She returned home one night and discovered that her home and office near Eureka Springs, Ark., had burned to the ground. Lost in the fire were valuable reference materials and reports. At first police ignored her request for an investigation; they got moving after arson detectives hired by Greenpeace found an empty fuel can in her burned-out living room. But no one has been charged in the case.

Stephanie McGuire has a more harrowing tale. The Florida activist has threatened to sue Procter & Gamble, charging that a company pulp mill has polluted the water around the town of Perry. Two weeks ago, she was attacked at her remote fishing camp by three men who beat her and burned her with a cigar. The men cut her on the cheek and chest and poured water from the contaminated river on the wounds, taunting her, she says, with the words "This is what you get for trying to make us lose our jobs." P&G denies any connection with the assault but has offered a $5,000 reward for the apprehension of McGuire's attackers.

Judi Bari, a member of the radical group Earth First!, is still hurting from the explosion in 1990 of a pipe bomb in her Subaru station wagon. The Oakland blast left her with a paralyzed right foot and a dislocated spine. Earth First! is known for tactics that sometimes endanger the safety of loggers, though Bari insists that she is against violence. Authorities arrested her on suspicion that she knowingly transported the bomb, but no charges were brought. Bari claims that officials have failed to investigate the case seriously, and has filed a civil rights suit against the Oakland police and the fbi.