Polly Higgins was born in 1968 and spent her childhood in the west of Scotland, in Stirlingshire and the Highlands. During her time as a student she met the Austrian artist and ecologist Hundertwasser who believed nature to be a community of living beings. This was to be the beginning of her examination of her world in a different context from that which viewed the world as a thing, to be traded and sold.

Her years as a barrister in London courts, where she represented both individuals and corporations on discrimination cases and corporate law, led her to the conclusion that the Earth was in need of a good lawyer. The planet was also being treated unfairly and the tools of her trade were not adequate. Quite simply, the laws to protect the interests of the Earth do not exist.

What are our duties and responsibilities to the Earth? What duty of care do humans owe to the planet? Corporations have no legal responsibility for the Earth, yet they have accrued silent rights - the right to pollute, to emit, to destroy - which have allowed enormous damage and destruction to take place without consequence. Law has facilitated this anomaly by placing profit as number 1 priority by directors and CEO’s.  Now that we have this knowledge and the ability to remedy the injustices that continue on a daily basis, new law can now be put in place to halt the ecocide and protect the Earth.

The past 200 years have brought enormous advantages to humanity; at the same time we have become disconnected from caring for the planet and all it’s beings and that disconnect has brought disastrous consequences. Law has played its part in that. Time now to change the rules of the game and eradicate the Ecocide.

In the news

Guardian: British campaigner urges UN to accept 'ecocide' as international crime

Podcasts

Schumacher College interview: Making Ecocide a Crime

Radio 4: Costing the Earth: Can Lawyers Save the World

Climate Radio: Ecocide & Environmental Law

LSE public lecture: Eradicating Ecocide

Shorts

EJF at Hay Festival Maldives: A Legal Point of View