Polly Higgins, the barrister who laid down a successful career to become a lawyer for the Earth, passed away this April, and the Earth has lost one of her bravest advocates. Para PachaMama walked beside her as an allied supporter of her vision that Ecocide, the extensive destruction of ecosystems, be recognised as a crime against Peace, and we were honoured to host her lectures and workshops on Earth law when she toured our part of the world.
Polly saw clearly what the elders had always said, that the Earth cannot defend herself in the courts we have built, and that until the law recognises a duty of care toward the living world, the living world will keep being treated as a thing to be used. She gave the rest of her life to changing that, travelling, speaking and drafting, and she did it with a warmth that made people feel the Earth was speaking through her.
Her seed is planted, and it will grow. Those who carry her work on are already preparing the next steps toward an international law of Ecocide, and every one of us who has ever written a love letter to the Earth, or made a covenant with her, is carrying a small part of it too.
Thank you, Polly. May the rivers and forests you spoke for hold you now.
Polly Higgins died on 21 April 2019. Read Earth Law: Reestablishing Natural Law on Earth from 2016, and the Rights of Mother Earth.