Leaps of Consciousness

Polly Higgins co-founded Stop Ecocide International (SEI) with Jojo Mehta in 2017. SEI’s goal is to make ecocide the fifth crime against humanity at the ICC in The Hague.

“I was in the Court of Appeal, dealing with a case. I looked out the window and thought, ‘What am I doing here?’” says Polly Higgins, surrounded by the books and artefacts that fill her Islington flat. “There was so much going wrong out there, it seemed to me that what the earth was in need of was a good lawyer.”

"Ecocide” means unlawful or wanton acts committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

“The rules of our world are laws, and they can be changed. Laws can restrict or they can enable. What matters is what they serve. Many of the laws in our world serve property - they are based on ownership. But imagine a law that has a higher moral authority… a law that puts people and planet first. Imagine a law that starts from first do no harm, that stops this dangerous game and takes us to a place of safety….” Polly Higgins, 2015

Tragically, Polly died from sudden cancer in 2021.

In July 2023, the Netherlands Parliament proposed an ecocide law.