Polly Higgins
Polly Higgins (* 1968 - April 21, 2019 ) was a Scottish lawyer and ecocide expert who has been described as "one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement". She gave up a successful career as a lawyer to devote herself to the issue and submitted a proposal to the United Nations Legal Commission that ecocide should be recognized as an international crime. Higgins was also the author of Eradicating Ecocide and the founder of the first non-commercial trust fund for environmentalists.
biography
Higgins grew up near Loch Lomond in the Scottish Highlands. Her father was a meteorologist during World War II, and the family's commitment to climate and environmental issues shaped her early years. She trained as a lawyer and worked for several years. At the end of a long case, she described looking out the window in front of the appeals court and thinking, "The earth will be hurt and damaged and nothing will be done about it" and "the earth needs a good lawyer".
She left her legal profession to campaign for international law that would hold business leaders and governments accountable by making them criminally liable for the environmental damage they caused. As part of that work, Higgins wrote Eradicating Ecocide and started the first non-commercial trust fund for environmentalists. She was a co-founder of the Earth Law Alliance. In addition, she submitted a proposal to the United Nations Legal Commission that ecocide should be recognized as an international crime.
She has been named "one of the ten most visionary thinkers in the world" by The Ecologist magazine . In Salt magazine's Top 100 Inspiring Women of The World List 2016, she was ranked 35.
In March 2019, George Monbiot stated that Higgins had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died on April 21, 2019 at the age of 50.
Books
- Eradicating Ecocide: Laws and Governance to Prevent the Destruction of Our Planet (2010)
- Earth Is Our Business: Changing the Rules of the Game (2012) ( ISBN 978-0856832888 )
- I Dare you to be Great (2014) ( ISBN 978-1909477469 )
Awards
- 2017 winner of the Slovak Ekotopfilmpreis
- 2016 recipient of Polarbröds Utstickarpriset for future managers
- Recipient of the Honoris Causa Business Doctorate from the Business School of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Winner of the People's Book Award (non-fiction) for combating ecocide
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Higgins, Polly |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish lawyer and ecocide expert |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1968 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 21, 2019 |