These are our goals too.  I work for one of the most audacious campaigns around: to make a new international crime of Ecocide – outlawing mass destruction of the environment and transforming business for the better.

I came to the campaign a year and a half ago when I was disillusioned and depressed, I felt powerless to change the destruction I was seeing — at the time the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but that was just a reminder of much wider harm happening around the world.  And we didn’t have a word for these big acts of destruction, like the Canadian tar sands and the disappearance of the Amazon rainforest.  The word is “Ecocide”.

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t immediately turn to laws as solutions, but I’ve really seen how a law can be very powerful.  It goes further, faster – and we need change fast.  One of the things I love about the law of Ecocide is that it will hold corporate CEOs, Government Ministers and investment bankers personally responsible, creating a very powerful incentive for them to change their ways.

One of the other things I discovered is Ecocide is already a crime in wartime in fact!  Now let’s make it a crime in peacetime.  This isn’t about wanting to lock people up (although we did successfully show how the Ecocide law would work in practice putting on trial two corporate Chief Executives at the UK Supreme Court recently).  It’s about putting in place a law to change the behaviour of governments and big companies on a big scale.  It’s about protecting the planet and people.

Now we have a growing worldwide Ecocide campaign, currently focussed on the Earth Summit coming up in Rio in June two months after Earth Day.  The Earth Summit is a golden opportunity for world leaders to make green business a reality and commit to creating a law of Ecocide.  Will they rise to the challenge?

Please join us online and find out what you can do.  Whoever you are, wherever you are, you are powerful.  Let’s end the era of Ecocide and create the beautiful world we are all seeking.

Polly’s new book, Earth is our Business, will be released on the 16th May.

The book expands on the proposal to make ecocide an international crime against peace. It also explains how and why business needs to stand up for the Earth and take action.

Be the first to read the opening chapter of Earth is our Business here.

Pre-order Polly’s new book here.

Louise also writes about her trip to Oxford where she convinced Oxford Council to support the campaign to end ecocide.

Well done Louise!

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 Dear Friends,

For the first time “Mother Earth” has appeared in the Rio+20 negotiation text!

This represents a potential shift in the negotiations which have thus far been weighted dramatically towards the economic over the environment… but we must act quickly and strongly to support this initiative.

Last night the G77 proposed language referencing Mother Earth and the interdependence between Human Beings, other living species and the planet we inhabit.

There is, however, a big debate within the G77 on just how far to go with these concepts, under the section on Harmony with Nature.

This is a critical moment in these negotiations as governments are deleting, bracketing or integrating items and our voice needs to be heard as civil society and social movements.

If we want the Rights of Mother Earth and these broader concepts to appear in the text, we must move quickly and show that we support this initiative by the G77!

This is a message that must be heard by all G77 Member States, and by all UN Member States, before the Harmony with Nature section is again negotiated in a few days.

Eradicating Ecocide would like to ask you to sign the following statement to support putting forward concepts and frameworks that put human-centered activities in the larger context of Mother Earth and the environmental systems we must protect.

We must protect human rights, the Rio Principles and other safeguards in the negotiating text, but going beyond a focus solely on people and narrow economic interest is critical.

If no voice speaks for nature in these negotiations, then we are leaving future generations and Mother Earth completely vulnerable; Rio+20 must be the moment for a bold new vision of our common future and it must include the Rights of Mother Earth!

If you agree, please sign the following statement by Sunday April 29th, we will fax in signature before the negotiations begin again on Monday April 30th.

Send your name, organisation (if any) and country to anil@canadians.org

In solidarity,

Anil Naidoo
Blue Planet Project
Council of Canadians

Can you help us Eradicate Ecocide?

Ecocide is what happens to ecosystems and environments when they are destroyed by human activity. We at Eradicating Ecocide are trying to make ecocide an international crime against peace.

The RIO+20 Earth Summit is happening on the the 20-22nd June this year and we want to make it a priority for governments all around the world to back global laws to end ecocide!

What we need is an amazing film showing the world the devastation of ecocide, what the global solution is and how we all can get involved. Let’s try to make the film awe-inspiring and something that will make people want to share it widely!

In return you’ll become part of a exciting global campaign and you’ll directly participate in spreading the word about this great cause. We’ll put the best videos up on our website and give the winner global exposure and fame! The winning entry will become the official video of the Eradicating Ecocide campaign.

Get those ideas flowing and unleash your creative genius!

The deadline for submissions is Sunday the 20th May. Please email us at zoe@eradicatingecocide.com with links to your video which you’ve uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo. Please make your video no longer than 99 seconds.

Good luck!

For inspiration, have a look at these videos -

The Girl Effect

Amnesty International

Repower America 

Greenpeace

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A concept paper for governments to implement emergency measures. 

On the 15th of March 2012 the OECD issued a stark warning; carbon dioxide emissions from energy use are expected to grow by 70 percent in the next 38 years because of our dependence on fossil fuels. As a result, by 2100 the global average temperature will have increased to between 3 and 6 degrees celsius. Risk of injury or harm to human and non-human life is real and immediate. Humanity is faced with a choice: continue with business as usual or confront the urgent need to adapt.

The concept paper, Closing the door to dangerous industrial activity, sets out emergency measures that can be taken by all governments to reverse the situation. In the EU Member states have a legal duty of care to prevent and prohibit all dangerous industrial activity; existing case law in Europe provides a precedent upon which we can act. The next step is to put in place a law that 1. make mass damage and destruction a crime and 2. imposes a legal duty of care upon all nations to assist those who are adversely impacted by naturally occurring ecocide (eg rising sea levels) to provide pre-emptive assistance.

Closing the door to dangerous industrial activity has now been submitted to all governments – and is generating much activity. You can read the full report here and read the 1 page summary document here.

Read OECD report here.

The People and Environment Awards were announced last night… and Polly won – twice! She won the award for Campaigner of the Year as well as the Overall Champion Award. Winning the awards will help us enormously — it includes some free advertising space for a really big campaign we want to roll out very soon.

For Polly the awards are the team’s as well – as Tony Juniper said when announcing her as the overall Champion, ‘Polly’s work is only possible thanks to her team, and many others who help her along the way.’

We celebrate women’s achievements in getting their rights and voices recognised. Let’s now use our voices to grant rights to nature.

Throughout history women have spoken out for various causes and now it’s our turn to speak out for the Earth.

As women who care for the Earth, we are inviting you from today — International Women’s Day — to speak with love for the Earth and gift your voices to the Earth by signing our open letter, it will inspire world leaders and inspire other women to do the same.

Find out more and please sign here