VICKI-ANN ASSEVERO
“Until we stop pollution at source, no amount of offsetting, carbon crediting or carbon capture and storage will solve the problem." – Polly Higgins
On the morning May 24, I was listening to an IDDRI webinar about climate change ambition and the role of the law. Immediately, my memory took me back to a fortunate meeting I had in July 2016 with the wonderful visionary Scottish barrister Polly Higgins.
Back in 2008, Polly had decided to take on the Earth as her client and called for a Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights. It took until October 2021 for Resolution 48/13 to be adopted by the UNHRC, which recognised for the first time that having a clean, healthy, sustainable environment is a human right — which is slightly different than saying the Earth herself has a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment!
As I listened to the young law professors advocating for an ICJ advisory opinion on climate change that could be the basis for imposing of a duty of care on both states and corporations mandating conservation and preservation of ecosystems, Polly’s clarion call for “ecocide” to be listed as a crime against humanity resonated with me and the increasingly loud demands to criminalise ecosystem destruction.
In April, we – that is we humans – set a record for the highest CO2 levels in human history 420ppm. The recital of transgressions against planetary boundaries starts to ring hollow as images of burnt-out diesel-powered military tanks litter our screens. It is hard to take seriously a multilateral system flailing about greater climate ambition that cannot even stop tanks.
The webinar’s professors championed “non-confrontational and constructive mechanisms” to bend the current international legal system to embrace climate and social justice. Polly, like Gus Speth, another wonderfully dedicated environmental lawyer, understood that gradual incrementalism would never achieve the fundamental systemic change mandated by the deep interconnectedness and interdependence of all life on Earth. We must start to design our governance systems to reflect this reality and achieve a collective consciousness of caring.
Which brings me to the amazing public education and awareness campaign, Save Soil recently mounted by Sadhguru and his organisation Conscious Planet. Sadhguru makes very clear that this campaign is not against anyone. Save Soil does not demonise or criminalise past human behaviours that have leached soils of not only their organic content but also their capacity to provide ecosystem services and nutritious food. Instead, he is focused on the possibility of soil restoration and is committed to galvanizing large numbers of people to act together.
By inspiring soil scientists, activists, international organisations, governments, influencers, citizens and especially children, the Save Soil Campaign has fostered a network of trust and enthusiasm. With the repetition of the active slogans Save Soil and Make It Happen amplified through social media, Sadhguru has reimagin
