Polly Higgins - Dare to Be Great

A share of the royalties from the sales of the book will go to Ecological Defence Integrity to fund their work to stop ecocide.

First published 2014 by Clink Street Publishing as I Dare You to be Great

This updated edition published 2020

FLINT is an imprint of The History Press

97 St Georges Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.flintbooks.co.uk

The Estate of Polly Higgins 2014, 2020

Foreword Marianne Williamson 2020

Introduction and Appendices Jojo Mehta and Ecological Defence Integrity 2020

Afterword Dame Jane Goodall 2020

Forward Michael Mansfield 2020

Illustrations Joe Magee

The right of Polly Higgins to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9410 1

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed by Ashley House Printing Company

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

My book is written for you; it is my exploration of what it is to dare to be great.

You have here in your hands some keys, some tools and some alchemy discovered along the route of my quest to help you as you set out on yours.

Polly is of course known for her work on Ecocide Law; a parallel piece of work was to make it her business to encourage everyone to be their best possible selves. This she did for me and it made the world of difference to be so encouraged, especially by a fellow mischief maker. A way to tune into this encouragement and guidance is to read this book.

She was a dear friend and major personal inspiration in my life, and her attitude to the law was unlike anyone elses. She was creative with it. She saw the potential of law to provoke fundamental societal change, both by shining a light on where it fell short and by directly pushing the envelope.

In her last months she jokingly acknowledged how XR had helped her own work on ecocide become more visible, saying, I love Extinction Rebellion! They make us look moderate. And if we have brought the possibility of criminalising ecocide closer, we are doing our job.

Dr Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion

A great spirit speaks through this book. The late and much beloved Polly Higgins was indomitable, unshakable in her service to the healing of Earth, no stranger to the horrors endured by people and planet, yet consistently positive, cheerful, and inspiring. Dare To Be Great embodies all these qualities; whats more, it reveals something of their source and will awaken them in the reader. This book is a potent antidote to burnout and despair, confirming the hearts knowledge that yes, we can do this.

Charles Eisenstein, teacher, speaker and author

Establishing the Law of Ecocide would signal a major breakthrough in the way we deal with crimes against the natural world. Polly Higgins groundbreaking proposal to list ecocide as the fifth global crime against peace would go a long way towards deterring and holding to account CEOs, companies and nations. Whether its oil drilling in the Arctic, deforestation in the Amazon, or over-fishing in the Atlantic, activities which impact severely on global ecosystems would be brought under far closer scrutiny. It could also play a significant role in encouraging companies to drop the dirty, polluting industries of old, and invest in the clean technologies and renewable energy solutions of the future.

Caroline Lucas MP, former Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

I open this book. Again. I hear her voice. I revisit these words, stories, instructions, opinions and invitations. And I ask her out loud what do you mean by this title Dare To Be Great?

The synonyms for daring include fearless and foolhardy. Reckless and smart. Game and rash. There is no daring without danger. There is a cost in daring. There is a rebelliousness.

And what is great? A word that has also so many terrible associations. Make Great again. Delusions of empire. Human grandiosity. So the use of this word is, as is typical for Polly Higgins, daring and dangerous in itself.

Read it. And as you read it through, you will begin to see the appeal, dare I say, the summons she is making with this title the summons, the demand, the invitation of this book is simply to change. To change ourselves, yes, but also to dare to leave our skins and recognise that we are all part of nature. Which we cannot escape. Just as we cannot escape the planet. In these times that is dangerous possibly, demanding certainly, but perhaps the most creative act we can do. To step daringly out of ourselves into a greater world.

Simon McBurney OBE, actor, writer and director

Polly Higgins gave up her job and sold her house in order to found a campaign on behalf of all of us. She drafted model laws to show what the crime of ecocide would look like, published books on the subject and, often against furious opposition, presented her proposals at international meetings.

I believe establishing such a law would change everything. It would radically shift the balance of power, forcing anyone contemplating large-scale vandalism to ask themselves: Will I end up in the international criminal court for this? It could make the difference between a habitable and an uninhabitable planet.

Polly started something she intuitively knew would continue beyond her own life. It could, with our support, do for all life on Earth what the criminalisation of genocide has done for vulnerable minorities: provide protection where none existed before. Let us make it her legacy.

George Monbiot, journalist, environmentalist and author

I didnt have the good fortune of meeting Polly Higgins during her time on Earth, yet her life force comes across strongly in the pages of this book. The Earth she loved so much is better off now, having been graced by her profound compassion and protective spirit. She felt passionately the woundedness of the Earth, and dedicated her life and career to coming to its aid. Now, after her death, the entire world is catching up with her.

I feel a strong connection to Polly because her path was one with which I can identify. What are the internal changes that we have to go through, particularly as women, in order to show up most fully in life? What is the potential weve been trained to keep unrealised, at the cost of giving our gifts to the world? What are the keys to dismantling habits by which we resist our greatness, and thus the part we might otherwise play in the healing of a wounded planet?

I understand the abandonment and betrayal Polly felt when her ideas were too big, too radical, too outrageous all appropriately so, in order to get the job done for those around her. I understand the pain she would have had to go through in order to mine the gold of her own internal nature and find the strength to keep on keeping on at a time when she was little understood. I understand how her passionate and total dedication to life gave her the strength she needed to face death unafraid.