"[A] great book about how to save the planet using the long arm of the law." —Coldplay
"A hopeful book about the environment and a page-turner about the law." —Guardian
"This book is an inspiration for those of us trying to build a sustainable future – and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know how and why we must deploy and enforce the law in the fight against ecological destruction." —Caroline Lucas
"ClientEarth have been pioneers in using the tool of environmental legislation to tackle the modern scourge of air pollution. This is the story of how they're doing it." —Ed Miliband
With a foreword by Brian Eno.
Environmentally, our planet lacks the laws to keep it safe and those laws we do have are feebly enforced. Every new year is the hottest in human history, while forest, reef, ice, tundra, and species are disappearing forever. It is easy to lose all hope.
Who will stop the planet from committing ecological suicide? The UN? Governments? Activists? Corporations? Engineers? Scientists? Whoever, environmental laws need to be enforceable and enforced. Step forward a fresh breed of passionately purposeful environmental lawyers. They provide new rules to legislatures, see that they are enforced, and keep us informed. They tackle big business to ensure money flows into cultural change, because money is the grammar of business just as science is the grammar of nature.
At the head of this new legal army stands James Thornton, who takes governments to court, and wins. And his client is the Earth.
With Client Earth, we travel from Poland to Ghana, from Alaska to China, to see how citizens can use public interest law to protect their planet. Foundations and philanthropists support the law group ClientEarth because they see, plainly and brightly, that the law is a force all parties recognize. Lawyers who take the Earth as their client are exceptional and inspirational. They give us back our hope.