WILD LAW ANNUAL CONFERENCE: WILD LAW AND ACTIVISM

Saturday 9 November 2019 University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH
10am - 4pm

Jojo Mehta, Ecological Defence Integrity & Co-Founder, Stop Ecocide campaign

Criminal law as moral medicine - change the rules, change the culture 

In our so-called "first world" culture, we define what is morally acceptable and what is not through criminal law.  Our current legal structures are (still) premised on the domination and exploitation of nature, and so we have not yet extended our moral abhorrence at crimes such as murder and genocide to damage done to the natural living world (ecocide).  Unless and until we do this, it will be difficult if not impossible to protect the rights of nature - and ultimately life on Earth. Jojo Mehta explains the power of a law of ecocide to address this fundamental issue of perception and catalyse the shift that is required.

Event information:
Organised by Wild Law team at the University of Sussex.

Environmental activism has taken on new forms recently with mass campaigns of civil disobedience and school strikes. These have helped push climate change to the top of the policy agenda, with amongst other things, declarations of climate emergency being made in cities and countries around the world. Activism can take other forms too, such as that of indigenous people struggling to protect their land, campaigning for new criminal laws or within the legal profession.

Wild law, also known as earth law, seeks to align law and governance with ecocentrism. Do we need new frameworks and ways of thinking to understand and meet the challenges of ecological breakdown? Are the climate crisis, the massive loss of biodiversity and the problems of pollution all linked, different aspects of systemic failure which means they can only be solved by moving to a new worldview?

See full programme here:
http://ukela.sym-online.com/wildconf2019/programmeandspeakers.htm