Scottish barrister and environmental activist known as the Earth's lawyer

Born: July 4, 1968;

Died: April 21, 2019

POLLY Higgins, who has died of cancer aged 50, sacrificed her career as a barrister to fight for the environment and became known to fellow activists as “the Earth’s lawyer.” Her major campaign was to see what she called ecocide considered an international crime against humanity, on the same level as genocide or other war crimes. She believed that anyone responsible for destroying the environment, whether they be politicians or big business, should face prosecution by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Although dying of cancer, Higgins, a graduate of both Glasgow and Aberdeen universities, was able to see protesters of the Extinction Rebellion echo her call in recent weeks. Ecocide is defined as "loss or damage to, or destruction of ecosystem(s) of a given territory(ies) such that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants has been or will be severely diminished."

Ms Higgins believed there should be a specific law against ecocide and that those directly involved – government leaders, ministers or the CEOs of big companies including Shell and BP – should be tried and, if found guilty, convicted.

She won many awards for her stance and published the book Eradicating Ecocide in 2010. She believed “the Earth is in need of a good lawyer” and she took up that role. Her only client, she said, was the Earth. She also called herself a “conscientious protector.”

The eldest of three children, Pauline (always known as Polly) Helène Higgins was born in rural Stirlingshire to Nicholas Higgins, who worked in Glasgow as both a dentist and meteorologist, and his wife Monica (née Garvey), an artist who passed on her passion against injustice. Polly spent her childhood on the banks of Loch Lomond, which first awakened her to the beauty of the environment.

While attending St Aloysius’ College, a private Jesuit school in Glasgow, she witnessed a younger child being aggressively disciplined by a teacher. Polly did what many a Glasgow lass would do, although it is not to be recommended; she punched the teacher in the face but was expelled.

Although she first attained a degree in art history at Aberdeen, her passion against injustice led her into law and she got a postgraduate degree from Glasgow University in 1991 before moving to London to practise. To pay her bills and fees, she worked at an auction house and a catering business until she was called to the English Bar in 1998, first working with Baroness (Patricia) Scotland, the first black woman ever named Queen’s Counsel. In 2002, she married Ian Lawrie, later to become a judge.

It was in 2010, increasingly passionate about saving the planet, that she dedicated her life to the fight against ecocide. “There are millions who care so much and feel so powerless about the future, and I would love to seem them begin to understand the power of this one, simple law to protect the Earth - to realise it's possible, even straightforward,” she once said. “I wish I could live to see a million Earth protectors standing for it - because I believe they will."

She sold her house in England and gave up a high-paying job to continue her fight. “There is a missing responsibility to protect … What is required is an expansion of our collective duty of care to protect the natural living world and all life. International ecocide crime is a law to protect the Earth.”

After learning she had only weeks to live, she said: “My legal team will continue undeterred. It's about how we harness our own life energy. Do we decide to remain complicit in a world that is destructive or decide that we will stand up collectively and align with a greater force? It's a higher force, a higher energy that will protect the lives of millions in the future."

After her death, a Greenpeace spokesman wrote: "Many of us all over the world have been sending dear activist and Earth mother Polly Higgins our love and healing over this past month. Polly left her body on Easter Sunday with the International Rebellion going strong. Polly embodies so many qualities we need more of in the world. We have been so inspired by Polly's courage and outlook in general … She really shows what being a leader based in feminine principles is, and how we can move forward and create a beautiful future."

Ms Higgins’s awards are too numerous to mention. The magazine Ecologist acclaimed her as one of the world’s top ten visionary thinkers. In her rare spare time, according to friends, “Polly loves seaweed, raw chocolate and organic whisky – and sharing them with friends; biodynamics, flipping normatives, asking big questions and creative out-of the box thinking." A biker with a yearning for a Harley Davidson, she also has a deep love of beauty in nature and in art. She was greatly inspired by 17th century Dutch art (discovered when she was an Erasmus student in Utrecht).”

Ms Higgins settled in her later years in Stroud, Gloucestershire. She is survived by her husband Ian and by her brother Nicholas and sister Monica.

PHIL DAVISON