Client Earth

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.

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 Alaska to China, from Poland to Ghana, to see how citizens can use public-interest law to protect their planet. 1970s America saw lawyers first band together to battle for the environment. This book tracks that phenomenon from its origins and out across the globe. Lawyers who take the Earth as their client are exceptional and inspirational. They give us back our hope.