Awards

• Short-listed for Judges' Choice Award, Business Book Awards 2018 (UK)
• Winner of Judges' Choice Award, Business Book Awards 2018 (UK)

Overview

Who will protect our planet from the corporations, governments, and individuals who pollute, destroy, and devastate our natural world? Step forward a fresh new breed of passionately purposeful environmental lawyers, whose client is the Earth itself. At the head of this legal army stands James Thornton, who takes governments to court, and wins. In Client Earth, we travel from Poland to Ghana, from Alaska to China, to see how citizens can use public interest law to protect our planet — and our future.

Full Product Details

9781911344810

Table of Contents

Reviews

`The book is inspirational in a hard headed, let's go to work-and-get-real-results sort of way ... There's a global vision. It's quietly amazing. One of the more significant books of the year.' * Oxford Today * `An inspiring read. It shows how the law is not just within the gift of the authorities to wield. Engaged citizens can do it too.' * E&T * `For an inspiring account of how social entrepreneurialism and ingenuity can make great strides in holding governments to account, this volume is well worth reading.' * Hackney Citizen * `Really inspirational.' * Anthony Giddens * `Can lawyers save the planet? Musty court rooms may be less romantic than hugging trees and less dramatic than accosting whalers on the high seas, but the answer may be yes. And guess what, lawyers can hug trees and have a lyrical turn of phrase, too.' -- Fred Pearce `The story of ClientEarth - and of its charismatic Founder, James Thornton - is truly inspirational. His only client is our battered, abused planet, and his favoured arsenal is the rule of law in defense of public interest. The hard-fought victories that you'll hear about are all important, but more important still are the vision, values and gritty dedication of an amazing group of lawyers and campaigners to whom we owe a very great deal.' -- Jonathon Porritt 'This excellent book shows how it is possible to use the law to hold politicians to the promises that they make when they sign agreements on environmental and climate change.' -- Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics, University of Cambridge `When compassion for life on Earth, or call it fury at the everyday and casual destruction of our stunning biosphere, when these two powers are honed by these exceptional environmental lawyers to a fierce and fine point, change happens, and the world is a better place for it. Humanity's grace and dignity are restored each time a case is successfully brought and won - it is truly a global battle fought between the mindless proponents of tragedy, and the (sometimes extremely) courageous proponents of hope. Read this book.' -- Emily Young `Client Earth provides a tantalizing glimpse of how a variety of strategies can converge to create a global environmental enforcement effort.' * Nature * `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 `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 `A hopeful book about the environment and a page-turner about the law.' * The Guardian * `[A] great book about how to save the planet using the long arm of the law.' * Coldplay *

Author Information

James Thornton is an environmental lawyer and writer. He is the founding CEO of ClientEarth, a not-for-profit environmental-law organisation with offices in London, Brussels, and Warsaw. The New Statesman named James as one of ten people who could change the world. He is a member of the bars of New York, California, and the Supreme Court of the United States, and a solicitor of England and Wales. Martin Goodman is the author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction. He holds the chair of Creative Writing at the University of Hull, where he is director of the Philip Larkin Centre for Poetry and Creative Writing.

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