Polly Higgins, a British barrister who spent years campaigning for courts and governments to recognize ecocide as a major international crime, died Sunday of cancer. She was 50 years old. Polly Higgins drafted model laws defining the crime of ecocide and authored two books on the subject. She proposed making ecocide a crime on par with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. “We are legally advising on ecocide crime to become an international crime at the International Criminal Court. Ecocide is the extensive damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems. Existing law does not go far enough in terms of stopping serious harm, ecological harm and climactic harm. We’re talking about criminal law here, so you’re looking at CEOs, directors, ministers, heads of state, who can be held to account within an International Criminal Court.”