Walk for Earth: Oxford to Loch Lomond (and back!)
This guest blog is part of a series intended as a dedicated space for the many global movements/campaigns around the globe confronting ecosystem destruction to share their stories, narratives and perspectives.
‘Allär är ä’ by Owl Light Trio
https://www.owllighttrio.com
This blog post was written by Zoe Bicât, published author of poems and songs, injury rehabilitation therapist and teacher of Tai Chi Qigong.
The first steps
On 8th June 2022 I trod the warm tarmac of a cycle track along an A-road in Oxford, past a car-wash where the jet from pressure-washers exploded off the hood of an Audi into fine mist. I had a lightweight rucksack on my back and a 2 metre rope in my hand. At the end of the rope was a mule from the rural quiet of southern France, carrying 55 kilos in panniers over the crossbars of his pack saddle. We’d been training for this moment for three years. We were headed north, and would walk side by side until we reached Loch Lomond in Scotland.
It’s now nearly 10 months since Falco the mule and I took the first steps of our ‘Walk for Earth’ from Oxford to Loch Lomond. We spent most of July waiting for me to recover from Covid in Warwickshire. In early October last year after nearly 500 miles of walking with Falco, I stood on the shore of the Loch and gave thanks for the life and work of Polly Higgins, and for all the life that Earth holds. After a winter rest in The Trossachs, we’re now preparing to walk the return leg of our journey. We set off from the village of Etal in Northumberland this month.
Walk for Earth came out of a desire to express my love for the living world, and to physically walk this connection as a pilgrimage, with a more-than-human-companion. I knew that I loved Earth’s biodiversity; that my sense of wonder, and the joy of my own authenticity, had always sprung from those times of immersive understanding that I was not just proximal to this beauty, but part of its living flow. What song could I sing with my body, this little piece of an entire planetary life, that would raise a prayer against its loss? When I heard about Polly and Jojo Mehta’s work in 2017, I knew that the walk would be in support of ecocide law, and an attempt to offer people creative and democratic ways to engage with its progress. With the generous support of over 200 crowdfunder donors, the tolerance and practical help of all my friends, and the skill and belief of two amazing volunteers Katie Smirnova and Lily Nicholson, together we’ve been able to get Walk for Earth in motion.
Mule love this
The way people’s faces change when they meet Falco is evidence for me that humans feel deep resonance with the more-than-human world - that it makes us happy. We feel more connected with each other through the shared experience of that joy. Having conversations about ecocide law that spring from this sense of non-verbal connection is helpful; it spreads the message to a wider range of people than I could otherwise have reached. The fact that I’ve been on foot rather than on Falco’s back has also helped too - it’s much less intimidating to approach someone who’s at eye-level with you.
I’ve now had conversations about ecocide law with 270 people while out walking. Of those, only 5 had heard about the terms ‘ecocide’ or ‘ecocide law’. Each one of those people will likely go back to their friends and family and tell them about it. The vast majority we speak with, even those who haven’t heard of the term ecocide, think the concept is a good thing - whether they’re a young couple outside a pub in Banbury town centre, a farmer along the Mallerstang Valley in Yorkshire Dales National Park, the owner of a caravan park in Lincolnshire, or a dog walker in Stalybridge. Some people we’ve met, especially farmers, have fears about how it might be implemented, but this doesn’t stop them acknowledging the need for change.
We’ve visited two primary schools so far on our journey, and it’s been good to invite children and teachers to think about the connection between their school’s values such as kindness, respect, or care, and the idea of a law to protect the living world.
We are Interwoven
From the start I wanted to find a way to weave into Walk for Earth the care that so many of us feel for the living world, and to reach out with that same care to an island that has suffered most from the damage of climate change. This is taking shape in the form of a textile project, Interwoven. There are now seven weavers from different parts of the UK including Coventry, London, Glasgow and Lancaster, creating 35x45cm sections of what will be a larger final piece joined together with flax grown and spun in the Cotswolds. Once the piece has been assembled in Stroud it will be offered as a gift to Vanuatu’s Ambassador to the UK, to honour their stand as the first nation to propose serious consideration of ecocide law on the international stage in December 2019.
We’re looking for more loom weavers to join the project, so if that’s you, or if you can spread the word, please be in touch here: https://walkforearth.co.uk/contact/. We’ll also be stitching a small amount of plant-dyed yarn into the final Interwoven piece, so we’d welcome contact from natural dyers who want to take part.
If you like being outdoors, Falco and I would love you to join us by organising your own local Walk for Earth as a mini-fundraiser for Stop Ecocide International. You don’t need to walk a mule to Scotland… and ‘walks’ can be with a mobility aid. The Guide to Your Walk for Earth on our website takes you through how to message your MP, or tag them if you post about your walk on socials. ‘How to Join Walk for Earth' has all the info you’ll need. It’s been great to see a few people who hadn’t heard about ecocide law organise their own Walk for Earth locally. Your walk will help us reach our fundraising target of £10,000 for SEI.
It’s been wonderful to see the news of Stop Ecocide’s impact as we’ve walked. In the month we set off came the first anniversary of the Expert International Panel’s groundbreaking legal definition of ecocide as a crime. It has since informed discussion - and in some cases legislative change - in the governments of 26 countries.
In September last year Walk for Earth got a mention in Scottish Parliament, when Monica Lennon MSP asked what role Scotland would play in supporting the progress of ecocide law on the domestic and international stages. Monica’s questions resulted in the brilliant news that a meeting had been secured between Stop Ecocide International and Scotland’s Cabinet Minister for Infrastructure. And it might be the first time that a mule has been mentioned by name in Parliament anywhere in the world. I told Falco, but it wasn’t something he could eat.
Just last month saw two huge milestones in the progress of ecocide law. The EU Parliament voted to endorse including ecocide in their new ‘Directive on protection of the Environment through criminal law’. This was followed last week by a UN resolution led by Vanuatu and 133 co-sponsoring states, for an International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the obligations of states around climate change. The resolution was adopted by consensus at the UN General Assembly - also a first. It’s a milestone because it requires clarity on the obligations of states under international law to ensure the protection of Earth systems and of future generations. And it requires the same clarity on the legal consequences for states under these obligations, in relation both to other states (especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change) and to the “peoples and individuals of present and future generations” affected. This movement will open the way for more governments to step up with support for making ecocide an international crime.
I hope you’ll join us in expressing your care for the living world and your support for ecocide law, by doing your own local Walk for Earth this summer.
With thanks,
Zoe and Falco.
Are you a school teacher and you’d like us to visit your school or college? We have capacity for a few more visits on our return route.
Are you a group leader and you’d like your group to join us for a short section of our route near to you? Or, could you run a plant-dyeing activity to contribute to the Interwoven piece? We’d love to hear from you.
Contact: https://walkforearth.co.uk/contact/
How to Join: https://walkforearth.co.uk/how-to-join-walk-for-earth/
Interwoven textile project: https://walkforearth.co.uk/interwoven/
Fundraiser: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/19962#!/DonationDetails
