Paris
Professor Laurent Neyret is a French Jurist who has long spoken about the need for an international crime of ecocide to be recognised. I first encountered his work during a guest lecture at Sciences Po in April 2023. During this talk, ecocide was defined as “severe, intentional damage to the environment with long term or widespread effects”. He went on to expand in great detail about ecocide in wartime as well as in relation to science, human rights and international criminal law.
Following the lecture I approached professor Neyret and introduced the pollen project. I sent various examples of the project in action and we arranged a meeting at Le Conseil Constitutionnel. As I stepped out after the meeting, I remember the heat. Paris was crowded, hot and windless, like it so often is. I remember feeling a strange mix of relief, disjointedness and certainty.
Relief
Firstly, I felt grateful that the meeting went by without any major hitches. Secondly, this was my last important feeling thing to be done during my time in the city. It felt poignant that my last engagement in a city I moved to for university was the task of representing the pollen project in the most formal context to date.
Disjointedness
I felt a disconnection between the talk I’d just had and the world immediately outside the building. Inside, we spoke about ecosystems collapsing, we discussed the immunity of corporations who have ravaged natural places and subsequently deepened climate change. I felt the weight of the work yet to be done and just how much learning (and unlearning) needs to happen. Outside, crowds of people are going about as normal: touristing, commuting, drinking, smoking. I can’t say that none of those people had climate change on their mind. Rather, the appearance of it all felt symbolic of the out of sight, out of mind approach taken by those yet to meet the most painful parts of the nature and climate crises.
The research potential of the psychological processing of warnings must be near infinite. How we absorb it all has changed over time as what were once predictions have, in some cases, become realities. Fatigue and anxiety and guilt and apathy are just a few of many emotions that get mixed in. I wonder how a move towards more creative ways of talking, learning and acting could help bridge the disconnection.
Certainty
In that room I felt useful. I felt separate from uni, and from purely personal ambition or interests. I felt stability in that this is what I think I should be doing. By this I mean making and holding spaces for creative conversations about ecology, politics and law. I love the fact that, in that room, I was seriously associated with ‘the pollen project’ and I felt a distinct pride in the thing that it is becoming: patiently, steadily and detached from myself.
There was something heartening and curious about the fact that this meeting had no clear, singular purpose before it happened and nor did one crystallise in its aftermath. The conversion that we had was full of mutual respect and interest and I would really like to think that we both came away with new ideas to work with.
In the past, as an activist, I would have wanted an ‘outcome’, something to walk away with, something ticked off. I’m now learning more about the power of conversation for conversations-sake and what can be learned from mixing a bit of bravery with relaxation. In this case, that took the form of trusting in the project, breathing deeply and letting responses flow at their own speed.
In this meeting, it was the idea of ‘art’ that I was trying to present with both boldness and relaxed certainty of its place in the environmental movement. Early on, Laurent asked where the art comes in and throughout our discussion I flagged ways in which we need more creative forms of connection and communication - from early years education right up to international diplomacy
I was taking notes before entering and remember jotting down something like “people should not be intimidated by places of power”. I know that I wrote this because I undoubtedly was. My notebook then trails off into thoughts about where to go next. My take-away thoughts are yet another thing I look forward to writing of in greater detail soon.
When I took to Instagram on the @pollen_project account that evening, I posted a single photograph of some notes I’d made outside the meeting room and accompanied it with a long caption. I had already decided that this would be the last Instagram post on the project account for a little while. Now, I am working on something that I hope to be a little more lasting than social media generally allows. This is not to say that it does not have immense benefits, it just isn’t quite right for what I’m hoping to make in this moment.
The caption read: This page has been a lovely part of the pollen project for almost a year. Things are growing and changing in exciting ways [...] I’m grateful for all the chats I’ve had with friends, their time and ideas that have fed pollen. I’ve never felt quite so excited to spend time on a project.”
The caption goes on and finishes with the same short passage that I will leave you with here:
“Finally, if you’re still reading this, Google Polly Higgins. She’s a Scottish Lawyer who passed away before she got to see the full fruits of her work to stop ecocide. There are interviews with her, writing and speeches that you’ll find if you look online. Polly’s work will change the world - I’m sure of that. It’s already happening! I cannot think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from exploring what she did.
With love
pollen.
