Earth is our Business expands on the proposal in Polly Higgins’ first book, Eradicating Ecocide, to make Ecocide an international crime. This book proposes new Earth Law, setting out an institutional framework for sustainable development and international environmental governance. The new rules of the game offer substantial benefits to the companies that find the renewable solutions the world needs.

But it is also about something more than law. It advocates a new form of leadership which places the health and well-being of people and planet first. Polly Higgins shows how law can provide the tools and be a bridge to a new, Earth centred way of doing business.

Like her award-winning first book, Earth is our Business is written for anyone who is engaging in the new and emerging discourse about the future of our planet. Instead of examining the problem, Earth is our Business sets out a solution: new rules of the game. They are a new set of laws based on the sacredness of all life.

Included as appendices are a draft Ecocide Act, a proposal for revising World Bank investment rules, and the indictment used in the mock Ecocide Trial held in the UK Supreme Court in September 2011.

Eradicating Ecocide was voted winner of The People’s Book Prize for non-fiction in 2011.

Polly Higgins sets out to demonstrate how our planet is fast being destroyed by the activities of corporations and governments, facilitated by ‘compromise’ laws that offer insufficient deterrence. Polly offers a solution that is radical, but absolutely necessary: the recent Mexican Gulf oil spill is a compelling reminder of the consequences of un-checked ecocide.

‘Eradicating Ecocide highlights the need for enforceable, legally binding mechanisms in national and international law to hold to account perpetrators of long term severe damage to the environment. At this critical juncture in history it is vital that we set global standards of accountability for corporations, in order to put an end to the culture of impunity and double standards that pervade the international legal system. Polly Higgins illustrates how this can be achieved in her invaluable new book.’ Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair of Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Advocate for Crimes Against Present and Future Generations

‘The beauty of this proposal is how it uses what is already there – the UN framework, the international criminal law as it has developed since World War II, and the trusteeship concept. Ecocide as a fifth crime against peace would be easily administered by the International Criminal Court without creating new structures or administrative bodies. A simple expedient, yet how revolutionary! A global standard of care would reconfigure the entire edifice of international justice on the foundation of Earth Jurisprudence… Eradicating Ecocide brims with hope and reads like a mystery novel.’ Ana Simeon, Sierra Club, BC

‘Eradicating Ecocide… lays the framework for us to lobby our leaders for real environmental laws and contains tips on taking action… it outlines the steps you can take towards becoming an Erin Brockovich in your own right.’ The Observer Magazine

‘Big shifts in international law can happen… [Higgins] makes a good moral and logical argument that the only way we are going to truly stop ecocide is to make it a serious crime.’ Matt McDermott, treehugger.com

‘Eradicating Ecocide gives you all the answers you need, and it does so in a measured and well argued way… the book isn’t another wild diatribe against business – rather it is an examination of international law and how environmental protection has somehow been left by the wayside… The clock to ensure the Earth remains healthy enough to support humankind is already ticking.  This book asks everyone to re-examine the legal framework within which we are attempting to accomplish this, and provides business leaders with a golden opportunity of making it happen.’ Chris Milton, corporate-eye.com

Higgins advocates the introduction of a new international law, Ecocide: ‘damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems’, as the 5th Crime Against Peace. This would hold to account heads of corporate bodies that are found guilty of damaging the environment; it would present corporations with a new choice: they could choose to be part of the solution, part of the salvation of the planet’s future, by complying with the new law of Ecocide. The opportunity to implement this law represents a crossroads in the fate of humanity; we can accept the change, or we can continue to allow its destruction, risking future brutal war over disappearing natural resources.

This is the first book to explain that we all have a commanding voice and the power to call upon all our governments to change the existing rules of the game.

Higgins presents examples of laws in other countries which have succeeded in curtailing the power of governments, corporations and banks and made a quick and effective change, demonstrating that her proposal is not impossible. Eradicating Ecocide is a crash course on what laws work, what doesn’t and what else is needed to prevent the imminent disaster of global collapse.

Eradicating Ecocide provides a comprehensive overview of what needs to be done in order to prevent ecocide. It is a book providing a template of a body of laws for all governments to implement, which applies equally to smaller communities and anyone who is involved in decision-making.

How to save the enterprise system and trigger sustainable economic recovery

In the richest nation on earth, people are mired in poverty. Food is produced on a vast scale, yet families go hungry. Homeless men and women huddle in doorways of boarded-up housing. A deep-rooted cause of this inequality, the author reveals, lies in an injustice that permeates the economic system of America and the world, an injustice that is as unquestioned today as slavery once was.

‘… could go far to restore our nation’s economic health’ William J. Coyne, former Pittsburgh Congressman

‘… a workable formula that will make our natural riches a blessing for the population as a whole’ Ken Hechler, formerly White House Assistant, Congressman and West Virginia State Secretary

‘…We know it works’ Stephen R. Reed, Harrisburg Mayor, 1982-2010

Rybeck shares with the reader his discovery that how property taxes are levied is crucial to this issue. Contrary to a common belief that all taxes are necessary evils, the author distinguishes taxes that suppress the economy from those that spur well-being for individuals, business, and society at large.  He presents a strategy for gradually increasing beneficial taxes and reducing harmful ones.

His prescriptions are based both on economic theory and on examination of success stories from the United States and elsewhere where these prescriptions have been adopted.  Reaching back into history, the author finds that easy access to land and natural resources played a major role in fostering America’s early dynamic economy.  He urges wider use of land value taxation to reverse land monopoly and sky-high land prices and restore a vigorous and competitive enterprise system with opportunity for all. Though America is the case study, the remedy is applicable worldwide.

Not a technical book, the author illustrates concepts, issues, and policies through episodes from his rich life experiences in journalism and public service, giving new insights and slants on the work ethic, land speculation, the housing bubble, property rights, and legally accepted injustices.

One outcome of the Second World War, Professor Dawsey writes in his foreword to this edition, was the proposition that all human beings should enjoy certain fundamental freedoms. These were enshrined by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since the book was first published in 1971 this endorsement has led to greater recognition of human rights in Russia, China, and many other parts of the world.

‘Andelson’s book is a courageous endeavour to renew the metaphysical foundations of natural rights‘ Russell Kirk, foreword to 1st edition

‘What strikes me as most impressive in Imputed Rights is its really profound understanding of human freedom and human rights‘ Will Herberg

In the West, Andelson argued, human rights have been an issue that are often invoked but seldom intelligently considered. Thus there have been pressure groups pushing for this, that and the other right to be recognised without considering how such a right might impinge on the freedom of others; for example the right to free expression versus the right to privacy, the right to life of the unborn child versus the mother’s choice.

Seeking to establish the ground for rights, Andelson exposed the inadequacy of the radical-humanist, utilitarian and self-realisation approaches as well as many widely held Christian approaches, and developed an original thesis.

In Search of Truth presents a comprehensive story of the evolution of the School of Economic Science, now in its eighth decade. Brian Hodginkson brings his historian’s skills and philosophic insight to bear in telling it in fascinating detail.

‘It became clear to me that there was such a thing as truth, and there was such a thing as justice, and that they could be found, and being found, could be taught.’
Leon MacLaren, founder, on the origin of the School of Economic Science

The School of Economic Science was founded during the Depression years of the 1930s by Leon MacLaren, son of Labour MP Andrew MacLaren. (See the biography Standing for Justice by John Stewart). MacLaren Senior found his inspiration in the economic theories of Henry George and this was passed onto Leon, who founded the school to discuss and spread Georgist ideas.

However the school soon developed beyond economics to focus on philosophy, as it was felt that the needs of the time would be better met through a more spiritual approach. In the 1950s Leon MacLaren discovered the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, and this new direction was reinforced by the introduction of meditation through the Maharishi, later guru to the Beatles. Further evolution came in 1965 when Leon MacLaren met the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Sri Shantananda Saraswati, whose spiritual advice is expounded in a series of chapters interspersed through the book.

Under the guidance of the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta the School continued to expand its range of activities, including art, Sanskrit, music and Renaissance studies. It founded an independent school for children which, along with the School itself, has affiliated branches around the world. The School met with criticisms and controversy along the way, and the author deals with these episodes openly.

In Search of Truth helps explain why hundreds of thousands have attended courses at the School of Economic Science in the UK and around the world, and why they hold it in such high regard.

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John Clare (1793-1864) was born at a time of great social upheaval, just months after the beheading of Louis XVI and the outbreak of war with France which was to last till the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. He also lived through the upheavals of the land enclosure movement and agricultural revolution which changed the face of the countryside and the way of life in rural England.

His father was a farm worker who managed to pay for his son’s schooling, though this was cut short as conditions worsened, but at least Clare had by then learnt to read and write so he could continue his own education, reading whatever books he could lay his hands on. At the age of sixteen he witnessed the social dislocation caused by the local enclosure Act and observed how the landscape was gradually transformed. Drawing on Clare’s writing, this extensively researched study gives the modern reader an appreciation of the divisive effects of these policies.

Structured chronologically, this exploration of John Clare’s life highlights the socio-economic and environmental aspects of his observations and includes his reports on an insidious revolution taking place in the English countryside. Parliament, dominated by landowners, authorised the enclosure of large tracts of common land by private acts without considering the effect on those who had enjoyed rights of use and pasturage for centuries.

Land enclosures, and the improved agricultural techniques which this permitted, was important in increasing food production at a time when the population of England was growing rapidly. While additional work was initially provided for agricultural labourers in the fencing and walling needed, this was temporary. The introduction of new, labour-saving machinery further reduced the opportunities for work.

Insufficient attention, the author argues, has been given to the consequences. Those driven out of their homes in the country were left with no option but to migrate to the towns and sell their labour to whoever would pay for it. In effect, land enclosure created a market in land; landlessness created a market in labour. These are the foundations of our modern market economy. The author asserts that the harshness of the early years of the industrial revolution were the product of land enclosure which the welfare state has to some extent mitigated, although at the cost of creating a dependency culture in contrast to the sturdy independence of Clare’s parents’ generation of farm workers.

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THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE

Fred Harrison draws on global-wide case studies to show how the violent birth of nation-states, whether the result of territorial conquests or colonialism, splits the population into two classes, victors and vanquished. This division is perpetuated and legitimated through the system of land tenure. The pathological consequences – as diverse as failed states, organised crime (mafia), religious fundamentalism and the re-emergence of piracy – are the result of the violent uprooting of the original inhabitants from their homelands.

‘You can become wealthy by creating wealth or by appropriating the wealth created by other people. When the appropriation of the wealth is illegal it is called theft or fraud. When it is legal economists call it rent-seeking’
John Kay, Financial Times

‘A new book by Fred Harrison The Predator Culture is another one of his to be read and re-read… A revealing book for anyone owning or trading property, in land development or associated occupations such as banking – anywhere in the world.’
The Free Lunch

‘This is a very important book… Read The Predator Culture and gain insight for solutions to troubles in distant lands, as well as in your own. Let us hope Heads of State, Finance Ministers and Foreign Secretaries everywhere are told about this book.’
Reader review, Amazon

Understanding the territorial basis of political power and wealth is the pre-requisite, Fred Harrison argues, for making sense of issues as diverse as genocide, narco-gangsterism, terrorism and fascism. The struggle over land and resources, he contends, is at the root of all of today’s global crises. Some attempts are being made to restore land to those in need, ranging from the offer of land in Afghanistan to the Taliban as an inducement to set aside their violent strategies, to the sharing of the rents of oil in Nigeria to entice eco-warriors into mainstream politics. But these piecemeal tactics fail to synthesise the conditions for peace and prosperity.

The Predator Culture provides a framework for truth and reconciliation in what has become a violent world that is slipping dangerously out of control.

In his published works, George gave to the world a three-fold economic legacy: political, intellectual, and moral. This is perhaps clearest in this volume, which brings together three of his famous works: The Land Question, Property in Land, and The Condition of Labour.

The Land Question is a tract on political reform and its implementation, and was originally published in 1881 as “The Irish Land Question.”

Property in Land (1884) is a response to the Duke of Argyll’s criticisms in The Prophet of San Francisco (reproduced in the book), and deals with the intellectual problems of freedom and the dignity of the individual.

The Condition of Labour is George’s “Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII” regarding the Pope’s influential encyclical, Rerum Novarm (1891, also reproduced in the book). In  response to what he regarded as a critique of his own philosophy, George lays out basic ethical principles relevant to our human need to live in a social order based on fairness and freedom.

Readers today will find that Henry George’s treatment of these specific issues offers insights that are comprehensive and relevant to alleviating the problems of poverty and economic injustice facing 21^st century humanity.

Real estate is sold as a much safer investment than the constantly fluctuating stock market. Share price volatility is compared unfavourably with the steadier and impressive gains made from real estate which is, we are told, ‘as safe as houses’.

Featured in The People’s Book Prize

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Testimonials:

‘I met Phil Anderson in the late 1990s when I sat his short course. On the last day after finishing Phil spoke to the class to let them know about another course that he only held once a year. This was his specialty and it was to do with technical analysis, long term cycles and how to forecast future market movements.
This intrigued me because all the so-called ‘experts’ say that market movements are random and that it’s not possible to forecast them.

Well, many years have passed since then and I must say that I don’t think I have seen anyone who can forecast the markets like Phil Anderson. What I was most impressed with was the fact that Phil makes his money from trading the markets, not teaching people. What Phil has taught me over the years has been invaluable. I took what Phil showed me and proved it to myself that you can forecast market movements. Those with foreknowledge will profit, and that’s what it’s all about.’
P. Scicluna, Melbourne, Australia

‘With little knowledge in the financial market, I attended Phil’s courses which captured my imagination. It has opened a completely new world for me and has improved my lifestyle. I have personally come to know many of his students who have become very successful and profitable traders. Over the years, he has kept us informed and educated on past, current and future market aspects with his unique perspective and insights, always so passionate, always so unselfishly. His emails are of great interest to follow, often with such helping hands to our share trading.’
M. Tse, Melbourne, Australia

View Phillip J Anderson’s interview on SkyBusiness, August 2009 here

‘If you think economics is boring, you haven’t met the real pirates of the Caribbean yet. Phil Anderson’s recently published book The Secret Life of Real Estate is both exciting and timely. It provides detailed insight on how the addiction to land speculation became the foundation of the United States of America.’
Prosper Australia

‘The author discovers that the real estate cycle repeats itself approximately every 18 years. In addition, he tells the reader the warning signs and trends that precede the various “hours” on his real estate clock. In summary, if the author’s research is reliable then we can utilise the “clock” to know when to buy and sell real estate in the future.’ Brian Cordiner, Member of the AIA (Australian Investment Association)

‘Required Reading for Property Investors, … a superbly written, logically structured study of the property market. His ideas are clear, the writing crisp and the book free from philosophical dogma. His analysis of property market booms and busts over the last 210 years shows how we fall into the same traps over and over again. … a stunning historical perspective with which to immunise yourself from political and economic commentators who clearly fail to grasp the real reasons for the mess we are in. Overall a fantastic book and well worth the price.’
Reader on amazon.co.uk

‘China’s privatisation of its real estate market guarantees [another] real estate cycle’
Singapore Business Times

‘This is an exciting, important and timely work; it will sell well. Anderson has ferreted out and marshaled dozens of sources on the 18-year cycle of boom and bust in real estate, its history, its mechanics, and its dynamics. Some sources are old and neglected; some are current and neglected; but after Anderson it will be hard for macro-economists to continue neglecting them. He melds the dramatic skills of a raconteur with the industry of a scholar and the discipline of a field marshal, to keep readers wide awake while they follow and most likely accept Anderson’s take on economic history.’
Professor Mason Gaffney, University of California

As millions of Americans – and countless others in the Western world – have recently found to their cost, house prices can also suddenly and dramatically drop. Yet no other text on real estate, either current or from the past, mentions this fact, reinforcing the perception that real estate is an almost risk-free investment.

Now for the first time, and long overdue, a book that details and explains the cyclical nature of real estate.

The latest real estate downturn in the USA (and in other countries) is just one of many that have occurred since 1800 with astonishing regularity. This book is the story of the American experience of those downturns: the move out of recession, how the banking system facilitates that move, the boom and the characters that shaped it, the bust and then the recession, or worse, depression. This is always followed by a new cycle repeating each phase again, varied only by the new ways bankers find to avoid the regulations put in place after each collapse to ensure it will never happen again.

The Secret Life of Real Estate explains, quite simply, how the real estate cycle originates, offers a fascinating study of US history to illustrate the stages through which each cycle passes, then explains why this cycle of boom and bust must repeat, given present economic conditions.

Real estate can only be a truly winning investment if you know the cycle. For investors, the author has designed a 24-hour Real Estate Clock which plots the progress of the cycle, with tell-tale signs so that investors can recognise exactly where they are in the cycle at any point in time and so help them decide whether to invest, sit tight or sell. He has refined this clock over a period of many years and those who have attended his courses have found it an invaluable and remarkably accurate guide for their investment strategies, not only in real estate.

With its invaluable insights and practical guidance, The Secret Life of Real Estate is a book for both novice and experienced investors alike who want to know why the real estate cycle moves as it does, learn how this movement can be forecast well in advance, and more importantly, wish to learn how to profit from this knowledge. A must read for any serious investor.

Economists today employ ‘flat-earth’ models, which are totally unrealistic. They ignore the huge influence of spatial location, which gives rise to economic, or Ricardian, rent. This has expanded proportionately to the continuous growth of most economies, and profoundly affects how they operate. A New Model of the Economy incorporates into both micro- and macro-economic analysis this basic and universal feature, thereby bringing economic theory into much closer touch with reality. Such phenomena as shortcomings of public finance, gross disparities of wealth and income, regional problems, the recent difficulties of sub-prime mortgages and much else become explicable with reference to the introduction of rent into the analysis.

“The author claims that economists today employ “flat-earth” models, which are unrealistic. They ignore the huge influence of spatial location, which gives rise to economic, or Ricardian, rent. At the same time, related topics of money, credit and interest are subjected to searching questions such as, “How do banks create money?” and “Why is there a interest rate at all?” The answers point to a way out of the current confusion over the proper role of the banking system. Finally, taxation is examined, with a view to how present day taxes inhibit the economy by their damaging impact on the margin of production, defined with reference to land. In short, the book offers a model for fundamental reform.”
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA, July 2009

“This is a major new work of great potential importance. It is not a book which seeks to persuade, although it is persuasive: it is a book which seeks to explain, in a clear and systematic manner, that which modern economic science orthodoxy has been unable to explain it in a manner that is addressed to those who need to understand. Hodgkinson describes economic science in the fullness of its reality, and in all its dimensions including the hitherto improperly recognise dimension – land. If epiphanies can come from text books, unsuspecting readers might expect one here.”
Land & Liberty. October 2008

“I judge this to be a very important book. Hodgkinson’s New Model of the Economy is much more relevant to the present state of real-world economies than the models offered by most economic textbooks. The immediate importance of this book is that, with professional economists’ conceptual outlook and language, it corrects serious failings in conventional economic analysis. On that account, I applaud his book and recommend it unreservedly to readers with a serious interest in the subject.”
Working for a Sane Alternative. Newsletter No 15. July 2008. James Robertson

“Brian Hodgkinson deftly pulls together many strands of alternative thought and presents them in a format which no economist can easily dismiss. He begins by distinguishing between the kind of economic freedom that would give all citizens fair access to the means to a meaningful and productive role in society, and the current sham freedom to accumulate immense personal wealth, which can only ever be by enjoyed by a small minority. He explores the notion that while land should remain in public ownership, the rent it earns should become public revenue. This is a remarkable book.”
Extract from guardian.co.uk. Mark Braund. 20 September 2008

This book offers a radical revision of modern economic theory. Its starting point is the existing body of both micro and macro economics, as developed in such textbooks as Economics by Begg, Fischer and Dornbusch and Positive Economics by Lipsey and Chrystal. Following a similar framework to these books, it adjusts the whole range of theory by introducing some new concepts and other earlier ones that have been much neglected in the economic thought of the past century. These are related especially to the fundamental part played by land, in it proper sense of all natural resources available on the earth, the significance of credit, especially through the banking system, and the crucial impact of the method of taxation.

The resulting analysis yields a thoroughly revised version of the contemporary model of a capitalist economy, so that a genuine ‘third way’ is revealed. This is not a mere modification of the present system of absentee ownership confronting a market for labour, with all the attendant evils of unemployment, monopoly and maldistribution of wealth and income. Rather it is a system based upon natural law, exhibiting economic security for all, fair distribution of output and, above all, the opportunity for self-fulfilment through work.

The ‘new model’ draws upon the masters of economic thought from Smith and Ricardo to Marshall, Schumpeter and Keynes, by highlighting concepts often omitted from current studies of their works; such as Ricardo’s analysis of scarcity and differential elements of rent, Schumpeter’s view of the role of banking and Keynes’s hints at a labour theory of value. Indeed this far-reaching revision makes bold advances upon the Marshallian theory of the firm and the Keynesian theory of national income determination, thus providing new insights into both micro and macro theory. It remains faithful, however to the tradition of these latter thinkers in explaining matters fully in words, and resorting to mathematics mainly through the use of diagrams intelligible to anyone with an elementary grasp of the subject.

Whilst the book strives to avoid value judgements in the interests of social science, it undoub-tedly carries strong implications about economic policy. These are bound up with the central notions of free land and free credit, which have been singularly ignored by policy-makers since a few valiant attempts to introduce them in the early twentieth century. Hence the ‘new model’ is offered to both theorists and practitioners of economics, to politicians and public servants, but particularly to those who, like the author, truly seek a new vision of the subject.