Green Crime

Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them

Julia Shaw

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781837260683
• Subtopic: Environmental Law

Traffickers. Hit men. Outlaws. Thieves . . .
Our planet is a crime scene – but can we catch the killers?

Enter a world where people are murdered, ecosystems are destroyed, organised criminals terrorise communities and corporate gangsters operate outside the law. And, closely following their every move, are teams of secret agents, vigilantes and scientists who are fighting for our planet's future.

Using insider sources and her expertise as a criminal psychologist, Julia Shaw takes us deep into some of the worst environmental crimes of our time. She reconstructs the minds of the perpetrators in cases like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Dieselgate emissions scandal and the Shuidong wildlife crime syndicate. From the Amazon forest to South African gold mines, she follows the impact of green crimes right to our doorsteps and meticulously profiles the work of the heroes bringing these criminals to justice.

Shaw asks: how do the Earth's killers think? What makes their crimes so deadly? And how can we stop them from stealing our future?

Green Crime is the most far-reaching murder mystery ever told.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. The Con Men: Emissions fraud in the US and how perpetrators rationalise environmental crimes
• 2. The Murderers: Deaths in the Amazon and the question of whether nature needs its own rights
• 3. The Traffickers: Poaching syndicates from China and the complex relationship between humans and animals
• 4. The Outlaws: Illegal fishing in Antarctica and how we behave when no one is watching
• 5. The Thieves: Zama Zama miners in South Africa and how narratives about environmental criminals become distorted
• 6. The Negligent: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and why it’s so hard to change our minds
• Conclusion: Capable Guardians
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Index