“Green in the Blue and Gold” is a series created by Angelina Alkhouri, an Opinion columnist and a third-year human biology and society student. She will write about sustainability pitfalls at UCLA and the greater Los Angeles community, along with the consequences of choosing to ignore them. She will propose ways to strengthen commitments to sustainability as students and as a university. Bruins who have interest in or experience with the topic are welcome to submit op-eds or letters to the editor to be published as part of this series to represent the many facets of campus sustainability.

Governments and corporations profit from fossil fuel use and environmental destruction, leaving the public to bear the impacts.

This indirect cost of fossil fuel use is not only unsustainable but also unjust. But the growing movement to recognize “ecocide” – the causation of widespread environmental damage – as an international crime reflects a shift. Although not yet recognized by the International Criminal Court, ecocide is listed in Belgium’s criminal court alongside genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as an international crime.

Advocates at UCLA should reframe mindsets by labeling environmental destruction as ecocide and a criminal act.

Sustainability is not simply a matter of personal lifestyle choices or abstract policy goals. It is a matter of justice, accountability and human survival. Bruins must recognize the global nature of our environment, view environmental destruction as a criminal act and get involved through events on campus.

Biologists coined the term ecocide because of the American use of “Agent Orange” – a chemical used to destroy food sources – in the Vietnam War.

The Stop Ecocide Foundation commissioned an expert panel of 12 international criminal and environmental lawyers to define the crime in 2021. This campaign followed previous sentiments about protecting the environment in international conflict.

“Creating a term with a specific definition allows it to become a lexicon in policy and activist circles, with the eventual hope that it will lead to concrete policies,” wrote Poonam Narewatt, a political science graduate student, in an emailed statement.

Many view environmental destruction as a mere side effect of globalization and war. But such destruction is a deliberate consequence of systems that prioritize profit and power over people and the planet.

Belgium was first country in the European Union to adopt ecocide as an offense, with their new Criminal Code scheduled to take effect in April 2026. The legislation penalizes people and corporations for intentional, severe, widespread and long-term environmental damage with penalties up to 20 years in prison or fines of up to €1.6 million.

UCLA law professor Kate Mackintosh sat on a panel to discuss ecocide and emphasized the importance of legal accountability in fighting climate crimes.

Leaders must be held accountable for environmental destruction through prosecution at the International Criminal Court or domestic courts, Mackintosh said in an emailed statement.

Environmental impacts are felt beyond borders. Criminalizing ecocide is the only way to ensure human rights and ecosystems are protected.

“The crime of ecocide has more potential to act as a deterrent than the other crimes, as the perpetrators are often rational, corporate actors who are susceptible to share price and consumer image,” Mackintosh said in an emailed statement. “Being indicted or prosecuted for ecocide could damage both of those in a way that would be very problematic.”

By reframing environmental devastation as a punishable abuse of power, advocates can sustainably develop a safe, healthy future.

Advocates labeling ecocide as a criminal act can prompt discussions among citizens and policymakers and can spur change. Bruins should not feel disconnected from such labeling because we are living with its effect.

Professors and alumni should use their positions of power and students have power in numbers when it comes to such terminology, said Romina Fesseha, a second-year psychobiology student.

Rising up together is the only way to fight at UCLA.

“UCLA plays a large role already,” wrote Narwett in an emailed statement. “Being involved in local efforts at the city or county level – advocating for policies at those levels – it all helps. We all have more political power than we realize.

Ecocide offers more than a legal definition – it provides a practical framework to protect human rights.

“Harm to the environment is harm to humans,” Mackintosh said. “We can’t separate the two.”