Date – 2055

Place – Paris, France

Symbol of the Environmental Justice Alliance (EJA), an anonymous group of activists, academics, journalists and politicians. The aims of the group were to provide ecological justice; to judge the actions of industrialists, politicians and bankers. Those found guilty of the crime of Ecocide, the deliberate destruction of natural systems, were sentenced to death.

The first recorded assassination was carried out in 2039. The victim was Sheldon Trippier, the CEO of TotalADNOC, a company founded on the exploitation of fossilised hydrocarbons such as oil. Trippier was executed outside his office in Bonn and a ‘chain’ left on his body. The symbolism of the chain relates to the victim’s role as part of a continuous chain of eco-destruction and that by not breaking the chain, they were seen as complicit in the crime of Ecocide. The chain is made from plastic, itself seen as a symbol of the corrupting power of business, particularly oil and gas.

The group went on to assassinate a further thirty-two ‘guilty’ politicians, industrialists and bankers over the next 15 years.

The symbolism of the chain was taken to mean that the person in question was part of a continuous chain of eco-destruction and that by not breaking the chain, they were complicit in the crime of Ecocide. Made from plastic, itself seen as a symbol of the corrupting power of business, particularly oil and gas.

The appearance of this type of extreme direct action was in response to the repeated failures of the international climate treaties in the first half of the 21st century and the increasing use of curfews and force to curtail peaceful protest.

This dark period in the history of the ecological movement had all but disappeared by 2060 as the international community began to work together to face an uncertain climate future.

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