This Is Not an Opinion
Why the Earth Must Come Before Politics
Donald Jacob
Publication date: 23 July 2026 — one year to the day after the International Court of Justice confirmed that states have binding legal obligations to protect the climate system.
We know what is happening to the biosphere — and we are barely changing course. This book argues that the reason is not a lack of knowledge but a flaw in how we decide: election cycles, lobbying, and our own psychology make the foundations of life permanently negotiable. Its answer is a Constitution for the Earth — not a world government, not an eco-dictatorship, but constitutional guardrails for the biosphere, with measurable limits, automatic triggers, and institutions under judicial oversight: an Earth Council, an Earth Bank, a Biosphere Inspectorate, a Biosphere Court.
The protection of the biosphere is not an opinion. It is the prerequisite that allows us to live, debate, and vote in the first place.
Three arguments
1 — The problem is not knowledge but decision architecture. Our brains are wired for sudden threats, not slow-moving ones; our politics rewards the short term. More information will not fix this. Structures that take our weaknesses into account will.
2 — The biosphere is not a policy area. It is the supporting structure of all policy. Taxes, welfare, lifestyles — these are legitimately negotiable. Breathable air, fertile soil, and a stable climate are not interests to be weighed but conditions to be met. Treating them like tax policy is the fundamental design flaw of current democracies.
3 — The law has begun to catch up. The institutions are still missing. Three rulings in fifteen months — the European Court of Human Rights (KlimaSeniorinnen, 2024), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2024), and the International Court of Justice (2025) — have moved the biosphere from political discretion toward enforceable law. What none of them yet provides is enforcement. This book supplies the missing architecture.
Voices
"Democracy, the global economy and most importantly the web of life that sustains us all are on life support. Neither going backwards nor tinkering around the edges can save us. We desperately need to replace the failed systems that have led us to this precipice. Donald Jacob's brave new book offers a clear and compelling vision of what needs to be done."
David R. Boyd, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to a healthy environment.
Professor of Law, Policy, and Sustainability ,University of British Columbia
About the book
This Is Not an Opinion is the revised and expanded English edition of Die Erde als Partner (first published 2021; oekom verlag 2022; revised edition 2026). It has been updated to early 2026, including the 2024–25 rulings of the ICJ, ITLOS, and the European Court of Human Rights. The book is the theoretical foundation of the touring exhibition "Erde — ohne Stimme" (Earth — Without a Voice), with contributions committed by David R. Boyd (former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment), Klaus Bosselmann (NZ Centre for Environmental Law), Patricia Balvanera (UNAM / IPBES), and Kimberly Nicholas (Lund University).
ISBN 978-3-9523588-2-5 (paperback) · ISBN 978-3-9523588-3-2 (ebook) · 200 pp · Earth Governance Press
Publication date: 23 July 2026 · Print edition ships from early August 2026
About the author
Donald Jacob, born in 1963, is a Swiss landscape architect, ecologist, visual artist, and trained gardener. He has been active in nature conservation since the 1980s — he co-organized the human chain from Basel to Rotterdam after the 1986 Schweizerhalle chemical disaster — and works today as a planner, author, and speaker on the interrelationships between urban planning, ecology, and society. He is the author of Die Erde als Partner (oekom, 2022) and the creator of the exhibition Erde — ohne Stimme. He is the father of two children.
Press facts
FOR RELEASE 23 JULY 2026
One year after the ICJ climate opinion: a Swiss ecologist proposes the missing institutions
On 23 July 2025, the International Court of Justice confirmed that states have binding obligations to protect the climate system. One year on, Swiss landscape architect and ecologist Donald Jacob publishes This Is Not an Opinion — Why the Earth Must Come Before Politics: the case for a Constitution for the Earth that turns the courts' new direction into enforceable architecture — planetary guardrails with measurable thresholds, automatic triggers, and institutions under judicial oversight.
The book is the revised and expanded English edition of Die Erde als Partner (oekom, 2022) and the theoretical foundation of the touring exhibition Erde — ohne Stimme, with contributions committed by David R. Boyd, Klaus Bosselmann, Patricia Balvanera, and Kimberly Nicholas.
This Is Not an Opinion — Why the Earth Must Come Before Politics · Donald Jacob · 23 July 2026 · ISBN 978-3-9523588-2-5 (paperback), 978-3-9523588-3-2 (ebook) · Earth Governance Press · Review copies (PDF): dojacob@me.com
Short bio (2 sentences): Donald Jacob is a Swiss landscape architect, ecologist, and visual artist who has worked on nature conservation since the 1980s. This Is Not an Opinion is the English edition of his book Die Erde als Partner and the foundation of his touring exhibition Erde — ohne Stimme.
Press contact: Donald Jacob · dojacob@me.com · donaldjacob.ch
Für deutschsprachige Leserinnen und Leser
This Is Not an Opinion ist die überarbeitete und erweiterte englische Ausgabe von Die Erde als Partner. Die aktuelle deutsche Ausgabe ist als Book on Demand erhältlich (BoD 2026, ISBN 978-3-6957-5033-7). Das Buch schlägt eine Verfassung für die Erde vor: planetare Leitplanken mit Verfassungsrang, automatische Auslöser bei Grenzwert-Überschreitung und Institutionen unter richterlicher Kontrolle — Earth Council, Earth Bank, Biosphere Inspectorate, Biosphere Court.