Environmental destruction

Green revolutionary - interview of Edward Goldsmith by Bittu Sahgal, published in Sanctuary Asia magazine, at the 2004 World Social Forum, Mumbai.

Rethinking basic assumptions - an article for the Parliamentary Monitor. The 'New Labour' government led by Tony Blair is not just a disappointment from an ecological perspective, it is the worst government that Britain has ever had: assiduous in its efforts to please multinational corporations, ever seeking to promote dangerous and untested new technologies, utterly subservient to power, and despite its superficial green rhetoric, always happy sacrifice the environment in pursuit of its political, economic and military objectives.

What to do? - chapter from La terre vue du ciel (the Earth seen from the Sky) by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Paris, 3 September 2002). "Ultimately the answer ... is to change the industrial system itself and return to a largely rural, community-based society in which economic activities are conducted on a very much smaller scale and that cater as much as possible for the local economy."

Can the environment survive the global economy? - "To increase trade is justified because it is seen to be the most effective way of increasing economic development, which we equate with progress, and which in terms of the world-view of modernism, is made out to provide a means of creating a material and technological paradise on Earth ... ". Too bad about the planet. First published as Chapter 7 of The Case Against the Global Economy, June 2001. This extended version appeared in The Ecologist Vol. 27 No. 6, November / December 1997.

Hell on Earth: mankind and the environment - Humanity has transformed the planet almost unrecognisably, now we talk of re-engineering ourselves to fit ... how we can miss the point so dramatically? Published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 7, October 2000.

The next thirty years - writing at the turn of the Millennium, Edward Goldsmith predicts that hard times are ahead, failing drastic action to curb the social and environmental evils that beset us.

Is free trade working for everyone? - letter published in Prospect Magazine No. 47, December 1999, written to Jagdish Bhagwati.

Gaia and the global corporations (extended version) - "Development involves methodically destroying the real world or the world of living things in order to substitute in its stead a totally different world; the surrogate world or world of human artefacts ... ". This article, based on Edward Goldsmith's keynote address at the International Forum on Globalization in April 1998, was published in Caduceus magazine issues 42 and 43, winter 1998 and spring 1999.

My fears about GM food crops In this introduction to "The Monsanto Files", The Ecologist's special issue on Monsanto, Edward Goldsmith engages with the problems of corporate control of the food chain as well as the potential health issues associated with genetic modification. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 5, September / October 1998.

Policing the environment - a talk presented to the Bellerive / Globe "Policing the Global Economy - why, how and for whom?" international conference, held in Geneva 23-25 March 1998, before Sadruddin Aga Khan. "My thesis is that there are no effective institutional methods for 'policing the global environment'. To the extent that the global environment will be 'policed' at all it is only likely to be by mass social movements ... "

Gaia and the global corporations (original version) - the keynote address delivered to the International Forum on Globalization in April 1998. It argues for "a network of loosely connected local economies ... rooted in a particular society to which they are accountable economically, socially, ecologically, and morally, and catering largely, though not entirely, for local and regional markets ... ".

Cancer: are the experts lying? - yes they are, in denying the role of carcinogenic pollution, both chemical and radioactive, while supporting implausible theories which pin the blame for cancer on cancer sufferers themselves.

Open letter to Judy Maciejowska - this powerful letter, dated 8 March 1995, was written to Green Party activist Judy Maciejowska

A strategy for ensuring the habitability of our planet - a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts, London, demonstrating that the interests of the economy, and those of society and the environment, are fundamentally incompatable.

FAO's projections for livestock - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is envisaging huge increases in livestock numbers and meat production worldwide. But nowhere does it stop to ask, what the impacts will be on the environment, or on the rural poor. Written with Patrick McCully. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 21 No. 2, March / April 1991.

On receiving the 1991 Honorary Right Livelihood Award - In 1991 Edward Goldsmith received a Honorary Right Livelihood Award, "... For his uncompromising critique of industrialism and promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives to it". This is the speech that he gave on receiving the Award.

The Earth Report - Preface - the highly influential Earth Report, edited by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard, was published in 1988 by Mitchell Beazley, London. The US edition was published by Price Stern Loan, Los Angeles, California, also in 1988. Edward Goldsmith wrote the Preface which is reproduced here.

Tropical forests: a plan for action - "deforestation spells cultural death for the millions of tribal peoples who depend on the forests for their livelihood. It threatens to condemn to extinction 50 to 90 percent of the world's species of plants, animals and insects ... ". Editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 17 No. 4/5, 1987.

The costs of modernisation - "There is a direct, historical link between the increasingly serious environmental problems we are experiencing today and the 'modernisation' of our economic activities ... ". Co-authored by Nicholas Hildyard, co-editor of The Ecologist this article is the Introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland (Polity Press, 1986).

A theoretical non-disciplinary approach to environmental education - "If environmental education is to succeed in preventing people from destroying their natural environment, then it must consist of very much more than communicating to our youth apparently value-free scientific knowledge of the importance of preserving what remains of it ... ". Unpublished, 1985.

The myth of the benign superdam - "Are dams inevitably destructive? Some critics have argued that if stringent conditions are laid down before a dam is authorised, the devastation of the past decades could be avoided. A careful consideration of the suggested conditions, however, shows that few, if any, dams could pass the test...". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6, 1984.

The politics of damming - shows how giant dam projects are invariably driven by powerful political motives that override all other concerns. "Dams are never built in a political vacuum. For politicians they mean votes and prestige. To criticise dam projects is thus to face an uphill battle against the power of the state-one that is nearly impossible to win...". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6, 1984. Co-written with Nicholas Hildyard.

Industrial pollution: getting away with the crime - in the UK, there is little effective legal sanction against even the most egregiously criminal industrial polluters. But in the USA, aggressive prosecutors armed with effective environmental laws have achieved remarkable successes. This editorial article, co-written with Peter Bunyard, was published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 4 1984.

Management and maintenance - perennial problems Published as Chapter 12 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Salting the earth: the problem of salinisation - Published as Chapter 11 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The retreat from Stockholm - editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 3 May / June 1982. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). Goldsmith muses on the progress of UNEP and concludes: "It is difficult to avoid agreeing with Sir Frank Fraser Darling that 'we are all doomed'."

An Environment Programme - but for whom and what? - an abbreviated version of Edward Goldsmith's critique of the UNEP document, ref: UNEP/GC(SSC)/2. "If it wants a real function over and above that of offering palliatives, UNEP must have the courage to tell the truth - to tell industrialised and developing countries alike that it is development that is the scourge of mankind and destroyer of worlds..." Published as an editorial in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 2, March-April 1982.

Under control? - Do the laws regulating pesticide use in Britain really protect our health and environment? Far from it. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 3, March 1980.

Pesticides create pests - Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 3, March 1980. "Natural selection assures that the fittest survive ... Those that have become the fittest and will now become selected to the exclusion of all others, are those that have developed resistance to the pesticide used... "

False perspective - review of A Perspective of Environmental Pollution by Martin W. Holdgate, Cambridge University Press. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 8/9, November / December 1979.

Can pollution be controlled? - this is a discussion of the multitude of pollutants, chemical and radiological, that are being pumped into the environment in the name of progress and development, and the failure of regulators to tackle the growing problem as to do so would challenge the principle of never-ending economic growth that threatens the entire biosphere. It was originally published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 Nos. 8 / 9, October-December 1979. This revised version appeared in 1988 as Chapter 5 of "The Great U-Turn".

A man of the trees - an indefatigable champion of forests, Richard St Barbe Baker has travelled worldwide persuading governments and people of the value of trees. He has battled on behalf of the Redwoods of California and planted trees in the Sahara in an attempt to halt the encroaching desert. Recently he visited Cornwall. Edward Goldsmith talks to him... Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 7, October / November 1979.

The future of tree diseases - What has caused the epidemics that are currently decimating our trees? The factors involved are intimately linked to economic development - and the only hope for our trees lies in de-industrialisation. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9, Nos. 4-5, August 1979.

Cap La Hague: chaos reigns supreme - a stinging critique of lax management and poor safety standards at France's nuclear re-processing centre. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 8 No. 6, November / December 1978.

Mellanby versus theory and fact - The attack on Professor Kenneth Mellanby, which began in "What makes Kenny run?", continues. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 8 No. 5, September / October 1978.

Can prosperity be brought to Fatehpur? - Article by Edward Goldsmith published in the Ecologist Quarterly No. 2, summer 1978. Poverty is caused, not by lack of goods and money, but by the destruction of ecological capital. It follows that the solution to poverty is not 'development' but to rebuild ecological capital.

What makes Kenny run? - a critique of Professor Kenneth Mellanby, with his response. "A man of distinction, erudition and considerable personal charm ... he has a big reputation in the academic world and passes for an ardent environmentalist." Yet he is here portrayed as a cynical, self-interested collaborator in global ecocide. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 8 No. 3, May / June 1978.

De-industrialising society - five years after A Blueprint for Survival, Edward Goldsmith updates and reaffirms the original message, that we must create "an economically and politically de-centralised post-industrial society". The article was originally published in The Ecologist Vol. 7 No. 4, May 1977. This slightly revised version was published as Chapter 7 of The Great U-Turn.

Wildlife and systems theory - "Lord Zuckerman appears to regard wild animals as an amenity and nothing more. Their extermination is quite justified if this serves a higher social purpose such as combating starvation or paying for school meals ... ". Editorial article, The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 7, August - September 1976.

Strategy for tomorrow - editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 2, February 1975. Commentary on the second Club of Rome report.

Pollution by tourism - one of the first-ever critiques of mass tourism, revealing its many under-estimated impacts. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 2, February 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

Living with nature - editorial in the first ever issue of The Ecologist Vol.1 No. 1, July 1970.