All pages, by date

The Ecologist: Four decades of global warning - writing in The Independent, Gillian Orr celebrates The Ecologist's birthday. "A pioneering environmental magazine in the 1970s, The Ecologist has spent 40 years alerting people to what we are doing to our world ... ". Published 27 July 2010.

Starting out: how Teddy Goldsmith launched the Ecologist 40 years ago - writing for The Ecologist website, Peter Bunyard recalls the history of the magazine, founded 40 years ago. "Running a magazine on a shoestring budget; printing unpopular but groundbreaking analyses; fighting off lawsuits: the Ecologist has evolved over its 40 year history, but the passion present in 1970 is still here today ... ". Published 26 July 2010.

Memories of Teddy - This page has been created to record individual memories of Teddy from his friends and colleagues.

Comments by Colin Hines, Convenor of the Green New Deal Group, Director, Finance for the Future - hosted on the IFG website. "One of my favourite Teddy anecdotes was how he decided to stand for his father's old constituency in Suffolk, as a People's Party candidate. He realised he needed a gimmick to get the issues he was trying to raise noticed. He would always tell, amidst gales of laughter, how he contacted 'my friend Aspinall' the zoo owner to obtain a camel to highlight the issue of soil erosion in East Anglia ... He lost his deposit, but in such typical style."

Farewell to Teddy - Caroline Lockhart and the Commision on the Future of Food - hosted on the IFG website. "He brought insights and foresight, joy and laughter into our lives. He was a giant on whose shoulders we all stand. We were so privileged to have known and to have worked with him. His passing is a huge collective loss. We will miss him enormously. His legacy will continue on."

A Remembrance of Teddy Goldsmith by Vandana Shiva - Founder and Director of Navdanya - hosted on the IFG website. "No matter what our particular issue is, Teddy shaped the ideas and campaigns that motivate and mobilize us even today. Our best tribute to him is continuing our collective work with the unique combination of outrage and fun that Teddy infected us with. Teddy was one of my dearest and most precious friends. I miss him deeply."

Comments by Martin Khor, Director of the South Centre, Co-Founder, Third World Network - on the IFG website. "Teddy Goldsmith -- thanks for the science, the spirit, the fight, the friendship, the life, the Way. Each of us and the world, and the Earth, has benefited immensely."

Global Movement mourns the death of Edward Goldsmith, and celebrates his life - "The Board of Directors and staff of the International Forum on Globalization, joined by dozens of Associates and colleagues, deeply regret to announce, and gravely mourn the death of Edward (Teddy) Goldsmith ... as meaningful as all his achievements on the global political stage, for all of his colleagues and collaborators these works may have been overshadowed by the larger-than-life presence of the man himself, the inspirational teacher, beloved guide, hilarious raconteur, and great, intimate, generous friend." Written by Jerry Mander, Cofounder, Distinguished Fellow, IFG.

Obituary: Teddy Goldsmith 1928 - 2009 - David Taylor remembers Teddy Goldsmith, writing in Green World (issue 66, autumn 2009), the magazine of the Green Party of England and Wales. "The last time I saw Teddy was back in 2004 during the run-up to the European Elections. I'd gone up to London to see if he'd contribute to our campaign here in the south west. What stayed with me after I left was the way he said farewell. He shook my hand and then, with the touch of an old fashioned ‘gentleman', placed his left hand on top of our two held hands, and looked into my eyes. I remember the intimacy of that look. I knew it might be the last time I saw him and it was a gesture of remarkable warmth. I first heard of Teddy in a Sunday magazine back in 1972. He was featured in a story about a group, including Jeremy Faull - the party's first-ever county councillor - who'd bought land in Withiel, Cornwall to create a self-sufficient community living close to the land. Some years later, quite coincidentally, I found myself living in the same valley, with Teddy as my neighbour ..."

Edward Goldsmith wiki - on en.wikipedia.org, the free encyclopedia. An evolving account of Teddy's life and works.

Teddy Goldsmith - a tribute - Peter Bunyard, a long standing friend and colleague of Teddy's, offers his personal tribute. Written on 28 August 2009. A shorter version of this article was published on The Ecologist website. "Teddy died on August 21st, in Tuscany, in his hill-top house, a converted convent, which overlooked one of his favourite places in all the world, no less than the mediaeval city of Siena. For Teddy, Siena embodied much of what he believed in; a city with ancient roots going back to the Etruscans, where civic pride and a vibrant living culture was the result of centuries of republicanism and popular participation in the running of the city and where everyone knew everyone else. And the Siennese acknowledged Teddy as one of their own, such that, when word got out, just days before his death, people flooded in from the City to pay their respects to a man whom they admired for his wisdom, humanity and no less his sense of fun ... "

I am where I am today because of Teddy Goldsmith - Jonathon Porritt writes his personal tribute to Teddy. 10 September 2009.

Ecologist and Environmentalist Edward Goldsmith - on 4 September 2009 Last Word on BBC Radio 4 ran this piece on the life of Teddy Goldsmith, featuring exerpts of Teddy's own speech as well as commentary by his nephew Zac Goldsmith, and his long standing friends and colleagues Jonathon Porritt and Robin Hanbury-Tenison. The presenter is Matthew Bannister.

Teddy Goldsmith: a tribute - Peter Bunyard pays tribute to the rich life of Edward Goldsmith, writing in The Ecologist, 1 September 2009. There is also a longer version of this article on this website.

The great teacher has passed away - Pedro Burrezo, editor of The Ecologist for Spain and Latin America writes his words of tribute to Teddy Goldsmith, September 2009.

Edward Goldsmith, 1928 - 2009 - Paul Kingsnorth contributes his personal memories of Teddy, 31 August 2009. "Teddy Goldsmith was a curious paradox of a man. Very rich, very establishment, yet also fiercely anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist and anti-modern. A pioneer of environmental campaigning, Teddy was making the case against global capitalism before I was even born, and countering its global spread with a vision of his own: a romantic, conservative vision of small communities living 'stable' lives close to the soil ... "

Edward Goldsmith Pioneer of the Green Movement Dies Aged 80 - the Institute for Science in Society records its memories of Teddy, 31 August 2009. "Most of all, Teddy was kind and attentive to everyone to a fault, and always had time for people. He remained a sharp and independent thinker almost to the last. What he enjoyed most was a congenial argument on a finer intellectual point in philosophy, politics, anthropology, religion, art, or any other discipline you care or dare to engage, as Teddy had extraordinary breadth as well as depth in the knowledge he was passionate about ... We love him dearly, all of us at ISIS, for his big heart and soul, for his fount of knowledge and consummate story-telling.We owe him a life-long debt for showing us The Way (his last major work first published in 1996), and because he had so unstintingly championed and supported us over the years."

The Environment Loses a Champion - Paul Craig Roberts writes in Counterpunch, 31 August 2009. "Teddy Goldsmith believed that the high consumption era of hydro-carbon man was of short duration, totally dependent as it is on cheap but exhaustible petroleum energy. Teddy believed that only small-scale societies are viable in the long-run. He opposed the spread into the remaining traditional societies of the development model pushed by the World Bank and western economists ... "

Sad death of a Green pioneer - Economist Colin Hines of the Green New Deal Group pays tribute to the late Teddy Goldsmith: "It's very hard to believe he has gone. 'Loss' is a word that is lightly bandied about at these times, but for me and his family and friends it has a real depth and poignancy. Teddy was quite literally irreplaceable. From his grandee role as one of the founding fathers of the environment movement via that great wakeup call for so many people - The Blueprint for Survival - to his founding the world's first environmental party in 1973 - the People's Party, now known as the Green Party ... "

Tribute to Teddy Goldsmith, a Green pioneer - the Green Party of England & Wales pays its tribute to Teddy - one of the Party's founders and earliest Parliamentary candidates.

Obituary - Edward Goldsmith - by Walter Schwarz, published in The Guardian, Thursday 27 August 2009. "Edward Goldsmith, who has died aged 80, was an influential environmental scholar, polemicist and campaigner who founded and edited the Ecologist. A special issue in 1972, Blueprint for Survival, proposing the formation of a movement for sustainability, was published as a book, sold 750,000 copies in 17 languages and led to the foundation of the People party, later the Ecology party, which eventually became the Green party."

Addio a Goldsmith Ecologista Pionere - by Carlo Petrini, la Repubblica, 26 August 2009. This obituary is provided as a .pdf file (95KB) in the original Italian.

Farewell, Teddy - Carlo Petrini pays tribute. Translated from the original Italian version published in La Repubblica on 26 August 2009. "The death of Edward Goldsmith leaves a gap in the environmentalist movement that cannot be filled. A campaigner since the 1970s, he fought to promulgate ecological sensitivity and promote forms of behaviour conducive to the protection of our planet. I first met Goldsmith a few years ago, when we were both asked to sit on the Commission on the Future of Food, set up by the Tuscany Regional Authority and presided over by Vandana Shiva. Not that I wasn't already familiar with the wealthy Englishman's achievements and extraordinarily lucid, clear, irrevocably radical writings ... "

Edward Goldsmith: environmentalist - "Teddy Goldsmith was a highly influential figure in the world environmental movement ... Though colourfully outspoken, purposefully antagonistic and with political and social views that would make many of today's environmentalists blanch, Goldsmith was one of the founders of the modern green movement. Before he appeared on the scene, as one early follower said, 'much of ecology had been about the complex life in duck ponds'.". Obituary published in The Times, 26 August 2009.

Ecologist founder Edward Goldsmith dies at age 81 - "Edward Goldsmith, the founder of the Ecologist and one of the world's foremost green thinkers, has died at the age of 81. Goldsmith - known almost universally as 'Teddy' - had been suffering from a long-term illness and died peacefully in his sleep on Friday 21st August. He is survived by his second wife, Katherine Goldsmith, and five children ... " Article in The Ecologist, 26 August 2009.

Teddy Goldsmith - obituary in The Telegraph, published 25 August 2009. "Teddy Goldsmith, who died on August 21 aged 80, was a champion of conservation and organic farming, the elder brother of the billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, and founder of The Ecologist magazine and the Ecology Party, which later became the Green Party ... "

The Way - quotes from reviews - this is a compendium of quotes from reviews of The Way - an ecological worldview by Edward Goldsmith.

Teddy speaks - This is a compilation of statements by Edward Goldsmith taken from correspondence and some conversations with a close follower of Teddy's writings. These notes represent the only record of Teddy's words, the original letters now discarded. The quotations are undated, other than can be inferred from references to dates within the text. Quotations from different times and sources are also joined together without break. However the text as a whole, rings true to Teddy's opinions and views expressed elsewhere, and come with Teddy's authentic 'voice'. It is organised under the headings The Way, Climate, Globalisation, Ecosystems, Education.

True colours - The Goldsmith clan's stripe of conservative ecology is deeply flawed, but without it where would many activists be?. Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker, muses on the pivotal but eccentric role of the Goldsmith brothers, Teddy and Jimmy, in Britain's Green movement. Published in The Guardian, 1 October 2007.

The Godfather of Green - having launched The Ecologist 37 years ago, Teddy Goldsmith has been instrumental in everything from the setting up of the world's first political green party to being the first to expose many of the problems associated with global development, such as giant dams and nuclear power. Now 79, he is as vociferous as ever, but finally the rest of the world is beginning to catch up. By Paul Kingsnorth, former deputy editor of The Ecologist. Published in The Ecologist Volume 37 Issue 2, March 2007.

Books by Edward Goldsmith - we aim to present here a comprehensive list of all Edward Goldsmith's published books, whether as author, editor, co-author or co-editor, in all main editions, languages and countries.

CV - Edward Goldsmith's curriculum vitae.

Eco Hero - Edward Goldsmith - Annabel Freyberg interviews Edward Goldsmith for the Telegraph Magazine, 16 December 2006.

The Doomsday Funbook - Introduction. The Doomsday Funbookis Edward Goldsmith's most recent book, a collection of editorials from The Ecologist illustrated by the incomparable Richard Willson. Published by Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006. Order the book from this page and get free P&P.

The Doomsday Funbook - cover - This is the cover of the book The Doomsday Funbook, edited by Edward Goldsmith, a compendium of articles from The Ecologist by Goldsmith and other authors, with cartoons by the incomparable Richard Willson. It was published byJon Carpenter Publishing in February 2006.

A tribute to Robert Waller, poet, literary critic, T. S. Eliot protegé, former editor of the Soil Association journal Mother Earth, and freelance writer for The Ecologist, who sadly died in the autumn of 2005.

Participating in democracy - preface to The urban village: a charter for democracy and sustainable development in the city, by Alberto Magnaghi. To be published by Zed Books in September 2005.

Does development create or mitigate poverty? - Clare Short MP and Teddy Goldsmith discuss. Published in The Ecologist, April 2005.

Our climate - the key question - introductory address to the 'San Rossore - A New Global Vision' Climate Congress. This event was organised by Claudio Martini, President of the Tuscan Region, and took place at San Rossore, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, 15-16 July 2004.

Spanner in the works - Edward Goldsmith interviews Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who risked everything to challenge GM giant Monsanto.

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

Are small food producers responsible for the food poisoning epidemic? - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

Rewriting economics - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

What can we do about global warming? - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

Are farmers going to run out of water? - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

Can we cope with the growing oil shortage? - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

Do we need small farms? - this talk was broadcast at various dates during December 2003 on the World Business Report programme of the BBC World Service, as part of a series of six talks by Edward Goldsmith.

How to feed people under a regime of climate change - Modern agriculture is not only highly vulnerable to climate change, it is also a major cause of climate change due to its emissions of greenhouse gases and its damaging effects on soil and freshwater resources. A combination of traditional agricultural knowledge and techniques, combined with newly emerging sustainable technologies, may hold the answers we need. Published in World Affairs Journal, winter 2003. Reprinted in Surviving the Century - facing climate chaos and other global challenges, edited by Herbert Girardet (Earthscan, May 2007).

In Towards an ecological world view, written to introduce his book The Way, EG denounces 'modernism' - the view that "all benefits are man-made, the product of scientific, technological and industrial progress, and made available via the market system". In its place, he argues, we must create a new world view rooted in ancestral traditions and based on an understanding of mankind's place in the cosmos.

My answer to a number of vitriolic attacks upon me and my philosophy, in particular those of Fabel van der Illegaal.

Welcome to the Home page of the edwardgoldsmith.com website. Please take your time to read, browse and cogitate.

Rewriting economics - "Let us see why modern economics produces such a distorted view of our relationship with the real world in which we live. The main reason is that modern economics has been developed in total isolation from the disciplines that seek to understand the living world ... ". A short lecture delivered to the LSE's Environmental Initiatives Network, subsequently printed in their Journal, February 2003.

Towards a biospheric ethic - Modern moral philosophers have based their ethical principles on a grossly distorted view of nature and human society. The result has been a 'technospheric' ethic that seeks to equate progress and the moral good with economic expansion and the dominance of man over nature. A new 'biospheric' ethic is required. Written for the Institute of Science and Society, January 2003.

Towards a biospheric ethic - as published on the Instutute of Science and Society website - slightly different to the version we have on this site.

For the oil industry, human survival is just not economic - an article by Edward Goldsmith and Simon Retallack for the Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006); written in March 1997, and updated on 22 November 2002. "International attempts to control climate change have been a primary target for corporate lobbyists. Their aim throughout has been to delay, damage and, if at all possible, destroy the rather feeble measures that have been proposed. Perhaps the most damaging response has come from oil industry chiefs like Lee Raymond, President of Exxon-Mobil ... "

A tribute to Professor Eugene Odum, the world's most respected ecologist, who passed away on August 10 2002.

Ecology - a bridge - review of Ecology: A Bridge Between Science and Society, by Eugene Odum. Third Edition published by Sennar Associates, Sunderland, Mass, USA, 1997.

The gene for unemployment - There is an growing tendency to blame human ills - physical and psychological - on 'defective' genes. But is it our genes that are defective? Or is it rather the pathological environment in which we live? Deprived of community, eating nutritionally impoverished foods, surrounded by industrial pollution ... the raw conditions of life for billions of people make a healthy and happy existence impossible. How convenient for industry to blame all this on our defective genes - and then to sell us 'solutions' in the form of biotechnology. Editorial for the Doomsday Funbook (February 2006).

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."

Reflection on the 2002 Johannesburg Summit - the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September, the tenth anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit. This critique, written in advance of the Summit, shows that even in the unlikely event of 'success', the exploitation and destruction of peoples and ecosystems would continue unimpeded. Published in The Ecologist, 22 July 2002.

Whatever happened to ecology? - a critique of the reductionist, mechanistic science of ecology which has turned against the living world. Written in 2002, this is a greatly extended and updated version of an article first published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 3, 1985.

How can we survive? - 30 years ago in 1972, as the first Envrionment Summit took place in Stockholm, The Ecologist published A Blueprint for Survival. So why, on the eve of the Johannesburg Summit and in the face of mounting environmental crises, has nothing changed? Published in The Ecologist Vol. 32 No. 7, September 2002.

In this Letter to the Guardian, April 2002, Edward Goldsmith responds to charges made against him in the Guardian by commentator George Monbiot.

Art and ethics - Edward Goldsmith explores the themes of knowledge, intuition, aesthetics and the Sacred. Published in The Structurist magazine Nos. 41-42, 2001-2002: "Art and Altruism".

An ecological world view - Judith Elliston interviews Edward Goldsmith for Pataphysics magazine. "We have got everything back to front - the whole direction in which our society is moving in today is suicidal ... The truth of the matter is that economic development, rather than providing a solution to our problems is in fact the main cause of these problems."

Rediscovering economics - talk given to the London School of Economics, 30 January 2002. " ... where once the whole economy was based on social relationships, as economic growth proceeds, these social relationships are replaced by economic relationships and as each one of these functions is usurped by corporations the community just disintegrates, it loses its raison d'etre. Eventually you end up with an atomised mass society such as we have today ... ".

The cosmic in art, architecture and ecology at the Millennium - from "A Sacred Trust: ecology and spritual vision", edited by David Cadman and John Carey, Tenemos Academy Papers No. 17, 2002. In this essay, Edward Goldsmith argues that the original purpose of art is to express mankind's relationship with the cosmos.

A question of survival - why the fight against climate change should take precedence over all other priorities. Published in The Ecologist Special Report on climate change, November 2001.

Why development creates poverty - "Development ... is above all the gradual disembedding from their social context of all such functions that were previously provided for free, their monetization and takeover by the state and the corporations... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 32 No. 6, July / August 2001, under the title "Poverty, the child of progress".

Unhygienic? Or just small scale? - an article for The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006), written in June 2001. "Throughout the world today governments, in accordance with WTO legislation, are imposing costly installations on small food producers on the premise that their activities are not hygienic, which few can afford and which thereby pushes many of them out of business", yet "it is the big intensive food producers, not the small ones, that are responsible for the epidemic of food poisoning and, probably, for the growing incidence of other diseases as well."

Unhygienic - or just small-scale? (short version) - this essay explores the way in which food hygiene regulations are pushing small, safe, traditional high quality food producers out of business by imposing inappropriate and wildly expensive requirements - while industrial food producers reap the benefits.

Killing off small farms in Brazil - Jose Lutzenberger tells Teddy Goldsmith about the regulatory obstacles he faces on his organic farm in Rio Grande do Sul. Published in The Ecologist Report, June 2001.

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.

Unhygienic - or just small-scale? (long version) - first published in The Ecologist Special Report June 2001. Republished in Rivista di Biologia (Biology Forum) Vol. 94 No. 3, September / December 2001 pp. 511-533. This essay explores the way in which food hygiene regulations are pushing small, safe, traditional high quality food producers out of business by imposing inappropriate and wildly expensive requirements - while industrial food producers reap the benefits.

Can humanity adapt to the world that science is creating? - human beings evolved as small bands of hunter-gatherers, and our fundamental, instinctive nature remains adapted to that role. Small wonder then that we are so maladjusted to the world which we have created. As we pursue the path of 'progress', fully expecting that science, technology and economic growth will lead us into a future of happiness and prosperity, we are only drawing further away from our origins, and from our true natures. Unpublished, 25 January 2001.

The new imperialism - the era of colonialism may be over, but it has been replaced by a new era of economic and intellectual imperialism, enforced by the Bretton Woods and allied institutions, for the benefit of trans-national corporations. Preface to a book by Shri Faizi Shahul.

The case against the global economy - cover - the cover of the book, The Case Against the Global Economy - and for a turn towards localization, edited by Edward Goldsmith and Jerry Mander. Published by Earthscan, London, 2001.

The last word: a personal commentary - "the development of the global economy ... will, we were assured, usher in an era of unprecedented prosperity for all. However ... it can only lead for most of humanity to an unprecedented increase in general insecurity, unemployment, poverty, disease, malnutrition and environmental disruption ... ". This essay was written as Chapter 26 of The Case Against the the Global Economy: and for a turn towards localisation edited by Edward Goldsmith and Jerry Mander, 2001.

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 Prague summit - In September 2000, Prague was the venue for the joint annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF. This article describes how the "Maoist" economic prescriptions of these twin institutions create poverty and dependence among their client nations. Editorial for The Ecologist Special Report, September 2000.

Cooking up rightwing connections - In this letter published in the Guardian on Tuesday 18 July 2000, Edward Goldsmith responds to "Age of Rage" by Fred Pearce.

The fight must go on - Goldsmith looks back to the Blueprint for Survival, published in 1972, and finds that the core messages have only become more relevant and pressing with the passing of time. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 5, July / August 2000.

Intelligence is universal in life - a synthesis of chapters 31, 32 and 33 of The Way: an ecological world view. Published in Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum Vol. 93 No. 3, 2000. Goldsmith argues that intelligence is no exclusive preserve of humankind.

Is science neutral? - a debate between Edward Goldsmith and Professor Lewis Wolpert. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 3, May 2000.

Religion at the Millennium (long version) - "Whether we like it or not, the religio-culture of tribal peoples tells them the truth about their relationship with the cosmos. It does so, of course, in their special way - the way that would be best understood and believed in - not just intellectually, but with their heart and soul. It tells them the truth in the way that is most likely to be acted upon." This is an extended version of the introduction to The Ecologist's special issue on Cosmic Religion, November 1999.

Globalisation will destroy India! - The Rediff Business Interview, March 2000. Pritish Nandy interviews Edward Goldsmith.

Introduction to Le Piège se Referme (Plon, May 2002), successor to Le Piège (Editions Fixot, March 1994) by James Goldsmith.

Archaic societies and cosmic order - a summary - an edited version of Chapter 61 of The Way: towards an ecological world view. This version published in The Ecologist Vol. 30 No. 1, January / February 2000. "Across the world, from the beginnings of prehistory, the belief that society must follow a certain path - or 'Way' - in order to maintain itself, and the wholeness of the world around it, has been a common theme running through many societies and cultures... ."

The way to cosmic harmony - a review of The Way by Pedro Burrezo, editor of The Ecologist for Spain and Latin America.

The Way - an ecological world view - an article for Resurgence magazine which introduces Edward Goldsmith's great work The Way. In it he denounces the world view of 'modernism' and argues for a new ecologically-based ethic to take its place.

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.

The European project - an exposition of the problems inherent in the structure and institutions of the European Union.

Traditional agriculture in Sri Lanka - EG interviews Mudyanse Tennekoon. "Farmer Tennekoon is a prophet, a prophet of traditional rural life in Sri Lanka. He is also a farmer and lives in a small village in the Kurenegala district of the island. In recent years he has become quite well known among those people who recognise the destructiveness and counter-productiveness of the modern system of intensive agriculture which the international institutions - FAO and the Word Bank in particular - are imposing on Sri Lanka."

On Seattle - some comments on the humiliation of the World Trade Organization.

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

Religion at the Millennium (short version) - "The relevance of the religion of primal people is that they are totally reconcilable with the principle that the destruction of the environment is a sin, more so, it is their most fundamental teaching. Indeed primal religio-culture is concerned above all with the preservation of the order of the cosmos and hence with that of its constituent families, communities, and ecosystems ...".. Introduction to The Ecologist's special issue on Cosmic Religion, November 1999.

Exposing the myth of economic growth - Foreword to The Growth Illusion: how economic growth has enriched the few, impoverished the many and endangered the planet, by Richard Douthwaite. Green Books, 15 October 1999.

Damned over the dam - Letter published in the Guardian on Saturday 3 July 1999.

The prize fighters - for 20 years, the alternative Nobels have recognised men and women who challenge the injustices of globalisation. Walter Schwarz meets the radicals pushing for change - including Teddy Goldsmith. Published in the Guardian, 30 June 1999. "The fiery Edward Goldsmith, founder-editor of the Ecologist, who became a laureate in 1991 'for his uncompromising critique of industrialism and promotion of alternatives', insists that only a change in lifestyle and the way society is organised can save the planet ... "

Profits of doom - Steven Ferry interviews Edward Goldsmith for Government Technology Magazine, May 1999. "Built into the global economy are the seeds of its own disintegration. But the biggest problem we face today, which dwarfs all others, is global warming ... The only thing which may save us is the complete collapse of the global economy, with all the problems that that will create. The choice is between two horrors."

The economic cost of climate change - "Industrialists who continue to lobby governments to prevent them from taking the necessary action to combat climate change try to persuade themselves that inaction is in the best interests of their businesses and the economy itself. Given the enormous financial costs climate change will inflict, such an attitude is short-sighted in the extreme ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 29 No. 2, March / April 1999.

The Crash Programme: a solution-multiplier - "The crash programme required to restabilise global climate can be funded by mobilising funds that are either currently wasted or used in destructive ways. The real cost for humanity is negative since the programme has to be undertaken in any case to solve nearly all the other critical problems that confront us today ... " Published in The Ecologist Vol. 29 No. 2, March / April 1999.

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.

Global warming will make traditional climatic knowledge irrelevant. Tribal peoples have an unparallelled understanding of their environment, which is key to the sustainable agriculture and lifestyles which they have pursued for generations. But with climate change, weather patterns and ecosystems face disruption. Could traditional tribal knowledge, of such huge potential value for sustainable living, be made obsolete by global warming?

Technology - a false religion - a review of Why things bite back by Edward Tenner. "Edward Tenner's book is truly blasphemous. Its thesis is that our technological efforts to manage the world of living things are not working out too well. At first they may seem magically successful, but then comes what Tenner calls their 'revenge effect', which at best transforms acute problems into chronic ones, at worst gives rise to all sorts of new problems, often more serious than whatever problem was targeted in the first place ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 5, September / October 1998.

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.

Did God really do such a bad job? - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 3, May / June 1998. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Underlying the world view of the secular Religion of Progress is the fundamental assumption that the world is badly designed. God did a bad job, and it is incumbent on man, armed as he is with all his science, technology, industry and free trade, to transform it in accordance with his vastly superior design ... "

Why not, we've got a licence? - A leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 3, May 1998. Revised in January & February 2000, and republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

The lessons of traditional irrigation - "Modern irrigation schemes in tropical areas are, almost without exception, social, ecological and economic disasters. They necessarily lead to the flooding of vast areas of forest and agricultural land, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and the spreading of waterborne diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis ...". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 3, May-June 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 ... ".

The cosmic covenant - a talk to the Religion & Environment Education Programme (REEP) Conference for Bishops & Theologians on 2 February 1998, also published in Fourth World Review in the same year. "Man is naturally a religious being. It is not religion as Karl Marx insisted, but materialism that is the opiate of the people. What is more, religion is even today a powerful force and could be very much more so if it were seen by the public at large as providing the very basis of the world view with which we must all be imbued if we are to survive on this beleaguered planet ... "

Globalisation and Maori - Part 2 of 2. Edward Goldsmith explains the corporate takeover of governments and the global centralised planning being orchestrated by multinationals through the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Globalisation and Maori explores this corporate agenda through its impact upon the Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and other peoples. Comprises interviews with: Edward Goldsmith, Moana Jackson, Dr Jane Kelsey, Aroha Meade, Sir Tipene ORegan, Tauni Sinclair, Moana Sinclair, Sharon Venne, Dr Huirangi Whaikerepuru. By TKM Productions, Aotearoa 1998.

Globalisation and Maori - Part 1 of 2. Edward Goldsmith explains the corporate takeover of governments and the global centralised planning being orchestrated by multinationals through the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Globalisation and Maori explores this corporate agenda through its impact upon the Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and other peoples. Comprises interviews with: Edward Goldsmith, Moana Jackson, Dr Jane Kelsey, Aroha Meade, Sir Tipene ORegan, Tauni Sinclair, Moana Sinclair, Sharon Venne, Dr Huirangi Whaikerepuru. By TKM Productions, Aotearoa 1998.

The Way: a summary - this summary of The Way: An Ecological World View was written for Schumacher College in 1998. First published in 1992, The Way is Edward Goldsmith's magnum opus. The new edition of The Way, published by University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, in 1998, has been fully revised and incorporates a glossary, page references and index.

The Way - cover - from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Richard Benedict Goldschmidt - a discussion of the life and works of the German biologist and evolutionist, author of "The Material Basis of Evolution".

Scientific superstitions, or "The cult of randomness and the taboo on teleology". This article is an extended version of a combination of three chapters, 5, 26, and 27, of The Way: an ecological world view. Also published in The Ecologist Vol. 27 No. 5, September / October 1997.

The real causes of cancer - "Cancer is now a disease that afflicts one woman out of three and one man out of two, and everybody knows in their hearts what the main causes are: exposure to carcinogenic chemicals in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, and ionising radiation ... However the 'Cancer Establishment' ... will not admit it so the cancer epidemic is blamed on such things as faulty genes, viruses, eating fatty foods and drinking alcohol ... ". Unpublished, September 1997.

Development as colonialism - this important essay exposes modern-day 'development' as colonialism repackaged and ferociously applied through transnational corporations, compliant local elites and global institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF - and backed by the threat of military force. It was published in The Ecologist Vol. 27 No. 2, March / April 1997, and as Chapter 1 of The Case Against the Global Economy by Edward Goldsmith and Jerry Mander (Earthscan 2001).

The Way - a synthesis - This article by Edward Goldsmith represents the 'synthesized statement' of his great work The Way: an ecological world view. It was published in InterCulture Vol. XXX no. 1, Winter - Spring 1997, Issue no 132.

Review of The Way by Stan Rowe, published in Trumpeter 14:1, Winter 1997.

The Tory Record - Introduction - This is the introduction to The Tory Record - an assessment, published by Jon Carpenter Publishing in 1997 on behalf of The Commission for Assessing the Conservative Record. The booklet was inspired by Teddy Goldsmith, who also wrote the introduction, while cartoons were by the incomparable Richard Willson. It contains 18 additional chapters by respected campaigners in their fields.

Re-embedding religion in society, the natural world and the cosmos - written in 1997 following Edward Goldsmith's participation in a meeting on Patmos the previous year, to discuss religious aspects of the protection of the natural world. He argues that the Church must develop a "new theology ... based on what we are finding out about the original cosmic nature of the Judaeo-Christian tradition" and "have the courage to side with all those people who seek to reverse economic development and in particular the globalization of this fatal process".

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.

Cynicism, food and power - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 26 No. 6, November / December 1996, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "As the peasant movement Via Campesina has pointed out, 'Food Sovereignty can only be achieved through solidarity and the political will to implement alternatives.' Acting together to create such political will offers the best hope of ensuring that the 400 million people written off by the World Food Summit do not starve. "

The Great Takeover and its reversal - a personal commentary on the development of the global economy.

Harmony, nature and the sacred - Edward Goldsmith chairs a debate between Professor Brian Goodwin and Dr Rupert Sheldrake, organised by the Scientific & Medical Network in Fife, Scotland, 1996. This is the chairman's introduction, preceded by enthusiastic audience applause.

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

Development, biospheric ethics and a new way forward - Contribution to The Future of Progress - Reflections on environment and development edited by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Peter Goering and Steven Gorelick on behalf of ISEC (the International Society for Ecology and Culture. This is a collection of essays that challenge the Western notions of progress that dominate the current debate on environment and development. Published by Green Books, revised edition 1995;

Work! Work! Work! - the history of industrialism is the story of producing more with fewer people. Teddy Goldsmith looks at the implications. Published in Real World No. 4, Autumn 1994.

Eggs, eugenics and economics a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 24 No. 2, March / April 1994, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "What makes the new reproductive technologies different is the way they fragment human tissue itself into factors of mass production and commodities - all being enclosed and transformed into scarce resources circulating in a highly centralised market system ... placing new forms of power in the hands of influential economic actors "

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.

Development and colonialism - in this important essay Edward Goldsmith explores why development, whether described as 'sustainable', 'ecological', 'appropriate' or otherwise, will only deepen the poverty and misery of poor tropical nations. Published in Ecoscript No. 35, June 1993.

In praise of the "seely spider" (long version) - a review of Nature's web: an exploration of ecological thinking, by Peter Marshall. This is the unpublished extended version.

In praise of the "seely spider" (short version) - a review of Nature's Web: an exploration of ecological thinking, by Peter Marshall. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 23 No. 3, May / June 1993.

Towards Hope - cover - the cover of the book, Towards Hope - an ecological approach to the future by Vandana Shiva, Jeremy Seabrook, Gunther Hilliges, Upendra Baxi, Edward Goldsmith and Paul Ekins, in December 1992, as part of the "Studies in ecology and sustainable development" series by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Pointing the way - Real World magazine Interviews Teddy Goldsmith about A Blueprint for Survival, The Way, and the need to move towards a sustainable society. Published in Real World No. 6, summer 1992.

No, the real global threat is the relentless demand for growth - writing in the Sunday Times on 31 May 1992, Edward Goldsmith examines the forthcoming Earth Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro - reaching pessimistic conclusions which have been all too amply fulfilled.

The Way: Introduction - Edward Goldsmith introduces his great work The Way: An Ecological World View. First published 1992, a revised and enlarged edition was published by University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998. This essay is the introduction to The Way, with the addition of acknowledgements, etc.

In a vernacular society economic activity is homeotelic to Gaia - chapter 56 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

The need for a feedback mechanism linking behaviour to evolution - Appendix 4 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

The great reinterpretation requires a conversion to the world-view of ecology - chapter 66 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

To keep to the Way society must be able to correct any divergence from it - chapter 65 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Progress is anti-evolutionary and is the anti-Way - chapter 64 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

For vernacular man, to serve his gods is to follow the Way - chapter 63 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

For vernacular man, to increase his stock of "vital force" is to follow the Way - Chapter 62 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Vernacular man follows the Way - chapter 61 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

The vernacular community is the unit of homeotelic behaviour - chapter 60 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

The vernacular economy is localized and hence largely self-sufficient - chapter 59 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

In an ecological economy, money is homeotelic to Gaia - chapter 58 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

By increasing its diversity a system increases the range of environmental challenges with which it is capable of dealing - chapter 53 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Increased complexity leads to greater stability - chapter 52 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Gaia is the source of all benefits - chapter 34 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Living things seek to understand their relationship with their environment - chapter 31 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Gaia, seen as a total spatio-temporal process, is the unit of evolution - chapter 21 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Ecology is a faith - chapter 16 of The Way: An Ecological World View, originally published in 1992. This text is taken from the revised and enlarged edition, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1998.

Free Trade and GATT - this talk was delivered at the India International Centre on 13 December 1991 as part of a series of lectures and meetings organised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in 1991-1992. It was then published by INTACH in Towards Hope - an ecological approach to the future by Vandana Shiva, Jeremy Seabrook, Gunther Hilliges, Upendra Baxi, Edward Goldsmith and Paul Ekins, in December 1992, as part of its "Studies in ecology and sustainable development" series. "When you allow the market to decide our fate, you are actually saying that economic considerations must decide our fate. Then there is nothing to stop us from destroying our planet. It is happening very, very quickly indeed. In my opinion, the only hope we have if we were going to keep this planet more or less habitable is to do precisely the opposite - to make sure our economic activities are ruthlessly and systematically subordinated to social, ecological and climatic considerations. I do not think we have any alternative to doing this."

FAO's plan to feed the world - Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard critique the FAO's main policy document, World Agriculture: Toward 2000, and the whole model of capital-intensive, industrialised, export-oriented agriculture which it promotes. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 21 No. 2, March-April 1991.

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.

Uncle Teddy - This is a chapter about Teddy Goldsmith from Green Warriors by the prodigious environmental writer Fred Pearce. Green Warriors was published by The Bodley Head, London, 10 January 1991.

Right Livelihood Award - in 1991 Teddy was the recipient of an Honorary Award for " ... for his uncompromising critique of industrialism and promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives to it."

New Lamps for Old - Edward Goldsmith, Publisher of The Ecologist, talks with Satish Kumar, Director Of Schumacher College (video version, hosted by video.google). The interview was published by Schumacher College as a video in the Schumacher Series, produced by Phil Shepherd in 1991.We also have a New Lamps for Old transcript on the website.

New Lamps for Old - transcript. Edward Goldsmith, Publisher of The Ecologist, talks with Satish Kumar, Director Of Schumacher College. The interview was published by Schumacher College as a video in the Schumacher Series, produced by Phil Shepherd in 1991. A video version of New Lamps for Old is also available.

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 future of man on the planet Earth - Edward Goldsmith's contribution to "Creation in Crisis", featuring David Lorimer, Edward Goldsmith, James Robertson and Nicholas Colloff. Presented to the Friends of the Centre Annual Conference, Hove, October 1990. In this discourse Teddy explores many of his favourite themes with passion and conviction.

Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary - Part Two - Transcript - a transcript of Part Two of Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary: "The Solution: People and Planet", in Channel 4's Fragile Earth series. Teddy argues that the planetary crisis facing us today cannot be solved by further economic progress and technological innovation but only through the cooperative efforts of ordinary people guided by their faith in traditional wisdom. Broadcast on Channel 4 in January and August 1990.

Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary - Part Two - Film - "The Solution: People and Planet", in Channel 4's Fragile Earth series. Teddy argues that the planetary crisis facing us today cannot be solved by further economic progress and technological innovation but only through the cooperative efforts of ordinary people guided by their faith in traditional wisdom. Broadcast on Channel 4 in January and August 1990.

Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary - Part One - Transcript - This is a transcript of Part One of Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary: "The Problem: industrial society", in Channel 4's Fragile Earth series. Teddy argues that the planetary crisis facing us today cannot be solved by further economic progress and technological innovation but only through the cooperative efforts of ordinary people guided by their faith in traditional wisdom.

Edward Goldsmith: the Green Revolutionary - Part One - Film - "The Problem: industrial society". In Channel 4's Fragile Earth series. Teddy argues that the planetary crisis facing us today cannot be solved by further economic progress and technological innovation but only through the cooperative efforts of ordinary people guided by their faith in traditional wisdom. It was broadcast on Channel 4 in January and August 1990. Hosted on Google video.

Evolution, neo-Darwinism and the paradigm of science - "Neo-Darwinism does not provide a satisfactory explanation for evolution and however resilient it may prove to criticism, it must eventually give way to a more realistic theory ..." Published in The Ecologist Vol. 20 No. 2, March / April 1990.

The medical-industrial complex - a review of Health and the global environment by Ross Hume Hall, 1990.

Scotland's white revolution - a review of The Highland Clearances by John Prebble. Penguin, London 1969, reprinted 1989. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 19 No. 3, May / June 1989.

Gaia and evolution - "Is it not apparent that neo-Darwinists, still more so sociobiologists, have got it completely wrong; that they have failed to distinguish between pathology and physiology: between the growth of a malignant tumour and the development of differentiated tissue - between anti-evolution and evolution?". This key paper was presented in November 1988 at the Wadebridge Ecological Centre's Second Annual Symposium on "Gaia and her implications for evolutionary theory", and published in The Ecologist Vol. 19, No. 4, 1989.

The Way: an ecological world view - a major article setting out the key principles of ecological thinking that, four years later, developed into the book of the same name. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 18 No. 4/5 1988. "What I propose to do in this essay (if what follows can be thus termed) is to propose a very tentative world-view or cosmology in the form of a set of 67 laws or principles, which are seen as governing the Cosmos and the cosmological process ... ".

A currency for every community - "To reconstitute local economies is an imperative if we are to prevent misery and chaos when the global economy collapses. We need them in any case to reduce our environmental impact and to render possible local co-operation and solidarity ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 4, July / August 1998. Co-written with Perry Walker.

The need for an ecological world view - "The 'technospheric' world view of modernism needs to be replaced with a new 'ecological' world view - but to achieve this, green thinkers must concentrate on the great principles that unite them, not on the doctrinal minutiae that divide them. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 18 No. 4 / 5, 1988.

Aid - enlightened self-interest or gun-boat politics? - a quizzical look at the politics and economics of international aid. Editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 18 No. 2, 1988. "Those with a superficial knowledge of the development process often remain convinced that aid is designed to help the peoples of the Third World. Even many environmental institutions still appear to believe this and persist in campaigning for increased aid ... "

Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland - cover - This is the cover of the book Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard. It was published by Polity Press, February 1988.

Changing values (original version) - Part Five of the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988), concluding the introduction.

Delaying tactics - Part Four of the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988).

Secrecy - Part Three of the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988).

Rationalising inaction - Part Two of the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988).

The costs of modernization - Part One of the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988).

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.

The Great U-Turn - cover - the cover of the book, The Great U-Turn - de-industrialising society by Edward Goldsmith and with cartoons by Richard Willson, published by Green Books in 1988.

Gaia: some implications for theoretical ecology - paper for the Wadebridge Ecological Centre's Conference: "Gaia: Theory, practice and implications", Camelford, Cornwall, October 1987. It was also published in The Ecologist Vol. 18 No. 2/3, 1988.

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.

You can only be judged on your record - a second Open Letter to Barber Conable, President of the World Bank, calling on him to make good on his and his predecessors promises of progress on the social and environmental impacts of the Bank's lending. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 17 No. 2, 1987.

Survival and Modernity - a dialogue on our times - Edward Goldsmith and Krishna Chaitanya in conversation. "The central thesis of this dialogue shared by the two thinkers ... is that the industrial way of life is no longer sustainable. It must end, one way or another, within the foreseeable future ...". First published by India International Centre - Quarterly, spring 1987, reprinted in Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, February 1988.

Denis de Rougement - the famous Swiss thinker and writer and chairman of Ecoropa (Ecological Action for Europe), died on the 6th December 1985 at the age of 79. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 16 No. 2/3, 1986.

An open letter to Mr Clausen to Mr Alden Clausen, Retiring President of the World Bank, and Mr Barber Conable, President Elect, reflecting on the disastrous social and environmental record of the World Bank, and its consistent inability to advance beyond the mere rhetoric of reform. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 16 No. 2/3, 1986.

Changing values (edited version) - From the introduction to Green Britain or Industrial Wasteland by Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard (Polity Press, February 1988). Written in 1986, republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The loss of nature's benefits is not considered a cost. It does not appear to have occurred to economists that if our activities interfere too radically with the workings of nature, then nature might no longer be capable of providing the benefits we now take for granted and upon which our very survival depends ... "

Misleading the public - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 16, 1986, by Peter Bunyard and Edward Goldsmith. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Today, much of the information supplied by government and industry on key environmental issues is designed to rationalize current practices and policies. To that end, numerous public statements have been made which can only be described as downright lies ... "

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).

The illusion of our time - review of In the Name of Progress: the underside of foreign aid, by Patricia Adams and Lawrence Solomon. Published in The Ecologist Vol 15 No 5/6 1985. "... aid programmes are not designed to help the people of the Third World, they are designed instead to help unrepresentative and usually tyrannical governments, in whose present interest it is to undertake vast agricultural and industrial projects... "

Obituary: Edouard Kressmann - the founder of Ecoropa, who "was not only well known in European ecological circles but also in Bordeaux where he lived and where, until the day of his death, he could often be seen bicycling furiously to meetings where he would systematically oppose any local development project which he regarded as destructive, dangerous or wasteful ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 5/6, 1985.

Worshipping at the altar of economic pragmatism - The World Bank has suspended, on environmental grounds, a loan of $256 million for the Polonoroeste Project in Brazilian Amazonia. But the Bank's President, Alden W. Clausen, continues to "worship at the altar of economic pragmatism". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 4, 1985.

Understanding tropical ecosystems - a review of Ecology of Tropical Plants, by Margaret L. Vickery. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 3, 1985.

Colonising the plant world - a review of Insects on Plants: Community Patterns and Mechanisms by D. R. Strong PhD, J. H. Lawton PhD, Sir Richard Southwood PhD, DSc, FRS. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 3, 1985. "The authors, keen to accentuate the importance of the individual components of the plant community, as opposed to that of the community itself, are necessarily committed... to accentuate the importance of competition as a determinant of what community structure they accept, and to under-playing co-operation... ".

Ecological succession rehabilitated - the science of ecology has become reductionistic, mechanistic and quantified. To achieve this has meant seeking to discredit the basic principles of ecology including that of 'ecological succession'. The motive is for this has been ideological and political, in seeking to force ecology to conform to the world view of modernism. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 15 No. 3 1985.

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.

Dam starvation - editorial article from The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6, 1984 (co-written with Nicholas Hildyard). This article examines why politicians' promises that superdams will produce plenty for all turn, all to literally, to dust, poverty and hunger.

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.

Enemies of society? - the Greens are the true conservatives, argues Goldsmith. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6, 1984.

Agricultural development: changing directions - a review of Environmental Management in Tropical Agriculture, by Robert J. A. Goodland, Catherine Watson and George Ledec. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6 1984. Major changes in agricultural practice "will be politically difficult and cannot be accomplished overnight. However, they appear inevitable if large-scale disaster is to be avoided."

A question of climate - a review of Climate and Development, edited by Asit K Biswas, Natural Resources and the Environment Series. An agronomical analysis of why tropical countries cannot follow the agro-industrial model of the developed North. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 5/6, 1984.

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.

Misguided investment - a review of Developing Electric Power - thirty years of World Bank experience by Hugh Collier. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1984. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 3, 1984.

Damning dams - a review of Long-Distance Water Transfer - A Chinese Case Study and International Experiences, edited by Asit K. Biswas, Zuo Dakang, James E. Nickum and Liu Changming. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 14 No. 2, 1984. "The academic contributors to this book accentuate the terrible social and ecological disruption which is likely to be caused by China's proposed water transfer scheme. The bureaucrats, on the other hand, grossly exaggerate the benefits to be derived from the project and hardly mention the social and environmental consequences ..."

The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams - Contents, Preface, Foreword etc - Published as the Facing Page, Contents, Preface, Ballad and Foreword of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard

The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams - Appendix One - Published as Appendix 1 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams - Appendix Two - Published as Appendix 2 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Dams, pollution and the reduction of food supplies - Published as Chapter 15 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Are these problems inevitable? - Published as Chapter 17 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The politics of damning - Published as Chapter 19 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Fudging the books - Published as Chapter 20 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Dams, failures and earthquakes - Published as Chapter 9 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The myth of flood control - Published as Chapter 10 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Loss of land and food to plantations - Published as Chapter 13 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The loss of land and water to industry and urbanisation - Published as Chapter 14 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The overt reasons for building dams - Published as Chapter 1 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Water losses: exceeding gains? - Published as Chapter 5 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The effects of perennial irrigation on pest populations - Published as Chapter 6 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Dams and disease - Published as Chapter 7 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The effects of large-scale water projects on fisheries - Published as Chapter 8 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams - cover - This is the cover of the book The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview, published by the Wadebridge Ecological Centre, Worthyvale Manor Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TT, UK, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Large dams - recommendations - Published in conclusion of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The lessons of traditional irrigation agriculture: learning to live with nature - published as Chapter 26 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Traditional irrigation in Mesopotamia - Published as Chapter 25 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Traditional irrigation in the dry zone of Sri Lanka - Published as Chapter 24 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The traditional irrigation system of the Chagga of Kilimanjaro - Published as Chapter 23 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The traditional irrigation system of the Sonjo of Tanzania - Published as Chapter 22 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

The qanats of Iran - Published as Chapter 21 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Social and environmental impact studies - Published as Chapter 18 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Sedimentation: the way of all dams - Published as Chapter 16 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

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 myth of flood control - published as Chapter 4 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Social and cultural destruction - Published as Chapter 3 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

Dams and society - the problems of resettlement - Published as Chapter 2 of The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams: Volume 1. Overview. Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1984. By Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard.

High technology euphoria - review of The Awakening Earth - our next evolutionary leap, by Peter Russell. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 13 No. 5, 1983. "The author recognises the extent of the ecological problems faced by the world today. He recognises too that something drastic has to be done to prevent massive catastrophes. This is as far as I go along with him. In fact, I disagree with just about every other point he makes ... ".

Richard St Barbe Baker: a tribute - "I picture village communities of the future living in valleys protected by sheltering trees on the high ground. They will have fruit and nut orchards and live free from disease and enjoy leisure, liberty and justice for all, living with a sense of their one-ness with the earth and with all living things ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 4, July / August 1982.

The unfolding of Darwin's thought - review of The development of Darwin's theory natural history, natural thology and natural selection 1838-1859, by Dov Ospovat, Cambridge University Press 1981. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 4, July / August 1982. "The transformation in the biological thinking of the times, in which Darwin played a key role ... transformed a paradigm that was suitable for a land based aristocratic society, into one which very much better satisfied the requirements of our fast developing urban-based industrial world ... "

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'."

The super-informed society or "Many paths to nonsense: information theory applied to the living world". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 12 No. 3, May / June 1982. Information theory may be useful for modern communication but is it relevant to the world of living things?

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.

France - country of the atom - if nuclear power seems cheap in France, it is because half the costs have been ignored. An accurate accounting of costs, direct and indirect, reveals France's massive nuclear electricity programme as a ruinously expensive folly. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 11 No 6, December 1981.

Superscience: its mythology and legitimisation - A new breed of scientist sees no contradiction between 'solving' our present ecological crisis and calling for the development of such superstar technologies as fusion and genetic engineering. But, whilst intellectually elegant, the theory underpinning their Brave New World is sadly lacking. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 11 No. 5, September / October 1981.

Thermodynamics or ecodynamics? - Scientists and philosophers have seized on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and hailed it as the key to unravelling the secrets of the Universe. But can the behaviour of the natural world really be understood through the Entropy Law, originally formulated to explain the workings of a steam engine? Published in The Ecologist Vol. 11 No. 4, July / August 1981.

World Ecological Areas Programme: a proposal - Edward Goldsmith presents a plan to save the tropical forests, based on paying tropical countries to conserve, expand and make sustainable economic use of their forests. Published in Environmental Conservation Vol. 7 No. 1, winter 1981.

The cover-up society - it is right and proper for civil servants to conspire to deceive the public over the manifold dangers inherent in the manufacture of nuclear bombs. But to tell the truth? That is quite another thing. Editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 10, December 1980.

Man-made famines - a review of The Geography of Famine, by William A. Dando. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 10, December 1980.

The ecology of health - modern health services have failed to deliver the promised goods, argues Edward Goldsmith. He attrributes this failure to the "chemical warfare" approach to treating disease and our decision, as a society, to subordinate health needs to the imperatives of the economy and industry. Originally published in The Ecologist Vol 10 Nos. 6/7, July-September 1980, then in La Medecine à la Question 1981 (France). A revised version was later released in 1988 as Chapter 4 of The Great U-Turn.

Ethnocracy: the lesson from Africa - this controversial article sets out the roots of Africa's continuing wars, strife and poverty as the outcome of the colonial powers' creation of artificial borders that defy ethnic and religious boundaries. Now frozen in the modern nations of Africa, these boundaries combined with the tribalisation of politics have created a mess from which it will be near impossible for Africa to emerge. But the federal system of Germany and the Cantons of Switzerland offer a model for a more peaceful and secure future. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 4, April / May 1980.

The scapegoat principle - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 3, March 1980, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

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... "

World Ecological Areas Programme - a proposal to save the world′s tropical rain forests - Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 Nos. 1 / 2, January / February 1980. The idea is simple at its core - instead of paying poor countries to destroy their forests, pay them to keep their forests.

Ecologists in a distorting mirror - a review of Systems Ecology by H. H. Shugart and R. V. O'Neill. Goldsmith writes of "the gulf that separates professional mathematical ecologists (with a small e) from Ecologists (with a big E) such as myself who regard ecology as an approach - one that basically involves looking at problems in their total temporal and spatial context, rather than in isolation from each other as is currently the practice among most modern scientists... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 10 No. 1/2 January / February 1980.

The importance of being average - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 8/9, November / December 1979. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). To calculate average exposures to pollutants, and average susceptibilities to their ill-effects, is all very well. Except that "Mr. Average does not exist. He is but a figment of the statistician's imagination."

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.

Sir Frank Fraser Darling - a tribute to this great pioneer of ecology and conservation, who lived from 1903 -1979. 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 need for a New Economics - "Economists can no longer predict the course of our economy. The limits of their discipline are now apparent. A broader economic theory is required to deal with the post-industrial age...". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 6, September 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.

The steady state economy - "A few of our more enlightened scientists and economists have rightly accepted that economic growth is now neither feasible ... nor desirable. Rather than allow growth to come to a halt by itself, we should seek instead purposefully to achieve a 'Steady State Economy' or an 'Equilibrium Society' ... ". Published in The Ecologist Vol. 9 No. 3, June 1979.

Genetic engineering - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 28 No. 3, January / February 1979, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "It has always been a major plank of those who support genetic engineering that today's laboratory techniques are so sophisticated that the risks of an accident involving recombinant DNA are now almost infinitesimal ... "

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.

Maintenance: a limit to growth - Editorial article by Edward Goldsmith published in the Ecologist Quarterly, autumn 1978. While we press on with ever-greater expenditures on new capital plant and infrastructure, we are increasingly unable to finance the maintenance of what we already have, and thus "Our growing inability to maintain the physical infrastructure of our industrial society constitutes in itself, yet another limit to growth."

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.

The hammer-bashing society - an allegory of the futility of industrialism. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 8 No. 4, July / August 1978. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

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.

Blind mans buff - this article published in the Ecologist Quarterly of Spring 1978, argues that "Seek not, and ye shall not find" is the new mantra of the industrial - scientific research complex when it comes to the possibility of discovering inconvenient truths about the dangers of pesticides, food additives, agricultural antibiotics, radiation, and sugar.

Complexity and stability in the real world - does an ecosystem become more stable as it becomes more complex? Many do not think so. The problem, however, is that ‘stability' and ‘complexity' have never been defined. Published in The Ecologist Quarterly, Winter 1978.

Why we only accept a policy if we know it will not work - published in The Ecologist Quarterly, winter 1978. "How to fly people to the moon and bring them back again is a technological problem. We have indeed solved it and this is a very remarkable achievement. But it is irrelevant. It solves none of the problems that confront our society today any more than does the development of the microprocessor ... "

Reprocessing the Truth - The Ecologist analyses the Windscale Report. By Edward Goldsmith, Peter Bunyard, and Nicholas Hildyard. Published by The Ecologist as a pamphlet, 1978.

The Stable Society - cover - as published by The Wadebridge Press in 1978.

The family basis of social structure - the family in its various forms is the universal basis of all human societies. However the modern family has so weakened that society has become "simply a mass of socially unrelated individuals among whom a semblance of order, however superficial, can only be maintained by means of increasingly powerful external or asystemic controls: bureaucracies, dictators ... ". This version was published as Chapter 2 of "The Stable Society" by Edward Goldsmith, The Wadebridge Press 1978. It was originally published in two parts in The Ecologist, Vol. 1 No. 1 and Vol. 1 No. 2, 1976.

De-developing the Third World - reflections following the United Nations Conference on Desertification. Development is not the solution but the problem, as it forces the sacrifice of the ecosphere in return for short term increases in material production. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 7 No. 9, November 1977.

The Reykjavik Conference on the Environmental Future - a group of eminent scientists whose specialised work has led them to consider different aspects of the environmental crisis met at Reykjavik. This account of their meeting, and the uncompromising conclusions they reached, was published in The Ecologist Vol. 7 No. 6, July 1977.

The future of an affluent society - the case of Canada - Part Three - this article examines in depth how even Canada, a vast country blessed with abundant resources and with a realtively small population, is far from immune to the problems arising from industrialism and its associated social and economic disruption. It was published in The Ecologist vol. 7 no. 5, June 1977.

The future of an affluent society - the case of Canada - Part Two - this article examines in depth how even Canada, a vast country blessed with abundant resources and with a realtively small population, is far from immune to the problems arising from industrialism and its associated social and economic disruption. It was published in The Ecologist vol. 7 no. 5, June 1977.

The future of an affluent society - the case of Canada - Part One - this article examines in depth how even Canada, a vast country blessed with abundant resources and with a realtively small population, is far from immune to the problems arising from industrialism and its associated social and economic disruption. It was published in The Ecologist vol. 7 no. 5, June 1977.

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.

Planning for starvation - Editorial article, The Ecologist Vol. 7 No. 2, March 1977. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

Jus Animalium - review of The Best of Friends, by John Aspinall. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 10, December 1976.

What is an electric toothbrush? - editorial article in The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 10, December 1976. An attack on reductionist science, and its insistence on the atomisation and isolation of whatever it examines. "Today's scientists wince at the suggestion that the behaviour of natural systems is purposive or directive, that, in fact, they have been designed to do particular jobs like electric toothbrushes. This, they maintain, implies 'teleology' - which is, surprisingly enough, still one of the principal taboos of the Religion of Science ... ".

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.

Oiling the wheels of the Doomsday machine - editorial article published in The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 6, July 1976. Some of the dire predictions made here have not been realised on the timescale anticipated. But it may only be a question of of time ...

Letter to the directors of FAO - The FAO is pursuing with zeal its aim to increase African meat and livestock production through the mass spraying of insecticide, intended to eradicate the tsetse fly. The most probable outcome is famine and the decimation of Africa's wildlife. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 6, July 1976.

Value judgements - can they be scientific? - leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 6 No. 2, February 1976. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

The two Ecologies - published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 10, December 1975. Edward Goldsmith predicts the rise of a radical 'ecological' subculture that "rejects the industrial world because of its mediocrity, its ugliness, its unnaturalness and its hypocrisy - in fact because it fails to satisfy basic social, aesthetic and spiritual needs". Intrinsic to this movement will be a rethinking of the 'scientific' method that pervades the modern world view, and the false science of 'ecology'.

A stateman of world importance - Edward Goldsmith shows how Indira Gandhi has betrayed the Gandhiism of the Mahatma in pursuing India's industrialisation and urbanisation, and most recently in imprisoning J P Narayan, political leader of the Sarvodaya Movement. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 7, August / September 1975.

The fall of the Roman empire - in this powerful essay, Edward Goldsmith concludes that internal moral and political decay and unsustainable agriculture underlie the fall of the Roman Empire, while the Barbarian invasions were merely the coup de grace. The comparisons with our own society and misguided sense of permanence are unsettling. It was published as Chapter 1 of The Great U-Turn, also published in The Ecologist, July 1975, and Le Sauvage (France), April 1976.

Heads you win, tails I lose! - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 6, June 1975. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "After some serious thought on the global shortage of food, Drs. Reed and Tolley have come up with an undeniably original suggestion, that we put human faeces on the menu. Faeces are, apparently, 'not unpalatable after homogenisation followed by steam sterilisation, oven drying and finally, cooking.' ... "

Is science a religion? - published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 2, February 1975.

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

The test tube fixation - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 1, January 1975. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

Naïve correlation - published in The Ecologist Vol. 5 No. 1, January 1975. A discussion of the confusions between causes, effects and coincidences that have guided Government policy on industry, health and other topics - and which have totally failed to produce the desired outcome.

How to live in cloud cuckoo land and justify it - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 8, August 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Researchers have made the amazing discovery that there is plastic waste in the sea. Since in the UK alone we consume 1.5 million tons of plastic a year, and since our principal method of getting rid of all waste products is to dump them into the sea, one would not have expected this discovery to have caused quite so much astonishment ... "

The ecology of war - this article explains how traditional wars were ritualised conflicts in which mortality was minimised, in contrast to the mass death and destruction of modern industrial modes of warfare. Originally published in The Ecologist in May 1974, then in Le Sauvage in April 1975 (France). A revised version appeared as Chapter 6 of The Great U-Turn in 1988.

The suntan diversion - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 6, June 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Scientific research has just revealed that battery eggs are as good as free range ones. Measurements published in Nature have shown that they only differ in their vitamin B12 content. Any difference in taste, we are assured, is without scientific basis and must therefore be purely imaginary. This is a perfect illustration of both 'The Lamp Post Lark' and 'The Suntan Diversion' - associated variants of the same basic fallacy ... "

The caviar chimera - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 3, March 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

The ecology of unemployment (original version) - A leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 2, February 1974. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). As industry becomes ever more capital-intensive, mass unemployment becomes inevitable - unless we reverse the direction of 'development'.

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).

The ecology of unemployment (extended version) - This short essay explains how the industrial system we live under not only creates unemployment, but created the very idea of unemployment. It was first published in The Ecologist Vol. 4 No. 2, February 1974, then in Everyman's of February 9 1975 (India). This revised version later appeared in 1988 as Chapter 3 of The Great U-Turn.

Education - what for? - this essay explores the paradox that the more we are educated, the more literacy has declined, while traditional knowledge essential for the transmission of culture to new generations is lost. Mass education, Edward Goldsmith argues, is doomed to fail in its essential task of socialising increasingly alienated younger generations. First published in The Ecologist, January 1974, then in PHP (Japan), December 1975) and Oko Journal (Switzerland), February 1975. This revised version appeared in 1988 as Chapter 2 of The Great U-Turn.

The behavioural basis of culturalism - a general systems approach - Originally published in Peace and the Sciences by the International Institute for Peace, Vienna 1974. It was published again with minor revisions by the Wadebridge Ecological Centre as "The Epistemological and Behavioural Basis of Culturalism". The version presented here combines the contents of both versions, with each of the Principles numbered for convenience. The thinking presented in this article forms the root of The Way.

You've never had It so good - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 3 No. 11, November 1973. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "We have all been taught since our most tender childhood that science, technology and industry are enabling us to create a materialist paradise on Earth from which the basic human problems of poverty, unemployment, disease, ignorance, war and famine will have been eliminated once and for all. It is increasingly evident, however, that this is not happening ... "

The logic of reorientation - This article is condensed from a paper by Edward Goldsmith which appeared in Teach-In for Survival, published by Robinson & Watkins Books, London, in 1972. It was published in the journal Manas Volume XXVI Number 41, 10 October 1973. The Teach-In is made up of the talks by the participants in a 'Teach-In' at Queen Elizabeth College, London.

Adam and Eve revisited - In this article Edward Goldsmith spells out the principles which he believes govern the behaviour of social systems, and which none - including industrial society - can violate with impunity. These principles indicate that primitive man is the only one who is actually living a sound and completely ordered existence.

Better pick the edelweiss - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 3 No. 8, August 1973. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The balance of payments is excellent, the standard of living is high, therefore everything must be fine and our prospects excellent ... homelessness, delinquency and general demoralisation - is of little interest "

Asbestos and cancer - presenting the overwhelming case for the total prohibition of asbestos. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 3 No. 8, August 1973.

What is need? - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 3 No. 1, January 1973. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "One thing is certain: industrialisation creates needs faster than it satisfies them ... "

The priesthood of industrial society - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 2 No. 10, October 1972. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "if a proposition is classified as 'scientific', then it must be true, indeed incontestable; if on the other hand it is branded as 'unscientific', then it must be the work of a charlatan. This has provided the Scientific Priesthood with the power to prevent any undesired deviation from scientific orthodoxy, just as the Catholic establishment of the Middle Ages could excommunicate ... "

A model of behaviour - A paper originally presented to the International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems, 30 August 1972, on behalf of the Unified Science Institute, 73 Kew Green, Richmond, Surrey. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 2 No. 12, December 1972.

You can′t get there from here - Edward Goldsmith reviews the Planning and Management of Human Settlements for Environmental Quality report. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 2 No. 6 June 1972.

The social structure of the environment - Published in the "Towards a unified science" column, The Ecologist Vol. 2 No. 3 March 1972.

A Blueprint for Survival was published in January 1972, occupying all of The Ecologist Vol. 2 No.1, in advance of the world's first ever Environment Summit in Stockholm. So great was demand for the Blueprint that its was subsequently republished in paperback by Penguin books. It was written by Edward Goldsmith, Robert Allen and others.

Words and Models - a systems approach to linguistics - on the use and abuse of words and language. Published in Kybernetes (the International Journal of Cybernetics and General Systems) Vol. 1 No. 2, 1972.

We are all addicts - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 18, December 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "I once saw a film of a European doctor teaching Samoans how to brush their teeth. Particularly striking was the fact that their teeth were white and shiny, while his were black ... "

The disintegration of pre-Islamic society in North Arabia - The decline of the many municipal religions of the city-states of North Arabia created the opening for the establishment of Islam as the national religion of the Arab people. Published in the "Towards a unified science" column, The Ecologist, Vol. 1 No. 18, December 1971.

The sanctity of life - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 15, November 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "We have been taught since childhood to fear anything connected with death and decay. A corpse fills us with horror, while the scavengers that eat it and the bugs and bacteria that decompose it are among the most despised of creatures. Yet death and decay are as essential as life and growth - one would not be possible without the other ... "

So far, so good - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 16, October 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The experts assure us that current levels of lead in our air and water are safe. Scientific endeavour, it would appear, is something that confers on a proposition some measure of credibility - perhaps even downright certainty. If so, how is this achieved? ... "

Chickenowski's chicken - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 15, September 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006).

The vessel without a pilot - A leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 14, August 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "Unfortunately control mechanisms can occasionally break down, and this is what has happened in our society. It is increasingly out of control, and can be likened to a vessel without a pilot, whose course is determined by the random play of winds and currents ... "

Grammatical realism - Language does not merely determine how we formulate out thoughts - it underlies our entire world view. People whose mind set has been formed by different languages may have a profoundly different understanding of things. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 14, August 1971.

We can't have our cake and eat it - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 13, July 1971. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). " When, in time of drought, a tribal rainmaker fails to bring about the required rain, the tribesmen, sadly surveying their parched fields and ailing crops, do not question the efficacy of the magical rites that they performed in vain. Age-old tradition has conferred on the rainmakers a respectability that no individual failures can possibly impair ... "

Social disorganisation and its causes - Edward Goldsmith examimes the underlying causes of social breakdown, drawing from examples across the sweep of history. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 13, July 1971.

The influence of words on the study of religion - Published in the Towards a Unified Science Section in The Ecologist Vol 1 No 13 July 1971. "... 'God' means something very different to different peoples. To a Japanese he is above all the supreme ancestor. To the early Christians, he was undoubtedly a big anthropomorphic father. To the Jews of the Old Testament he was a strict, cruel and jealous supertribal chieftain. To the educated Christian of today, he is an undefinable and abstract force... "

Social disintegration: effects - Chapter 21 of the book Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist.

Social disintegration: causes - This is Chapter 20 of the book Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist.

Pollution costs - This is Chapter 17 of the book Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist.

Limits of growth in natural systems - Chapter 3 of the book Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist.

Can Britain Survive? Introduction - this is the introduction to the book Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist.

Can Britain Survive? - cover - the cover of the book Can Britain Survive?, edited by Edward Goldsmith, a compendium of articles from various expert writers, containing five chapters by Goldsmith himself. It was published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and appeared in paperback in the same year published by Sphere Books, London.

What of Britain′s future? - this prescient article was originally published as the concluding chapter of Can Britain Survive?, published by Tom Stacey, London, 1971, and Sphere Books, London, 1971 (paperback). The book is a selection of articles from The Ecologist, together with original papers and articles from other periodicals, collected and edited by Edward Goldsmith while Editor of The Ecologist. The article was reprinted two years later in The Ecologist Vol. 3 No. 11, November 1973, with the following introductory paragraphs.

The prostitute society - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 6, December 1970, by The Editors. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "By insulting our rivers, desecrating our cities, degrading our countryside, killing off our wildlife, endangering our health with pollutants and helping to exterminate two million of our fellows, we have doubtless made quite a bit of money. What are we going to do with it? ... "

Can science be reformed? - Can science be reformed in such a way that it can contribute to the long-term benefit of mankind? The author argues that this could be so if the different disciplines into which it is at present divided were integrated into a single unified science, but such a task requires a new methodology and a new theory of knowledge. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 5, November 1970.

Is pesticide science based on false assumptions? - a leading article for The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 5, November 1970. Republished in The Doomsday Funbook (Jon Carpenter Books, February 2006). "The scientist is under attack. His image is deteriorating fast. No more do we see a benevolent sage whose infinite wisdom is leading to man's conquest of nature, to the elimination of disease, poverty, misery and everything else that afflicts us. Instead, to more and more, he has become an ogre who, to satisfy his own curiosity, is concocting vile poisons that are bound to get us all in the end ... "

The stable society - can we achieve it? - a sustainable society can only be stable - but how is our structurally unstable, indeed chaotic society and economy to make the transition? Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 No. 6, 1970.

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