the late environmentalist, author, & philosopher
*UPDATE* 15th August 2012. Court halts work on Belo Monte dam A high-level court yesterday suspended construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam project on the Amazon’s Xingu River, citing overwhelming evidence that indigenous people had not been properly consulted prior to government approval of the project. [. . . MORE . . .] Learn [...]
The world’s tropical forests are being destroyed at the rate of 100 acres every minute of the day. Their destruction has variously been described as “the greatest natural calamity since the Ice Age” [1], “the greatest biological disaster ever perpetrated by man” [2] and “a threat to civilisation second only to thermonuclear war”. [3] Editorial [...]
Richard St. Barbe Baker will always be known as ‘the Man of the Trees’. In Kenya, where he was assistant conservator of forests for many years, he was known as Baba Wya Miti, ‘the affectionate Father of the Trees’, also as Bwana Wya Miti, ‘the Master of the Trees’. In Australia, he was often referred [...]
From the Global Forest Fund Theme Book, JCI (Junior Chamber International) Conference, Rotterdam, 1982. In a few decades, world tropical forests will have been cleared. This is a terrible tragedy, not only because they are so magnificent and so awe-inspiring, but deforestation in the tropics is the first step towards poverty, malnutrition and eventual starvation. [...]
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. (Environmental Conservation is published for the Foundation for Environmental Conservation by Cambridge University Press.) See also another version of [...]
The idea is simple at its core – instead of paying poor countries to destroy their forests, pay them to keep their forests. Published in The Ecologist Vol. 1 Nos. 1–2, January–February 1980. See also another version of this article published in Environmental Conservation Vol. 7 No. 1, winter 1981. How can this fatal trend [...]
A review of: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Trees, Timbers And Forests Of The World. Edited by Herbert Edlin and Maurice Nimmo. Salamander Books Ltd. The first thing to say about this book is that it is an incredibly good buy at the price. It is beautifully illustrated throughout with a mass of coloured drawings and [...]
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 . [...]
