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Edward René David Goldsmith (8 November 1928 – 21 August 2009), widely known as Teddy Goldsmith, was an Anglo-French environmentalist, writer and philosopher. He was a member the prominent
Goldsmith family The Goldschmidt family is a family of German Jewish descent, originally from Frankfurt am Main, known for their success in banking. With origins tracing back to the 15th century, most members were forced to leave Frankfurt after the 1614 Fettmilc ...
. The eldest son of Major Frank Goldsmith, and elder brother of the financier
James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His cont ...
. Edward Goldsmith was the founding editor and publisher of ''
The Ecologist ''The Ecologist'' is a British environmental journal, then magazine, that was published from 1970 to 2009. Founded by Edward Goldsmith, it addressed a wide range of environmental subjects and promoted an ecological systems thinking approach thr ...
''. Known for his outspoken views opposing industrial society and economic development, he expressed a strong sympathy for the ways and values of traditional peoples. He co-authored the influential ''
A Blueprint for Survival ''A Blueprint for Survival'' was an influential environmentalist text that drew attention to the urgency and magnitude of environmental problems. First published as a special edition of ''The Ecologist'' in January 1972, it was later published in ...
'' with Robert Allen, becoming a founding member of the political party "People" (later renamed the Green Party), itself largely inspired by the'' Blueprint''. Goldsmith's more conservative view of environmentalism put him at odds with socialist currents of thought which came to dominate within the Green Party. A deep ecologist and systems theorist, Goldsmith was an early proponent of the Gaia hypothesis, having previously developed a similar
cybernetic Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...
concept of a self-regulating
biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...
. A talented
after-dinner speaker Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...
and raconteur, Goldsmith was an articulate spokesman and campaigner, receiving a number of awards for his work protecting the natural world and highlighting the importance and plight of indigenous peoples, including an honorary
Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob ...
and the
Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
.


Early life

Goldsmith (widely known as Teddy) was born in Paris in 1928 to a German Jewish father, Frank Goldsmith, and French mother, Marcelle Mouiller. He entered
Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding schoo ...
, Somerset, as a grammar student, and he later graduated with honours in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at
Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 ...
(1947–1950). While studying at Oxford, Goldsmith rejected the reductionist and compartmentalised ideas taught at the time, and he sought a more holistic worldview with which to study societies and the problems facing the world at large. After fulfilling his National Service as a British Intelligence Officer in Hamburg and Berlin, he involved himself unsuccessfully in a number of business ventures and devoted most of his spare time to the study of the subjects that were to preoccupy him for the rest of his life. Throughout the 1960s, he spent time travelling the world with his close friend, John Aspinall, witnessing at first hand the destruction of traditional societies. He concluded that the spread of economic development and its accompanying industrialisation, far from being progressive as claimed, was actually the root cause of social and environmental destruction.Fantasy, the Bomb, and the Greening of Britain by Meredith Veldman. Cambridge University Press, 1994. pp.28–9


Work


Primitive People's Fund

In London, at meetings of the Primitive People's Fund (the committee that founded
Survival International Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969, a London based charity that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peop ...
), Goldsmith teamed up with the fund's treasurer
Robert Prescott-Allen The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, the explorer
Jean Liedloff Jean Liedloff (November 26, 1926 – March 15, 2011) was an American author, born in New York City, and best known for her 1975 book '' The Continuum Concept''. She is the aunt of writer Janet Hobhouse, and is represented by the character Consta ...
, and a writer from ''World Medicine'',
Peter Bunyard Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
, to found ''The Ecologist'' in 1969.


"Theory of a Unified Science"

After rejecting what he saw as the excessively reductionist and compartmentalised approach of mainstream academia, he spent much of his time researching and developing his own theories for the unification of the sciences. The ''Theory of a Unified Science'' was heavily influenced by cybernetics, as well as the General Systems Theory of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, the holism of the early academic ecologists, and the functionalism employed by many anthropologists.The Way: an ecological worldview by Edward Goldsmith, University of Georgia Press, 1998. Introduction His theory would later be published, in its final form, as ''The Way: An Ecological World View.'' ( see below) Early on, Goldsmith had formulated a concept of the biosphere as an integrated cybernetic entity, the self-regulating parts (in which he included tribal societies) co-operating, largely unconsciously, for the mutual benefit of the whole, a view that anticipated aspects of the Gaia thesis, of which he was to become a leading proponent. Goldsmith was also a critic of
neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of Dar ...
. He claimed that it is a reductionist theory and that if you understand evolution, it is necessary to "abandon the reductionistic and mechanistic paradigm of science".


''The Ecologist''

Having established ''The Ecologist'' in 1969 with founding editors Robert Allen,
Jean Liedloff Jean Liedloff (November 26, 1926 – March 15, 2011) was an American author, born in New York City, and best known for her 1975 book '' The Continuum Concept''. She is the aunt of writer Janet Hobhouse, and is represented by the character Consta ...
, and Peter Bunyard, Goldsmith was to use the journal as a platform for his theoretical concerns with regular articles appearing under the heading "Towards a Unified Science". The journal also became an important forum for the early
green movement Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It be ...
, with articles focusing on the relevance and survival of hunter-gatherer societies, alternative technology and organic farming, together with prescient articles about climate change, resource depletion, and nuclear accidents. They were accompanied by the usual gamut of articles examining pollution, overpopulation, deforestation, soil erosion, corporate power, large dams, and, not least, the World Bank's alleged role in "financing the destruction of our planet".


''A Blueprint For Survival''

Signed by over thirty of the leading scientists of the day, including Sir
Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis. ...
, Sir
Frank Fraser Darling Sir Frank Fraser Darling FRSE (23 June 1903 – 22 October 1979) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland. He gives his name to the Fraser ...
, Sir
Peter Medawar Sir Peter Brian Medawar (; 28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987) was a Brazilian-British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue ...
, Sir
Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...
, and
C. H. Waddington Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary developme ...
, Goldsmith and his fellow editor Robert Allen made headlines in January 1972 with ''A Blueprint for Survival''. The ''Blueprint'' was a far reaching proposal for a radical transition to a largely decentralised and deindustrialised society, an attempt to prevent what the authors referred to as " the breakdown of society and the irreversible disruption of the life-support systems on this planet". It became a key text for the early Green movement, selling over half a million copies, and it was translated into 16 languages. In many ways, it anticipated the concerns taken up by today's Transition Movement. Goldsmith and Allen argued that rather than devise imaginary utopias, as did Marxist and liberal political theorists of the time, they should instead look to the example of existing tribal peoples, who, the authors claimed, were real-life working models of societies perfectly adapted to both their long-term survival needs and the needs of the living world on which they depended. The tribal peoples alone, the authors argued, had demonstrated a viable means by which the most pressing problems facing humanity could be answered successfully. Such societies were characterised by their small, human-scale communities, low-impact technologies, successful population controls, sustainable resource management, holistic and ecologically integrated worldviews and a high degree of social cohesion, physical health, psychological well-being and spiritual fulfilment of their members.


The People Party

The ''Blueprint'' was a major inspiration for the embryonic political party called "People" (later to become the Green Party,) which invited Goldsmith to stand for the Eye constituency in Suffolk as their candidate in the February 1974 general election. The campaign focused on the threat of desertification from the intensive farming practised in the area, which Goldsmith emphasised with the help of a
Bactrian camel The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped drome ...
supplied by Aspinall. Goldsmith was in turn accompanied by bearded supporters dressed in the garb of Arab sheiks, the implication being that if modern oil-intensive farming practises were allowed to continue, the camel would be the only viable means of transport left in Suffolk. Goldsmith lost his deposit, but his unorthodox campaign succeeded in attracting the media's attention and highlighted the issues. He again stood for the now-renamed Ecology Party at the European elections in 1979, now winning a more respectable portion of
the vote ''The Vote'' is a 2015 play by British playwright James Graham. The play received its world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse as part of their spring 2015 season, where it ran from 24 April to 7 May 2015. Directed by Josie Rourke and set in a f ...
.


Cornwall

In 1973, buoyed by the success of the ''Blueprint'' and a sudden rise in public awareness of ecological issues, partly brought about by the
Stockholm Conference The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from June 5–16 in 1972. When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, taking up the offer of the Government of S ...
and the publication of the
Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...
's '' The Limits to Growth'' in the same year. Goldsmith and his editorial team moved from their offices in London to relocate to rural Cornwall, in the far west of England. Goldsmith and his colleagues bought themselves farms, and for the following 17 years, they attempted to form a small-scale, relatively self-sufficient community of their own, and ''The Ecologist'' continued to be produced on-site, in between their other chores. In 1977, when the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) threatened to site a nuclear reactor on farmland in
Luxulyan Luxulyan (; kw, Logsulyan), also spelt Luxullian or Luxulian, is a village and civil parish in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village lies four miles (6.5 km) northeast of St Austell and six miles (10 km) south of Bodmin ...
, Cornwall, Goldsmith was among those who organised a continuous
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
of the land, with local people blocking the entrance and staffing round-the-clock garrisons to prevent CEGB contractors from starting their drilling work. An early example of an environmental
protest camp Protest camps are physical camps that are set up by activists, to either provide a base for protest, or to delay, obstruct or prevent the focus of their protest by physically blocking it with the camp. Protest camps may also have a symbolic or rep ...
, the High Court of England and Wales eventually awarded in favour of CEGB allowing the drilling to go ahead. The CEGB never went on to develop the site, however.


The Gandhi Peace Foundation

In 1974, Goldsmith spent four months with the
Gandhi Peace Foundation The Gandhi Peace Foundation is an Indian organisation that studies and develops Mahatma Gandhi's thought. History The foundation was established 31 July 1958 to preserve and spread Gandhi's thought. It began with donation of 10 million rupe ...
in New Delhi, comparing the Gandhian (''
Sarvodaya Sarvōdaya ( hi, सर्वोदय '' sarv-'' "all", '' uday'' "rising") is a Sanskrit term which generally means "universal uplift" or "progress of all". The term was used by Mahatma Gandhi as the title of his 1908 translation of John Ruski ...
'') movement with the Ecology movement in Europe. This led Goldsmith to forge close links with Indian environmental activists, in particular with the
Chipko The Chipko movement ( hi, chipko andolan, italic=yes, lit= reehugging movement) is a forest conservation movement in India. The movement originated in 1973 at the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) and went on to beco ...
movement, including
Sunderlal Bahuguna Sunderlal Bahuguna Ji (9 January 1927 – 21 May 2021) was an Indian environmentalist and Chipko movement leader. The idea of the Chipko movement was suggested by his wife and him. He fought for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, fi ...
and
Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gand ...
. That was to have a major influence on Goldsmith's approach to environmental activism and led to a special issue of ''The Ecologist'' on the subject.


World Bank

In 1984, together with his colleague Nicholas Hildyard, Goldsmith authored a multi-volume report on the destructive effects of large-scale, hydroelectric dams. It was the beginning of a long attack against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which Goldsmith and his colleagues accused of financing the destruction of the planet. In one episode, Goldsmith wrote an open letter to the then President of the World Bank, Alden W. Clausen, demanding that the bank "stop financing the destruction of the tropical world, the devastation of its remaining forests, the extermination of its wildlife and the impoverishment and starvation of its human inhabitants". At the time, the connection between large-scale development projects and social and environmental destruction had not been widely recognised, even within the environmental movement.


Forests campaign

In 1989, Goldsmith helped to organise an international campaign calling for an immediate end to the destruction of the world's remaining forests with its detrimental effects on indigenous cultures,
biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...
and global climate. The campaign raised over 3 million signatures, which were taken in wheelbarrows to the UN's headquarters in New York City. Goldsmith and a party of activists subsequently occupied the main lobby, refusing to move until the Secretary General, Perez de Cuellar, agreed to see them. The group demanded for him to call an extraordinary general meeting of the Security Council to tackle the global crisis of deforestation. Although failing, the campaign managed to organise a meeting in the US Senate with a group of senators, headed by
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nom ...
, whom the activists called upon to end their support of the World Bank.


The Goldsmith Foundation

In 1991, with the financial support of his brother James, Goldsmith established the Goldsmith (JMG) Foundation supporting a diverse range of non-governmental organisations campaigning against environmentally destructive activities, along with organisations providing sustainable alternatives.


The Way

In 1990, urged on by
Arne Næss Arne Dekke Eide Næss (; 27 January 1912 – 12 January 2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term " deep ecology", an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth centur ...
, Goldsmith left the editorship of ''The Ecologist'' to Nicholas Hildyard, while taking time off to write his philosophical magnum opus ''The Way: an ecological worldview''."The Ecologist Magazine 1970–2007: a case study" Master's thesis Kristen Harding. University of Plymouth, September 2007 ''The Way'' (1992) was the culmination and synthesis of more than four decades of theoretical development, embodying a "coherent worldview" by which Goldsmith would attempt to explain the self-inflicted problems facing the world and to propose a way out of them. Much of the work was already mature in Goldsmith's mind by the time that he published the first issues of ''The Ecologist'' in 1970.


Later life

In addition to the UK ''Ecologist'', Goldsmith later helped to found and support ''The Ecologist'' as independent enterprises in many parts of the world: : ''Brazil'' (in Portuguese); ''France'' (in French); ''Asia'' (India); ''Italy'' (in Italian); ''Greece'' (in Greek); ''The Pacific'' (New Zealand); ''Lebanon'' (in Arabic); ''Latin America'' (in Spanish); and ''Colombia'' (in Spanish). He continued to attend key meetings around the world and involved himself with a variety of campaign organisations by becoming President of the ''Climate Initiatives Fund'', Richmond, London; a board member of the ''
International Forum on Globalization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
'', San Francisco, USA; a founder member of ''Marunui Conservation Ltd.'',
Mangawhai Mangawhai is a locality in Northland, New Zealand around the Mangawhai Harbour. The township of Mangawhai is at the south west extent of the harbour, and the township of Mangawhai Heads is 5 km north east. Kaiwaka is 13 km south wes ...
, New Zealand (1987); and a founder member and vice-president of ECOROPA, a European ecological club and think tank (1975).


Philosophy

* Degrowth * Holism *
Human scale Human scale is the set of physical qualities, and quantities of information, characterizing the human body, its motor, sensory, or mental capabilities, and human social institutions. Science vs. human scale Many of the objects of scientific in ...
*
Neotribalism Neotribalism, also known as modern tribalism or new tribalism, is a sociological concept which postulates that human beings have evolved to live in tribal society, as opposed to mass society, and thus will naturally form social networks constitu ...
* Perennial Philosophy


Controversies

In 1997, after a political split with the editorial team of The Ecologist, Goldsmith was left to run the magazine on his own. Having been absent for some years, he brought in the
International Society for Ecology and Culture Local Futures (formerly the International Society for Ecology and Culture) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to raise awareness about what it identifies as the root causes of contemporary social, environmental, and economic crises. The ...
(ISEC) to act as the editorial team. His nephew
Zac Zac is a masculine given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Zachary or Zechariah. It may refer to: People: * Zac Alexander (born 1989), Australian professional squash player * Zac Brooks (born 1993), American National Football League pla ...
, who was then working for ISEC, eventually took over the editorship on their behalf. The split led to a period of often-bitter criticism from some members of the political left in the environmental movement, which, compounded with failing health, resulted in a period of isolation from the British scene. Goldsmith was accused of having affiliated himself with the
Nouvelle Droite The Nouvelle Droite (; en, "New Right"), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The Nouvelle Droite is at the origin of the wider European New Right (ENR). Vario ...
, an intellectual voice of the European "New Right", after addressing a symposium on Green issues organised in Paris by the GRECE (Research and Study Group on European Culture), a school of political thought founded largely on the works of
Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...
. It was the attending of that and another similar event that had led to rising tensions with the editorial team at The Ecologist. The title of Goldsmith's contribution in Paris being simply "Une société écologique: la seule alternative" (''An Ecological Society: The Only Alternative''). Later, in a controversial article for the ''Guardian'' newspaper, entitled "Black Shirts in Green Trousers",
George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books. Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...
(a cofounder of the left-wing political party
Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...
) accused Goldsmith of having "advocated the enforced separation of Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda and Protestants and Catholics in Ulster, on the grounds that they constitute 'distinct ethnic groups' and are thus culturally incapable of co-habitation" (a point rejected by Goldsmith). That, along with other attacks, eventually led Goldsmith to counter his critics with his indepth rebuttal ''My Answer''. Goldsmith's close association with his brother, Sir James Goldsmith, his lifelong friendship with the controversial casino owner and conservationist John Aspinall, along with his anti- modernist stance and support for indigenous peoples, ensured that Goldsmith had many detractors throughout his life. Still, Goldsmith received affectionate support and respect from across the full spectrum of the environmental movement and from many of the people whose views and preoccupations were the focus of his theoretical and philosophical critique. Goldsmith's message continued to be sponsored around the world, in particular through his work with the
International Forum on Globalization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
(IFG).


Awards

* EMCI, Natura Uomo Ambiente, 8th Symposio Ecologico International, Napoli 1979 *
Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob ...
"for his uncompromising critique of industrialism and promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives to it," 1991 *
Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
, 1991 (French knighthood) * Premios Internacionales Vida Sana (Spanish organic association), 1991 * Best Book of the Year Award for Ecological and Transformational Politics, awarded by the American Political Science Association, for The Case Against the Global Economy: and for a turn towards the local, co-edited with Jerry Mander, 1997 * Council for International Affairs and Human Rights (Shiva statue) * Gandhi Millennium Award, 2001 * International Forum on Globalization, Lifetime Achievement Award, 24 February 2007


Influences

* Tribal peoples * Ludwig von Bertalanffy *
Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...
*
Karl Polanyi Karl Paul Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Károly ; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964),''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2003) vol 9. p. 554 was an Austro-Hungarian economic anthropologist and politician, best known ...
*
Michael Polanyi Michael Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Mihály; 11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplie ...
* Gandhi *
Eugene Odum Eugene Pleasants Odum (September 17, 1913 – August 10, 2002) was an American biologist at the University of Georgia known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology. He and his brother Howard T. Odum wrote the popular ecology textbook, ''Funda ...
*
C. H. Waddington Conrad Hal Waddington (8 November 1905 – 26 September 1975) was a British developmental biologist, paleontologist, geneticist, embryologist and philosopher who laid the foundations for systems biology, epigenetics, and evolutionary developme ...
*
Paul Alfred Weiss Paul Alfred Weiss (March 21, 1898 – September 8, 1989) was an Austrian biologist who specialised in morphogenesis, development, differentiation and neurobiology. A teacher, experimenter and theorist, he made a lasting contribution to science ...
* William Homan Thorpe *
Placide Tempels Placide Frans Tempels, OFM (18 February 1906 – 9 October 1977) was a Belgian Franciscan missionary in the Congo who became famous for his book '' Bantu Philosophy''. Life Tempels was born in Berlaar, Belgium. Born Frans Tempels, he to ...
*
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. Biography Alfred Reginald Radcli ...
*
Roy Rappaport Roy A. Rappaport (1926–1997) was an American anthropologist known for his contributions to the anthropological study of ritual and to ecological anthropology. Biography Rappaport received his Ph.D. at Columbia University and held a tenured po ...
*
Richard St. Barbe Baker Richard St. Barbe Baker , Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACF (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982) was an English biologist and botanist, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a ...


Associates

*
John Aspinall (zoo owner) John Victor Aspinall (11 June 1926 – 29 June 2000) was an English zoo and casino owner. From upper class beginnings he used gambling to move to the centre of British high society in the 1960s. He was born in Delhi during the British Raj, and ...
*
Jerry Mander Jerry Irwin Mander (born May 1, 1936) is an American activist and author, best known for his 1978 book, '' Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television''. In a more recent book, ''The Capitalism Papers'', Mander argues against capitalism as a ...
*
Helena Norberg-Hodge Helena Norberg-Hodge is founder and director of Local Futures, previously known as the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC). Local Futures is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the revitalization of cultural and biological ...
*
Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gand ...
*
Mae-Wan Ho Mae-Wan Ho (; 12 November 1941 – 24 March 2016) was a geneticistIndependent Science Panel
*
John Papworth John Papworth (12 December 1921 – 4 July 2020) was an English clergyman, writer and activist against big public and private organizations and for small communities and enterprises. Life and work Born in London in December 1921, Papworth was ...
* David Fleming *
Eugene Odum Eugene Pleasants Odum (September 17, 1913 – August 10, 2002) was an American biologist at the University of Georgia known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology. He and his brother Howard T. Odum wrote the popular ecology textbook, ''Funda ...
*
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (6 March 1912 – 17 May 1994) was an Austrian anthropologist and archaeologist. He is known for his fieldwork among many different Amerindian cultures such as in the Amazonian tropical rainforests (e.g. Desana Tucano) ...

Richard Willson
* Lawrence Hills *
Richard St. Barbe Baker Richard St. Barbe Baker , Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACF (9 October 1889 – 9 June 1982) was an English biologist and botanist, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a ...
*
James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sys ...
*
The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...


Personal life

With his first wife, Gillian Marion Pretty (later wife of ''"Comte"'' Jean-Baptiste de Monpezat, brother of Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark), he had two daughters and a son: *
Clio Goldsmith Clio Goldsmith (born 16 June 1957) is a French former actress, appearing mostly as a femme fatale in some films of the early 1980s. She is a member of the prominent Goldsmith family through her father ecologist Edward Goldsmith. Goldsmith was ma ...
, married firstly Carlo Alessandro Puri Negri, secondly
Mark Shand Mark Roland Shand (28 June 1951 – 23 April 2014) was a British travel writer and conservationist and the brother of Queen Camilla. Shand was the author of four travel books and as a BBC conservationist, appeared in documentaries related to hi ...
; * Dido Goldsmith, married Peter Whitehead. * Alexander Goldsmith With his second wife, Katherine Victoria James, he had two sons: Benedict Goldsmith and Zeno Goldsmith. He had a brother,
James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His cont ...
, through whom he is the uncle of Zac Goldsmith,
Jemima Khan Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith (born 30 January 1974; known as Jemima Khan for work) is an English screenwriter, television, film and documentary producer and the founder of Instinct Productions, a television production company. She was formerly a j ...
and
Ben Goldsmith Benjamin James Goldsmith (born 28 October 1980) is an English financier and environmentalist. The son of financier James Goldsmith and Lady Annabel Goldsmith he is founder and CEO of London-listed investment firm Menhaden, which focuses on the ...
.


Bibliography


Author

* The Stable Society (Wadebridge Press, 1978).
The Great U-Turn: De-industrialising Society
Green Books, 1988 * The Way: an ecological world view (Rider 1992; Revised Edition, Green Books 1996).
Les sept sentiers de l'écologie
(The seven paths of ecology) (Editions Alphée, 2006).


Co-author



(Penguin, 1972) * The Doomsday Funbook (Joys of Apocalypse) 1977

(Wadebridge Ecological Centre): : Volume I (1984) : Volume II (1986) : Volume III (1992) * 5,000 Days to Save the Planet. (Hamlyn, 1990) * The Doomsday Fun Book New Edition. (John Carpenter, 2006)


Editor

* ''Can Britain Survive?'' (Part author. Tom Stacey Ltd, 1971) * ''La Médecine à la Question'' (Fernand Nathar, France 1981) * ''The Earth Report'' (
Mitchell Beazley Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books. History The London-based company Mitchell Beazley wa ...
, 1988) * ''Gaia, the Thesis, the Mechanisms and the Implications'' (Wadebridge Ecological Centre, 1988) * ''Gaia and Evolution'' (Co-editor with Peter Bunyard. 1990) * ''The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local'' (Co-editor with
Jerry Mander Jerry Irwin Mander (born May 1, 1936) is an American activist and author, best known for his 1978 book, '' Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television''. In a more recent book, ''The Capitalism Papers'', Mander argues against capitalism as a ...
.
Sierra Club Books Sierra Club Books was the publishing division, for both adults and children, of the Sierra Club, founded in by then club President David Brower. They were a United States publishing company located in San Francisco, California with a concentrat ...
, 1996, ) * ''Le Piège se Referme'' (''The trap snaps shut again'') (France 2001)


Essays (selection)


My answer



















Development as Colonialism


Notes and references


Further reading

* ''Fantasy, the Bomb, and the Greening of Britain'' by Meredith Veldman. Cambridge University Press, 1994.

y
Paul Kingsnorth Paul Kingsnorth (born 1972) is an English writer who lives in the west of Ireland. He is a former deputy-editor of ''The Ecologist'' and a co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project. Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing tends to address macro themes l ...

''The Way: an ecological worldview''
by Edward Goldsmith


External links


The Green Revolutionary
1990 documentary film
New Lamps for Old
(1992 filmed interview with
Satish Kumar Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936) is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.'' ''Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College ...
) * (1998 documentary film)
edwardgoldsmith.org – English archive

edwardgoldsmith.net – English links page

teddygoldsmith.com – Italian archive

teddygoldsmith.org – French archive

The Ecologist
(online archives)
International Society for Ecology and Culture

International Forum on Globalization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsmith, Edward 1928 births 2009 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British environmentalists British publishers (people) Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Cyberneticists Degrowth advocates People associated with criticism of economic growth English people of German-Jewish descent French emigrants to the United Kingdom Green thinkers Non-Darwinian evolution People educated at Millfield Simple living advocates Edward