Home > actualités > Remembering Teddy Goldsmith – Visionary Defender of the Earth

Edward ‘Teddy’ Goldsmith left us 12 years ago this August.  His passing left a huge void in our lives.

His clarion call on the perils of industrialization, globalization, and climate change decades ago sounded the alarm to all who would listen. As humanity faces catastrophic climate change, a pandemic, hunger and violence across the globe,  his words come back to us loud and clear.

Father of the ecology movement  and articulate defender of the earth, he founded in 1970 The Ecologist, the leading environmental magazine, and gave the movement its name.  Author of countless books and articles, His Blueprint for Survival became a defining document and inspired countless young people to get involved.

Passionate in his defense of the Earth, he clearly understood its interconnectivity to all life, described in his great philosophical discourse, The Way: towards an ecological world view.  Thus he foresaw the spectre of today’s pandemic: “The order of the natural world is strictly protected by cosmic law  ….. from the moment we violate the law which defends animals and plants we violate the law of the cosmos from which comes human society.”

He  was the first to raise the red flag on climate change  and to make the connection between climate change and food.   We were fortunate to have him as a member of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, along with his long-time friends and colleagues Vandana Shiva and Jerry Mander (Founder of the International Forum on Globalization).  The Commission’s Manifesto on Climate Change and the Future of Food Security grew out of his writings.

He was so much to so many – joyful communicator, loyal friend, deeply committed activist and great raconteur.   His keen intellect and humour never failed to impress.

He brought insights and foresight, joy and laughter into our lives.   We were all so privileged to have known and to have worked with him.

His legacy continues to inspire and remain a beacon of light.

This post is also available in: Anglais, Italien
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SOME LINKS

The passing of an environment giant
Third World Network – Global Trends by Martin Khor, 31 August 2009


“Edward Goldsmiith . The Green Revolutionary”

Part 1 – The Problem: industrial society

Part 2 – The Solution: people and planet

First aired as part of Channel 4’s Fragile Earth series 1990, UK

Edward ‘Teddy’ Goldsmith, the grandfather of the modern environmental movement 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 English/Italian interview –  English with Italian translation

Part 1 – What is Ecology and Science?  ‘ Che cosa sono l’Ecologia e la Scienza – 6 min.

Part 2 – What are Patents? Che cosa sono i brevetti? – 4 min.


Rai Radio3 -Wikiradio Archivio

Edward Goldsmith 21 Agosto 2017


Edward Goldsmith – Corporate Organized Crime (1992) – 30 years

Edward Goldsmith describes how many multinational corporations amount to little more than vast criminal enterprises (1992).


Main photo: The Ecologist