Edward Goldsmith

Edward Goldsmith (died in August 2009) was the winner of the 1991 Right Livelihood Award.

"Goldsmith briefly attended Oxford University but withdrew from his studies there after a few years, famously saying “what I learned there about the realities of the world was exactly the opposite of what turned out to be true and necessary.” In later years he was in constant demand as a speaker and lecturer at dozens of universities around the world. However, he was especially pleased to have helped create in 1989, an extraordinary International Honors Program, in conjunction with Bard College of New York state. In this remarkable program, students spend a year in an around-the-world course studying ecological circumstances, crises and opportunities, and meeting ecological activists on every continent. He remained active in the program until a few years ago, when his illness took its toll, but the program continues its popularity today... Teddy is survived by his wife Kathy Goldsmith, his daughters Dido Goldsmith Whitehead and Clio Goldsmith Shand, his sons Alexander, Benedict and Zeno Goldsmith, and many beloved grandchildren, as well as nephews and nieces from his brother’s family."


 * Trustee, Foundation for GAIA
 * Advisory Board, International Society for Ecology and Culture
 * Advisory Council, Environmental Law Foundation
 * Honorary Board Member, David Suzuki Foundation
 * Emeriti Director, International Forum on Globalization
 * American Political Science Association’s Best Book of the Year Award for Ecological and Transformational Politics, The Case Against the Global Economy: and for a turn towards the local, co-edited with Jerry Mander, 1997
 * Former Member, Scientific and Medical Network

His brother was Sir James Goldsmith. A web site dedicated to his life is http://www.edwardgoldsmith.org

Chronology (select)

 * 1968 	Was member of the committee that founded the Primitive Peoples' Fund, now called Survival International, and whose Chairman remains Robin Hanbury Tenison of Cardinham, Cornwall.
 * 1969 	Founded The Ecologist which I edited until 1987 and still publish today. The editorial office is now at Sturminster Newton in Dorset.
 * 1971 	Founded the Ecological Foundation and commissioned a Private Commission on Transport chaired by the Bishop of Kingston, subsequently the Biship of Birmingham. Served as environmental advisor to the Foundation.
 * 1973 - 1977 	Consultant to Atlanta 2000, a citizens group looking at the future of their city.
 * 1974 	One of the founders of "Cornwall Nuclear Alarm", set up to prevent the dumping of nuclear waste in Cornwall. In conjunction with Mebyon Kernow several hundred (perhaps more) of us went to London, congregated in Trafalgar Square and demonstrated against this hideous plan. Speakers included the Bishop of Birmingham, Robin Cook MP, Diana Rigg, the actress, and myself.
 * 1975 	One of the founders of ECOROPA, a European ecological club and think-tank, serving as vice-president and president of the French branch.
 * 1978 	One of the founders of the Green Alliance - a Parliamentary Lobbying Group on the environment (together with Gordon Rattray Taylor, Gerard Morgan Grenville and Maurice Ash of the Dartington Trust in Totnes.
 * 1991 	Formation of the Goldsmith Foundation by my brother, Sir James Goldsmith, with which I have been involved ever since. This took up nearly half my time for some years.

Criticism of Blueprint for Survival
These are reviewed by Timothy O'Riordan in his book Environmentalism (1976), see especially page 53.

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Peter Bunyard
 * Gandhi Peace Foundation - visited in 1974 then published special issue of The Ecologist on Gandhi and India
 * colleague Nicholas Hildyard
 * Fourth World Review
 * Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff