September 2009 printable subscriber newsletter

Ecologist

28th August, 2009

This month, we pay tribute to the sad death of our founder, Edward Goldsmith, we look at how local councils could be about to waste our waste, look into a case of man vs forest, look in depth at the chemical industry and find out about the community fighting tar sands development in Alberta, Canada. To download the newsletter, you'll need to log in using your username and password, then scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link

By now I’m sure that many of you will have heard the sad news that Ecologist founder and environmental luminary Edward Goldsmith passed away on Friday, 21st August. He had been suffering from a long illness, and died peacefully in his sleep at home.

As with any passing, it leaves a collection of disparate emotions. Sadness, of course. But fond memories as well. And, in the case of the Ecologist and its readers, it should convey a renewed sense of purpose.

Teddy’s life was, above all else, dedicated to pointing out the folly of conventional thinking. The very first issue of the Ecologist (which is free for all to read in our online archive) depicts a man sinking into a pool of mud (or slime – it’s in black and white), one hand extended as if trying desperately to save himself.

lt was a wordview – of a society sinking under its own weight of environmental folly – that very much dictated the path of the magazine. In his forthcoming book, Teddy’s nephew Zac Goldsmith describes the Ecologist as ‘for a while perhaps the world’s gloomiest magazine’. It’s an epithet I’d like to think we’ve outgrown, but it’s a valid...

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