“We
cannot survive a 5 per cent or 6 per cent increase in temperature or
a 20 per cent erosion of the ozone layer,and everything we are doing
must inevitably lead to this result.
“Today’s
economic policies, if pursued, can only lead to the annihilation of
the human race.”
--- Edward Goldsmith, 1989
A
man ahead of his time: an appreciation of Edward Goldsmith
My
first lessons on the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite
planet came when I encountered Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb
when I was at school in the early 70’s.
Next
came an article in the Bangkok Post in 1988 which was the first
mention of what was called the Greenhouse Effect (which I was already
familiar with from studies in astronomy and of Venus’ atmosphere)
that I came across. This had such an effect on me that I went to the
NZ Embassy to check the newspapers to find the only mention was on
the possible effects on the ski industry.
Fast
forward to March, 1988 and my partner Pam travelled to Auckland for
a seminar while I remained home bound in the midst of a terrible
storm. The only high point was hearing an interview with Edward
Goldsmith on NZ’s National Radio in which I heard for the first
time the stark message that humanity had only 40 years to get its act
together if it was to avoid inevitable extinction.
This
made such an impression on me that has stayed with me through the
years that I decided to go and search for the newspaper item in the
public record which I eventually found.
As
it turns out it made the top of the front page of the paper – for
what I suspect was the first and mostly probably the last time in New
Zealand media.
Looking
back at all the material about him on the Net I realised Edward Goldsmith has
attracted almost as much negativity and controversy as Guy McPherson,
mostly, I suspect because of his strong anti-growth position. But for
me he was one of the most inspiring figures I have met.
He was the publisher of the Ecologist magazine in London and winner
of the Right Livelihood Award, often referred to as the alternative
Nobel award. He is considered one of the fathers of the global
environmental movement.
***
Here is the item that was on the front page of the Dominion on 27 March, 1989. Published almost 3 years before the Rio conference and before Kyoto when global warming was referred to be the mechanism, the Greenhouse Effect this was perhaps the first, and almost certainly the last time that scientific concepts such as the Gaia hypothesis were given such prominence in the mass media.
Reading this I feel a real grief,not only in terms of the 'road not taken' but for what we have lost in the last 30 years. It is a reminder that we have lost the art of journalism and proper use of language in even an ordinary newspaper article.
When was the last time you saw these concepts discussed on the front page of a national newspaper?
Mankind
given 40 years
the
Dominion,
27
March, 1989
Humanity
has less than 40 years left unless destructive policies are halted,a
leading British environmentalist said in Auckland at the weekend.
Author
and lecturer Edward Goldsmith, who earlier addressed the Living Earth
conference said: “In the past 40 years we have done more
destruction than during the whole of man’s tenancy of this planet.
Economic
and industrial policies had caused “the most terrrible” soil and
erosion and deforestation and were altering the ozone layer and
climates.
“We
cannot survive a 5 per cent or 6 per cent increase in temperature or
a 20 per cent erosion of the ozone layer,and everything we are doing
must inevitably lead to this result.
“Today’s
economic policies, if pursued, can only lead to the annihilation of
the human race.”
He
wants a global emergency declared, with energy consumption cut by 70
to 80 per cent, the world’s youth planting trees to absorb carbon
dioxide and an end to development projects which destroy forests -
NZPA
Scientist
issue ‘last chance’ warning
Humans
would have to make wide-ranging changes in attitudes and lifestyles
quickly if they were to survive the changes begun by pollution and
deforestation, scientists told an Auckland symposium at the weekend.
the Dominion,
27 March, 1989
Scientists
and researchers said the human race might die out without a new
spirit of co-operation and collectivism.
They
said it was becoming increasingly likely that the planet would
re-organise its systems to rid itself of pollution, the greenhouse
effect and ozone depletion.
While
the planet would survive, there was a fair chance the human race would
not, they said.
They
believe a theory known as the Gaia hypothesis may be the key to our
survival.
Gaia
is the classical Greek word for earth.
The
hypothesis was developed by Dr. James Lovelock, who worked for the
American space programme searching for signs of lie on Mars.
He
suggested the earth was one complex organism, with an underlying
organisation between every species ans system on the planet.
The
human race was only one of that organism, scientists said, and there
was a chance the planet was already organising itself to counteract
the greenhouse warming, pollution, deforestation and ozone depeltion,
by effectively kicking the human race out, moving into a diferent
state in which humanity could not survive.
Ecologist
Dr. Warwick Fox, a national research fellow at the centre for
environmental studies at the University of Tasmania said the planet’s
geological, chemical and biological cycles were so closely linked
that scientists had to view the system as a single organism.
Professor
John Morton said it looked as if humanity was likely to fail.
“We
have to as ourselves if Gaia will at last become impatient and
restructure itself to survive, making one of its species, humanity,
redundant”, he said.
Scientists
warned that when the global system was disturbed, it reached a
critical threshold after a time and took on a completely different
state.
Dr.
Fox said people saw this every day when they heated water.
“The
water in the pot quietly gets hotter and hotter, and suddenly its
temperature reaches a critical threshold.
“And
you’ve got turbulence and big bubbles of air and the water is
boiling.
“A
very different state from when you put it into the pot.”
What
worried scientists so much was that the human species had introduced
many disturbances in the past century and there was no way of telling
when the earth would reach its critical threshold and flip into a
different state which might or might not include humans.
That’s
the double-edged sword. We’re playing with fire if we muck around
with a highly-ordered system. And we’ve already done a great deal
of mucking around with this planet in the past century or so,” Dr.
Fox said.
Scientists
involved in biological and microbial research said their research was
starting to yield proof the Gaia hypothesis was correct.
Michael
Crofoot, a researcher and writer on microbial symbiosis said
scientists agreed that virtually all land plants had a symbiotic
relationship with the fungi attached to their roots.
These
fungi fed water and nutrients into the root and the extent of this
assistance had astonished forest scientists.
“Up
to four years ago, carefully controlled experiments found plant
communities share nitrogen and other nutrients through the
mycorrhizal fungi attached to their roots,” Mr. Crofoot said.
“Someone
pointed out that in that case, you could say the tree was an
appendage of the fungi.
“That
means the forest is in fact one living organism. It’s the best
physical evidence we’ve got of the truth of the Gaia hypothesis.
We’re being taught a most amazing lesson, one we could perhaps
only have learned now, when we are on our deathbed,” he said.
Here is a documentary made by Teddy Goldsmith
"Edward Goldsmith - The Green Revolutionary"
