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Goldsmith had been suffering from a long-term illness and died peacefully

Edward ‘"Teddy" Goldsmith, the founder of the Ecologist and the Green Party, will be remembered fondly by environmentalists for his challenging green initiatives.

Having travelled the world and studied the socio-economics of pre-industrial cultures struggling to survive the pressures of technological progress, the controversial green thinker founded the Ecologist in 1970.

The cover of the first issue of the Ecologist showed a man suffocating in a pile of rubble. The magazine featured articles on Eskimos, the toxicity of foods fed to farm animals, and the population explosion.

However, the edition only sold 3,000 copies meaning that Goldsmith couldn’t afford to pay his fellow editor and was left on his own. Goldsmith went on to edit the ground-breaking publication for 20 years.

An avid writer, Teddy published numerous acclaimed books, most notably ‘A Blueprint for Survival’ in 1972. The book sprouted from a lengthy, drastic manifesto of the same name in the Ecologist. The issue sold 750,000 copies and kept the magazine financially afloat for years after.

The book, written in conjunction with the first Ecology editorial team, argued that society must be completely restructured in order to improve the health of the planet. The solution, he suggested, was for people to live in small, decentralised communities.

The rationale behind the idea was simple: it is too difficult to enforce moral behaviour in a large community. In addition, reducing an area's population reduces the environmental impact.

Among the outraged public was a small group of people who agreed with Teddy: they formed the People Party. The environmentalist stood as a People Party political candidate for Suffolk in the general election of 1973; the People Party subsequently became the Ecology Party, and now what we know as the Green Party.

The Green Party has recently celebrated over 1.2 million votes in the 2009 European Elections with polices including free insulation and school meals as well as a focus on green energy.

Goldsmith developed an enthusiasm for tribal groups and for ensuring their survival. He read widely on African anthropology and, in the 1960s, served on committees for the Primitive Peoples' Fund, later known as Survival International. His travels led him to feel revulsion for the way in which the modern world was destroying traditional cultures.

Teddy became committed to an ecologic life in rural Cornwall during the 1970s.

“I had a compost toilet that cost me all my friends. If they didn't catch pneumonia because we had no central heating they were sick from the smell of it... quite a lot of people thought I was mad.”

Teddy loathed industrial society, but was determined to save it. His views were often paradoxical: Tory beliefs shored against liberal ideologies.

The potent intellectual’s radical approach to society, religion, science and nature has cemented his position at the forefront of green thinking – and controversy.

Goldsmith had been suffering from a long-term illness and died peacefully in his sleep on Friday 21st August 2009, aged 80.

Mark Anslow, editor of the Ecologist, said: “We live and breathe Teddy's legacy every day. His rigorous thought processes and endlessly interrogative approach to environmental issues help guide the Ecologist's editorial process: never taking developments at face value, and always asking the bigger, wider questions. He will be fondly remembered, and sorely missed.”

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Photo credit: © Edward Goldsmith and The Ecologist, 1969 - present