Michael Allaby obituary

The Guardian

21-05-2025

My father, Michael Allaby, who has died aged 91, was an influential figure in the development of green philosophy. Co-author with Edward Goldsmith of the key ecological text A Blueprint for Survival in 1972, he later also collaborated with James Lovelock, with whom he had an enduring friendship.
Michael wrote an astonishing number of books on the environmental sciences – more than 100 in total. At the heart of his work was a firm belief that scientific objectivity is key to the survival of humanity.
Born in Belper, Derbyshire, to Theodore, a clerk, and his wife, Jessie (nee King), he was passed around between various relatives during the second world war while his mother suffered from the long-term effects of Spanish flu.
After attending the George Dixon grammar school in Birmingham he became a police cadet (1949-51) and then enlisted in the RAF (1951-54), where he became a pilot of Vampire and Meteor jet fighters. On leaving the RAF he spent a decade as an actor, appearing in Doctor Who on television and in The Mousetrap on stage. During that period he met and married Ailsa McGregor in 1957.
Michael's career in the environmental sphere began in 1964, when he joined the Soil Association in Suffolk (1964-1972), editing its Span magazine. He also became an associate editor of the Ecologist magazine from 1970 to 1972, and then its managing editor, relocating with Ailsa and their two children, Vivien and Robin, to Wadebridge in Cornwall.
His first book, The Eco-Activists, was published in 1971, followed by Who Will Eat? in 1972, about world food problems. A Blueprint for Survival first saw the light of day in a special edition of the Ecologist in early 1972, and was later published in book form, selling more than 750,000 copies.
In 1973 Michael decided to become a full-time freelance writer, focusing on raising awareness of environmental and sustainability issues with further books such as The Survival Handbook: Self-sufficiency for Everyone (1975), Inventing Tomorrow (1976) and The Politics of Self Sufficiency (1980).
A meeting of minds with Lovelock lifted his attention to the planetary scale, and with Lovelock he wrote The Great Extinction (1983), looking at what killed the dinosaurs, and The Greening of Mars (1984) a novel exploring the science behind the potential terraforming of Mars. He then became an early contributor to the climate change debate with books such as A Guide to Gaia (1989) and Living in the Greenhouse (1990). He also called out the rise of anti-scientific sentiment as a serious threat in Facing the Future (1996).
In his later life Michael dedicated himself to writing scientific textbooks and various Oxford dictionaries, including the Oxford Dictionary of Ecology (2010). He also wrote many works on weather systems and was awarded the Aventis Junior Prize in 2001 for his book DK Guide to Weather (2000).
Animated, articulate and funny, Michael was an inspirational figure to many, and much of his work now seems especially prescient.
He is survived by Ailsa, me and his grandchildren, Jemima, Joe, Isaac and Jed. Vivien died in 2024.