In memoriam Egbert Tellegen (1937-2025)

On 10 November, our former colleague Egbert Tellegen passed away. Egbert had a long and unique career in academia. After studying Sociology (1955-1962) and earning his PhD (1968) at Utrecht University, Egbert became a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. He later spent time at New York University and subsequently obtained the first chair in Milieukunde (Environmental Studies/Sciences), a part-time position he shared with Lucas Reijnders, who focused on the natural science aspects of environmental problems. Egbert also served as the first president of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) (1973-1976). After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Egbert (in cooperation with Milieukontakt Oost Europa) set up a training program for young Eastern Europeans to learn from Dutch and EU experiences in environmental management and train them to become environmental professionals who could deal with the environmental legacies of communism.

Some 20 years ago, we invited Egbert to give guest lectures in our teaching programmes, first in the Foundation of Environmental Sciences course, and later also on environmental issues in Eastern Europe, as preparation for the student excursion to the former Black Triangle that we organised as part of the Environmental Sciences and Studies programmes. Egbert proved to be a great storyteller: very knowledgeable (he spoke Russian) and very engaging. As a result, our bus left more than one hour behind schedule… 

Egbert also served on one of the first Assessment Committees of our Milieukunde teaching program. His critical remarks about students’ (poor) command of Dutch in MSc-theses still resonate (especially since he continued to voice similar comments in the years that followed). He was not particularly enthusiastic about our complete shift to the English language, either. Fortunately, his overall impression of our teaching program was so positive that after retiring in Amsterdam, Egbert joined the Copernicus Institute’s Environmental Governance group. 

For seven years, Egbert taught the Environmental Sociology course. Students had to critically apply sociological concepts (from his book Society and Its Environment) to the analysis of environmental issues. Egbert was popular with the students: open, honest, and always eager to talk to them—not only about environmental issues and their roots in capitalism, but also about his youth in Brielle and his passion for soccer, particularly for Ajax. He held strong opinions about consumerism, the use of aeroplanes and cars, population growth and meat consumption.

Egbert was a critical and autonomous thinker. His interest was not limited to environmental issues. During his time in Utrecht, he published books ranging from drug control policies (Het utopisme van de drugsbestrijding) and psychosis (having recovered from one himself), to a fifty-year history of environmental awareness (Groene Herfst) and the end of capitalism (Afscheid van het kapitalisme). Egbert was critical about new concepts like transition management (“society can’t be governed in a top-down way”) and warned about the erosion of the sustainability concept, which, in his opinion, should be strictly restricted to the environmental domain.

Egbert stepped back in 2013, at the age of 75, with the symposium Drugs, Psychoses and Environment, a title that fitted his path through life. Our department established the Egbert Tellegen Award for the best Bachelor thesis. Egbert became, of course, a member of its jury. After his second retirement, Egbert remained active, working for Friends of the Earth and for the journal Milieu of the Association of Environmental Professionals, where he regularly reviewed new publications. 

Several of us saw Egbert a few weeks ago at Jacqueline Cramer's farewell lecture. His partner had recently passed away, and he was increasingly struggling with memory issues. Egbert was a strong advocate for the right to self-determination.

With Egbert’s passing away we lose an unconventional, honest icon of both the Dutch environmental movement and environmental education in the Netherlands.

Carel Dieperink
On behalf of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development (Department of Sustainable Development)