Bill Rees on the disconnect between economics and ecology

In my first year as an undergraduate student, I took a course called Environmental Science 101. It was a fascinating and comprehensive overview of both the arts and science dimensions of the discipline (e.g. environmental toxicology, energy systems, air pollution, environmental law, politics, planning, public policy and economics, to name a few).

In the first few weeks of class, our wonderful professor exposed us to the ecological footprint analysis, a concept that was co-created by William Rees, a professor in my grad program at UBC. I studied his ecological footprint analysis in my undergrad and explained it (or attempted to) numerous times to my friends in other areas of the academy.

5 years later, I am now taking a class with Prof. Rees on ecological economics. Bill is passionate and his ecological footprint analysis has been widely used, discussed and studied all over the world. The video above is a just a taste of a professor who has done so much in arguing for the importance of ecology in our society and why planning and economic systems must account for ecological dimensions first, before we can begin to even think about sustainbility.

Bill is retiring this year from UBC and I feel quite privileged and honoured to have taken a course with him.