2009 Trudeau Lecture: Are Humans Unsustainable By Nature?
Professor William E. Rees
Trudeau Fellow 2007
Distinguished Professor;
School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), University of
British Columbia
Memorial University Campus
Public lecture: Are Humans Unsustainable By Nature? Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m., Inco Innovation Centre (IIC-2001). Snow date: Thursday, January 29.
View lecture here.
View poster here.
Research talk: Getting Serious about Urban Sustainability and The fallacy of Efficiency, January 29, 2009 at 1.p.m. at C-2045. A roundtable will immediately follow at 2:15 p.m. in the Beatrice Watts Boardroom, Inco Innovation Centre (IIC-2014).
Dr. Rees will also be available to discuss matters of research, teaching and the environment with graduate students at an open reception taking place Jan. 30th from 10 a.m. to noon in SN-2025.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Campus
These events will also be presented in a live and interactive format from the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College campus.
A live webcast of the public lecture and discussion will take place Wednesday, January 28 at 7:30 p.m. in AS 328. Admission is free and a reception will follow. Free parking is available in the Arts and Science front parking lot.
A roundtable discussion (via videoconference) will take place January 29 at 10 a.m. in the Forest Centre, 2014. Space for this event is limited. Contact Gail Martiri at gmartiri@swgc.mun.ca to book a seat.
The Trudeau Foundation
Each year, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation selects five Fellows who have contributed to the enhancement of knowledge and the advancement of society, through leading-edge research, creative work and commitment to societal debates on major issues of public policy. The Foundation’s substantial financial support enables Fellows to devote themselves more freely to critical thinking and innovative approaches to their work.
Starting in the academic year 2008-2009, the Trudeau Foundation has launched an annual lecture series, the Trudeau Lectures, in order to promote its Fellowships and disseminate key ideas of Trudeau Fellows. The Trudeau Lectures are an annual series of five public lectures organized in collaboration with Canadian universities and institutions of higher learning. Trudeau Fellows will use these lectures to highlight their ideas, their research and their role as public intellectuals. Each year, the Foundation will publish the text of these lectures in the Trudeau Foundation Papers, available in both official languages, in print and on-line through the Foundation’s website.
Dr. William Rees
William Rees received his Ph.D. in population ecology from the University of Toronto and has taught at the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) since 1969-1970. He founded SCARP's ‘Environment and Resource Planning’ concentration and from 1994 to 1999 served as director of the School.
Professor Rees’ teaching and research focus on the socioeconomic and ecological prerequisites for sustainable societies in an era of accelerating global ecological change. A human ecologist and ecological economist, William Rees is best known as the originator of ‘ecological footprint’ analysis, a sustainability assessment tool now used around the world that has helped to reopen the debate on human carrying capacity.
His book, Our Ecological Footprint (co-authored with then Ph.D. student Mathis Wackernagel), was published in 1996 and is now available in nine languages. Professor Rees has also authored 125 peer-reviewed academic papers and book chapters, and numerous popular articles, on humanity’s (un)sustainability conundrum.
Drawing parts of his answer from various disciplines, his current book project asks: ‘Is Humanity Inherently Unsustainable?’ Professor Rees is a founding member and recent past-President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics and a co-founder and of the One-Earth Initiative. He is also a co-investigator in the ‘Global Integrity Project,’ aimed at defining the ecological and political requirements for biodiversity preservation while sustaining human population health.
Professor Rees’ work is widely recognized. He has been invited to lecture on his research in 25 countries around the world. In 2000, the Vancouver Sun named Professor Rees one of British Columbia’s top public intellectuals and in 2006 he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada.