Prof Paul Ekins is Professor of Resources and Environment Policy at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources within the Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources, Faculty of the Built Environment (UCL page, Google Scholar, Wikipedia page). His work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy, and he is an authority on a number of areas of energy-environment-economy interaction and environmental policy.
Paul was a co-founder of Forum for the Future in 1996 (along with Jonathon Porritt and Sara Parkin). That is how we got to know each other, though he left Forum in 2002, and I joined in 2003.
Paul has rich things to say on how he shifted from being a professional classical singer to environmental campaigner, to a world-leading academic on the environment-economy nexus. He touches on why he believes we need economic growth, and why hope is better than optimism. For him, "every tonne counts" is a better slogan than "1.5C, still alive".
We recorded this on 20 April 2022.
Links
The book of Paul's doctoral research: "Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability: The Prospects for Green Growth".
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres "the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels."
Wikipedia article explaining weak and strong sustainability (Paul mentions at about 09:40).
Wikipedia article explaining Planetary Boundaries.
Strong Environmental Sustainability Index on UCL website (mentioned at 10:15).
UNEP's International Resource Panel
'Longue duree' on wikipedia.
Timings
0:50 - Q1 What are you doing now? And how did you get there?
06:41 Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?
09:13 - BONUS QUESTION: What would a sustainable world mean for you?
15:50 - BONUS QUESTION: Where do you disagree with those who say that economic growth is bad?
21:03 - Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?
23:56 - Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?
26:01 - Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?
Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?
28:52 - Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?
29:06 - BONUS QUESTION: Are you optimistic?
For quotes and more see here.
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Thank you for listening! -- David
