{"id":3494302,"date":"2023-01-11T16:08:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T16:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/?p=3494302"},"modified":"2023-01-11T16:52:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T16:52:59","slug":"william-e-rees-the-fundamental-issue-overshoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/stories\/2023-01-11\/william-e-rees-the-fundamental-issue-overshoot\/","title":{"rendered":"William E. Rees: \u201cThe Fundamental Issue \u2013 Overshoot\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/25558125\/height\/64\/theme\/modern\/size\/small\/thumbnail\/no\/custom-color\/04040c\/time-start\/00:00:00\/hide-playlist\/yes\/hide-subscribe\/yes\/download\/yes\" width=\"100%\" height=\"64\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">(Conversation recorded on December 6th, 2022)<\/p>\n<p class=\"sqsrte-large\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\"><strong>Show Summary<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">On this episode, Nate is joined by systems ecologist William E. Rees. Professor Rees outlines why most of the challenges facing humanity and the biosphere have a common origin &#8211; ecological overshoot. Bill also unpacks \u201cthe ecological footprint\u201d &#8211; a concept that he co-created, that measures the actual resources used by a given population. Bill also describes his experience as a leading thinker in public policy and planning based on ecological conditions for sustainable socioeconomic development, and the challenges he\u2019s faced working in a system which (so far) rejects such premises. Is it possible for a different way of measuring the system to set different goals of what it means to be successful as a society?<\/p>\n<p class=\"sqsrte-large\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\"><strong>About William E. Rees<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">William Rees is a population ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia\u2019s School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. He researches the implications of global ecological trends for the longevity of civilization, with special foci on urban (un)sustainability and cultural\/cognitive barriers to rational public policy. Prof Rees is best known as the originator and co-developer with Dr Mathis Wackernagel of \u2018ecological footprint analysis\u2019 (EFA), a quantitative tool that estimates human demands on ecosystems and the extent to which humanity is in \u2018ecological overshoot.\u2019 Dr Rees is a founding member and former President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics; a founding Director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneearthliving.org\/\">OneEarth Living Initiative<\/a>; a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Great Transition Initiative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sqsrte-large\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\"><strong>To watch this video episode on Youtube<\/strong><\/span><strong> \u2192 <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/LQTuDttP2Yg\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/LQTuDttP2Yg<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sqsrte-large\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">Show Notes and Links to learn more:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/61d5bc2bb737636144dc55d0\/t\/63bc90f7f14b6b7cd48034b4\/1673302263321\/TGS+53+William+Rees+Transcript.docx.pdf\">PDF Transcript<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">00:40<\/span> &#8211; Bill Rees <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/61d5bc2bb737636144dc55d0\/t\/63bc25e575ec64403332f51f\/1673274853552\/William+E.+Rees+-+Recent+Works+2022.pdf\">Works<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/resilience-author\/william-rees\/\">Info<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">02:46<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.org\/about\/what-does-ecology-have-to-do-with-me\/\">Ecology<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">04:35<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/theproductiveteacher.com\/life-science\/ecosystem-food-chains-food-webs-and-energy-pyramids\/\">Food chains\/energy pyramids<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">04:52 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.annualreviews.org\/doi\/10.1146\/annurev-environ-031809-133103\">Human\u2019s dominant involvement in food chains\/webs<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">11:05<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/humanity-and-nature-are-not-separate-we-must-see-them-as-one-to-fix-the-climate-crisis-122110\">History of isolating humans from the rest of nature<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">11:33<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mental_model\">Social construction of reality &#8211; mental models<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">12:07<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stlouisfed.org\/education\/economic-lowdown-video-series\/episode-6-circular-flow#:~:text=Households%20are%20buyers%20in%20the,this%20case%20is%20called%20revenue.\">Exchange value model (Circular flow model)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">15:42<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/world-population-growth\">Timeline of human population<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">17:57<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.142033699\">Population and economic growth over the last hundred years<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">19:28<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42003-021-02021-4\">Boom-Bust Cycle<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">21:18<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/read.realityblind.world\/view\/975731937\/190\/\">500 billion fossil workers<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">21:30<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/K-selected-species\">K-Selected species<\/a> vs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/r-selected-species\">r-selected species<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">22:17<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Thomas-Malthus\">Malthus<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">24:43<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/education.nationalgeographic.org\/resource\/resource-library-carrying-capacity\">Carrying Capacity<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">27:21<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clubofrome.org\/publication\/the-limits-to-growth\/\">Limits to Growth<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">28:39<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/theory-of-production\/Substitution-of-factors\">The substitution factor<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">29:02 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.juliansimon.com\/\">Julian Simon<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">30:01<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2212597\/#:~:text=Competitive%20displacement%20is%20based%20upon,have%20been%20credited%20with%20permutations.\">Competitive Displacement<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">30:50<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodsecuritycenter.org\/seventy-percent-of-birds-are-farmed-poultry\/\">Wild mammals are 3-4% of all mammals (Land + ocean is only 2%)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">31:48<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paul_R._Ehrlich\">Paul Ehrlich<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simon%E2%80%93Ehrlich_wager\">bet between Paul and Julian<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">33:10<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Allen_Bartlett\">Albert Bartlett<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.albartlett.org\/articles\/art1998jan.html\">The New Flat Earth Society<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">35:23<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/wwnorton.com\/books\/The-Social-Conquest-of-Earth\/\">The Social Conquest of Earth &#8211; EO Wilson<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">39:29 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Systems_theory\">Systems Theory<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">39:54<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ecological_overshoot\">Overshoot<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">40:39<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/greenhouse-gas-emissions#:~:text=Greenhouse%20gases%20are%20measured%20in,CO2e%20each%20year.\">Carbon Dioxide is the largest waste product of industrial societies by weight<\/a> (46 billion tons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">43:17<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/our-work\/cities\/\">Each city occupies between 100-1000x more land than the actual land it sits on<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">44:02<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/2020\/10\/21\/japan-two-decades-of-ecological-footprinting\/\">Tokyo uses more biocapacity than the entire country of Japan<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">48:34<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.behavioraleconomics.com\/resources\/mini-encyclopedia-of-be\/present-bias\/#:~:text=The%20present%20bias%20refers%20to,Donoghue%20%26%20Rabin%2C%201999).\">Humans are evolved to be short sighted<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">51:18<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionagainsthunger.org\/the-hunger-crisis\/world-hunger-facts\/\">800 million people who don\u2019t get enough food to eat every day<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">54:56<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelcarson.org\/SilentSpring.aspx\">Rachel Carson<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">56:40 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/postmodernism-philosophy\">Postmodernism<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">58:23<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomas-bjorkman.com\/\">Tomas Bj\u00f6rkman<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegreatsimplification.com\/episode\/48-tomas-bjorkman\">TGS Episode<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">59:17<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heterodox_economics\">Different sects of economics<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:04:52 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/imperfect-spirituality\/201902\/why-hope-matters\">Humans need to have a hope, a motivation<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:05:35<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eea.europa.eu\/highlights\/environmental-tax-reform-increasing-individual#:~:text=Environmental%20tax%20reform%20is%20defined,unsustainable%20resource%20use%20or%20pollution'.\">Ecological Tax Reform<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:07:07 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/read.realityblind.world\/view\/975731937\/96\/\">Discount rate<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:09:40<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/fossil-fuels\">Half of all fossil energy used has been used since 1990 and 90% since 1940<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:12:22<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7682371\/\">The stable relationships of many indigenous civilizations were created after the decimation of the initial environments<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:14:50<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6124997\/\">Knowledge alone doesn\u2019t change behavior<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:15:08<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/pewresearch.org\/science\/2016\/10\/04\/everyday-environmentalism\/\">Purchasing patterns of environmentalists vs average people<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:21:38<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.aghires.com\/history-of-horses\/#:~:text=In%201920%2C%20more%20than%2025,caused%20a%20change%20in%20crops.\">There were 20 million horses working agriculture field in 1920<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:22:55<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/our-work\/ecological-footprint\/\">The Ecological Footprint<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:23:25<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Decoupling-Debunked.pdf\">Decoupling<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:26:41 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/our-work\/earth-overshoot-day\/\">Ecological footprint of the whole human civilization + the amount of biocapacity available on Earth is between 11-12 billion hectares<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:34:18<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Nordhaus\">Economist claiming that climate change will only decrease GDP 3% due to agriculture<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:36:47<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/cals\/cdae\/profiles\/josh_farley\">Josh Farley<\/a> + TGS episodes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegreatsimplification.com\/episode\/07-josh-farley\">1<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegreatsimplification.com\/episode\/29-josh-farley\">2<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:37:28<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lomborg.com\/\">Bjorn Lomborg<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:38:05<\/span> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/420267b\">Bill Rees + Bjorn Lomborg Nature debate<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:42:25 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/reports\/global-ev-outlook-2022\/trends-in-electric-light-duty-vehicles\">Western Countries subsidizing EV cars<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:42:50 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/07\/26\/lifetime-emissions-of-evs-are-lower-than-gasoline-cars-experts-say.html\">Ecological and ethical comparison of EVs and ICE cars<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"sqsrte-text-color--lightAccent\">1:45:07 <\/span>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/progresstrap.org\/content\/tikopia\">Tikopia<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Teaser photo credit: Predator\u00a0<a title=\"Bluefin trevally\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bluefin_trevally\">bluefin trevally<\/a>\u00a0sizing up\u00a0<a title=\"Shoaling and schooling\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shoaling_and_schooling\">schooling<\/a>\u00a0<a title=\"Anchovy\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anchovy\">anchovies<\/a>, in the\u00a0<a title=\"Maldives\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maldives\">Maldives<\/a>. An illustration of the population dynamics of fisheries. By Bruno de Giusti &#8211; Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5 it, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=1607302<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this episode, Nate is joined by systems ecologist William E. Rees. Professor Rees outlines why most of the challenges facing humanity and the biosphere have a common origin &#8211; ecological overshoot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128238,"featured_media":3494303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213522,79718,213530,79720],"tags":[96979,98185,101349],"class_list":["post-3494302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-environment","category-environment-featured","category-society","tag-ecologicaleconomics","tag-ecologicalfootprint","tag-ecologicalovershoot"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3494302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3494303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3494302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3494302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3494302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}