William Rees
Ecologist and ecological economist; Professor, University of British Columbia.
Last Contribution:
Rich Canadians, Poor Canada
Contributor Biography
Dr. Rees is a human ecologist and ecological economist. He received his Ph.D in ecology from the University of Toronto and has taught at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) since 1969 (serving as Director from 1994 to 1999). His teaching and research focus on the public policy implications of global environmental trends.
He is best known as the originator of "ecological footprint analysis." His book on the subject, Our Ecological Footprint (1966) with Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, is available in eight languages. Considering humanity’s constantly growing eco-footprint, much of his current research asks: Is humanity inherently unsustainable?
He is a founding member and past-President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, a founding member and Director of the OneEarth Initiative and a co-Investigator in the Global Integrity Project. A dynamic speaker, he has been invited to lecture on areas of his expertise across Canada and U.S. as well as in 25 other countries around the world. In 1997, UBC awarded him a Senior Killam Research Prize in acknowledgment of his research achievements and in 2000 The Vancouver Sun recognized him as one of British Columbia’s top “public intellectuals.” He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2006 and in 2007 was awarded a prestigious Trudeau Foundation Fellowship.
