Confronting Overshoot | William Rees

Dec 5, 2023

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How has blind faith in human exceptionalism, neoliberal economics, and technological optimism led us into a state of ecological overshoot? Bill Rees, population ecologist and co-creator of the ecological footprint analysis, joins us. Highlights include:

How human exceptionalism, techno-optimism, and neoliberal economics have blinded us to ecological limits and fueled ecological overshoot;
How cheap and abundant energy enabled the transformation of nature into human artifacts and the exploitation of poorer nations by richer ones;
Why continuing the same path of economic growth obsession in the form of "green growth" will still lead to ecological collapse;
Why nothing short of a cooperative, well-planned, orderly contraction of economic activity, consumption, and population is needed to align human activity with Earth's productive and assimilative capacities;
Why Bill concludes what is “ecologically necessary is politically infeasible, while the politically feasible is ecologically catastrophic”;
How communities grounded in ecological wisdom might act as lifeboats guiding us toward a livable post-industrial future.

See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/william-rees-2

ABOUT US

OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast]

OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity’s excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.

Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.

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