Bill Rees at the Salt Spring Forum

From ‘Eco Footprint’ to ‘Ecological Overshoot’ - What Chance a Sustainable Planet?

The Salt Spring Forum welcomes Dr. William Rees.

Dr. William Rees is professor Emeritus and former director of UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning. He is a human ecologist and an ecological economist. Bill Rees is especially well known as the originator and co-developer of the ‘ecological footprint analysis.’ Adopted around the world, this human eco-footprint has become the best-known sustainability indicator. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, papers, and articles, and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2006. His recent areas of research and publication focus on ‘ecological overshoot.’ This happens when essential ecosystems are being exploited faster than they can regenerate, and ‘overshoot’ leads to the increasing unsustainability of the planet, of which climate change is an important symptom.