York University environmental studies Professor Peter Victor will take part in a live, interactive web “Earthcast” on Wednesday, Nov. 25 about how to reorganize economies to reduce emissions and promote wellbeing. The free online event is being held in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which begins Dec. 7 in Copenhagen.
Left: Peter Victor
The web “Earthcast” has been organized by climate change publisher Earthscan to launch author Tim Jackson’s most recent book Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. Jackson, an economics commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission and a professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey, will lead the Web cast. Victor, an ecological economist in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, will join Jackson and Robert Costanza, professor at the University of Vermont, to discuss how to change economies for a low-carbon future, opportunities that the financial crisis presents, and the Copenhagen conference.
In his book Managing Without Growth:Slower by Design, Not Disater, published in 2008, Victor challenges the priority that rich countries give to economic growth as an overarching objective of economic policy. He argues that growth could dramatically slow without leading to massive unemployment if people cut back on the amount of time they spend at work.
Participants must register online for the Web cast, which will take place on Wednesday at 12pm Eastern Standard Time.