With the release of the IPCC report and the Nobel-adjacent prize in economics going to a green growth economist, its been a regular-style dark month for ecological economists. The IPCC report was not nearly as annoying as the Nobel-ish prize, mostly because what was in the IPCC report is not a surprise to people who have been paying attention to climate issues for the last 5/10/20+ years, and yes, I know it sounds like I’m saying I knew the band before they got famous, which I kind of am. But also, to all the people who just found out about the seriousness of climate change, welcome. There is a place for you, and also, you will need to sort out your self-care plan, because this is gonna be a long journey.

I am an ecological economist. This means I spend a lot of time diving deep into the ways in which climate change, environmental damage, and social inequality (to name a few choice concerns) originate from, are reproduced by, and cannot be solved without fundamentally changing the way ‘the economy’ is understood and incorporated into policy-making. I will go more into this in another blog post (because I can talk about ecological economics for endless amounts of time). While this is the most exciting and inspiring research I know of, it is also equal parts depressing and infuriating.

To read more of L4E’s Shaun Sellers’ blog post on GradLife McGill, please click here.