“John, I think you are pursuing one of the most important initiatives around these days. Please call on me any time. All the best, Gus”
Well, I decided to take Gus at his word, and today I am pleased and honored to welcome Gus Speth to our Council of Advisors. Gus’ impressive career of service to the environment and social justice cannot be exaggerated; he is a man of true integrity, and a very nice guy.
In The Bridge at the End of the World, Gus lays out his conviction that the environmental movement, for all its achievements, is losing the war, and that the pressing environmental crisis can only be addressed by systemically re-imagining economics and culture. His interest in Capital Institute’s work stems from an appreciation of our core proposition: that capital fuels the economic system, and therefore to change the course of capitalism means to change finance.
I had the pleasure of hearing Gus deliver the Annual Chaffee Memorial Lecture at the National Council for Science and the Environment conference in January of this year. It’s a tour de force of the environmental movement in this country, a depressing summary of the state of the planet, and an eye opening history brilliantly delivered. It’s titled, “A New American Environmentalism and the New Economy“; read it. Best taken with a drink if you are so inclined.
The Capital Institute is pleased to be collaborating with Gus on several fronts, all aimed at raising awareness and understanding of the systemic shift in economic systems needed to cope with the interconnected environmental and social justice challenges of our age. While Gus may have stepped down as Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies last year, he remains at the center of multiple “new economy” initiatives in search of true well-being, all of which understand the systemic link between economics and ecology: the economy is a subsystem of the ecosphere. Welcome to our brain trust Gus!
