Highlights - Mathis Wackernagel - Founder, Pres., Global Footprint Network - World Sustainability Award Winner

"In my way of talking, I try to move away from the word responsibility because people don't come to me and say, 'Thank you so much for giving me responsibility,' rather they avoid me at parties and so, how do we talk about it? So I like more the metaphor of brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth is not so much an imposition. You must brush your teeth, otherwise, you're a really bad person, you know? No, you just brush your teeth because you want to have healthy teeth. It's not a capitalist plot either. They say, Oh, you're such a capitalist, protecting the capital in your jaw. No, we want to have healthy teeth. So it is just protecting your teeth is necessary. Make an effort today to protect the health of your tooth tomorrow. And that's kind of a similar approach. So the same principles that apply to a country or a city also apply to an individual. I mean, an individual could be an investor or can have a pension fund. And so the question is my investment going to be more valued in the future or not? Probably it's more likely to be valuable if it is aligned with what the future will look like. Or you're making decisions about where to live. Like if you make yourself dependent on cars, then every time gasoline prices go up, then you get more exposed.

If you can live with fewer resources, then you feel more safe. So we are talking more about resource security rather than reducing your demand, which is the same thing, but it comes with a twist. Big shifts are needed if you want to be able to operate in the future. So it is very serious. I think in the end, only things we want to do will happen. So I think the best thing to get on that track is to, in our own speech, ban the word should because as soon as we say should, we indicate it's not going to happen, and we lose agency.”

Mathis Wackernagel is Co-founder and President of Global Footprint Network. He created the Ecological Footprint with Professor William Rees at the University of British Columbia as part of his Ph.D. in community and regional planning. Mathis also earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Mathis has worked on sustainability with governments, corporations and international NGOs on six continents and has lectured at more than 100 universities. Mathis has authored and contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, numerous articles, reports and various books on sustainability that focus on embracing resource limits and developing metrics for sustainability. Mathis’ awards include the 2018 World Sustainability Award, the 2015 IAIA Global Environment Award, being a 2014 ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame Inductee, the 2013 Prix Nature Swisscanto, 2012 Blue Planet Prize, 2012 Binding Prize for Nature Conservation, the 2012 Kenneth E. Boulding Memorial Award of the International Society for Ecological Economics, the 2011 Zayed International Prize for the Environment (jointly awarded with UNEP). He was also selected as number 19 on the en(rich) list identifying the 100 top inspirational individuals whose contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures.

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