Escape from Overshoot: Economics for a Planet in Peril - Paperback

by Peter A. Victor (Author)

Earth overshoot will end either by design or by disaster. Which future should we choose?

Earth is in overshoot. The cumulative impact of 8 billion humans combined with the relentless pursuit of economic growth in the name of "progress" has stressed the planet beyond its limits. We must act now.

Surveying economic alternatives and charting plausible paths forward for a planned economic contraction, Escape from Overshoot covers a wide terrain, including:

• An overview of Earth overshoot and prevailing trends and implications for humans and biodiversity
• A concise review of economic ideas including neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxist, ecological economics, and steady state economics with an eye to the current crisis
• An analysis of the limitations and possibilities of alternative scenarios such as green growth, doughnut economics, regenerative economics, degrowth, and more
• Prioritizing intergenerational justice through a contraction and convergence ethical framework
• The results of modeling of Canada's economy under different scenarios and the prospects for managed degrowth across industrialized economics as an escape route from overshoot.

Incorporating over 150 informative diagrams and illustrations, this compelling and provocative work is required reading for students and professionals grappling with specific manifestations of overshoot including climate change, biodiversity loss, food and freshwater shortages. It's also essential for all people concerned about the deteriorating state of societies and the environment and seeking an equitable way out.

Back Jacket

Earth overshoot will end either by design or by disaster. Which future should we choose?

An excellent primer on key insights and questions in ecological economics from a celebrated pioneer of the field.
--JASON HICKEL, author, Less is More

The perfect launch pad for new economic thinking.
--JOHAN ROCKSTRÖM, co-author, Earth for All

A superb account of the economic ideas which helped lead us here, and the rich menu of post-growth options currently available. --JULIET SCHOR, author, Plenitude

All who care about the kind of world we are leaving to our grandchildren ... must read this vital book.
--DAVID SUZUKI

A sweeping analysis of the flawed economic mindset that has pushed us to the brink and an inspired prescription for the new economics needed to help pull us back.
--WILLIAM REES, co-author, Our Ecological Footprint

A tour de force ... [and] must read for anyone concerned about our collective future.
--PRATIMA BANSAL, University of Western Ontario

Essential insights into the economic thinking that led to social and environmental disaster.
--RICHARD B. NORGAARD, University of California, Berkeley

EARTH IS IN OVERSHOOT. The juggernaught of economic growth rolls on, consuming the biosphere, breaking planetary boundaries, and stretching inequality and injustice to the breaking point. But does it really need to be this way? And if not, what are the options?

In Escape from Overshoot, celebrated ecological economist Peter A. Victor takes us on a grand tour of the overshoot crisis. From the history of economic thought through energy and material blindness, we learn how we got here and why collapse is inevitable unless we change course. But as the clock ticks, what pathways are possible and plausible? Victor surveys the alternatives -- from green growth and doughnut economics to well-being, steady-state, and post-growth economics -- and their limits. He then dives into what the latest and most sophisticated economic modelling tells us about whether we can intentionally shrink our economy and avoid collapse, all while enhancing human thriving and justice for all. The results are both surprising and profound.

Ambitious, measured, and accessible, Escape from Overshoot is a vividly illustrated guide to the past, present, and future of the human economic project and our place on planet earth.

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PETER A. VICTOR, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at York University and author of Managing without Growth. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Author Biography

Peter A. Victor is Professor Emeritus at York University. He was awarded a PhD in economics from the University of British Columbia in 1971 and has worked for 50 years in Canada and abroad as an academic, consultant, and public servant specializing in ecological economics and alternatives to economic growth. Peter sits on the Honorary Board of the David Suzuki Foundation and the Circle of Ecological Economics Elders, is chair of the Science Advisory Committee of the Footprint Data Foundation, and is an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada. He was the recipient of the Molson Prize in the Social Sciences from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2011 and the Boulding Memorial Prize from the International Society for Ecological Economics in 2014. He is the author of six previous books, including Managing without Growth. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.