Gus Speth

Gus Speth

Gus Speth is an Associate Fellow at Tellus Institute and co-chair of the Next System Project at the Democracy Collaborative. He has served as a professor at Vermont Law School and Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. From 1993 to 1999, Speth was Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the UN Development Group. Previously, he was founder and president of the World Resources Institute, professor of law at Georgetown University, chairman of the US Council on Environmental Quality in the Carter Administration, and co-founder of and senior attorney at the National Resources Defense Council. He currently serves on the boards of the New Economy Coalition, the Center for a New American Dream, and the Climate Reality Project. He is the author, co-author, or editor of seven books, including America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy and Angels by the River

GTI Contributions
Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change
GTI Forum
Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change
Contribution to GTI Forum Which Future Are We Living In?
October 2022

A Fraught History
GTI Forum
A Fraught History
Contribution to GTI Forum The Population Debate Revisited
August 2022

Imploding the Carbon Economy
GTI Forum
Imploding the Carbon Economy
Contribution to GTI Forum The Climate Movement: What's Next?
June 2019


Change Agent: Evolution of a Systems Champion
Interview
Change Agent: Evolution of a Systems Champion
August 2015

Gus Speth reflects on his distinguished career in environmental advocacy, public service, and higher education, discusses his new memoir Angels by the River, and reflects on the prospects for systemic change in the twenty-first century.


Searching for Radicalism in a Corporate Age
Review
Searching for Radicalism in a Corporate Age
July 2014

Peter Dauvergne and Genviere LeBaron’s new book Protest Inc. analyzes the headwinds driving against the rise of radical activism. Although it offers a much-needed critique of the weakening of NGO resolve to challenge the system, it provides little guidance on how to bring such change about.


Beyond the Growth Paradigm: Creating a Unified Progressive Politics
Perspectives
Beyond the Growth Paradigm: Creating a Unified Progressive Politics

March 2011

The US political economy is failing across a broad front—environmental, social, economical, and political. Deep, systemic change is needed to transition to a new economy, one where the acknowledged priority is to sustain human and natural communities. Policies are available to effect this transformation and to temper economic growth and consumerism while simultaneously improving social well-being and quality of life, but a new politics involving a coalescence of progressive communities is needed to realize these policies. Yet, on the key issue of economic growth, differing positions among American liberals and environmentalists loom, a major barrier to progressive fusion. This Perspective proposes a starting point for forging a common platform and agenda around which both liberals and environmentalists can rally.