The mission of CASSE is to advocate a sustainable economy by:
educating citizens, organizations, and policy makers on the conflict between economic growth and (1) environmental protection, (2) ecological and economic sustainability, and (3) national security and international stability;
promoting a steady state economy of stable or mildly fluctuating size as an alternative to economic growth;
studying the means to establish a steady state economy.
Staff
Advisory Board
Brian Czech, President
Brian Czech has a Ph.D. in renewable natural resources from the University of Arizona and is a certified wildlife biologist. He applies his training and experience to economic issues, especially macroeconomic policy. He has 20 years of experience in federal, state, and tribal governments with duties ranging from firefighting to managing elk herds to developing national conservation policies. Brian is also a visiting assistant professor at Virginia Tech University, where he teaches ecological economics and endangered species policy. A prolific author, Brian wrote the book Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train, which calls for an end to reckless economic growth. Read his personal message.
Rob Dietz, Executive Director
Rob Dietz has experience in the public and private sectors working on solutions to natural resource problems using the tools of both economics and the natural sciences. He has researched a number of sustainability issues at various scales, including local-scale housing development, state policies for clean air, regional transportation initiatives, and national environmental law and policy. He has a master's degree from Virginia Tech in environmental science and engineering and an undergraduate degree in economics and environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Read his personal message.
Mansi Grover, Research Director
Mansi Grover is a professor of natural resource economics, ecological economics, and conservation ecology. She has a Ph.D. in natural resource economics from Virginia Tech, as well as a master's degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics. She has completed projects with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Carbon Offset Coalition, Environmental Protection Agency, and Chesapeake Bay Program. Her research interests include risk and uncertainty analysis/modeling in environmental markets, economic and environmental sustainability, time series analysis, and ecological economics.
Daniel O'Neill, Director of European Operations
Daniel O'Neill is a Ph.D. candidate in ecological economics at the University of Leeds. His research interests include steady state economics, biophysical limits to growth, environmental indicators, alternative ways of measuring human progress, and urban planning. He has worked in both the public and private sectors in areas such as regional planning and energy management. Dan holds a master of environmental studies degree from Dalhousie University and an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Victoria.
Neil Dawe, Director of Canadian Operations
Neil Dawe is a registered professional biologist who lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He retired from the Canadian Wildlife Service in 2006 after 31 years, during which time he managed National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries and worked to protect migratory birds and their habitat. His current professional efforts focus on the preservation of global biodiversity by addressing the limiting factor of biodiversity conservation on the Earth today: economic growth.
Executive Board
Our advisory board provides guidance on how CASSE operates, as well as expertise on ecological economics.
Current members are:
David Batker, M.S., Ecological Economist, Earth Economics
Herman Daly, Ph.D., Ecological Economist, University of Maryland
Robert Goodland, Ph.D., Ecologist, former Environmental Advisor to the World Bank
David Johns, J.D., Political Science faculty, Portland State University
John McNeill, Ph.D., Historian, Georgetown University
Greg Newswanger, United Service Foundation
Jack Santa-Barbara, Ph.D., Psychology, The Sustainable Scale Project
George Sly, M.A., Teacher, Union Jr./Sr. High School, Dugger, Indiana
David Trauger, Ph.D., Biologist, Virginia Tech University
Our executive board is responsible for overall policy and direction of CASSE. Current members of the board are:
Brian Czech, Ph.D., Ecological Economist
Rob Dietz, M.S., Environmental Scientist
Lisi Krall, Ph.D., Economist
Chris Robinson, Ph.D., Political Scientist
Barry Solomon, Ph.D., Geographer
Activities
CASSE offers academic lectures, speeches to civic organizations, media interviews, professional symposia, and other events. CASSE president Brian Czech lectures frequently, and CASSE maintains a speakers network to meet the needs of universities, high schools, professional societies, and non-governmental organizations in the United States and abroad.
CASSE advocates a scientifically sound position on economic growth. Individuals are invited to sign the position online (we will not contact you unless requested), and organizations are invited to endorse the position by contacting us. We use the list of signatories and endorsements to demonstrate popular support for the position. We also collaborate with organizations that have goals aligned with ours.
Finally, through our website, literature and research, CASSE helps citizens take action to steer public policy toward a steady state economy. We believe people want an economy that is sustainable -- one that will continue to provide for the kids and grandkids. To that end, CASSE offers ideas for how we can get there together, and we invite dialog from the public through our blog. Our mission is a hopeful one, so we try to maintain a sense of humor in our work.
Geoff Mosley is a Councillor and former CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF). He is an active member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and previously served as a member of the IUCN Council. He has been working as a volunteer to educate fellow citizens on the means to achieve a sustainable society.
Jason Leppig, Director of Outreach
Jason Leppig has worked in academic publishing since graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2000) with a B.A. in English. Currently, he is a candidate for a master of natural resources degree at Virginia Tech, and is the marketing manager at Island Press. He also spent one year in China teaching English.
Andreas Exner, Director of International Partnerships
Andreas Exner has a Ph.D. in vegetation ecoloy. He has researched floristics, forest ecology, and shrub and heathland vegetation in Europe. He has edited books on globalization and basic income. In 2008 he published The Limits to Capitalism: How We Fail on Growth (Ueberreuter, Vienna) together with C. Lauk and K. Kulterer. He is an editor of the magazine "Streifzüge" and part of the Social Innovation Network (www.social-innovation.org).
