About Us
Mission
The mission of CASSE is to advance the steady state economy, with stabilized population and consumption, as a policy goal with widespread public support.
We pursue this mission 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 the steady state economy as a desirable 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
Robert Goodland, Ph.D., Ecologist, former Environmental Advisor to the World Bank
Helen Ingram, Ph.D., Political Scientist, University of California, Irvine
David Johns, J.D., Political Scientist, Portland State University
Richard Lamm, J.D., Political Scientist, University of Denver, former governor of Colorado
John McNeill, Ph.D., Historian, Georgetown University
Greg Newswanger, United Service Foundation
Jack Santa-Barbara, Ph.D., Psychologist, The Sustainable Scale Project
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:
Brent Blackwelder, Ph.D., President of Friends of the Earth
Brian Czech, Ph.D., Ecological Economist, President of CASSE
Herman Daly, Ph.D., Ecological Economist, University of Maryland
Rob Dietz, M.S., Environmental Scientist, Executive Director of CASSE
Lisi Krall, Ph.D., Economist, State University of New York, Cortland
David Orr, Ph.D., Environmental Scientist, Oberlin College
Peter Victor, Ph.D., Ecological Economist, York University
Activities
CASSE advocates a scientifically sound position on economic growth. Individuals are invited to sign the position (contact informaton is optional and held in private - see our privacy policy), 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.
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 promotes scientifically based literature that reveals the weaknesses of conventional economic growth theory and identifies the steady state economy as a natural alternative. For example, we promote the book Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All. We also maintain a substantial collection of education and information resources, such as our bibliography, which includes downloadable text where available.
Finally, through our website, literature and research, CASSE helps citizens get informed and 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 about 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, Director of Australian Operations
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.
Deborah Schober, Outreach Director
Deborah Schober has an MA in sustainable development from the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute. She focused her studies on policy research and advocacy in the areas of globalization, economics, and agricultural systems. She received a BA in anthropology from Ithaca College, concentrating on rural development and including experience applying ecological principles in rural Belize. Born and raised on a family farm, Debbie has a strong background in agriculture and has been involved in community-based food security projects. Her current focus is on researching and promoting an economic system that benefits the planet and all who inhabit it.
Fola Babalola, Director of African Operations
Fola Babalola is a Ph.D. candidate in forest economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has completed numerous projects that combine ecological and economic expertise, including a cost-benefit analysis of seedling production, design of incentives in the agroforestry industry, development of forest policy, and socio-economic valuation of non-timber forest products. Fola has received a number of scholarships, fellowships and research grants. His publications have appeared in scientific journals, proceedings, and technical reports. His current focus is on sustainable management and conservation of forest biodiversity in the face of economic growth.
CENTER for the
ADVANCEMENT of the
STEADY STATE ECONOMY
Soumitri Das, Director of Indian Operations
Soumitri Das has over 10 years of international experience in the areas of forestry, biodiversity, energy, climate change, sustainable development, GIS and remote sensing based on his association with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) (India), Virginia Tech (US), Forest Technology Group (US), UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UK), and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) (India). A Chevening Scholar, Soumitri holds masters degrees in natural resource management from Virginia Tech (US) and the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) (India).
